The Livewire Editor is Dr. Carl Rogers, WA4ULE and this webpage is maintained by Jonathan Nalley, KE4ZVU who is a member of the
A Publication of the Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Society, Inc.
President: William (Buddy) Rodgers-KA4END, 19 Wintergreen Ln., Taylors, SC 29687
Notice: The next meeting of BRARS, Inc.
will be Monday evening, August 3, 1998 at Greenville Technical College, Room CE-350 (
Auditorium). Coffee, etc. will start around 7:00 pm and the meeting will start at 7:30 pm.
SPECIAL NOTICE: The September meeting of BRARS Inc. will be on the second Monday evening due to the Labor Day college holiday. The date for the September meeting will be September 14, 1998. Please mark your calendar.
Field Day Report: Turn-out for 1998 ARRL Field Day was good. Thanks to leadership by Johnny Allison, Buddy Rodgers, and several others, a good time was enjoyed by all. A report, including some photographs, can be found on the BRARS Inc. website ( www.brars.org ). The letter below, from Randall KF4PYT, describes how his family enjoyed the Field Day activities. I think it reflects the feelings of all that enjoyed the weekend.
"CQ, CQ, CQ Field Day: This is . . . (pause) . . . What was that call sign again?" "How far can I talk on 10 meters?" "Somebody help me write, this person is talking too fast!" "Did you say your location was Ontario?" "Where does this go on the log sheet?" "Daddy, you won't believe who I just talked to?" "It is awful hot, can I get something to drink?" "Daddy can we please stay just a little bit longer?" "This is the best field day I have ever been too!" "Can we take our vacation next year at field day so we can spend the night?" "Daddy are you having fun?"
These are just a few of the many comments made by my two children at Field Day 98. As a father, I cannot begin to describe to you the joy I felt in seeing my children at the controls of the various radios set up at Field Day. After a little coaxing, they jumped right in and began operating and it wasn't long before I knew that my children and my wife had discovered a side of amateur radio that would forever change their lives. As a matter of fact, it has already changed mine. I was so bitten by the HF bug that I have since upgraded my license and my wife and children are busy working on theirs also.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of those who were responsible for putting Field Day together. I know that a lot of hard work and planning go into putting on such an event and sometimes you may wonder what kind of success you gain for your labor? Well, let me be the first to say that Field Day 98 was an absolute success in my opinion. The few short hours that my family and I were able to spend there, were fantastic. Field Day 98 rekindled a spark in the hearts of my children and my wife that I thought had been extinguished. Amateur Radio is once again a family affair in my home and I will always be grateful to each of you who had a part in helping. Thank You,
Randall ( KF4PYT) --- Debbie ( KF4QXT) --- Jeremy ( KF4SQR ) --- Christie ( KF4STE ) "We're not just a family of hams, we're the whole hog"
A Chat With VK5MIR: At the July BRARS Inc. meeting, Al Lark- KD4SFF told us about his QSO with US astronaut Andy Thomas- KD4CHF and VK5MIR aboard the Russian Space outpost MIR and played a tape of the conversation. The contact was made just 3 days before Andy boarded the shuttle Discovery to return to Earth. Andy was in space for 130 days plus a few more days getting up and down.
The day after Discovery docked with MIR, June 5, Andy was trying without success to contact W5RRR, the Johnson Space Center club station. Al broke in and offered help and the two got into a conversation on 145.985 MHz FM Simplex. A transcript of the QSO follows:
W5RRR this is R0MIR, do you copy? Over.
W5RRR this is R0MIR, do you copy? Over.
W5RRR this is R0MIR, do you copy? Over.
Andy, If you give me their phone number, I'll give them a call, so you can contact them next pass round. KD4SFF.
This is R0MIR, thanks very much, but don't sweat it. I was just noticing we were passing over at this time, and thought that maybe they'd be up, but they're not. They wouldn't be at the radio station anyway. So even if we did get in touch with them by phone, they wouldn't be able to get there in time. How copy? Over.
I've got a real good copy here. This is Al, in Greenville, South Carolina. I know you're real excited about coming home, and I'm certainly excited about getting hold of you. What's the first thing you want to do when you get back down home, Andy?
Al, well I think a hot shower is going to feel pretty good. I've been washing my hair with a no rinse shampoo for four months, and using body bath to clean up with. So I think a decent hot shower is going to be the first order of business. Of course it's going to depend on how I feel. You know it's going to be a bit of an adjustment. I may not feel like too much for a while.Over.
Roger - Roger Andy. Well I won't hold you. I know a lot of other hams have heard you on the air, and are certainly going to want and try to work you. So just try to pick out a callsign. I know it's real tough to, I'm running a lot of power, that's probably why I'm getting thru to you. But I want to thank you very much! If you could come back with my callsign one time,and I'll go with yours, your "VK5MIR", and that's a real neat callsign, Andy. And I'll be looking for you coming back. My call is KD4SFF, Kilo Delta Four Serria Foxtrot Foxtrot. Over.
KD4SFF, copy that. Yeah, the VK5 is my Australian callsign, which they gave me for this
flight. So it was pretty decent of them. OK, well thanks for the contact. Now you take
care and have a good weekend. VK5MIR Clear.
Our thanks to Al for providing this transcript
for The Live Wire...Editor
History of Radio: ( part 2) Last month we wrote about people like Faraday and Maxwell who pioneered the study of electromagnetic energy including a segment of the spectrum now known as "Radio Waves". Most of this work was done in the period 1840-1885. A short time later, more practical things started to happen....
In 1888, Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist demonstrated that radio waves could be generated and transmitted over a distance of 60 feet. Without vacuum tubes, he built one of the first QRP transmitters, a crude resonator circuit for reception and the first directional antennas. We should name something for Professor Hertz in recognition of his accomplishment. What about calling a cycle-per-second a Hertz??
Not to be outdone, in December 1901, Marconi established radio wave communications between Poldhu, England and St. John ( Newfoundland) by sending and receiving the letter "S". This also was accomplished 3 years before the first vacuum tube was invented.
Between 1900 and 1910, radio communications made "leap frog" advances. Probably the most important, at least for the next 65 years, was the discovery of the Thermionic Valve or as we know it today, the vacuum tube.
A key discovery was made by an American that served as a foundation for the later development of the vacuum tube. Thomas Edison was working away on his electric lamp when he observed the phenomena later known as the "Edison Effect. He observed that some type of very small particle was emitted from a heated filament and was attracted to a positively charged plate when both the plate and the filament were mounted in an evacuated glass globe. He also noted that he could measure a flow of current between the filament and the plate. Shortly after the turn of the century, J. J. Thompson discovered the electron and suggested that the electron, emitted from heated filaments were the particles involved in the Edison Effect.
Dr. J. A. Fleming, in 1903 was working in the Marconi labs. He was assigned the task of finding an improved rectifier/ R.F. detector to replace the Cat’s Whisker. Using information from Edison and Thompson, he constructed the first Thermionic Valve, a diode or the simple vacuum tube. He named his invention the Oscillation Tube. It was immediately put into use at the Marconi Transatlantic Receiving Station. ( Editors note: Edison was obviously more interested in development of the electric lamp than radio! Do you think that this was because he could see the light but was stone deaf to Radio??)
Three years later (1907) Dr. Lee de Forest constructed the first triode by placing a third electrode the form of a perforated plate between the filament and the plate. This proved to be the first amplifier tube and was marketed as the Audion. Within a few years triodes and loud speakers were available and a 5 tube radio was being sold.
W4VIW’s BBS: LeRoy
Lawhorn-W4VIW operates a BBS ( Bulletin Board Station) in
Greenville and he invites you to check in via computer/modem. His BBS is a source of
information on amateur radio and ufology. The BBS has conference areas and file areas that
can be down-loaded.
LeRoy says that a BBS is very much like a small
AOL or CompuServe. The BBS operates in much the same manner. After logging in using your
communication system, you will be asked to register on your first visit. After
registration, you will find a main menu which will lead you to areas of interest. If you
are using Windows 95, you have a communications program under “Accessories” that
can be used to log in. The program for dialing is called Hyper Terminal. The telephone
number for W4VIW’s BBS is 864-235-8708. While looking around in the BBS, you will
find a list of other
BBS offerings with about 6 in the Greenville area. You might even run into LeRoy!
LeRoy says that his is the only local BBS that has Amateur Radio files.
Minutes of the 7/6/98 Club Meeting
| KF4WVB | D.L. | (Dave) | Wilkin | 304 E Celestial Dr | Greer | SC | 29651 |
| KF4YKX | G.M. | (Gary) | Goudelock | 322 Brushy Creek Rd | Easley | SC | 29642-3103 |
None this month.
NOTE that the August meeting place will not change, will be held at present
location.
John E. Chism, ND4N
Secretary, BRARS Inc.
Any comments, suggestions, articles, etc. regarding the newsletter
should be sent to livewire@brars.org
The Livewire Editor is Dr. Carl Rogers, WA4ULE and this
webpage is maintained by Jonathan Nalley, KE4ZVU
who is a member of the
Send your comments or inquiries to: brars@brars.org
©1998 Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Society, Inc.