Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club Bulletin July 2020

No Regular July Meeting We Will Be Doing A Virtual Zoom Meeting.

Members To Get Email Invite
Visitors Will Need To Contact Webmaster.

[email protected]

The Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club normally meet at 3:00 PM on the first Saturday of the month.

Normal Meeting Location, The Scout Hut, 231 E. Hawthorne St. Map

THIS MONTHS MEETING AGENDA

  • No Regular June Meeting, Virtual Meeting By Zoom.
  • Field Day, Wrap Up
  • Remote Antenna Switch, By Brent – KJ6UMY

Fallbrook Amateur Radio Renewals

NameCallDate Expires
THIRD NOTICE
Buntin, PaulKM6VXO5/31/2020
SECOND NOTICE
Dillon, R. DonW6PLT6/30/2020
Lara, ConradKG6JEI6/30/2020
FIRST NOTICE
Duffy, MichaelW6MJD7/31/2020
Gonsett, RobertW6VR7/31/2020
Huhta, DavidN6EEG7/31/2020
Jones, RandyKD6UAK7/31/2020
Spencer, StephenKC6MIE7/31/2020
Taylor, StephenK6SJT7/31/2020


de KJ6UMY

The Insane Engineering of the A-10 Warthog


People in 1974 predict the future of personal computers

winamp.com
I do believe the “person” in this case is Arthur C. Clarke. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke)

1 billion robocalls net $225M FCC fine that will likely never be collected

arstechnica.com

Apollo 11 Trigonometry Was Brief

hackaday.com

Retrotechtacular: Wire Splicing The Army Way

hackaday.com

The potential impacts of solar super storms

wimp.com

Microsoft’s “new approach” to retail stores: Closing them forever

arstechnica.com


de W6VR

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Did you ever wonder how they did the music for The Good, the Bad & the Ugly?
THE UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN – THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY!!
http://ez2url.com/good-bad-ugly.html

Astronauts say riding Falcon 9 rocket was “totally different” from the space shuttle

spaceflightnow.com

Soldering in the field without a soldering iron or torch.

It can be done and here’s an ingenious device to do it

CDC Says ‘Way Too Much Virus’ in US to Control Pandemic as Cases Surge – NBC Los Angeles

This is the Covid-19 situation in the eyes of the CDC, plan accordingly: cnbc.com


de AA4CD

KiwiSDR Online Radio Frequency Direction Finding



Securing PowerPole Connectors

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

In preparation for this year’s Field Day, I made a bunch of cables with PowerPole connectors to connect the solar panel, charge controller and batteries that I used. If you’re not familiar with PowerPoles, you might want to check out this YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o31iuOcQ-jo . They’re really great connectors, and have become the DC connector of choice for many hams.

When I make up PowerPole cables, I normally don’t bother trying to secure the two halves together, especially if you’re using some decently heavy gauge wire. They fit together pretty tightly, and don’t come apart easily. Even so, I think securing them together is a good idea. You can buy a little roll pin to insert between the red and black housings that is supposed to prevent them from coming apart, but many folks complain that the pin has a tendency to fall out. This not only defeats the purpose, but could also damage your equipment.

Securing them is the right thing to do, though, and I recently came across some great suggestions on how to do this in the daily digest that I receive from the Elecraft-KX mailing list https://groups.io/g/Elecraft-KX . Here are the best tips from the thread, Securing Anderson Power Poles https://groups.io/g/Elecraft-KX/topic/75060413 :

  • Rudy K8SWD: You can thermally bond the red and black housings with a soldering iron like you are making little welds on both sides. Permanent (mostly) but it works better than the roll pins. Just clean the tip really good before soldering!
  • Dave K0CDA: [Anderson] also make connectors that are thermally bonded together in pairs. They do NOT come apart.
  • Don W3FPR: I use a drop of Super Glue on the junction of the plastic pieces. Warning – that glue grabs quickly, so slide the 2 pieces onlyl enough to start the assembly, then apply the drop of glue and quickly finish sliding them together. I have never had ones prepared like that come apart, and I don’t use roll pins. I will say one more thing – use only the genuine APPs. I have seen some knockoffs that do not mate well.
  • Greg KC9NRO: Take a hot soldering iron. Wipe the tip with sponge. Run the tip down both side of APP bonding the black and red sides together. Clean soldering iron tip and apply some solder to tip. That’s how I roll. Never comes apart
  • Mike AI4NS: PVC cement will soften the plastic enough to bond them together. You can also get plastic welding rods, such as Daindy Plastic Welding Rods https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086HNQXM3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_poR8Eb88N54P4 . Chuck a rod in a Dremel and weld them together. I have made plastic boxes and panels using this method.
  • Jack WD4E: Snip the cotton end off a Q-tip, cutting at an angle. Insert into hole made for roll pin, cut off excess, save remainder of Q-tip for next requirement.
  • Troy K4JDA: 2.5mm screws work well, stay in, and are easily removable.

I posted these suggestions to my blog (https://KB6NU.com) and got a few more great suggestions:

  • Tom KB8UUZ: Fat tooth picks also work great. Jam it in, break it off.
  • Bruce N0NHP: I use MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) replacement to clean my circuit boards after soldering. A single drop of MEK on the junction between the two halves of the PowerPole shell will fuse them. It can be broken with a sharp tap but not accidentally. It will set and dry in seconds and should be applied after the shell pieces are put together.

I think these are all great suggestions. I think that I’m going to try the cotton swab method. While reading them, another thought occurred to me. I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m thinking a little drop of hot glue on the roll-pin hole might work, too.

=============================

Dan Romanchik, KB6NU, is the author of the KB6NU amateur radio blog (KB6NU.Com), the “No Nonsense” amateur radio license study guides (KB6NU.Com/study-guides/), and often appears on the ICQPodcast (icqpodcast.com). When he’s not thinking up new ways to keep his PowerPoles together, he likes to teach ham radio classes and operate CW on the HF bands.


Meeting Minutes

Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club
Virtual Meeting, Fallbrook, California
June 6, 2020

Vice President Ron Patten, KG6HSQ, called the Virtual Zoom meeting to order at 1505.

Hayden, KG6YVD, led the group in the pledge of allegiance as the flag was presented on the screen.

Ken, W6MF, gave the following financial report.

Bob, W6VR, announced to the meeting that there would be a good pass and sighting of the International Space Station on Sunday at 2015 hours, WNW, rising to the SW at 39 degrees and setting in the SSE. He indicated that there would be no more good sightings and passes of the ISS until July.

Ron discussed Field Day for this year. There will be no single gathering as in the past due to group gathering restrictions. Individual stations will be operating from homes by individual operators. ARRL has modified their rules and “D” classification stations can now log other “D” stations which is a welcome change. He showed a screen shot of the N3FJP logging program and discussed it and suggested that people might want to download and use it for the event. At the conclusion of Field Day all members can download their logs to the Fallbrook Club site. Stephen, KC6MIE, said that he will be operating and has invited Linda, KM6QBD, to come operate from his location. He invited others to come as well but to please contact him in advance to make arrangements.

Following the Field Day discussion Ron “passed” the microphone around and everyone on the network introduced themselves and told of some of the projects that they were involved in and some showed some of their equipment and their shacks.

Ron showed his multiple radio setup in which he monitors many emergency frequencies as well as the FARC repeaters.

Brent, KJ6UMY, discussed, and showed photographs of the construction of an antenna system that he has been involve in building. He showed the layout and various components of the project including “grounding”, mountings and excavations that were all involved in the project.

With No further Business the meeting was adjourned at 1640

During the on-line meeting 22 members and guest attended and participate.

Ken Dickson, W6MF
Secretary/Treasurer
Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club

New Member:
Julie Swain, KG6QAB
Member Dropped:
Randy Borg, KJ6YPO