The Peanut Whistle
The Monthly Newsletter of the Amateur Radio Club of Parker County
ARCPC NEWSLETTER VOLUME 24 NO. 10
PRESIDENT
JOEL PAGE KW5JP
OCTBER 2014 ISSUE
Mike Spann W5IMF and David Dunkley N5DWD
Photos by W5KD
VICE PRESIDENT
PHIL DALTON AF5PE
SECRETARY-TREASURER
CINDY LAWSON AF5NH
DIRECTORS
JAMES CHAMBERS KE5LFN
WILL TEAGUE W5KD
W5PC TRUSTEE-QSL MGR
WILL TEAGUE W5KD
WEBMASTER
MIKE MCDONALD AF5NC
BARRY CAMPBELL K2BC
PUBLIC INFORMATION
PHIL DALTON AF5PE
EDUCATION CHAIRMAN
BARRY CAMPBELL K2BC
NEWSLETTER-HISTORIAN
WILL TEAGUE W5KD
PROGRAM-ACTIVITIES
VACANT
FIELD DAY 2014
JAMES CHAMBERS KE5LFN
PHIL DALTON AF5PE
The club recognized one
of the founding members
that was in attendance,
Mike Spann, W5IMF
and his wife, Susan
Spann, KE5REU. The
club members in attendance made brief introductions. Most of the
current members have
never had the opportunity to meet Mike. What
an interesting person he
is. Like most old timers
he has many stories to
tell related both to ham
radio and his early life.
Mike is now in his nineties and is one of three
remaining charter members.
HAM FEST 2015
PHIL DALTON AF5PE
CHAPLIN
CLAY RILEY KC0BWR
HOSPTALITY
SANDRA CAMPBELL KB2YJX
REGISTERED AGENT
JERRY THOMPSON W7JT
RACES-ARES
ALLEN BEADLE KB5AB
BILL NEWMAN WL9N
VE TESTING
DOUG MAY WB5VQQ
ARRL
WEST GULF-NTX STAFF
DAVID WOOLWEAVER K5RAV
JOHN STRATTON N5AUS
CRIS BREWER N5GMJ
ARCPC held it’s first 50/50 drawing.
Half of the pot will go to provide
items for hospitality at the meetings.
The other half will go to the lucky
person who’s ticket is drawn. Well we
have the first winner of the 50/50
drawing. David Dunkley N5DWD.
Congratulations Dave come back to
future meetings so you can try to be
the lucky winner again. The drawing
had been discussed in the past and
other clubs have had 50/50 drawings
for many years. The total pot was less
than 30 dollars.
October 2014
The Peanut Whistle
Volume 24 No 10 Page 2
Announcements
The meeting was called to order at 19:03
by President, Joel Page, KW5JP. The
Pledge of Allegiance was led by Barry
Campbell, K2BC, followed by the invocation by Joel Page KW5JP.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: The club recognized one of the founding members that
was in attendance, Mike Spann, W5IMF and his wife, Susan
Spann, KE5REU. The club members in attendance made brief
introductions. There were no new calls or upgrades since the
last meeting. Will Teague, W5KD, said if anyone has something to sell and wants it put into the newsletter to let him
know.
OLD BUSINESS: A motion was made to approve the
minutes as printed in the newsletter by Barry Campbell
K2BC and a second by Mike McDonald AF5NC. Cindy Lawson, AF5NH gave an update on the bank accounts. Joel Page,
KW5JP, completed the necessary information for having the
club be a special service club.
NEW BUSINESS: Barry Campbell, K2BC discussed that
the new technician class will be October 4th and 11th at the
American Legion Hall. Mike McDonald, AF5NC, reported
there was nothing new on the website. He will be providing a
presentation at the next meeting on how to set up the program
to program your radio. The club had it’s first 50/50 raffle that
Dave Dunkley, N5DWD won.
A motion was made to adjourn by Mike McDonald, AF5NC
and second by James Chambers, KE5LFN.
Refreshments were served by Barry Campbell, K2BC.
ARCPC HOSPITALITY
October 2014 Meeting
Refreshments
Sandra Campbell
KB2YJX
Jake Sez!
"Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like
stripping your gears "
Upcoming Ham Fests/Conventions
10/24/2014 Oklahoma Section Convention (Texoma
Hamarama)
Location: Ardmore, OK
Type: ARRL Convention
Sponsor: Texoma Hamarama, Inc.
Website: http://www.texomahamarama.org/
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary/Treasurer Cindy Lawson AF5NH
WC5C Net
147.16+ 110.9
Thursdays at 8:00 pm - 8:45 pm
on 147.16 110.9 Azle
Open directed net. All licensed amateurs TECH and above
welcome Topics include ham-specific swap listings, social
and technical talk, club activities and projects, bulletins,
announcements.
ARCPC VE TESTING
VE testing for all license classes and upgrades will be conducted on the third Thursday of each month, except November and December.
Time: 7:00 PM (Walk-ins allowed)
Contact: Douglas E. May
(817) 613-7289
Email: dougmay@uwmail.com
VEC: ARRL/VEC
Location: PBA center for ministry in training 201 Kathey St
Weatherford TX 76088-9799
October 2014
The Peanut Whistle
Volume 24 No 10 Page 3
DRO-Alternate for District 4 Hurst Appointed 08/31/2014
Hello, I am William Newman Jr., WL9N.
I moved to Weatherford/Parker County with my family in
July 2013, having recently completed a 31-year law enforcement career in the Chicago Metro area – retiring as a ‘Police
Commander’. Among my staff assignments were responsibilities relating to Emergency Management – with liaison to
departments and agencies at all levels of government. In recent years I completed a Master’s Degree in ‘Emergency and
Disaster Management’, and also attained State Accreditation
as an ‘Illinois Professional Emergency Manager’.
In the last four years I have held a parallel post in the Illinois State RACES as the ‘Deputy Region 4
RACES Officer’ - which involved service responsibility for three N/E Illinois Counties to include the
City of Chicago – an area comprising over 60% of the State’s population. In this position I regularly
dealt with the important issues that often face volunteers – as well as those of the served agencies and
partners.
I have always had a passion for communications…from memories of building my first simple red wirespun crystal radio in 2nd grade in the Chicago Public Schools…to later living only 10-minutes away
from a retail Heathkit store which I often visited - and as a child dreamed of someday building a Heathkit SB-101 SSB CW Transceiver if I could only save up a $150.
Since the 9/11 attacks - I have completed numerous DHS/FEMA sponsored courses involving operations and administrative skills, which include COMT - and the completion of my Taskbook to become
one of the 36 currently Certified All-Hazards Type III COML’s within Illinois. In 2008 I became a certified driver/operator of the American Red Cross - ‘Emergency Communications Response Vehicle’ (ECRV) – which were recently decommissioned due to age. I have also completed all of the ARRL
Emergency Communications level courses since 2005, have been designated an ‘ARRL Official Emergency Station’, and was a member of a local ARES unit with a personal fondness for digital communications.
I am now very pleased to accept this important responsibility within Texas State RACES. In my professional life - I have become all too familiar with the need to prepare for the various man-made or natural
disasters that can potentially disrupt the widespread functioning of our communities and everyday life.
For that reason I strongly believe in the role we play here in North Texas – and that through our preparedness activities we can stand ready to provide necessary services to the State in a time of need.
Editor’s Note: Congratulations to Bill Newman WL9N. Bill is a member of ARCPC.
October 2014
The Peanut Whistle
Volume 24 No 10 Page 4
Powerful Megaflare from Small Star Stuns Scientists
A series of megaflares unleashed earlier this
year by a nearby red dwarf has astronomers
rethinking just what these small, dim stars are
capable of.
On April 23, NASA's Swift satellite spotted
the enormous star flare coming from DG
Canum Venaticorum (DG CVn), a system of
two red dwarfs located about 60 light-years
from Earth. The eruption put to shame anything ever seen on the sun, whose strong
flares are classified into three categories, with
C flares being the weakest, M of medium
strength and X the most powerful.
"The biggest flare we've ever seen from the sun occurred in November 2003 and is rated as X45," Stephen Drake,
an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement. "The flare
on DG CVn, if viewed from a planet the same distance as Earth is from the sun, would have been roughly 10,000
times greater than this, with a rating of about X100,000." [Biggest Solar Flares of 2014: Sun Storm Photos
For a few minutes, the superflare's X-ray brightness outshone both stars' total luminosity in all wavelengths, researchers said. The eruption's temperature reached 360 million degrees Fahrenheit (200 million degrees Celsius)
— about 13 times hotter than the sun's core.
But DG CVn wasn't done yet, firing off a number of other flares over the next 11 days, with each one being a bit
weaker than the last. X-ray emission from the system finally returned to baseline levels 20 days after the April 23
event.
DG CVn's sustained activity surprised scientists.
"We used to think major flaring episodes from red dwarfs lasted no more than a day, but Swift detected at least
seven powerful eruptions over a period of about two weeks," said Drake, who gave a presentation about the DG
CVn superflare in August at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s High Energy Astrophysics Division. "This was a very complex event."
Both of the stars in the DG CVn system are about one-third as massive as the sun. They orbit about 3 astronomical
units from each other — too close for Swift to tell which one of them was responsible for the big flares this year.
(One astronomical unit, or AU, is the average distance from Earth to the sun — about 93 million miles, or 150
million kilometers).
The DG CVn stars complete one rotation in less than a day, compared to about 25 days for the sun. The dwarfs'
rotational speed helps explain how they are capable of such powerful flaring, researchers said: Flares erupt when a
star's twisted magnetic fields reconnect, and rapid spin amps these fields up.
The sun may once have blasted out megaflares, too. A star's rotational speed decreases as it ages, and our sun is
middle-aged at about 5 billion years old. The DG CVn stars are just 30 million years old or so, researchers said.
October 2014
The Peanut Whistle
Volume 24 No 10 Page 5
Full Size 3 Element 160 Meter Beam
7J4AAL in Japan is now sporting the largest Yagi currently in
use on 160 meters – a full-size, 3-element monster atop a rotating
200-ft (60m) tower.
The previous Largest 160m Yagi was at OH8X but a winter storm
put the tower and antennas on the ground in December 2013. The
same tower also supported an 80m Yagi. I’ve worked OH8X a
number of times in various contests but never on 80 or 160 meters and remember reading that their 160m Yagi failed significantly to meet their expectations.
All that money spent on a system that was often outperformed by
a much less expensive 4-square.
Hopefully the new Yagi at 7J4AAL will deliver the goods. OH8X
is at 65d N latitude and 7J4AAL is much further south at 34d
North and therefore won’t be nearly as susceptible to auroral degradation as the Finnish station.
After looking at the installation pics, my little 160m inverted L
makes me feel – well, maybe I’d better skip the analogies…
October 2014
The Peanut Whistle
Volume 24 No 10 Page 6
Ham Radio News Briefs
The ARCPC membership would like to express our condolences to Judy Wolf KB5JEY for the loss of her Step-father.
Editor’s Note: Please note Tech Class changes below
The Technician license class is scheduled for this Saturday October 11 and Saturday October 18. Please canvass
your friends and/or relatives and if anyone is interested, have them email Barry Campbell, K2BC at barrycam@att.net or by phone at 940-452-9023.
Please note the classes will be held in a new location, the Parker County Search and Rescue facilities at 120
South Simmons, suite 102, behind O'Reilly's auto parts store. VE testing will be given following the October 18
class.
Participants should bring a bagged lunch or there are fast food places nearby both days.
October 2014
The Peanut Whistle
Volume 24 No 10 Page 7
Ham Radio News Briefs
ESTEE, left, and Rebecca Ratcliff hold their handheld ham radios. The sisters
are two of the youngest ham radio operators to complete the general license in
the nation. Most children will say another test is the last thing they want to add
to their schedules.
Estee and Rebecca Ratcliff did just that earlier this month, when they took and
passed the ham radio general license test. “They are among the youngest in the
nation,” mom Jennifer Ratcliff said. Estee is 11 and Rebecca is 9.
The sisters have been working toward the certification for about a year. Each
studied using practice tests and other resources before taking the written multiple-choice exam. The test consists of 35 randomly selected questions out of a
pool of more than 400 possible questions.
Many of the questions required labeling parts of the radio and equipment.
“I was nervous and didn’t really know how I would do,” Estee said. “It would
have been OK if I had to retake it, but I really didn’t want to have to retake it.”
Both girls passed on the first try. They each had received their technician certification last year. Rebecca said some of the questions had clues as to what the
answer was. Being ham radio operators has given the girls some unique opportunities. Before receiving their general license,
the farthest location the girls had the opportunity to contact was Germany. Other family members, who already had their general license, have contacted people in Australia.
Now, a wider range of long-range frequencies will be open to the young communicators. Rebecca said her favorite part has
been “making contacts around the world.”
Estee said she enjoyed a recent trip they made to the Morristown National Weather Service office because they are ham radio
operators. The girls were able to witness a science experiment Rebecca described as “How to make a cloud.”
The Ratcliffs are also certified as SkyWarn weather watchers to report to the NWS via ham radio, telephone, text or email. Estee and Rebecca are also members of Amateur Radio Emergency Services. Each has a call sign they are required to use. Estee’s
is KK4MVS read as kilo-kilo-4-mike-victor-sierra when checking in. Rebecca’s call sign is KK4OAU spoken as kilo-kilo-4oscar-alpha-uniform. The family’s dog even has an unofficial call sign, PK9Dog.
To celebrate Estee and Rebecca receiving their general licenses, their parents are taking them on a weekend trip to Atlanta.
In addition to the American Girl Store, Legoland, Underground Atlanta and the World of Coca-Cola, Rebecca excitedly adds
the family will get to stay in “a hotel that will probably have a pool.”
Jennifer Ratcliff said she and her husband had offered “incentives along the way” for each of their three children to complete
the certification process. “When they made certain grades on their practice test. they got a reward,” Jennifer Ratcliff said.
The Ratcliff family started studying ham radio after the family was affected by the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak.
“We were out of the house for three months rebuilding,” Estee Ratcliff said. The family began learning about ham radio to have
a definite means of communication during inclement weather.
There are weekly meetings of the local amateur radio operators in Bradley County. These meetings provide an opportunity to
practice and to test equipment so it will be ready in case of inclement weather.
Read more: Cleveland Daily Banner - Ham radio license holders
Editor’s Note: Above Article was taken from Cleveland Daily Banner
October 2014
The Peanut Whistle
Volume 24 No 10 Page 8
W5PC
www.w5pc.org
A MATEUR RADIO CLUB OF
P. O . BOX 1795
W EATHERFORD , TX 76086
PARKER COUNTY , INC .
PARKER/PALO PINTO INFORMATION NET
Mondays at 7:00 pm on 147.040 (tone 110.9) Alt: 146.900 or 443.800
= NOTICE =
The next club meeting will be held at 7:00 pm, Tuesday October 14, 2014
at the Weatherford Community Center, 701 Narrow Street Weatherford, TX
Talk-in 147.04 and Tone 110.9
AMATEUR RADIO CLUB OF PARKER COUNTY MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
NAME: ____________________________________________ CALL SIGN: __________________
LICENSE CLASS: (E)(A)(G)(T)(N)
ARRL MEMBER: (YES) (NO)
STATUS: (NEW) (RENEWAL)
(CIRCLE APPLICABLE ANSWERS ON ABOVE LINE)
ADDRESS: ___________________________________ EMAIL ADDRESS: _________________
CITY: _______________________ STATE: __________ ZIP (plus 4): ____________—_________
PHONE: HOME: _____________________________ WORK: _____________________________
INIIATION FEE: One time initiation fee per family - $5.00
ANNUAL DUES: $10.00. HAM FAMILY MEMBERSHIP: $15.00 (+ 1 same household or full time college
student) (Add an additional $5.00 if you wish to receive a hard copy of the newsletter).
HAM FAMILY MEMBER NAME: _____________________________________
CALL SIGN: ______________
Cut out and mail this application to the ARCPC Secretary/Treasurer along with you check or money order for
the amount due. Or, bring it to the next regular club meeting.
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS ARE DUE IN JUNE