TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL

http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com $6.99

COMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

DECEMBER 2020
 ENGINEERING
EXCELLENCE

Elite 750
• AM/FM/LW/SW bands
• Aircraft Band
• Set 9/10 KHz AM tuning; set FM tuning range
• Single-Side Band (SSB)
• 360 degree rotate AM antenna
• Auto/Manual/Direct frequency key-in and station
memory tuning
• Auto Tuning Storage function (ATS) for FM/AM/Shortwave
• 1000 station memories (each band 100 memories,
500 customizable)
• Dual alarm clock function
• Line in socket (can be used as speaker for MP3)
• Line out socket (radio broadcasting can be
transferred to other device)
• External antenna jacks for both AM/FM
• Power source: DC input (6V) power supply included

Elite Field Elite Executive

• AM/FM/SW bands • AM/FM/LW/SW bands
• FM with RDS (Radio Data System) • FM with RDS (Radio Data System)
• Dial-in-dial coarse/ narrow digital tuning • Single sideband (SSB) with +/1 kHz tuning
• Treble/bass control • VHF Aircraft band
• RF gain control • Automatic or Manual Digital Tuning
• Wide/narrow bandwidth selection • FM stereo/mono selection
• 50 memory stations • Electronic/volume/treble/bass control
• Bluetooth® ready • Sync detector with selectable sideband
• External AM/FM/SW antenna connections • Direct key-in meter band for SW
• Local/DX switch • 700 memory stations
• Rich orange LCD display • PLL synthesized dual conversion receiver
• Line-in/line-out and headphone jacks • Local/DX switch
• FM telescopic antenna • Local/world time zones
• Carrying strap • Clock/Alarm/Sleep Timer with time backup
• Reset/lock button • Rich orange LCD display
• Power supply: Included 7V DC adapter or 4 D batteries (sold separately) • Reset/Lock button
• Custom vegan leather Carry Case (sold separately) • FM telescopic antenna
• Power supply: Inclided AC adapter or 4 AA batteries (sold separately)
• Custom vegan leather case with craftsman stitching

Authorized Dealers

etoncorp.com
 ANNOUNCEMENTS EDITORIAL STAFF
Richard S. Moseson, W2VU, Editor
Jason Feldman, KD2IWM, Managing Editor
Susan Moseson, Editorial Consultant
COVID-19 UPDATE CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered plans for any social gathering and hamfests Kent Britain, WA5VJB, Antennas
and ham radio-related conferences are taking a huge hit. CQ urges all readers to please check Stan Broadway, N8BHL, Emergency Communications
with the organizers of these events to ensure the event will still be held. Gerry L. Dexter, The Listening Post
Joe Eisenberg, KØNEB, Kit-Building
Tony Emanuele, K8ZR, VHF
Tomas Hood, NW7US, Propagation
DECEMBER Jim Houser, WA8JIM, Awards
John Langridge, KB5NJD, MF/LF Operating
Anthony Luscre, K8ZT, Microcontrollers
DELTA, OHIO — The Fulton County Amateur Radio Club will hold its Winterfest 2020 Irwin Math, WA2NDM, Math’s Notes
from 8-11 a.m., Saturday, December 5 at the Village of Delta Memorial Hall, 401 Main Joe Moell, KØOV, Homing In
Street. Contact: Bryan Patterson, KB8ELG, (419) 822-5038 or (419) 250-6694. Email: Eric Nichols, KL7AJ, Analog Adventures
<[email protected]>. Website: <http://k8bxq.org>. Talk-in 147.195+. VE exams. Ron Ochu, KOØZ, Learning Curve
Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR, Mobile/Radio Magic
OCALA, FLORIDA — The Silver Springs Radio Club will hold it 2020 Hamfest begin- Scott Rought, KA8SMA, QRP
ning 7:30 a.m., Saturday, December 5 at the First Christian Church, 1908 East Fort Don Rotolo, N2IRZ, Digital
King Street. Website: <www.k4gso.us/hamfest>. Talk-in 146.610- (PL 123). VE exams. Rob de Santos, K8RKD, Communications Horizons
PLANT CITY, FLORIDA — The Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Council will hold Bob Schenck, N2OO, DX
Tim Shoppa, N3QE, Contesting
the 45th Annual Tampa Bay Hamfest and Electronics Show and the 2020 ARRL Florida Jason Togyer, W3MCK, Spurious Signals
State Convention from 1-6 p.m., Friday, December 11 and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Gordon West, WB6NOA, Short Circuits
Saturday, December 12 at the Strawberry Festival Grounds Expo Building, 301 N. Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ, The Ham Notebook
Lemon Street (now Berryfest Street). Website: <http://fgcarc.org> or <www.tam- AWARD MANAGEMENT
pabayhamfest.org>. Talk-in 147.165+ (PL 136.5). VE exams, WAS / DXCC / IARU / John Bergman, KC5LK, WAZ Award
VUCC card checking. Brian Bird, NXØX, USA-CA Custodian
CHELTENHAM, MARYLAND — The Prince Georges County ARES / RACES will Steve Bolia, N8BJQ, WPX Award
Keith Gilbertson, KØKG, CQ DX Award
hold SantaFest from 8:30 a.m. to noon, Saturday, December 12 at the American Legion
Youth Camp, 9201 Surratts Road. Email: <[email protected]>. Website: CONTEST MANAGEMENT
<http://pgares.org>. Talk-in 145.230 (PL 110.9). VE exams. Andy Blank, N2NT, CQ 160 Meter Contest
John Dorr, K1AR, CQWW DX Contest
JK Kalenowsky, K9JK, CQ VHF Contest
JANUARY 2021 Ed Muns, WØYK, CQ RTTY Contests
John Sweeney, K9EL, CQ DX Marathon
Joseph “Bud” Trench, AA3B, CQWW WPX Contest
LOCUST FORK, ALABAMA — The Blount County Amateur Radio Club will hold
Freezefest 2021 on Saturday, January 2 at the Locust Fork High School, 155 School BUSINESS STAFF
Richard A. Ross, K2MGA, Publisher
Road. Website: <http://w4blt.org>. Talk-in 146.700 (PL 91.5). Dorothy Kehwieder, Associate Publisher,
BETHPAGE, NEW YORK — Ham Radio University will be held virtually on Saturday, Advertising
March 9 due to restrictions from COVID-19. For more information, visit <http:// Richard S. Moseson, W2VU, Associate Publisher,
hamradiouniversity.org>. Editorial
Emily Leary, Sales Coordinator
LAWRENCEVILLE, GEORGIA — The Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society will hold the Doris Watts, Accounting Department
2021 TechFest from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, January 16 at the Gwinnett Medical
Resource Center, 665 Duluth Highway. Website: <http://techfest.info>. VE exams. CIRCULATION STAFF
Cheryl DiLorenzo, Customer Service Manager
HATILLO, PUERTO RICO — The 6th Annual ARRL Puerto Rico Convention will be
held from Friday, January 29 through Sunday, January 31 at the Francisco “Pancho” PRODUCTION STAFF
Deida Coliseum. Website: <http://arrlpr.org>. Elizabeth Ryan, Art Director
Dorothy Kehrwieder, Production Director
Emily Leary, Production Manager
FEBRUARY 2021 Hal Keith, Illustrator
Larry Mulvehill, WB2ZPI, Staff Photographer
ST. CLOUD MINNESOTA — The Saint Cloud Amateur Radio Club will hold the Cabin A publication of
Fever Reliever beginning 9 a.m., Saturday, February 13 at the Eagles Aerie 622, 730 CQ Communications
41st Avenue North. Website: <http://w0sv.club/hamfest>. Talk-in 147.015+ (PL 100), P.O. Box 1206
VE exams, DXCC / VUCC / WAC / WAS / WAZ card checking. Sayville, NY, 11782 USA.
WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA — The ARRL West Central Florida Section will hold the
Seventh Annual TechCon from noon to 9 p.m., Friday, February 26 and beginning 8 (ISSN 0007-893X) Volume 76, No. 12. Published monthly by CQ
Communications, Inc., POB 1206 Sayville, NY 11782, Telephone 516-
a.m., Saturday, February 27 at Sonny’s BBQ, 4600 Recker Highway. Website: 681-2922. Periodical postage paid at Hicksville, NY 11801 and addi-
tional offices. Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation,
<http://arrlwcf.org>. Talk-in 146.985 (PL 127.3). October 28, 2020. POB 1206, Sayville, NY 11782. Publication #0007-
893X. Issued monthly, subscription price $42.95 per year (12 issues).
Publisher: Richard A. Ross; Editor: Richard S. Moseson: owned by
MARCH 2021 CQ Communications, Inc. Stockholders: Richard A. Ross. Circulation
(Average of Preceding 12 Months): Net Press Run 18,180, Mail
Subscriptions 14,412 Sales Through Dealers and News Agents 2,700,
CAVE CITY, KENTUCKY — The Mammoth Cave Amateur Radio Club will hold the Other Classes Mailed 200, Total Paid 17,312 Free Distribution 200,
45th Annual Cave City Hamfest beginning 7:30 a.m., Saturday, March 6 at the Cave Total Distribution 17,512, Copies Not Distributed 225, Total 17,737.
Paid Electronic Copies 12,350, Total Paid Print Copies + Paid
City Convention Center, 502 Mammoth Cave Street. Contact: Larry Brumett, KN4IV, Electronic Copies 29,662, Total Print Distribution + Paid Electronic
Copies 29862. Circulation (single issue nearest filing date): 18,175,
108 Wither Drive, Glasgow, KY. Phone: (270) 651-2363. Email: <lbrumett@ Mail Subscriptions 14,405, Sales Through Dealers and News Agents
glasgow-ky.com>. Website: <http://ky4x.org>. Talk-in 146.30+ (PL 114.8). VE exams. 2,700 Other Classes Mailed 200, Total Paid 17,305, Free Distribution
200, Total Distribution 17,505, Copies Not Distributed 230, Total
PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON — The Mike & Key Amateur Radio Club will hold the 17,735.Paid Electronic Copies 12,290, Total Paid Print Copies + Paid
40th Annual Mike and Key ARC Electronics Show & Swap Meet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Electronic Copies 29,595, Total Print Distribution + Paid Electronic
Copies 29,795. s/Richard A. Ross, Publisher. Entire contents copy-
Saturday, March 6 at the Pavilion Exhibition Hall, 110 9th Avenue SW. Phone: (253) righted 2020 CQ Communications, Inc.
631-3756. Email: <[email protected]>. Website: <http://mikeandkey.org>. Talk-in
146.82- (PL 103.5). VE exams. Printed in the U.S.A.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
CQ Amateur Radio, P.O. Box 1206, Sayville, NY, 11782

2• CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 HAM RADIO NEWS
P5 Remains Atop Clublog Most-Wanted List working from home and are not expected to move into their
Clublog has released its new list of “most-wanted” DX enti- new offices until next June at the earliest. The ARRL Letter
ties and North Korea (P5) is once again at the top. The rest reports that mail delivery to the Commission will be unaf-
of the top-ten, in order, are all islands: Bouvet (3Y/B), Crozet fected by the move, as the agency has its own Zip Code so
(FT5/W), Scarborough Reef (BS7H), San Felix (CEØX), the mail would be delivered properly regardless of the
Pratas (BV9P), Kure (KH7K), Johnston (KH3), Peter I (3Y/P), address on the envelope. COVID restrictions continue to pro-
and Kerguelen (FT5/X). The complete list is on the Clublog hibit hand-delivery of documents and access to FCC offices,
website at <https://clublog.org/mostwanted.php>. like most federal buildings, is extremely limited.

Nominations Open for Hamvention Awards ARRL Urges No Changes in International

The Dayton Hamvention® is accepting nominations for its Allocations for 3 and 10 GHz
four annual awards until February 15, 2021. Awards will be Maintain the status quo — that’s the gist of the ARRL’s com-
made for Technical Achievement, Special Achievement, ments to the FCC’s advisory committee for the 2023 World
Amateur of the Year, and Club of the Year. These are con- Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23), which issued
sidered to be among the most prestigious awards the ama- two draft recommendations in October. The League urged
teur radio community confers each year. Nominations may the committee to propose no changes to the international
be emailed to <[email protected]> or mailed to allocations for either the 3.3-GHz band or the 10-GHz band,
Hamvention, Attn: Awards Committee, P.O. Box 964, each of which currently grants amateurs secondary access
Dayton, OH 45401-0964. Complete details and links to nom- (worldwide for 10 GHz; the Americas, Asia and Oceania for
ination forms may be found at <https://hamvention.org/ 3.3 GHz). This despite the FCC’s recent action to remove
event-details/awards>. the domestic amateur allocation at 3.3-3.5 GHz to open more
[Nominations are also open for CQ’s Amateur Radio, spectrum for 5G wireless services. The comments acknowl-
Contest, and DX Halls of Fame. See page 81 in this issue edged this move, according to the ARRL Letter, but urged
for details.] no changes in the international allocations “until more is
known about the technical characteristics of equipment that
Emergency Managers Monitor Colorado will be used by new services and the extent of geographic
build-out.” There is also pressure to reallocate the 10-GHz
Wildfire with Amateur TV Video
band for international mobile telecommunications; the ARRL
The Boulder (Colorado) Amateur Television Club was able argued that hams are good neighbors to current primary
to provide live video feeds of October’s CalWood forest fire users of that band and will continue to be in the future.
to the Boulder County Amateur Radio Emergency Service
command post at the county emergency operations center
(EOC), where the pictures were displayed on a large-screen
ARRL Requests Accommodations for Amateur
monitor. According to the ARRL Letter, the images were shot and University Satellites in Proposed Debris
by a camera located about 15 miles from the fire and Mitigation Rules
equipped with a telephoto lens. The transmissions were The ARRL says certain provisions of proposed FCC rules to
relayed via the club’s WØBTV repeater, which also carried limit orbital debris from satellites would “seriously impair the
audio from the Boulder County ARES emergency net on 2 ability of amateur and university experimenters to launch and
meters. The fire consumed more than 10,000 acres and operate satellites under U.S. auspices.” According to the
destroyed more than two dozen homes. It was not expected ARRL Letter, ARRL comments to the FCC on its Further
to be fully contained until late November. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the debris mitigation pro-
ceeding focused on two specific areas, indemnification and
Low-Band Authority ON4UN SK maneuverability / propulsion. The League cited liability poten-
John Devoldere, ON4UN, a leading authority on DX and prop- tial and high insurance costs to individual licensees as well
agation in the low HF and MF portions of the spectrum, as prohibitions on certain public universities from entering
passed away on November 9th. His ARRL book, “ON4UN’s into indemnification arrangements. The League proposed
Low-Band DXing,” graces the bookshelves of many serious exempting amateur and university satellites from indemnifi-
80- and 160-meter operators. In a Facebook post on cation requirements or, if it insisted on mandating it, to allow
November 10th, John’s daughter Marleen wrote that “John’s satellite owners as well as licensees to take responsibility.
health has steadily deteriorated throughout the year, but in On proposed propulsion rules — which would require satel-
the last few weeks he was home with us where he peace- lites in low-earth orbit to be able to maneuver once in orbit
fully passed away yesterday.” She added, “I am grateful to — the ARRL proposed exempting small satellites that can-
the many of you who have given him so much joy over the not accommodate propulsion systems or fuel in the limited
years.” A “digital farewell ceremony” was planned for space available. Overall, it said the FCC should not lump
November 21st. (Tnx W1PJE) amateur and educational satellites in with large corporate
satellite operators.
FCC Moves to New Offices
(But No One Moves In) ARISS Looking for Alumni of First School
Contact
The FCC has relocated its Washington, DC headquarters to
45 L Street, NE — a move planned for last spring but delayed It was 20 years ago this month — December 21, 2000 — that
by the COVID-19 pandemic. The move was conducted with- the first school contact from the International Space Station
out any FCC employees present as virtually all of them are (Continued on page 101)

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 3

 CONTENTS 16
DECEMBER 2020 • VOLUME 76 NUMBER 12

COVER: SEASON’S
GREETING FROM CQ !

CQ sends its best wishes for a happy and

healthy holiday season and new year, espe-
cially after this year. We hope the holiday
scene on our cover gets you ready for the night
St. Nick slips down the chimney and gives you
wonderful electronic delights that will keep you
busy all year round. Whether it is a new radio,
accessory, antenna, or a subscription to your
favorite ham radio magazine (hint, hint!), we
wish each and every one of you a great,
28
healthy and prosperous new year.

FEATURES
10 HOW TO TUNE A YAGI ANTENNA
By Peter J. Dalton, W6KW
12 SCREWDRIVER ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL: Ham radio has driven technological innovation for
CONTROLLER FOR YOUR
over a century thanks to tinkerers searching for a new way to get their signals
SMARTPHONE
By Pat Griffin, AA4PG & Brian
out farther. This month, CQ shines a spotlight on innovations in antennas and
Wingard, N4DKD antenna accessories. You can read all about it on pages 10, 12, 16, 25, 28, 39,
16 A SELF-CALIBRATING TUNING-
44, 64, 68, and 87.
TRACKING CONTROLLER FOR
MAGNETIC FIELD LOOP
ANTENNAS: The Quest for a Smaller,
Yet Practical, Antenna
COLUMNS DEPARTMENTS
By Roberto Sadkowski, K6KM
48 MATH’S NOTES: The Future Still Will 53 CONTESTING: Contest Activity is Still
25 CQ REVIEWS: IMPULSE
Not Necessarily Be What We Think It Up as Contesters Stay Safe
ELECTRONICS MAX GO BOX: A
Will Be By Tim Shoppa, N3QE
Battery Box with Brains!
By Gordon West, WB6NOA By Irwin Math, WA2NDM 70 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS:
60 THE LISTENING POST: Palau Back It’s Exercise Time!
28 BUILD A PORTABLE HIGH
on the Air as Hope Radio By Stan Broadway, N8BHL
EFFICIENCY 4-BAND VERTICAL
ANTENNA By Gerry Dexter 90 AWARDS: Net Awards
By Albert F. Peter, AC8GY 68 COMMUNICATIONS HORIZONS: Are By Rich Moseson, W2VU
39 THE TEXAS STAR MULTI-BAND You Going Hybrid? 92 DX: AC3PT Sikkim 1974 — Amateur
ANTENNA: Five Bands, One Feedline, By Rob De Santos, K8RKD Radio’s Role in a World Event
No Tuner By Bob Schenck, N2OO
72 KIT-BUILDING: Being Well-Grounded
By Gene Hinkle, K5PA By Joe Eisenberg, KØNEB 99 VHF PLUS: K3ZR Says Tnx and 73
44 A SIMPLE DUAL-BAND UPGRADE By Tony Emanuele, K8ZR
75 QRP: A Conversation About the True
FOR YOUR 40-METER DIPOLE Meaning of QRP, Revisited ... and 102 PROPAGATION: December
By Bob Glorioso, W1IS & Bob Rose, Thoughts from “the Land Down Under” Propagation: Best DX Will Be on the
KC1DSQ By R. Scott Rought, KA8SMA Lower Bands
50 CQ CLASSIC By Tomas Hood, NW7US
78 MICROCONTROLLERS IN
HAMS - PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE
AMATEUR RADIO: 2 Projects + 2 2 ANNOUNCEMENTS
By Zeh Bouck, W8QMR-WLNG
Books = Microcontroller Fun 3 HAM RADIO NEWS
(Jan., 1945)
By Anthony Luscre, K8ZT
64 THE FERRITE-SLEEVE AUTO 8 ZERO BIAS
TRANSFORMER 82 ANALOG ADVENTURES: Getting 9 NEWSBYTES
By Rick Littlefield, K1BQT More FUN From Your FUNction 73, 89 WHAT’S NEW
Generator
66 ANNOUNCING: THE 2021 CQ 71 SPURIOUS SIGNALS
By Eric P. Nichols, KL7AJ
WORLD WIDE WPX RTTY CONTEST 80 OOPS
By Ed Muns, WØYK 84 LEARNING CURVE: Match This! 86 BEHIND THE BYLINES
By Ron Ochu, KOØZ
81 ANNOUNCING: 2021 CQ HALLS OF 100 OUR READERS SAY
FAME NOMINATIONS 87 ANTENNAS: Antenna Simulation 105 CQ INDEX
By Staff By Kent Britain, WA5VJB 112 HAM SHOP
 ZERO BIAS: A CQ Editorial
BY RICH MOSESON,* W2VU

Looking Back at a Year of Looking Back

T
his has certainly been quite a year … and in many sleeve autotransformer, and how to make your 40-meter
respects, I think we’re all glad it’s ending. But along dipole resonant on 15 meters (no, it isn’t really resonant on
with the obvious negatives, 2020 has had some good both without some help). One item that pops up in several of
things to remember as well. If it’s possible for a pandemic to these articles is the use of an Arduino microcontroller as an
have a silver lining, it has for ham radio. With many of us essential part of the project, illustrating the growing role that
spending lots more time at home, the ham shack has been microcontrollers are playing in amateur radio technology.
beckoning as a way to keep our minds active and to keep in Interestingly, one of the articles that does not involve the use
touch with friends (old and new), even when in-person visit- of an Arduino (“Build a Portable High Efficiency 4-Band
ing has been limited. Club nets and online meetings have Vertical Antenna,” p. 28) is written by an Arduino authority,
maintained social contacts within our ham communities. Al Peter, AC8GY, who is co-author of a new book on micro-
Participation in contests has been through the roof and controllers in amateur radio along with Jack Purdum, W8TEE
restrictions on gatherings have prompted new or improved (see this month’s Microcontrollers column on page 78 for
methods of conducting socially-distanced multi-op contest- more on Al and Jack’s book).
ing (we’ve highlighted both all-remote and hybrid setups here Beyond the world of antennas, we have a CQ review by
in CQ). Ham ingenuity has also led to things like parking lot WB6NOA of the Impulse Electronics Max Go Box, a battery
license exams and all-online test sessions. carrier with brains! Plus, Contesting Editor N3QE has put
Here at CQ, we’ve spent the year celebrating our 75th together a Periodic Table of Contesting, borrowing the for-
anniversary, looking back through a series of “CQ Classic” mat of the chemical chart hanging in just about every high
reprints from past issues that help paint a picture of “life in school science classroom to create an annual calendar of
ham radio” from 1945 to the present. In some cases, we took major contests, broken down by month, weekend and mode.
articles from several decades ago and brought them up to date It’s really cool and you’ll find it on pages 56 and 57.
with additional articles. Reviewing the past can help us as we Speaking of contests, please take a look at News Bytes on
move forward, and we plan to continue our “CQ Classics” page 9 as well as the Contesting column (p. 53) and 2021
series, although maybe not every month. Our Classic this CQWW WPX RTTY Contest announcement (p. 86) for news
month (p. 50) goes back once again to our very first issue; in on the new “Multi-Transmitter Distributed” category that
fact, the first article in that issue, “HAMS – PAST – PRESENT we’re adding to the WPX family of contests.
– FUTURE,” by Zeh Bouck, W8QMR/WLNG. It provides a fas-
cinating look at the author’s perceptions of the hobby at a time Hello to N8BHL and 73 to K8ZR
when ham radio was still shut down by World War II. We’d like to welcome Stan Broadway, N8BHL, as our new
One aspect that has been most impressive to me is how Emergency Communications Editor. We introduced Stan
consistent we have been — over the course of 75 years and here last month and his first column begins this month on
11 editors — in staying focused on our original goals of page 70. But as Stan joins us, Tony departs. VHF-Plus Editor
“play(ing) a dual role … as a disseminator of what one should Tony Emanuele, K8ZR, is stepping down as of this issue. As
know to make the most out of ham radio, and in (a) less for- he explains in his final column (p. 99), he has taken on addi-
mal character as your own magazine, welcoming criticism tional responsibilities at his day job that are eating up a lot
as well as bouquets and, above all, the cordial exchange of of his free time and he doesn’t want give less than his full
ideas that is so vital a part of ham radio on the air.” That quote attention to the column each month. We thank Tony for the
is from our mission statement as published in January 1945, great job he’s done as VHF+ Editor over the past six years
and it continues to hold true today. From the start, our colum- and wish him well in the future. We’ll also look forward to
nists have been leading authorities in their fields and our occasional feature articles from Tony when his schedule per-
readers have also been our authors, sharing projects, con- mits it. Meanwhile, we’re in the market for a new VHF+ Editor
cepts, and adventures through the pages of CQ. We look for- as this is written. If you love weak-signal VHF/UHF and
ward to continuing that tradition for at least the next 75 years microwave hamming, want to share your enthusiasm, and
as well. have time to assemble and write a monthly column, please
drop me a note.
Technology Special Along the same lines, we are also still looking for a new
This issue is our annual Technology Special. Of course, tech- Awards editor. Please contact me if you’re interested in that,
nology is central to every issue, but each December we put as well.
a little more of a spotlight on technical topics than on oper-
ating articles. Our collection of technical articles this time Happy Holidays!
around has a heavy focus on antennas and antenna acces- As we get ready to send 2020 packing, let me share with
sories. We start with an article on how to properly tune a Yagi each of you best wishes from all of us at CQ for a Merry
antenna (and the difference between tuning and matching); Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever
how to use your smartphone as a controller for a screwdriv- else you may celebrate at this time of year, as well as a very
er antenna; a tuning and tracking controller for magnetic loop happy and healthy — especially healthy — new year in 2021.
antennas; two approaches to multiband verticals; a ferrite Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay on the air! Remember, we
hams invented Social DXing!
*Email: <[email protected]> – 73, Rich, W2VU

8• CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 NEWS BYTES
New Flexibility for Multi-Operator Contest Stations
Both ARRL and CQ are making changes in certain contest • The team must determine and control band assignments, ensur-
rules in order to provide more flexibility for multi-operator con- ing that no more than one team station is transmitting on any given
testing in light of both the Coronavirus pandemic and advances band at a time.
in remote operating technology. • The multioperator contest station may be staffed at less than full
capacity while maintaining safe practices, so operating with a com-
bination of team members at home stations and team members at
ARRL DX Contest the contest station is permissible.
In late October, the ARRL issued the following guidelines for
multi-op stations competing in the 2021 ARRL DX Contest (both The 2021 ARRL DX Contest CW weekend will be February
CW and phone), temporarily permitting “team” contesting from 20-21; the phone weekend will be March 6-7. [Source: ARRL
multiple locations (but note that there must be an actual “multi- Letter 10/29/20]
operator contest station” in the mix):
CQ WPX Contests
• Team members may operate from their home stations in con- Effective with the 2021 CQ WPX RTTY Contest (February 13-
junction with the multioperator station. 14), all modes of the WPX Contest will permanently add a “Multi-
• Their home station must be located within a radius of 100 kilo- Transmitter Distributed” category. Essentially, it permits up to
meters (62 miles) of the multioperator contest station. six separate stations — one per authorized contest band —
• Their home station must be located within the same DXCC enti- under the same callsign from multiple locations within the same
ty as the multioperator contest station. In the case of U.S. and DX entity and CQ zone. Details are in the WPX RTTY Contest
Canadian stations, all team member stations must be in the same announcement on page 66 of this issue, and in this issue’s
U.S. state or Canadian province.
Contesting column, beginning on page 53.
• All team member stations must use the same callsign and
exchange as the multioperator contest station for the duration of the
The Multi-Transmitter Distributed category does not replace
contest. or supersede any other category, and applies only to the WPX
• Logging software must be networked, so that all team member contests (RTTY, SSB – March 27-28, 2021 — and CW — May
stations are using a common log. 29-30, 2021). There are no changes to the rules for the CQ
• Individual operators may not work the multioperator contest sta- World Wide DX family of contests.
tion or other team member stations using a personal callsign or other CQ’s general guidelines for multi-op stations encourage com-
callsign. pliance with local health rules, encourage remote operating
• All multioperator rules, such as band changes and number of where feasible, and discourage in-person multi-op contesting
signals on a band, still apply. See the full contest rules for details. except when the operators already live under the same roof.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 9

Technology Special

What’s the difference between tuning and matching an antenna?

W6KW explains, and then takes you step-by-step through the process for
tuning a Yagi.

How to Tune a Yagi Antenna

BY PETER J. DALTON,* W6KW

“Trial-and-error should be a process if one

wants the best performing antenna.”

I
have been asked a number of times, “How do I tune my
Yagi antenna?” I have answered these requests in writ-
ing. However, I have been spending considerable time
listening on 40 meters while I do various things in the ham
shack and have been saddened by the all-too-frequent con-
fusion some hams have over tuning an antenna versus
obtaining a good match. Here is what I have found to be
the best answer to both tuning and matching based on prac-
tical experience:
I believe an antenna should be tuned before it is matched. Photo A. W6KW’s 80-meter beam, which was featured in
Tuning consists of trimming and tweaking the antenna (or our July 1998 issue, was the subject of the tuning proce-
antenna array) itself to resonance on its design frequency, dures outlined in this article. As the author points out, there’s
as installed. Matching tunes the antenna and feed system to a big difference between tuning an antenna and matching it
present a 50-ohm load to the transmitter, even when the radio to the feedline and transmitter. (Photos from July 1998 CQ)
is operating on something other than the antenna’s resonant
frequency. tage of the improvement in signal-to-noise ratio available
The antenna should be tuned at its operating height above through design.
ground. Sometimes this takes interpolating. I did this recent-
ly on my full-sized 40-meter Yagi. I knew the frequency of Modeling Plus Trial-and-Error
resonance would change (increase) as the antenna was
raised. In my case, the antenna as I designed it was tuned Since I was dealing with shortened elements, and the lengths
at 7.100 MHz when at 23 feet above ground, but showed it were calculated on EZNEC at the time (1996), I knew some
was tuned at 7.228 when raised above 60 feet. My design trial-and-error was going to take place. In fact, trial-and-error
frequency was 7.150. should be a process if one wants the best performing anten-
It is important to remember that a Yagi is an array. It is na. I knew that if I peaked the front-to-back (f/b) ratio of the
like an electromagnetic radiator and is affected by nearby antenna, I would also be eliminating somewhat the high-angle
objects. This example is about tuning my 80-meter, 3-ele- noise and transmission. This is calculable on Smith charts.
ment Yagi with linear loading via coils in the center of each Forward gain was not a design objective since I knew that
half element, at 165 feet over the ground (Photo A). The when the array was tuned for maximum f/b, there would be a
step-by-step description that follows of tuning an antenna half dB or less of non-maximized forward gain. That’s mean-
is one that had to be performed to achieve the results that ingless when compared to signal-to-noise improvement.
I was after.
The design objective was to have an antenna that could Step One: Set the Driven Element Length
hear weak signals in California from all over the world. The There is no mystery in initially setting the driven element
lower ham band frequencies are noisy and, if you want to length. Even though the driven element was only 5 feet off
hear the DX, you have got to deal with the noise that comes the ground for this process, I put the 50-ohm coax across the
from all directions. Thus, my primary design objective was split element and tweaked the ends of the half element for
to reduce the noise from unwanted directions while 3.790, knowing full well that the frequency would change as
increasing the gain of the arriving signal. This perhaps the antenna was raised to 165 feet. The element was approx-
seems obvious, but unless one pays attention to this objec- imately 91 feet in length. It doesn’t matter whether the dri-
tive on 160, 80, and 40 meters, one will not take advan- ven element is resonant or not. It is merely the exciter of the
array and what matters is whether the array is functioning as
intended. In fact, the driven element can be considerably off
*email: <[email protected]> frequency and have minimum effect on gain and f/b.

10 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 I then tweaked the director and reflector at -5% and +5%
in lengths, respectively.

Step Two: Raise the Antenna and Tune

We raised the antenna piece-by-piece, starting with the
boom, and then each of the elements. This process is not
relevant to this article, so I will not go into detail of how we
did the mechanics. We did build a drop-down gangplank
which was bolted to the tower 31 feet below the boom and
designed a boom cradle so that we could tip the antenna to
a vertical position to work on either the director or the reflec-
tor (Photo B). This is discussed in my previous article in CQ
magazine.1 I decided to use my 20-meter antenna as a
source signal and use the 80-meter antenna for the receive
signal. I had a separate transmitter on 20 meters and turned
the 20-meter antenna perpendicular to the 80-meter anten-
na some 700 feet away. This would lessen the resonance
effect, if any, of the 20-meter antenna.

Step Three: Plot the Pattern

We had to establish a basis or starting point, so we had to
know what the pattern looked like before attempting surgery.
While running 1 watt into the 20-meter antenna on 80 meters,
we began to plot the front on the 80-meter antenna, mean-
ing we pointed the director at the 20-meter beam and decid-
Photo B. W6KW and friends were able to work on his big
ed we would measure the received signal every 25 kHz. The
80-meter Yagi by tilting it to vertical and climbing to a foldup
first discovery was that the 1-watt signal almost pinned the
catwalk on his tower.
S-meter on the 80-meter station, so we had to put in 40 dB
of attenuation. And we began to plot from 3.7 to 3.9 MHz,
writing down the S-meter reports. The antenna seemed to across the insulated dipole in a modified hairpin match. The
peak at 3.895 MHz. Next, we turned the 80-meter antenna new measurement showed about 18-dB f/b. By this time, we
180° to plot the signal off the back of the antenna. We found had shortened our frequency excursions to 3.750-3.830 MHz.
that best f/b was very close to 3.895 MHz but that we were We were now checking every 10 kHz.
barely seeing 15 dB f/b. Final tuning amounted to tweaking the reflector first, there-
by improving the f/b until we could make no further improve-
Step Four: Tune the Antenna ment, and then tweaking the director. The end result was
We knew that f/b was influenced more by the reflector than astounding. What we had done was create a very high-Q
by the director, so we pointed the antenna skyward and array with a perfect match at design frequency.
removed the reflector. This design by choice had the driven The f/b on 3.789 MHz, the true design frequency, was show-
element a bit closer to the reflector than to the director. An ing 35 dB. Many have said that could not be achieved, but
antenna can be made with equal spacing or with the driven here is the evidence. I could copy very weak signals on the
element closer to the director with almost similar results, but design frequency while the other 80-meter transmitter was
must be properly tuned to do so. The reflector was lowered on carrier on the 20-meter beam. I could not hear the carri-
to the ground and the tips were lengthened by about 6 inch- er unless I turned the 80-meter antenna toward the 20-meter
es on each side. The reflector was hoisted back up and the antenna and the front on signal went to S-9. The excursion
process repeated. The plot this time had lowered the best f/b was very limited. Not by VSWR, which was less than 2 to 1
to 3.840 MHz. We now had the beginnings of our meaning- over at least 100 kHz, but by f/b. Only 10 kHz either side of
ful plot. Now the director was obviously too long and so had design, the f/b fell to about 18 dB. When 20 kHz either side,
to be lowered and shortened. We did this and shortened the the f/b was down to near 10 dB.
director by 9 inches. This would allow for us to begin tuning This is clear evidence that VSWR is not an indication of
the array as we got closer to design frequency. Up it went antenna performance. It is an indication of match to the
and a new plot was taken. The best f/b was moving down- feedline. I was very happy with the results and on-air per-
ward in frequency and was now about 3.825 MHz. We decid- formance indicated the same. Reports from ZL typically
ed to see if the f/b had improved from 15 dB and it had not. had the station at 20 to 25 dB over S9, and when the anten-
This told us that we would have more work to do on the reflec- na was pointed 180° away, the other station was either in
tor once we got the array close to design frequency. We have the noise or non-existent.
not yet touched the driven element.
We continued the process until we got the array near 3.790
Many thanks to Dave Padrick, W6ANR, and Pete Graboski,
MHz. Tilting the antenna and removing and reinstalling the
W6OOL, for their help in designing, building, and testing this
element took about one hour each time. We did this process
antenna.
seven times over several weekends since I was only at the
ranch on weekends. Now, with the array close to design fre-
quency but not showing anything better than 15 dB f/b, it was Notes:
time to move the driven element down in frequency. We did 1. Dalton, “Designing and Building a Three Element 80 Meter Yagi,”
so by removing close to a foot off the tips and used a coil CQ, July 1998, p. 42

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 11

Technology Special
Screwdriver antennas have been around for decades, but why not take
advantage of modern technology to change bands and frequencies,
especially considering how difficult it is to route cables through today’s vehicles.
AA4PG and N4DKD offer one solution.

Screwdriver Antenna Controller For

Your Smartphone
BY PAT GRIFFIN,* AA4PG AND BRIAN WINGARD,# N4DKD

P
ick up any ham radio magazine a network address. You simply point complete project, except the smart-
from the sixties and you will like- your browser to it and click the buttons phone, can be built for around $20.
ly see an ad with the Webster on the webpage to change frequency.
Band Spanner mobile antenna mount- We have kept it simple so that all you The Hardware
ed on the back bumper of a Corvette need is this article and a few files eas- The idea is to turn the screwdriver motor
convertible. Changing frequency was a ily downloaded from the internet. The in one direction to increase the resonant
matter of pulling over on the side of the
two-lane and sliding the whip up or
down, which moved a contact along a
coil wound inside the antenna body.
Then, in a stroke of pure genius, Don
Johnson, W6AAQ, and others made the
coil moveable, attached an electric
screwdriver motor to it, and the screw-
driver antenna was born. Now, fre-
quency could be adjusted from the com-
fort of the front seat.
Now, as then, installation of a screw-
driver antenna involves snaking the
power cable from the cabin to the battery
and the coax and control cable to wher-
ever the antenna is mounted. While
crawling around under the dash doing
exactly that, we wondered if there might
be a better way. Clearly, the coax and
power cables have to be hard-wired. But
what about that control cable? In this age
of the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart
phones, something as simple as driving
a last-century electric screwdriver motor
should be a piece of cake.
We will describe a simple system
comprised of your smartphone or any
Wi-Fi®-capable device with a browser
and an IoT gizmo (ESP8266 Nodemcu
development board) that allows you to
remotely control the resonant frequen-
cy of the antenna. The ESP8266 cre-
ates a local website and will show up as

* 478 Cahaba Landings Rd

Birmingham, AL 35210
Email: <[email protected]>
Photo A. Utility box with board removed. The board fits into the slots which have
# 3229 Garden Lane been cut in the sides of the box. The male pins on the left bottom are for 12-volt
Birmingham, AL 35242 DC input and the female socket on the right is for connection to the screwdriver
Email: <[email protected]> antenna.

12 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 Figure 2. The webpage for <http://
192.168.4.1> that will show up on your
smartphone or other Wi-Fi-enabled
mobile device.

frequency and in the opposite direction

Figure 1. Schematic of the controller circuit. The four relays are part of the to decrease it. This feat is accomplished
MPJA 35787MP quad relay board and their connections on that board are IN1 by simply reversing the polarity of the
through IN4. voltage feeding the screwdriver motor.
This reversal is accomplished with four
single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) relays.
A relay board could be built from scratch
but is it hard to beat the Quad Channel
SPDT Relay Board (35787MP) with built-
in optoisolators from Marlin P Jones
(MPJA) for $6.95. If you use this board,
jumper Low and Com on headers S1
through S4.
The relays are driven by a couple of
2N2222 transistors and these are con-
nected to pins D6 and D7 on the
ESP8266. The only other connections
to the ESP8266 are 12-volt DC and
ground. The 12-volt DC is smoothed a
bit by 0.1 μF and 100 μF capacitors.
These hardware connections are
shown in Figure 1. Energizing relays
RY1 and RY2 raises the frequency and
energizing relays RY3 and RY4 lowers
it. The connections for these relays are
pins IN1 through IN4 on the relay board.
Notice the 12-volt DC for the Up relays
is routed through the normally-open
(NO) contacts of the Down relays and
vice versa. This routing is necessary
because at power-on, the ESP8266
performs a power-on system test
(POST) resulting in all four relays being
energized. This test results in a direct
short of the incoming 12-volt DC since
all SPDT contacts are thrown. By rout-
Photo B. The controller mounted in the utility box. ing the 12-volt DC through the NO con-

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 13

 At this point, we are ready to install the antenna controller
Parts List program or “sketch” in Arduino terminology. When you first
started the IDE, you probably noticed a default sketch con-
C1 0.1-uF, 50-volt capacitor sisting of a void setup() section and a void loop() section.
C2 100-uF, 50-volt electrolytic capacitor Delete all of the lines so you have a blank sketch. Then name
Q1, Q2 2N2222 NPN transistor or equivalent the new sketch we will create by clicking on File and Save
R1, R2 1K, 1/2-watt resistor As. Use whatever name you like, such as antennacontroller.
R3, R4 10K, 1/2-watt resistor Now, in your browser navigate to <https://tinyurl.com/
R5 10-ohm, 1/2-watt resistor y5v3s7ak> or if that fails, navigate to <www.cahabatechnology.
RY1-RY4 SPDT, 12-volt DC relay. Included on MPJA com>, select Other Projects and then select Antenna Controller
35787MP relay board. Arduino code. The code will appear in your browser window.
ESP8266 ESP8266 Wi-Fi Nodemcu development Simply copy and paste that code into the Arduino IDE.
board version 3 available from various To be sure the code was copied and pasted without a glitch,
internet sources, e.g., <www.ebay.com/str/ click the check-mark icon in the IDE to compile the code. If
miniduino>. Be sure to get the Nodemcu the code compiled, we are ready to upload to the ESP8266.
development board since it contains the Click the right-arrow icon and the code should compile and
USB driver chip. We used Version 3 but then upload. At this point you may need to change the port.
version 1 or 2 may also work. If the upload fails, try a different port. If all ports fail, try a dif-
Misc Perf board, 4-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. PVC utility ferent speed under Tools, Upload speed. Normally, an upload
box, two-pin polarized connector for 12-volt speed of 115200 is fine.
DC input, connector for screwdriver antenna
Operation
tacts, the relays are still energized during POST but there is To check the board on the bench, connect a light-emitting
no voltage on the SPDT contacts. diode (LED) and a 330-ohm resistor in series from pin D7 to
Photos A and B show the completed unit installed in a util- ground and do the same between pin D6 and ground. The
ity box in which a couple of slots have been cut to hold the LED connected to D7 indicates Up frequency and the LED
perf board containing the ESP8266. This arrangement allows to D6 indicates Down frequency.
reprogramming by simply sliding out the perf board and Access the WiFi setup on your PC and you will see a
unplugging the ESP8266 from the header sockets. NodeMCU network. Select that network. Then point your
browser to <192.168.4.1>1 and you should see the screen
The Software in Figure 2. Click Up and the D7 LED should light. Clicking
The ESP8266 is programmable using the ubiquitous Arduino Down should light the Down LED. Similarly, clicking Up Fine
system. If you haven’t used an Arduino, now is the time to or Down Fine should light the LED for about 0.1 sec.
start. The hardware is inexpensive and someone has prob- The final step is to install the utility box in your vehicle. We
ably written code for any application you can dream up. didn’t want the antenna controller powering on each time the
Simply Google your application and “Arduino” and you are vehicle was started so we connected the 12-volt DC input to
on your way. And, if you want to really learn the C language the vehicle headlights. If your vehicle has some sort of aux-
we highly recommend Purdum, 2015 (see References). iliary 12-volt DC that can be switched from the cabin, that
Follow these steps to install the Arduino Integrated would be even better. Connect ground of the antenna con-
Development Environment (IDE) on a Windows PC. troller to the vehicle chassis.
Installation on Linux works equally well: In operation, click Up or Down to move to a different band
or from one end of a band to another. Within a band, click
1. Navigate to <www.arduino.cc/en/main/software> with one of the Fine buttons to tweak the tuning.
your browser and follow the instructions to download and As we said, we have kept it simple but what’s the next step?
install the IDE. Well, storing tuning locations in terms of turns count for
2. Start the Arduino on your PC, click on Files, then click favorite frequencies, using SWR data to control the Arduino,
on Preferences and enter <https://arduino.esp8266.com/ or even using voice commands are just some ideas. Since
stable/package_esp8266com_index.json> in the Additional the controller is Arduino-based, whatever you can think up,
Board Manager URLs field. and code, is probably possible.
3. Next, click on Tools, then click on Board, then click on
Boards Manager. Enter esp8266 in the search field. Select References:
• Purdum, J. “Beginning C for Arduino, Second edition,” Cincinnati,
the esp8266 platform and click install. The current version as Ohio, Ecosoft, Inc., 2015.
of 9/6/20 is 2.7.4. • These websites provide a wealth of information and we borrowed
4. Next, again click on Tools and Board. You will now see heavily from them:
an option for ESP8266 Boards. Select that and then <https://tinyurl.com/y4uew6uk> & <https://tinyurl.com/y6a75hfc>
NodeMCU1.0(ESP-12E Module).
Note:
5. Before connecting the ESP8266 board, Select Tools and 1. The IP address <192.168.4.1> is the default. If this address con-
then Port. Note which ports are available. There will likely be flicts with your installation, simply add these lines with the appropriate
only one. address information to the sketch:
6. Now, plug the ESP8266 board into a USB port and select IPAddress local_ip(xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx);
Tools and then Port. The port you did NOT see in step 5 is IPAddress gateway(xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx);
the port you want. Windows may have already selected the IPAddress subnet(xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx);
We found the network connection to be more reliable without a pass-
port. If not, select it. It may be necessary to change this later. word. In this particular application, a password does not seem neces-
If you are using Linux, it may be necessary to change the sary; however, one can be added by including this line in the sketch with
permissions on the port using a command like sudo chmod the password in quotes:
777 /dev/ttyUSBn where n is the port number. const char* password = “”;

14 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site


    

 
  

  
The new HG3 stepper tuned Mag Loop
Antenna (MLA) sets a new standard delivering
unprecedented capability in remote tuning,
performance and convenience for an MLA. It
employs a proven, accurate and repeatable
stepper motor design. Band selection, remote
tuning, including optional loop rotation, is
controlled via a microcontroller driving a high
resolution stepper motor.
A built-in digital SWR bridge provides auto-
tuning based on an SWR scan. This ensures
compatibility with most radios. Manual tuning
uses a convenient rotary encoder knob - no
more finicky push buttons. The four-line LCD
displays band selected, SWR, ERP, Cap value
and more. The bottom line - count on top-
notch RX and TX performance!

  

STEPPER MOTOR ACCURACY

CONVENIENT REMOTE TUNING

DISPLAYS BAND, SWR, ERP & MORE

QUICK BAND SELECTION

AUTO-TUNING BASED ON SWR

80m - 10m COVERAGE AVAILABLE

NO COMPROMISE SPOT-ON TUNING

MAX POWER: 100 W PEP*
A precise LC match at the
desired frequency ensures
spot-on tuning (red SWR,
blue RL, green Z) and
minimizes mismatch losses
within the MLA's specified
frequency range.

* For EXPRESS & PRO models, see specifications for limitations

  

13690 Wisteria Dr. NE Aurora, OR 97002 • ph: 503-915-2490 • preciserf.com • Some items may be optional • © 2020 rev 13
Technology Special

Magnetic loop antennas can be effective in locations where small and/or

low-profile antennas are needed. But they have very narrow bandwidths
and require frequent retuning. K6KM shares a method he devised to
automate the process and provide remote control as well.

A Self-Calibrating Tuning-Tracking
Controller for Magnetic Field
Loop Antennas
The Quest for a Smaller, Yet Practical, Antenna
BY ROBERTO SADKOWSKI,* K6KM

E
lectromagnetic waves travel in space from transmitter
to receiver. They carry two components: an electric
field and a magnetic field, which are perpendicular to
each other. Traditional half-wave dipoles rely on resonating
and coupling the electric field component while presenting a
practical feedline impedance to couple to the transceiver for
good power transfer efficiency. In the quest to reduce the
physical size of the antennas, the dipole could be shortened
and still radiate; however, the feedline will present a strong
capacitive reactive component. The feedline reactive com-
ponent can be compensated by adding an inductor. The
inductor will add losses to the system which reduce the radi-
ation resistance of the dipole. More importantly, given that
the dipole acts as a capacitor, any environmental object at
near-field will drastically change the characteristics of the
antenna, making it impractical for use in more than one loca-
tion, at which you can optimize it for its surrounding area.
A more robust solution was devised trying to work with the
magnetic field component. Instead of a shortened dipole, a
shortened magnetic loop was implemented. To be consid-
ered short, the physical length of the loop inductor has to be
around one tenth of a wavelength.
Once excited by a sinusoidal RF current, the loop acts as
a lump inductor, thus less sensitive to nearby objects. The
feedline impedance becomes heavily inductive and a capac-
itor can be connected to compensate the reactive compo-
nent. Notice that the LC combination becomes a very high
Q circuit. It presents very high gain, which is beneficial to
overcome the low radiation resistance, but it also provides a
very narrow bandwidth. Very high currents are involved in
the transmission of RF signals so stray resistances in the
loop have to be minimized to avoid power losses. The radi-
ation pattern of magnetic loop antennas is fairly directional
at near field with nulls perpendicular to the loop.
In addition to amateur communication, these types of
antennas are used for direction finding, AM receivers (ferrite
Photo A. 100-watt 80/40-meter magnetic field loop antenna
* Email: <[email protected]> built with air gap variable capacitor and DC motor.

16 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

core with multiple loops for compact size), maritime com- In Reference 3, the distance limits to human RF exposure of
munications, etc. More information on small magnetic loop magnetic field loop antennas are discussed. The issue with
antennas can be found in References 1 and 2. magnetic field loop antennas is that reactive power (power
in an inductive circuit) is amplified from the transmitted RF
Magnetic Field Loop Antennas: Advantages power by a factor of Q/2π.
and Disadvantages For a 3.5-MHz frequency with a 2.5 kHz-bandwidth, the Q
is 1,400. If we apply 1.5 kilowatts of power to the feedline,
Advantages of small magnetic loop transmit antennas
include:
1. Small size compared to half-wave dipole or Yagi. Usually
one-tenth to one-third of a wavelength to create a fairly even
current distribution on the loop, which then behaves as a lump
inductor.
2. Low profile. They don’t need to be high in the sky to prop-
agate efficiently since the electric field is parallel to earth
(assuming vertical mounting).
3. Quiet. Near-field directivity to block unwanted local inter-
ference, so they can act as a QRM reducer.
4. Homebrew. Easy to implement; in fact, many hams go
through the process of building one at home.
5. Versatility. Low-angle radiation for DX and high angle of
radiation for NVIS (near-vertical incidence skywave).
But they also have some major disadvantages: Their nar-
row bandwidth requires frequent retuning, and losses may
be high.
The loop being short presents a high inductive reactance
component to the feedline. To overcome this, a variable
capacitor is connected in parallel with the inductor. The LC
tank behaves as a very high-Q parallel circuit with a very
low bandwidth. The losses in the loop and capacitor deter-
mine the ultimate Q and bandwidth. Larger losses are more
practical for SSB communications where 2.5-kHz band-
width is needed, but the losses reduce the efficiency of the
loop as more RF power is dissipated as heat instead of
radiated power.
Another major practical usage limitation is that the high Q
requires the loop be tuned along the band. For QRP appli-
cations, this can be done with a simple knob on the shaft of
the variable capacitor. The loop then needs to be physically Photo B. Air-gap variable capacitor and non-optimized loop
close to the operator. Magnetic field loops produce more connections add to losses. DC motor control does not have
intense RF near-fields than common half wavelength dipoles. enough resolution to tune effectively.

Figure 1. Magnetic field loop antenna calculator by AA5TB. Comparison of 60 watts with no stray losses (limiting the
voltage in the cap at 3 kilovolts) and 100 watts with 30 milliohms added losses.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 17

the effective reactive power becomes 334 kilowatts. In CW antennas manually. By operating, we mean tuning them
with 500 Hz of bandwidth, it becomes 1.67 megawatts! Even while we QSY.
with QRP, the same antenna with 10 watts of RF power yields But there is hope: The good news is that the near-field
an effective reactive power of 5.5 kilowatts. intensity decreases with the cube of the distance to the
Of course, this is within a very short distance of the antenna.
loop, but it demonstrates the issue of operating these
Self-Calibration to the Rescue
Many schemes have been devised to remotely control the
movement of the capacitor shaft using DC or stepping motors.
In one case (Reference 4), a clever system is developed in
which the frequency is read out of the transceiver and a micro-
computer is programmed to tune the capacitor so as to pro-
vide a pseudo continuous tuning mechanism. The position
of the capacitor for a particular frequency is stored in a mem-
ory which implies the characterization of the loop has been
done at a certain time and in a particular environment.
This article builds on that concept by implementing a self-
calibrating loop that can be re-calibrated anytime the opera-
tor determines that the environment has changed. For
instance, the loop is portable and is installed in a forest, and
the temperature and humidity of a particular day has influ-
enced the loop’s behavior or the loop is rotated and the capac-
itive coupling to nearby objects has varied.
The self-calibration algorithm starts by finding the edge of
the lowest band, in this case starting with 80 meters, which
is used as reference, and then calibrate every 1 kHz of the
band while storing the capacitor position (steps from the ref-
erence) in a non-volatile memory. Afterwards, the algorithm
will proceed to calibrate the next band, in this case 40 meters.
Once the steps are stored in non-volatile memory, the fre-
quency of the rig is read via ICOM’s CI-V protocol and a look-
up table is used to move the motor / capacitor to the corre-
sponding position.

Building My Loop Antenna

I built and installed an 80/40-meter magnetic field loop anten-
na in my yard (Photo A) that turned out to use a fairly lossy
Photo C. Prototype built over wooden base employing a air-gap variable capacitor of 3-kilovolts rating. The way the
3-loop wire antenna. copper loop is connected to the capacitor (Photo B) also adds

Figure 2. Block diagram of the antenna controller tracker.

18 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

a significant amount of resistance which diminishes the effi- 21 turns. With these specifications, the loop would become
ciency of the loop. In fact, the calculator (Figure 1) was pre- much more efficient and it would support up to 1.5 kilowatts
dicting the maximum power to the loop be 60 watts at 3.5 MHz. of transmitter power.
I had tried my loop at 100 watts with no problem, the reason In order to facilitate developing the software, a prototype
being that the resistive losses limit the voltage at the capaci- was built over a wooden base (Photo C), using a wire loop
tor terminals. As the calculator shows, an addition of 30 mil- with three turns to act as an 80/40-meter loop antenna. The
liohms at 100 watts (second table in Figure 1) reduces the volt- difference compared to the final copper loop implementation
age in the capacitor to its limit of 3 kilovolts, consequently is a lower Q (larger bandwidth), reduced efficiency, lower
reducing the efficiency of the antenna and increasing the band- power, and lower gain. The advantage is having a full sys-
width. For this reason, vacuum variable capacitors are favored tem next to the transceiver and computer to develop the soft-
over air gap ones by providing higher voltage ratings and multi- ware. After the final software is loaded, the hardware can be
turn capability while reducing losses. implemented on the full-sized antenna and the system will
The same magnetic field loop specifications were used here self-calibrate to the new loop.
for the design but now using a vacuum variable capacitor The circuit is shown in Figure 2 and consists of an Arduino
rated at 12,500 picofarads and 15 kilovolts of isolation with Mega microcomputer module and a stepper motor (manu-

Figure 3. High-level flow chart of calibration routine.

20 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 facturer model# 17HS13-0404S-PG5)
with a planetary gear reduction ratio of
5.18:1, providing enough torque to
move the shaft of the variable capaci-
tor. A 10-turn potentiometer is connect-
ed via a timing belt and pulley system
with 4:1 reduction to the fiberglass
shaft. The potentiometer is used as
position feedback in a resistor-divider
configuration to ensure the capacitor
never travels beyond its safe range.
A simple signal conditioning interface
(Reference 5) connects to the ICOM
7300 CI-V for frequency reading. An H-
Bridge fed by 24-volts DC and con-
trolled by the Arduino provides power to
the stepper motor. A homebrew SWR
measurement circuit (Reference 6)
consisting of a DFS (direct frequency
synthesizer), a bridge, and a logarith-
mic amplifier finds the lowest SWR of
the loop and capacitor combination. A
coax relay connects the loop to either
Figure 4. Three round-trip step-by-step resonant frequency measurement high- the SWR measurement for calibration
lighting the hysteresis observed. or to the rig antenna connector.

Program
80m Calibration Steps
The high-level flow chart of the program
is shown in Figure 3. First, the program
waits for either a signal from a front
panel button to start the calibration
process or, if already calibrated, reads
the frequency of the rig and, if different
from the previous reading, it moves the
capacitor to the corresponding new fre-
quency stored as motor steps, relative
to the 3.5-MHz reference.
In calibration, the capacitor is brought
all the way to the highest value by mea-
suring the potentiometer voltage divider
while turning 500 steps at a time. Once
the limit is reached, the motor is moved
in the other direction looking for the
lower edge of the 80-meter band (3.5
MHz). It does so at 500 steps per SWR
measurement. This way, the 3.5-MHz
40m Calibration point is eventually overshot. When that
happens, the motor is moved back in
50-step intervals per SWR measure-
ment looking for the 3.5-MHz frequen-
cy. Once again, the algorithm will over-
shoot the target frequency point and
then repeat, moving back in 5-step
intervals while measuring SWR. Once
the 3.5-MHz point is reached within 1
kHz, the internal step counter memory
is reset to zero and it becomes the ref-
erence point for the motor steps vs. fre-
quency. As you can see, the process of
finding the lower edge of the lowest
band is a successive approximation
algorithm.
Repeatability measurements were
done to determine the actual resolution
of the system using the internal SWR
Figure 5. 80-meter and 40-meter calibration results. measurement circuit. Given that the

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 21

bandwidth is very narrow, a 1-kHz reso- The first thing to notice is that the the reference, steps=0 which corre-
lution specification was defined. First, curves have hysteresis, and this will sponds to 3.5 MHz, and the system is
the internal ADC (analog-to-digital con- be discussed later. The other thing ready to start automatically tuning to the
verter) of the Arduino Mega could not be to prove was that the resolution was ade- rig’s frequency. Figure 5 shows the cal-
used since it provides only 10 bits of res- quate. Multiple passes were run, and the ibration data and, as expected, the 40-
olution, which represents about 0.1% of curves overlapped to show that it pro- meter results look more linear since
7.30 MHz (highest frequency for this duces repeatable results. This charac- there is less variability of the capacitor
implementation, top of the 40-meter terization was done to verify capability of to sweep the band.
band). In order to achieve 0.5-kHz reso- the system, but are not part of the actu- For the non-volatile memory, we
lution, we need 0.5/7300 = 0.0068% res- al calibration algorithm. selected an FRAM (ferroelectric ran-
olution on the ADC, which corresponds For the calibration algorithm, we start dom access memory) with 256 kBits
to roughly 14 bits. I chose a 16-bit dif- at the 3.5-MHz frequency with refer- that provides millions of writes without
ferential ADC used in a 15-bit single- ence steps=0. Then the SWR bridge is degrading performance. Memory was
ended configuration with an I2C inter- programmed with the following 1-kHz also interfaced to the Arduino via I2C
face to the Arduino Mega. Notice that point and the motor sweeps through a with its own address. Notice that the
15-bit resolution on a 5-volt reference range around this frequency to find the ADC and FRAM share the I2C with dif-
represents an LSB (least significant bit) relative number of steps needed to ferent addresses for simplicity.
of 0.15 mV. We need 14 bits for 500-Hz achieve that new tuning frequency. The
resolution, which corresponds to 0.3 mV. algorithm then repeats over the entire Backlash
This highlights the need for very low sys- 500-kHz bandwidth and the relative As seen in Figure 5, the steps needed
tem noise in order to reach the desired steps are stored in the non-volatile to reach a particular frequency depend-
calibration accuracy. memory for use in the look-up table by ed on the direction in which the motor
Going back to the calibration routine, the tuning process. Once the 3.999- was moving. This is called hysteresis
once the lower edge of the 80-meter MHz frequency is calibrated, the pro- and is a fairly common problem in elec-
band is found, an internal routine was gram looks for the next lower band tro-mechanical systems. In this case, it
generated to characterize the LC loop edge, in this case 40 meters or 7.0 MHz. took quite some time and investigation
by stepping the motor one step at a time It then repeats the successive approxi- to identify the culprit. I found, while run-
and measuring for the lowest SWR. mation algorithm employed before. ning characterization, that when the
Once the highest edge of the band was Once found, a new calibration is run on motor reversed direction, the shaft
reached, the measurements were 40 meters and relative steps from zero would not move for a few motor steps.
repeated with the motor in reverse are stored in the lookup table. After the After discussing this with Gary Johnson,
motion with the results for three round final calibration frequency of 7.299 is NA6O, he pointed me to backlash. The
trips shown in Figure 4. reached, the motor is brought back to step motor has a 5.18:1 planetary

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22 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site
reduction gear to increase resolution memory position 3975 when the manu- FRAM at position 3880 as a memory of
and augment torque. This was needed al tuning was done. where the routine was in case of an
to ensure enough force to move the unexpected shutdown.
hefty 500-picofarad vacuum variable Automatic Fine-Tuning The motor is then moved 50 steps away
capacitor. Another feature added to the system from the selected frequency and an SWR
It turns out gears don’t necessarily was automatic fine-tuning. Instead of sweep of 100 points is run using the rou-
touch each other all the time, only when letting the operator manually control the tines already developed for calibration.
they are moving in a particular direction. motor to find an optimum SWR point via The motor then moves to the new tuned
Once they turn to the opposite direction, audio or visually on the scope screen, position and the step difference value is
there is a clearance between them that the operator is provided with a push- stored in FRAM position 3895.
has to be overcome to start moving the button to command a sweep of SWR The routine remains in a loop state,
shaft. This clearance is called backlash and automatically find the optimum tun- looking for a rig frequency change. Once
and has been studied extensively ing point for that particular frequency. the operator QSYs, the motor is correct-
(Reference 7). Motors with non-back- Here, too, there is a flag stored in ed for the value in memory and then pro-
lash gears exist, but they are very
expensive and might not provide the
torque required.
In order to overcome backlash, we SteppIR would like to wish everyone Joy, Peace and Safety! We are
have to ensure the motor is moving in
celebrating the end of an unprecedented year, with the SteppIR...
a single direction while tuning. In our
case, we move from lower to higher fre-
quency. That way we can ensure that
the steps necessary to achieve a de- H O L I DAY A L L- P RO D U C T S S A L E !
sired frequency are repeatable. When
tuning a higher frequency, the motor is
turned in the same direction. If we
choose a lower frequency, the motor
reverses, overshoots a certain number
of steps to overcome backlash and then
returns to the correct position.

12%
Manual Tuning
Once parked on a particular tuned fre-
quency, the operator might find that the
tuning is not optimal given recent
changes in the environmental condi-
tions. A manual tuning routine was
OFF EVERYTHING
G
added, started by pushing the button of
an encoder on the front panel. The
encoder directly controls the motor by
one step at a time in either direction, giv-
ing the operator the freedom to manu-
ally fine-tune.
The way this routine works is as fol-
lows: The pushbutton is checked for
activation. If detected, then a flag (a
value different than zero) is written into
FRAM position 3950 to keep a memo-
ry of where the program is. The pro-
gram then proceeds to check the data
against the clock coming from the
encoder and moves steps in either
direction, keeping an incremented /
decremented count in FRAM memory
position 3975. Once the operator wants
to exit this routine, he / she pushes the
encoder button again. This resets the
flag and moves the motor back to its USE COUPON CODE HOLIDAY12 AT CHECKOUT!

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The flag serves the purpose of keep-
ing memory of where the program was
in case of an unexpected shutdown.
Every time at the beginning of the pro-
gram, the flag is tested and if true, the
steppIR
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motor will correct for the value at FRAM

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 23

 troller needs 24 volts DC so the power
supply would be connected to an outlet
and low voltage wiring employed (sim-
ilar to those used for low-voltage light-
ing in gardens).
If more advanced futures are desired
such as manual and automatic tuning
plus calibration controlled from the
shack, sprinkler wire can be deployed
together with the coax from the shack
to the antenna.
A more user-friendly approach was
employed here using a 2.4-GHz wireless
link between the shack and the antenna
controller. This link uses low-power bi-
directional RF transmission and is suit-
able for the distances between 50 and
200 feet. The controller box in the shack
as shown in Photo D contains the
encoder, push buttons, and LEDs plus a
RF24L01 with LNA (low-noise amplifier)
Photo D. Wireless remote control unit.
and power amplifier, while receiving the
CI-V from the ICOM transceiver. An
ceeds to move to the new frequency and since time here is not necessarily of the Arduino reads the incoming frequency
the flag is reset, leaving the routine and essence. When the tuning algorithm was data from the rig and local buttons sta-
returning to the main program. developed, it was found that a QSY at tus and sends the data wirelessly to the
In case of an unexpected power fail- 35 rpm from 80 meters to 40 meters took Arduino in the antenna controller. It also
ure during this routine, once the pro- approximately 90 seconds. The speed of receives information from the antenna
gram restarts it looks for the flag. If set, the motor was then increased to 135 rpm controller for LED status. This way, the
it will correct for the value stored in and the QSY now takes only 20 seconds. only connections needed between the
FRAM position 3895. After repeated band changes it was shack and the antenna are the coaxial
found that no steps were missed. cable and power.
The Universal Controller and Conclusion
Some Additional Features Remote Operation
The optimum location for the loop Magnetic field loop antennas are a great
I own a few vacuum variable capaci- compromise for a small QTH or where
antenna will be dictated by the FCC
tors that I could use to build loops for neighbors impose restrictions to in-
exposure limitation guidelines, avail-
different bands. This program can be ability of space at your QTH, and keep- stalling large structures. By easing the
extended to seek not just the lower part ing the antenna preferably one loop calibration and tuning of such antennas,
of 80 meters but to look for the lowest diameter above ground. Cables from they become more usable for search
band it can find, starting with 160 the shack to the antenna will limit the and pounce (tuning) or just for running
meters. Then it will proceed to calibrate practicality of the installation. in a contest in a particular frequency.
the band and do the same for the fol- The minimum number of connections I would like to thank my mentor in this
lowing band. More than two bands are for an easy setup would be the coax project, Dave Leddon, K6DHL, who not
not practical for these types of loops as from rig to the antenna and a pair of only gave me advice but also provided
the sensitivity of capacitor adjustment wires to supply the antenna controller me with valuable pieces of code. Also,
to frequency becomes very large. Also, with frequency information from the rig. Gary Johnson, NA6O, who custom-fab-
the bandwidth increases as the loop The “Calibrate” button could be locat- ricated a coupling for the motor shaft
becomes larger in terms of wavelength ed at the base of the antenna since it is and also enlightened me on mechani-
and stops behaving as a short loop, something that would be seldom per- cal issues I would face and helped me
more closely resembling a very inef- formed. Notice that the antenna con- solve the backlash problem.
fective folded dipole.
The only parameters the system will
need from the user are the edges of the References:
vacuum variable capacitor mechanical 1. “An Overview of the Underestimated Magnetic Loop HF Antenna,” By Leigh Turner, VK5KLT
movement, which are measured through <https://tinyurl.com/uzmljc4>
a resistor divider multi-turn potentiome- 2. “Small Magnetic Loop Antenna Theory,” by Ian Scott, ZL4NJ <https://tinyurl.com/yxhgql6z>
ter connected to the main shaft via a tim- 3. QST, March 2012, Page 54, Table 2
4. “Using an Arduino to Automatically Tune an MFJ-1788 Magnetic Loop Antenna and Elecraft
ing belt and pulley. KX3 Transceiver,” Elwood Downey WBØOEW, QEX – November / December 2015
5. “Communicating With ICOM Radios With an Arduino,” Dave Leddon, <https://
Optimizing the System tinyurl.com/y3774964>
6. “Sweeper: An Arduino SWR Scanner,” Alan Biocca, W6AKB – Chapter 18 – Ham Radio
The motor speed was first selected for for Arduino and Picaxe, ARRL, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111
maximum torque. From the manufactur- 7. “Motor Servo with Backlash,” 2.017J Design of Electromechanical Robotic Systems, Fall
er’s specifications, that is achieved at 35 2009 MIT
rpm. All calibration runs at this speed

24 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Technology Special

Here’s a portable battery box that does much more than hold your
battery — it has a built-in voltmeter, connectors for radios, USB charging
ports, and solar panel inputs. WB6NOA gives it a field test.

CQ Reviews:
Impulse Electronics Max Go Box
A Battery Box with Brains!
BY GORDON WEST,* WB6NOA

I
am a big fan of the new technology, lightweight, Lithium- This hubby and wife operation has no problem in cus-
Iron-Phosphate batteries (LiFePO4) for extended-time tomizing what you have or need, so you can tell if you may
field operations. But for “weekend ops,” even a new tech- already have a specific battery that needs to fit in the box.
nology 40-amp-hour (Ah) 12-volt DC battery weighing only They love customizing — that’s their thing for us happy ham-
10 pounds could really use a battery box for easy handling, sters, configuring our personal battery box and voltage man-
when going maritime mobile, river rafting, or mountain top- agement system.
ping for microwave and SOTA (Summits o the Air) ops. The Max Go-Box, their largest box, comes with these out-
My search for the right weather-tight battery box led me to side built-in jacks and meters and stuff (Photo B):
Impulse Electronics,1 from which I see Marvin Munster,
• Rubber-gasketed lid, waterproof floating black case. It
W6MJM, and his wife Sherry, KF6GSA, at almost all local
rivals what I have seen for three times more money at marine
hamfests, with a booth tabletop full of 12-volt devices and a
electronics stores. (Sorry, no purge valve.) No, it’s not intend-
full selection of battery boxes for portable ops.
ed for floating, but it is waterproof if you close all the rubber
I love a lot of options and metering in my future battery box,
covers over the meter and Anderson Powerpole openings.
so they allowed me to test their top-of-the-line MAX GO BOX
• LED-lighted on / off switch, powers down the meter and
(Photo A), measuring approximately 14 x 12 x 6 inches, that
USB charging ports for extended periods of no use.
would easily carry my 10-pound Bioenno Power2 LiFePO4
• Accessory car lighter socket with weatherproof cover, 30
40-amp hour battery, with enough room for even going to my
amps.
larger Bioenno Power 60-Ah beast battery.
• Dual Anderson Powerpole voltage-out connectors, on a
30-amp auto-reset circuit breaker. (Not all hams have spare
* Contributing Editor, CQ fuses in the field!)
2414 College Drive • Digital daylight blue voltmeter, in between a pair of 2.4-
Costa Mesa, CA 92626 amp USB charger ports, one for each type of phone you may
<[email protected]> have (Photo C).

Photo A. The Impulse Electronics Max Go Box features Photo B. All the ports, with all openings seen in the closed
waterproof and tough construction. position for protection from the elements.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 25

 It takes long-nose pliers or a special tool to separate these
connectors, by pushing in the twin locking tabs at the same
time. Finger pressure was fruitless.
OK, big Bioenno Power 4-amp flexible solar panel, and it
goes into the upper or lower YELLOW positive-marked
Powerpole connectors on the box. Bingo, I see the inside bat-
tery going from 12.8 volts, finally up to 14.6 volts on the panel
meter, and then the Maximum Point Power Tracking con-
troller keeps it topped off. When brim full, you will see a con-
stant 14.4 to 14.6 VDC under no load, which is normal with
these solar charge controllers.
The fast 5-volt USB Type C QC3.0 charger, built in to the
digital voltmeter, is great for our California fire evacuation
shelters — clients, firefighters, and Red Cross workers are
Photo C. Daylight-viewable voltmeter and cellphone / tablet always looking for a cell phone fast-charge, which the bat-
fast-charger. tery box does very well. Older, slower, charging devices will
also work fine with this charging circuit (Photo E).
I use Roger at Wiredco.com for his unique USB current and
voltmeter device to monitor charging current going in.
At home before your outing, the AC charger is an option,
and when the battery in the box is fully charged, the AC charg-
er LED goes from red to green and stops supplying current
to the battery. The charger may be left connected to AC if
you wish. You can operate while it is connected. Watch the
box voltmeter — daylight viewable blue — to confirm rising
battery voltage, up to 14.6 VDC.
These boxes from Impulse Electronics (.com) are designed
for LiFePO4 higher voltage battery technology, so an AGM
or other type of flooded battery charger is NOT advised. But
they can work around this if you have a heavy rechargeable
battery that needs a box. The solar charge controller is
designed for only LiFePO4 batteries.
Bioenno Power LiFePO4 batteries all have their own inter-
nal protection circuit against any input voltage errors and
will normally be reset by removal of the problem. If the
battery does not reset by itself, it can be reset easily by
Photo D. Input voltage-regulated yellow PowerPole con- disconnecting it from the circuit, waiting 30 seconds, and
nections for solar panels. then plugging it into any 13- to 15-volt DC source to get it
going again.
• Twin Anderson Powerpole yellow (+) and black (-) solar From the built-in regulator / controller, the RFI (interfer-
panel inputs (Photo D), with a custom series MPPT ence on high frequency) is manageable, as long as the HF
(Maximum Power Point Tracking) built-in controller set for antenna is more than 5 feet away from the box. I’ll cut that
LiFePO4 14.6-VDC cutoff regulation. down with snap-on toroids on the inside cables. Any type
or brand of smart charger with regulation will emit close-
On the Inside: proximity white noise on HF. Unfortunately, this noise
comes with the technology. I experienced no noise on VHF
• Lots of Velcro™ strips to anchor things down. or UHF to work the International Space Station with an
• Closed-cell foam padding for the sides and on some bat- Arrow or Elk antenna.
teries, the top. Oh yes, check your portable solar panel glass or clear cov-
• Anderson Powerpole output connector with auto-reset cir- ering for any bird droppings or shadows — most panels for
cuit breaker. portable use will drop charging current by a half amp if a seag-
• House-power LiFePO4 charger with LED to indicate com- ull leaves the panel occluded.
pletion of charge cycle. The voltmeter shows a slightly lower voltage when the HF or
VHF / UHF rig gets plugged in and turned on. The Bioenno
And all of this is configurable when you order the box. (If Power LiFePO4 battery keeps a very constant 13.6 volts under
you’re still using a heavy sealed AGM battery, Marvin will lots of transmitting. When it gets down to 12.4 volts, it’s time to
give you suggestions for safe charging using his customized recharge a bit more with a clean solar panel. Or, add a second
battery box. –WB6NOA) panel in the twin Yellow Powerpole input connectors.
The yellow Anderson Powerpole terminal was Marvin’s
Testing, Testing! idea, and he hopes others will adopt this smart idea on where
If you already have portable solar panels, rig them up for to plug an external solar panel into a built-in solar charge
Powerpole connectors. I have a nice Bioenno flexible solar controller.
panel, but needed to add a longer cable (which Impulse has We made several International Space Station cross-band
available) to the low resistance black MC4 connectors that repeater contacts from the box, and with a mobile radio on
come with some new portable panels. medium power, it held voltage throughout. And yes, the box

26 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 is large enough to accommodate a
small transceiver as well (Photo F).
If you expect wet weather on a boat,
or rain on a mountain top, button up
each of the external connector covers,
and they will keep waves and water out.
The box is watertight, but not sub-
mersible, for a river raft swim in the
rapids. But a big cold splash, no prob-
lem, as long as you have the meter cov-
ers and power jacks closed up tight with
the strong sealing tabs that are includ-
ed, and affixed with a flexible tab in front
of any opening.
The case is lightweight and tough. As
long as the battery is held in place inside
the box, it can easily survive a slide
down a hill after running your setup all
day on a summit.
Photo E. My multi-phone cables kept fire personnel well fast-charged in the field. With so many available variations to
customize the box exactly for your
needs, and to see the technical specs on
each device available for the battery box,
go to <https://tinyurl.com/y58xyzx8>
and prowl around the site to see many
more smaller box sizes and acces-
sories to carry your battery for a trip
up a mountain, or a trip down a river
to the bay.
The DC12 series GO-BOX comes in
various size configurations and hold
batteries from 9 Ah to 60 Ah. Pricing is
from $98.95 for the DC12 MINI GO-
BOX to $248.95 for the DC12 MAX-
S150 GO-BOX solar version.
Hear you on the air from a smart battery
box from Impulse Electronics. Phone toll
free (866) 747-5277 or visit them online
at <www.impulseelectronics.com>.

Notes:
Photo F. Compact dual-band radios can fit inside the Max Go-Box case with the 1. <www.impulseelectronics.com>
Bioenno LiFePO4 battery. 2. <www.bioennopower.com>

Real Hams
Do Code
Learn code with
hypnosis today.
Download Now!
www.success-is-easy.com
561-302-7731
Success Easy
568 SE Maple Ter.
Port St. Lucie, FL 34983

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 27

Technology Special:

The author’s search for a portable multi-band HF antenna he could fit in his
car and put up / take down on his own led him to … designing his own
(one of the things that makes ham radio great!). AC8GY shares his design
with us here (another thing that makes ham radio great!)

Build a Portable High Efficiency

4-Band Vertical Antenna
BY ALBERT F. PETER,* AC8GY

F
ollowing a recent field event at which I struggled to set
up three antennas for coverage on 40 through 10
meters, I figured there must be a better way. So, I start-
ed looking for a new design. While there are numerous ver-
ticals on the market, most go for hundreds of dollars and are
not especially portable. I preferred a less expensive
approach — design and build my own (see Photo A).

Operation and Construction

My criteria for the new antenna included: 1) easily portable
in a car, 2) high efficiency on all bands, 3) would not have to
rely on tall trees for support, and 4) can be erected by one
person.
After considerable research, I decided upon a set of full-
sized vertical radiators for 20, 15, and 10 meters in a multi-
wire arrangement, and a shortened element for 40 meters,
all attached to a single mast and with a common feed point.
The mast would be collapsible down to a “car-fitting” size.
The only design wrinkle was the shortened 40-meter section
— shortened antennas usually have lower efficiency
because of losses in loading coils and lowered radiation
resistance.
While this design follows what many others have done pre-
viously, what is a bit different here is the validation of the
design using WSPR1 reverse beacon technology as well as
EZNEC computer modeling to guide the design. Hopefully,
this article will provide useful guidelines for those who want
to build their own portable multi-band vertical antenna.
One interesting result from the EZNEC modeling was the
appearance of a higher resonance of the 40-meter section
at about 28 MHz. The presence of this mode made it possi-
ble to eliminate the 10-meter vertical wire and simplify the
design — more about this in the design section. Photo A
shows the final configuration.
Let’s jump ahead and show the performance of the final
design of this multi-band vertical (MBV hereafter). Design
validation was in two parts. First, after modeling the anten-
na in EZNEC, SWR was calculated and compared to field
measurements using a VNA antenna analyzer (Mini1300)
to obtain the actual SWR. Second, WSPR reverse beacon
comparisons were made between both a full size 40-meter
vertical and a horizontal end-fed half wave (EFHW) versus
the MBV.

* Email: <[email protected]> Photo A. AC8GY’s 4-band portable vertical antenna.

28 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Figure 1. Multi-band vertical (MBV) SWR as computed with EZNEC.

Figure 1 shows the computed SWR culated SWR compared to the mea- 40-meter vertical. For those who wish
while Figure 2 presents the measured sured SWR for the MBV, and Table 2 to dig into the details of the design and
SWR plot across all bands for the MBV. contains the WSPR results. Far-field modeling process, a more complete
The results are also summarized in gain was calculated in EZNEC for both exposition is presented in the “Design
Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 shows the cal- the MBV 40-meter band and a full size Considerations” sidebar.
Table 2 shows the WSPR and com-
puted operational results. First, in
EZNEC, the 40-meter band of the MBV
was compared to a full size 40-meter
vertical. Then, using WSPR tests, the
40-meter MBV was compared to a full-
size vertical and an EFHW with 50-foot
elevation. Bearing in mind that 6 dB
generally equates to one S-unit, the
computed loss is less than a third of an
S-unit compared to a full-size, quarter-
wave antenna. However, in the actual
WSPR signal reports, the MBV has vir-
tually the same signal reports as a full-
size quarter-wave vertical and just
a smidge more relative to EFHW.
Based on the test results, it appears
the MBV antenna design meets the
design criteria.

Construction
Figure 2. MBV measured SWR.
Following the design parameters sug-
gested by the EZNEC model, the anten-
Band EZNEC-computed minimum Measured minimum SWR na was constructed using a 16-foot col-
(meters) SWR (x:1) (x:1) lapsible fiberglass flagpole mast (“In the
40 1.18 1.0 Breeze Heavy Duty Telescoping Pole
20 1.06 1.0 — 16-Foot,” $38.99), flexible #16 wire
15 1.025 1.1 for the vertical radiating elements, and
10 1.068 1.1 #16 stranded wire for the ground radi-
als. The 20-meter and 15-meter wires
Table 1. MBV SWR results summary are held about 12 inches (0.3 meters)

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 29

away from the mast by means of 3D-printed spacers to min- the rods could be bolted together after flattening the ends.
imize interaction between bands, while the 40-meter wire fol- The stringers between spoke ends are made of 3-millimeter
lows the mast up to the capacitance hat. Elastic cords at the aluminum wire. Adding the wire stringers approximately dou-
end of each vertical wire maintain enough tension to keep bles the capacitance. Photo B shows the final capacitance
the wires straight. The radials are attached at the base of the hat. Aluminum was selected to reduce weight.
mast using a terminal strip for easy removal. The 40-meter loading coil, located about 80 inches (2
The capacitance hat was fabricated from six 1/4-inch (6.35- meters) up the mast from ground, is shown in Photo C.
millimeter) diameter, 24-inch (0.6-meter) long aluminum rods Quarter-inch (6.35-millimeter) copper tubing was bent
for the spokes, brazed together at the center. Alternatively, around a convenient 5-inch (0.12-meter) form and held in
place by 3D-printed spacers. About four turns, with 3/4-inch
(19-millimeter) spacing between turns yields the required
inductance. I made the coil larger than required and attached
the lower 40-meter radiating element to the bottom of the coil.
A wire from the bottom of the coil to a tap on the coil selects
the proper inductance and shorts out the unused turns. This
is especially important since unshorted turns increase induc-
tance and mess up the tuning process. The top of the coil is
connected to the top hat to complete the 40-meter element.
Photo C also shows the 3D-printed attachment flanges that
hold the coil in place.
The small loading coils for 20 and 15 meters and the termi-
nal block for the radials are located near the base, as shown
in Photo D. Each small loading coil consists of four turns of
#12 solid copper wire on a 1.5-inch (38-millimeter) diameter
form with 0.5-inch (12.7-millimeter) turn spacing. A tap is made
using either a soldered connection or a screw / washer / nut
arrangement. Again, be sure to short out any unused turns.

Photo B. Capacitance top hat.

Photo C. 40-meter loading coil. Photo D. Small loading coils along with wire keepers.

30 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

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 The mast is supported using two sets
of paracord guy ropes, attached about
4 feet (1.3 meters) and 6.5 feet (2
meters) up the mast, as shown in Photo
E. Adjustable rope tensioners make
setup easy.
While the mast is a bit flexible, the
amount of movement at the top is min-
imal in moderate winds and the two sets
of guy ropes keep it steady enough. A
permanent installation would call for a
sturdier mast, but this unit is intended
for good-weather portable applications.
Finally, a word about wire manage-
ment. There are three individual radiat-
ing elements and lots of radials. To keep
everything from becoming a huge tan-
gle, the vertical wires are wrapped on
individual keepers to store (see Photo
D). Same with the radials. This way the
wires can be laid out as the antenna is
erected and a big mess is avoided.
Deploying the antenna takes less than
30 minutes. Photo F shows the col-
lapsed antenna on the guy ropes.
Table 3 contains the details of the radi-
ating element and radial wire lengths for
each band. Fifteen meters has three
radials, while 40 meters has nine.
Adding more radials generally increas-
es the radiation efficiency and going
from 3 to 9 radials added about 1.5 dB
to the efficiency, as measured using
WSPR. Please note that your radiating
and radial wire lengths may differ — see
the Tuning section. The radial lengths
are affected by soil conditions and may
not give the same results in dry condi-
tions as wet. Tests presented here were
for wet soil conditions — generally bet-
ter conductivity.
The antenna is lightweight, coming in
at under 7 pounds without the radial
Photo E. Guy ropes. wires. Cost (also without radial wires) is

Band Computed Gain difference for MBV WSPR Signal reports for MBV WSPR Signal Reports for
(Meters) vs Full Size 1/4-Wave Vertical vs Full-size 1/4-wave Vertical MBV vs EFHW

40 -2.29 dB + 0.56 dB -0.22 dB

20 -0.3 dB (not measured) 1.45 dB

Table 2. Computed far-field and WSPR results summary

Element Elements Radial Length Number of Radials

Radial Connection 13” (0.33 M) from GND
Coax Connection 16” (0.4 M) from GND
40 meters 67” (1.7 M) coax to coil, 120” (3 M) to top hat 41’ (492”) (12.5 M) 9
20 meters 166” (4.22 M) none 0
15 meters 104” (2.64 M) 184” * (4.67 M) 3
10 meters (from 40-meter element) none 0

*Depending on soil conditions, the 15-meter radials may not be necessary.

Table 3. Wire Lengths

32 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

under $100 with the fiberglass mast
accounting for the bulk of the cost. The
cost would be even less if you have a
well-stocked junk box. This unit is
intended for field use, where transmit
powers of 100 watts or less are
assumed. It was tested at 100 watts with
no issues.

Tuning
All wires lengths were sized from the
EZNEC model but should initially be left
a bit long to accommodate tuning.
Tuning should be done in several steps:

1. Start with the 10-meter band

a. The resonant frequency is adjust-
ed by changing the height of the coax
connection above ground. Adjust for
resonance at 28.5 MHz. Make sure the
40-meter wire has no slack.

2. 40-meter band
a. Start with about 4 turns on the 40-
meter coil tap. Tune for lowest SWR at
the band center.
b. Adjust the 9 long radials to get the
lowest SWR.

3. 20 and 15-meter bands

a. Bypass the loading coils to start.
b. While measuring the SWR with an
antenna analyzer, trim each vertical
radiating wire to yield a resonant fre-
quency near the top of the specific band.
c. Finally, adjust loading coils to bring
the 20- and 15-meter resonant fre-
quencies to the desired part of the band
by changing the tap points.

After doing careful tuning as outlined

above, the SWR was measured from 6 Photo F. Collapsed antenna system ready for travel.
MHz to 30 MHz as shown in Figure 2.
The minimum SWR in each band is less
than 1.1:1, as predicted by the EZNEC
model (note the individual band limits
shown in blue on the plot). Bandwidths
were acceptable as well on 40, 20, and
15 meters, as typified by the 40-meter
results, shown in Figure 3. The 10-meter
band is so wide that an external tuner will
be required. Overall, the antenna pro-
duces very satisfactory results and
keeps the transmitter happy.

WSPR Tests
As you know, a low SWR keeps the
transmitter happy, but can anyone hear
me? To determine real-world perfor-
mance, WSPR beacons were used to
compare the new MBV to a full-size 40-
meter quarter-wave vertical, as well as
to an 80-10-meter MyAntenna EFHW
about 50 feet (15 meters) in the air. Figure 3. 40-meter SWR bandwidth.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 33

 WSPR, the “Weak Signal Propagation hours. These units put out 200 milliwatts ferences between antennas. By aver-
Reporter,” is a set of volunteer-run of digital-mode power and can be heard aging many of these simultaneous
receivers and beacons that report spots by stations around the globe. Spot reports, a measure of the relative per-
on the internet. By using two matched reports include callsign, location, signal formance of the antennas can be made.
transmitters at the same time, a direct levels, distance, and azimuth. Propagation variations make uncoordi-
comparison of antenna performance can The most interesting WSPR results nated spots hard to analyze. This
be made. Two SOTABEAMS WSPRlite are from simultaneous spots at the approach simplifies the comparisons
transmitters were hooked up to the same receiving location, which gives a and lends credibility to the results.
antennas under test and run for up to 24 direct measure of the signal level dif- Figure 4 shows a histogram of the sig-
nal level differences between a full-size
40-meter quarter-wave vertical with
three radials vs. the 40-meter MBV. The
vertical axis shows the numbers of
spots vs. the signal strength difference
in dB. The peak shows that about 450
reports measured no difference be-
tween the antennas. The shortened
40-meter MBV results were less than
0.5 dB different compared to the full-
length version, with a standard devia-
tion of 2.6, averaged over 24 hours.
Figure 5 contains a map of the spots for
the same period.
In another measurement period, the
MBV 40-meter and 20-meter bands
were compared to an end-fed half-wave
(EFHW) antenna from MyAntenna. The
results show the shortened 40-meter
antenna is on average minus 0.22 dB
compared to the EFHW.
Finally, the 20-meter portion of the
vertical was compared to the EFHW. In
this case, the quarter-wave vertical was
1.45 dB better than the EFHW. Again,
these results are all less than one S-unit
different, probably not normally notice-
able to the human ear. Refer to Table 2
for summary results.
Figure 4. Shortened 40-meter vs. full-size vertical — simultaneous spots.
On Air Tests
While not as extensive as the WSPR
tests, subjective on-air experience
tended to validate the MBVs perfor-
mance. Both FT-8 and voice contacts
were made on several bands with good
signal reports.

Performance Conclusion
Testing affirms that it is possible to build
an inexpensive compact portable
antenna that is effective across sever-
al bands. Compared to a full-size quar-
ter-wave vertical and a standard EFHW,
the portable antenna performs very well
indeed.
The purpose of this design was to cre-
ate a transportable multi-band antenna
that is easy to set up by one person
alone, without resorting to propelling
wires into tall trees. The good perfor-
mance makes this four-band vertical
doubly attractive.
For those of you who are interested in
the theory and modeling of the anten-
Figure 5. Spots map on 40 meters. na, please have a look at the sidebar on
design considerations.

34 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 Design Considerations
esearch2,3,4 indicated that efficiency of a shortened tance + all other loss resistances). Radiation resistance (Rr)

R antenna could be improved by: 1) using a capacitance

“top hat” sufficiently large to raise the radiation resis-
tance; 2) using low loss coils; and 3) locating the loading coil
of a full-size quarter-wave dipole is given by approximately

Rr = 36.6 (1-cos2(H) / sin(H)

near the mid-point of the shortened (40-meter) antenna wire.
Antenna efficiency is defined as the ratio of the radia- where H is the angular dimension of the antenna relative
tion resistance to the total resistance, which includes to the wavelength. For a quarter-wave antenna, H = 90°, so
ground losses.5 Radiation resistance is the antenna feed- Rr = 36.6 ohms. For an antenna shortened to 40/360*wave-
point resistance caused by the radiation of electrical ener- length, Rr = 36.6 * sin2 (H) = 15.1 ohms where H=40°.
gy. The other system losses include loading coil losses at If we assume a ground loss value of 15 ohms for the full-
the transmission frequency, losses in the antenna wire, size quarter-wave vertical, the efficiency becomes 36.6 /
and return loss of the local ground. Raising the radiation (36.6 + 15) = 69.6%
resistance and reducing the other losses is the path to For the shortened vertical, efficiency = 15.1 / (15.5 + 15)
improving efficiency.6 = 50.2%, which is a loss of about 3 dB. Not too bad, but can
The mast for the new portable uses a 16-foot long fiber- we do better?
glass flagpole, collapsible to 4 feet. It is reasonably stiff, but If we assume the largest top hat that we can balance on
flexes under a small load, so weight on the top from the the mast is about 4 feet in diameter, that adds about 40 to
capacitance hat needed to be moderated. 50 picofarads at the top.8 The effect of the top hat is to change
the current distribution on the vertical wire and correspond-
Initial Calculations ingly increase the effective radiation resistance by improv-
To get some rough parameters as a starting point for the ing the power radiated vs. losses. Now 45 picofarads cor-
EZNEC antenna analysis program, initial calculations were responds to a capacitive impedance of about 530 ohms at
made to roughly size the components. EZNEC was then 7 MHz. At resonance, the capacitive reactance equals induc-
used to simulate the antenna performance. tive reactance, so we need to compute the inductor values
(If the math is not your interest, just skip down to “EZNEC for the shortened antenna. This is given by
Modeling.”)
Guided by the research from several publications listed at XL = 60 [ln (2h/a) - 1]
the end of the article,7 rough calculations were made to size
the capacitance hat and main loading coil. The most impor- where h is the antenna height and a is the wire diameter.
tant factor in a shortened vertical antenna is efficiency, which For the h = 190 inches and a = 0.05 inches and XL= 476
is defined as: Eff = Radiation resistance / (radiation resis- ohms.

Figure 6. EZNEC antenna model.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 35

 tubing, vertical wires for each of the
three bands, 9 radials on 40 meters and
3 tuned radials for 15 meters. In addi-
tion, small “tuning” coils for 20 and 15
were added at the base to facilitate
adjusting the band resonance frequen-
cy without having to collapse the anten-
na to adjust the wire length.
The model shown in Figure 6 was
checked and run numerous times,
slowly tweaking the parameters.
By systematically varying the vertical
wire lengths, number of loading coil
turns and the ground radial dimen-
sions, a satisfactory SWR result in each
band was obtained, previously shown
in Figure 1. Minimum SWR values were
below 1.2:1 in each band, and the
Figure 7. 40-meter calculated for field elevation plot. bandwidth was sufficiently wide (SWR
less than 1.5:1) across the 40-, 20-, and
15-meter bands. The 10-meter band is
quite wide and requires retuning to use
the whole band, which is easily accom-
plished with an external tuner.
Far-field elevation plots showed typ-
ical quarter-wave vertical characteris-
tics on all bands, as typified by Figures
7 and 8. The 20- and 15-meter bands
had maximum gains of -1 dB, com-
pared to an ideal free space dipole,
while at 7 MHz the gain was -3.29 dB,
indicating a slight reduction in efficien-
cy. A single full-size vertical 1/4-wave
antenna had a maximum gain of -1.0
dB, so the shortened 40-meter vertical
was -2.29 dB less efficient than a full-
size unit. Remembering that one S unit
is about 6 dB, it appears that this result
should be satisfactory — as indicated
by the field tests.
A final word on the 10-meter reso-
nance. This is a higher resonance
mode of the 40-meter portion. The
EZNEC calculated current distribution
Figure 8. 40-meter 3D radiation plot. is shown in Figure 9. Current is maxi-
mum at the base and at the top by the
“hat,” with a node at the coil — same
Thus, to achieve resonance at 7 MHz, Coil diameter = 5 inches current distribution as a 5/8-wave ver-
we need to add about 60 ohms of induc- Coil turns spacing = 3/4 inch and tical dipole, which has a resonant fre-
tive reactance by attaching a coil about Coil turns = 4 (we started with 7 turns quency of about 28 MHz, exactly what
halfway up the mast. From the formula to allow for variance — actual con- is needed for 10 meters. The result is
[XL = 2 * pi * f * L ohms], about 1.4 μH structed version was 3.8 turns.) a nice low SWR resonance at the
is needed. required frequency, without the neces-
To minimize coil losses, we picked a Coil mounting location is a bit less sity of adding another wire. The 10-
5-inch diameter air-wound coil made of than halfway up the mast at about 6 feet meter elevation plot, shown in Figure
1/4-inch copper tubing with 3/4-inch (2 meters). To see if these initial design 10, indicated a higher angle of maxi-
winding spacing. Using one of the criteria were feasible, an EZNEC model mum radiation, more suitable to medi-
online coil design calculators, we found was created. um-range reception, rather than for DX,
that about 3.4 turns is sufficient (round- but the gain is +0.61 dB, which is bet-
ed up to 4 for construction). So, our ter than the lower band gains.
starting parameters for the EZNEC EZNEC Modeling The EZNEC model was especially
simulation are: The EZNEC model elements included useful in setting the initial parameters
are: 48-inch (1.22-meter) diameter top for construction, for understanding the
Mast length = 15.2 feet hat, 5-inch (127-millimeter) multi-turn radiation patterns, and for visualizing
Top Hat diameter = 48 inches loading coil made of 1/4-inch copper the final design.

36 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

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Figure 9. Current distribution in the 10-meter band.

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Figure 10. 10-meter calculated far-field elevation plot. (Orders only) 800-RF PARTS

References:
Website: www.rfparts.com
1. Weak Signal Propagation Reporter <http://wsprnet.org/drupal> Fax: 760-744-1943
2. “Is there a Relationship Between Vertical Height and Optimum Radial Length?” Rudy
Severns, N6LF, <https://tinyurl.com/y44zbtas> 888-744-1943
3. Schulz, Walter, K3OQF, “Designing a Vertical Antenna,” QST, September 1978
4. “Evolution of the Short Top-Loaded Vertical,” Robkal Meijer <https://tinyurl.
Email: [email protected]
com/yyo32nro>
5. ARRL Antenna Book, 21st Edition, 6-29, 7-16
6. Stanley, “Optimum Ground Systems for Vertical Antennas,” QST, December 1976,
pp. 13-15
7. Coil Inductance Calculator, <https://tinyurl.com/jn9f5tb>
8. Sevick, Jerry, W2FMI, “The W2FMI Ground-Mounted Short Vertical,” QST, March 1973,
pp.13-18

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 37

Technology Special:

Here’s a low-profile 5-band antenna for 20-10 meters that is fed with a
single feedline and requires no tuner, built around a commercially-
available 20-meter vertical.

The Texas Star Multi-Band Antenna

Five Bands, One Feedline, No Tuner
BY GENE HINKLE,* K5PA

T
he Texas Star 5-band vertical antenna (Photo A) was
designed to provide a 20- to 10-meter band antenna
with the following goals:

1) Coverage of 20, 17, 15, 12, and10 meters without the

need for an antenna tuner
2) Stealthy profile that blended into surrounding areas
3) Easy setup without the need to climb any structures
4) Efficient design, and
5) Built from readily available parts

The 5-band antenna was built upon the COMTEK COM-

20VA vertical antenna for the 20-meter band (available from
DX Engineering). By starting with a base design that was
strong structurally, additional cross-arms were added at the
upper and lower portion of the antenna. These provided a
mechanical structure that could support wire elements cut to
the other four bands. The cross-arms gave an appearance
of a star, thus providing the name, the Texas Star. Although
the COMTEK antenna was used in the base design, equiv-
alent parts could be substituted. The full materials list is pro-
vided in Sidebar 1.
Since the antenna was a vertical with four additional ele-
ments, it was essential to add radials at the base of the ver-
tical support to provide an efficient ground system. Twenty
(20) wires, each 20 feet long, were added to the base of the
antenna. The number and length of the wires were sufficient
to provide a good ground system for efficient operation.
During modeling, I studied using 16, 32, and 64 radials but
found 20 to be a good compromise.

Design
The antenna was modeled using EZNEC1 and AutoEZ2
antenna design software. First, the antenna was modeled as
a 20-meter vertical with ground radials. The standard formula
for a quarter-wave vertical was used as a starting point for
the lengths, 234/f, where f is the frequency in MHz. For a
frequency of 14.2 MHz, this equated to a length of about
16.5 feet.
Once the vertical element and ground wires were modeled,
the antenna exhibited the impedance and pattern expected
of a vertical. Photo A. The Texas Star is a 5-band vertical that requires
no tuner and has a single feedline. The central antenna ele-
2209 Pow Wow ment (a COMTEK COM-20VA 20-meter vertical) supports
Leander, TX 78641 two sets of cross-arms for additional band elements. (All
Email: <[email protected]> photos and drawings courtesy of the author)

38 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 Next, single wire elements were added around the vertical the base of the antenna. The VSWR would be less at the far
antenna support to provide coverage for the 17-, 15-, 12-, end of the coax connecting to the station due to line losses.
and 10-meter bands (Photo B). Each element was offset from The element interactions resulted in small length changes
the center element by 12 inches. It was expected that with from that of a single vertical element.
the added vertical elements and the dual, 24-inch cross- The plots suggested the element lengths were slightly short
arms, the overall length would have to be adjusted to main- and should be adjusted a few inches to obtain a minimum
tain the desired impedance and VSWR. VSWR in the center of each band. After building the anten-
Figure 1 shows the model for the antenna with the central na and adjusting these elements, the optimum lengths were
20-meter element and the four surrounding elements. The found to put the VSWR within the desired range. This demon-
ground radials can be clearly seen under the vertical elements. strated the need to use slightly longer elements so they could
Frequency sweeps of the antenna model provided both be adjusted to bring the VSWR of each band into the required
VSWR graphs and antenna patterns. The VSWR plot is frequency range. I will describe my wire fold-back technique
shown in Figure 2. The measurements were taken 3 feet from in the antenna adjustment section.

Materials List - The Texas Star HF Antenna

Line # Part No. Description Qty Needed Where Used

1 COMTEK 20VA or Equiv., Complete 20-meter vertical antenna 1 20-meter vertical kit
DXE P/N COM-20VA, kit with base plate attachment to a with mounting plate
See Note 1 galvanized pipe

2 Local Hardware Store Channel aluminum, 48” x1” x1” 2 Cross arms mounting to
(cut each in half to make 2) vertical

3 DXE-SAD-100A Saddle clamp, 1-inch U-Bolt, 2 Used to secure cross-

1/4-20 inch thread, stainless steel / arms to vertical 1-inch
aluminum, natural O.D. tubes

4 DXE-SAD-075A Saddle clamp, 3/4 inch U-Bolt, n2 Used to secure cross-

1/4-20 inch thread, stainless steel / arms to vertical
aluminum, natural 0.75-inch O.D. tubes

5 DXE-RADW-500 Element wire using: radial wire, 58 feet Wire for each of 4 elements
14 AWG stranded copper,
UV-resistant black PVC insulation,
500-foot length. Need 58 feet long for
4 elements.

Radial wire, 14 AWG stranded copper, 400 feet Wire for 20 radial wires
UV-resistant black PVC insulation,
500-foot length. Need 20-foot length
X20 = 400 feet

6 The Wireman #815 3/32” UV-resistant Dacron® double 100 Need additional amount
weave rope. 260-pound break strength. during antenna tuning to
raise and lower elements.

7 MFJ-16A06 or equiv. Egg insulator for vertical elements 4 Insulators for each of 4
elements

8 DXE-RADP-3 Radial plate, stainless steel, 1 Radial plate

1/8 x 11-5/8 inch square, pre-drilled,
60 holes, includes 20 sets SS hdwr.

9 Local Hardware Store Misc., tie wraps (UV resistant), 1 Misc. hardware
solder lugs, electrical tape,
flat black paint, etc.

10 Local Hardware Store Vertical support, galvanized pipe 1 Mounting pole

1-1/2 feet x 48 inches

11 Local Hardware Store Concrete for base, 1 bag 1 Secure mounting pole in
ground

Note 1: The COMTEK COM-20VA full parts list is available from the DX Engineering website.
Note 2: All DXE part numbers can be located on the DX Engineering website.

40 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 20M

17M

12M
15M

10M

Figure 1. EZNEC Model of the Antenna Elements.

Photo B. After the cross-arms have

been attached, wires cut to each addi-
tional band are installed between the Figure 2. EZNEC model VSWR plots across all five bands at the antenna base
top and bottom cross-arms. prior to tuning.

4 Foot Pipe in
Concrete 2 Feet All Wire
in Ground elements (4)
Connect to 20M
Vertical at Base

Photo C. Base connections of four wire elements to the cen-

tral 20-meter element, which is mounted to a pole cement- Figure 3. Typical EZNEC elevation plot for the 20-meter
ed into the ground. band.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 41

Figure 4. Dimensions for the 20-meter element and 17-, 15-, 12-, and 10-meter elements.

The pattern for the 20-meter band is

shown in Figure 3. Using the modeling
software, all azimuth and elevation pat-
terns across all bands were obtained.
There were some minor effects of ele-
ment interactions between bands result-
ing in slight changes to the pattern at the
higher bands.
Antenna Drawings
After I modeled the design and verified
Folded performance, an initial set of dimen-
Back sions were derived as a starting point to
Wire Ends build the antenna. To simplify the
mechanical drawing, I drew a single ele-
ment hanging from the cross-arms.
Each arm was 24 inches in length, cen-
ter-mounted to the central vertical sec-
tion using a special “saddle clamp.” An
antenna dimension table was then used
Folded to record the lengths of each element.
Back The dimensions included the central 20-
Wire Ends meter element, the wire lengths, and
Dacron® cord on a band-by-band basis
are shown in Figure 4. The table lists
my final lengths. When building this
antenna, the lengths should be in-
creased by 12 inches so the elements
can be tuned to frequency by trimming
Example of using too much antenna wire but folding the length. It is always easier to trim
back to allow for adjustments. Once completed, wire the length than to replace the whole
can be cut or just left as is. element.

List of Materials (see Sidebar)

The detailed list of materials is includ-
Figure 5. Wire fold-back technique used during tuning. ed in the sidebar. Many of the items can

42 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 VSWR on all bands. The VSWR mea-
Composite Measurement Over surements were made at the base of the
20-17-15-12-10 Meters at Antenna vertical; additional line losses from the
antenna to the transmitter will lower the
VSWR measured in actual use.

Making the Connections

Red Curves Photo B shows the cross-arms that were
= SWR physically attached to the 20-meter radi-
ator element. That meant they were part
of this element that resulted in slight
Dashed Line = SWR 2.0 shortening of the antenna. The lower
cross-arms were at the current maxima
of the vertical so higher current flowed
through them. Whereas the upper cross-
arms were at voltage maxima. Therefore,
ceramic egg insulators were used as part
Figure 6. Impedance (green) and VSWR (red) measurements of the completed of the upper structure.
antenna. Photo C shows how all the outer ele-
ments for 17-10 meters were attached
be conveniently purchased through DX ouflage spray paint may be available to the base of the 20-meter vertical. All
Engineering as their part numbers are from your local hardware store. elements are driven by the transmitter
included (e.g., COM-20VA). However, in parallel. Also shown is the base plate
there are many sources for these mate- Antenna Adjustments and mount to the galvanized pipe and the
rials including the amateur junk box. The Measurements radial plate for attaching the ground
DXE part numbers are provided to doc- radial wires.
An antenna analyzer, AIM 4170D, was
ument the specifications for this design.
used to measure antenna impedance
I should emphasize the importance of Summary
across the 20- to 10-meter bands. All
using the part numbers for the saddle
measurements were made 3 feet from All of the design criteria cited at the begin-
clamps listed in the materials list (P/N
the antenna’s base. ning of this article were met. The anten-
DXE-SAD-100A and DXE-SAD-075A).
Figure 5 shows the antenna wire fold- na is a joy to use. I integrated the anten-
These saddle clamps were enablers in
back technique used for tuning the wire na into a remote radio application that
the design because they provided the
elements. The 20-meter band vertical used the no-tuner requirement to simpli-
mechanical attachment of the cross-
center tube section was first adjusted fy the system design that provided safe
arms (L-brackets) to the upper and
for length to obtain a minimum VSWR operation for multiple users. In addition,
lower (1-inch and 0.75-inch O.D.) cen-
at mid-band, 14.2 MHz. Next, the 17- since the radiation patterns favored low
tral vertical antenna tubes. These sad-
meter wire length was adjusted, then angle-of-arrival signals, the antenna pro-
dle clamps were critical for allowing the
15-meter, 12-meter, and finally the 10- vided good DX performance.
correct amount of force to be exerted
meter-band element. Since the wires The AutoEZ file for the antenna model
around the tube without crushing it. Do
not substitute these clamps unless you
were folded back, it was possible to is available on the author’s website.1 The
repeat this process in each band, mak- filename is: “Texas Star 20-10 Meter 5-
can guarantee similar attributes (preci-
ing minor length adjustments, with the Band Vertical K5PA Hinkle.weq”.
sion and even force) around the tubes.
goal of minimum VSWR.
If a non-compliant clamp was used and
The composite sweep across the HF References:
it crushed the outside diameter of the
spectrum is shown Figure 6. The 20-, 1. <www.k5pa.com>
tubing, the tubing might fail during windy
17-, 15-, 12-, and 10-meter bands are 2. <https://eznec.com>
conditions.
highlighted with the goal of less than 2:1 3. <https://ac6la.com/autoez.html>
I also used four ceramic egg insula-
tors, one at the top of each vertical ele-
ment, to attach to the Dacron cord that
hangs from the upper cross-arms.
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age if moderate RF power is delivered command. Noise Gate reduces background noise for a cleaner, more Expander for noise reduction, Effects for psychoacoustic magic.
to the antenna. I used a ceramic glass effective signal. Universal Interface lets you use most any microphone LED Bar Graph. Front panel controls. Universal Interface matches most
with any radio including classics. I-K-Y selector for plug-n-play with all mics, all radios. I-K-Y mic selector. Switched outputs for 3 radios.
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www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 43

Technology Special

You might be using — or have used — a 40-meter dipole on 15 meters,

but W1IS and KC1DSQ say that making it resonant on one band moves the
resonant point on the second out of band. But they also say there’s an
easy solution. Read on …

A Simple Dual-Band Upgrade for

Your 40-Meter Dipole
BY BOB GLORIOSO,* W1IS AND BOB ROSE,# KC1DSQ

D
uring this lull in the solar cycle, 40 meters has been Power (Watts) Peak Voltage (Volts) Current (Amps)
the best band for both local and DX contacts. Now that
the sunspots are coming, other bands will soon be 300 107 1.55
packed with signals as well. If you have a 40-meter dipole 500 200 2.0
that’s been your workhorse through the lull between Cycles 800 250 2.53
24 and 25, this will get you on 15 meters with low SWR and 1,500 340 3.5
a minimum of effort.
Table 1. Capacitor Ratings vs. Power.
Theory
You may recall that dipoles work well on their odd harmon-
ics, so a 40-meter dipole should — in theory — work well on
15 meters, a great DX band. However, if your antenna is
tuned to the middle of the 40-meter band, 7.15 MHz, the third
harmonic will be at 21.45 MHz, the top end of the 15-meter
band. Plus, the actual resonance will be higher, about 21.9
MHz, due to the missing end effect at the middle of the anten-
na on 15 meters.1 This results in an SWR of about 8:1 at the
bottom of the band and 3:1 at the top. To tune it to the mid-
dle of 15 meters, you must lengthen your antenna, but that
will place 40-meter resonance below the 40-meter band.
What to do?
As we learned in designing our 160-meter and 80-meter off- Figure 1. Current magnitude: 40-meter dipole on 15 meters.
center-fed antennas,1 for harmonic antennas to deliver low
SWR on more than one band, the length must be designed
for the highest frequency. As above, this leads to the anten-
na being resonant below the lowest band of interest.
The remedy is to add a capacitive load placed at a current
null for the higher frequency bands to electrically shorten the
antenna only on the lower frequency. In this case, we sim-
ply put a 330-pF capacitor at a current null on 15 meters to
electrically shorten the antenna on 40 so it is resonant near
the middle of the 40-meter band. Since the capacitor is at a
current null on 15, it has no effect on the 15-meter band. This
is illustrated by the current distribution on 15 meters in Figure
1. The result is the strikingly similar SWR curves for both
bands in Figure 2.

Capacitive Load
The capacitive load is the key to obtaining low SWR on both
bands and must be capable of handling the worst-case volt-
ages and currents that occur at the low end of 40 meters, as
shown in Table 1.

* Email: <[email protected]>
# Email: <[email protected]> Photo A. Resistor-capacitor load on PC board.

44 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

BEST SERVICE. BEST WARRANTY. BEST VALUE. NO ONE BEATS LDG! CONTACT YOUR FAVORITE DEALER TODAY!

Any way you look at an LDG tuner, it functions as a variable impedance transformer. No matter where you place it in the
feedline, it’s just like a balun, unun or any other matching transformer device. Way back in 1944, Phillip H. Smith (of
Smith-Chart fame) wrote about the eight ways to configure an L-type matching circuit for transmitters using one inductor and
one capacitor. Smith wrote in Electronics for Engineers: One of the simplest and most effective impedance transforming
networks for RF applications is the half-section L-type circuit. Those circuits, with the aid of microprocessors and software
control, have been whittled down over the years to the standard LDG “Switched-L Network”.

The tuning range of the typical LDG tuner is about 15 to 1 to favor high impedance (Hi-Z) loads such as dipoles, vertical, end-
fed, ect and about 8 to 1 for less popular low impedance loads (Lo-Z) like loops, folded dipoles, ect. Choosing the components
for the range are critical, as going too far beyond a 10:1 range will cause excess losses to accumulate in the tuner. Using
decades of feedback from our users, LDG has tailored the range in our models to best fit the needs of today’s Ham.

410-586-2177 [email protected] www.ldgelectronics.com

 for the high-power surface mount parts.
These are large surface-mount parts
that are easily soldered to a 1x1 PC
board with a slot cut out of the middle
with a Dremel tool (see Photo A).
Further, though not absolutely neces-
sary, we like to protect our capacitor and
resistor with a layer of modeling sili-
cone2 or a non-conductive epoxy coat-
ing (see Parts List and Photo B).

Upgrade or Build from

Figure 2. SWR Curves 40, 15-meter dipole.
Scratch?
To upgrade an existing 40-meter dipole:
First, lengthen the antenna by adding
Parts List 18 inches of wire at each of the end insu-
• For new antenna: 70 feet #14 insulated wire, THHN or Davis RF FlexWeave™ lators and letting the added wires droop
• For a modified 40-meter antenna: 4 feet #14 insulated wire, THHN or Davis below the antenna (see Figure 3a). You
RF FlexWeave™ can start connecting the added wires
• Balun – Balun Designs Model 1115et or home-built Guanilla balun with a wire nut and then solder them
• 2 – End insulators after the antenna is tuned. The weight
• 1 – Insulator to hold the R-C circuit (see Photo B below) of an insulator at the end helps the wires
• 1 – 1- x 1-inch PC board hang down. Adjust their lengths by cut-
• 1 – 1-watt, 1-megohm resistor (>500 watts, 2-watt, 2.7 megohm) ting each end one-half inch at a time
• 1 – (<300 watts) silver mica capacitor, 330-pF, 350-volt Cornell Dublier until the antenna resonates at 6.94
CDV16FF331J03F, Digi-Key 338-3106-ND MHz. If you have space for a longer
• 1 – (<1.5-kilowatt) ceramic capacitor, 330-pf, 3-kilovolt, Knowles-Syfer, span, you can solder 16 inches of wire
222523K00331JQTAF9LM, Digi-Key 1608-1592-1-ND to each end and adjust the lengths to
• Potting – Silicone (see text), or MG Chemicals, 834FX, black flexible, ther- resonate at 6.94 MHz (Figure 3b).
mally conductive, potting compound, Amazon.com Next, cut one half of the dipole such
• Kits with pre-mounted and potted capacitors and resistors are available on that, after connecting to the load (the
the authors’ website, <www.ocfmasters.com>. 330-pF capacitor and resistor), you
have 10 feet, 2.5 inches of wire from the
Also, because the capacitor is out in center to the load (Figure 3a).
the elements and is likely to experience If your antenna isn’t quite tuned for
high voltage static build-up, we need to minimum SWR at 7.15 MHz, you can
protect it by placing a resistor across it adjust the length of each end. The dis-
to drain built-up static charge while han- tance between the center and the
dling the voltage and power it experi- capacitor / resistor load does not have
ences in operation. For less than 500 to change.
watts, a 1-megohm ohm, 1-watt non- If you are adding length to an existing
inductive resistor works well. For high- 40-meter dipole or building a new
er power levels, a 2-watt, 2.7-megohm antenna, use the diagram in Figure 3b.
non-inductive resistor is needed.
Mounting the capacitor and resistor Construction
on a 1- x 1-inch PC board makes as- We use #14 THHN or Davis RF
sembly and potting easier, especially FlexWeave™ wire in antennas we

Photo B. Silicone-covered (L) and epoxy-potted (R) load. PC board from Photo A is encapsulated.

46 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Figure 3a. Modified existing 40-meter dipole.

Figure 3b. Typical 40- to 15-meter antenna without drooping ends.

design and readily available end insulators or those made antenna analyzer from the antenna W1IS uses in the back-
from sheets of Corian™ available online. yard. We put it on the air with a KX3 at 5 watts. Many fun
The capacitive load ratings depend on your power level and QSOs were had on 40 with this antenna while waiting anx-
for power up to 300 watts, an RF/Snubber silver mica capac- iously for Cycle 25 to try it on 15 meters.
itor is adequate. However, for higher power, a ceramic capac-
itor is required to handle the higher currents. See the mate- Summary
rials list for details. We have shown how a simple capacitive load can make any
Although not necessary for the antenna to work, we rec- 40-meter dipole into an effective dual-band dipole by modi-
ommend a 1:1 balun be used at the center to isolate the feed fying the length to accommodate the 15-meter band and
line and prevent RF from traveling down the outside of the using a capacitive load placed at a current minimum on 15
coax, bringing RF into the shack. A simple isolator can be meters to restore 40-meter performance.
made by wrapping 12 feet of RG-8x around a 4-inch piece of
plastic pipe, but for a cleaner installation and maximum iso- References:
lation, we use a Balun Designs Model 1115et or a home-built 1. “Multiband Off-Center-Fed Dipoles for 160 & 80 Meters,” Bob Rose,
Guanilla balun.3 KC1DSQ, and Bob Glorioso, W1IS, CQ magazine, June 2020, p. 42.
2. See <https://tinyurl.com/hmls2fz>.
Results 3. “Understanding, Building & Using Baluns & Ununs,” Jerry Sevick,
The SWR curves in Figure 2 were obtained with a RigExpert W2FMI, CQ Communications, <https://tinyurl.com/ubw5e9p>.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 47

Technology Special
MATH’S NOTES
BY IRWIN MATH,* WA2NDM

The Future Still Will Not Necessarily Be What We Think It Will Be

T
wo decades ago, in 1999, I wrote a column predicting fall far from its mark. If you still doubt this statement, I still
what I thought the future would be like in the coming suggest (as I did then) that you read a book offered by the
20 years and, as strange as it seems to me, it’s finally New York Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled “Yesterday’s
here. As it appears that the COVID-19 situation is still not Tomorrows”. This book, if still available, will give you a very
well under control by the time you read this, I am not sure good idea of how future predictions (made in the early 20th
what to predict. What we all have agonized over for the past century) may have captured some of the “flavor” of what
six months may have not destroyed our civilization (as we eventually would be … but not the essence.
know it) but has certainly altered it worldwide. Hopefully, Enough said. In the early to mid-20th century there were
enthusiasm for technology has not changed, especially in some fundamental developments that shaped the current
our ranks. Since this is a time of year that most people con- state of our technology. The first was, of course, the vacu-
sider and predict the future, not to be outdone, I would like um tube. Once electrons could be controlled, everything up
to update my point of view of the technology to come since to and including color television was possible. Even basic
many of the readers of these columns are technically-inclined computers (not PCs) were manufactured at the time, albeit
(I hopefully assume correctly). First, to understand what I with myriads of vacuum tubes, but they did calculate never-
base my views on, we must always consider where we have theless. In 1948 at Bell Labs in New Jersey the transistor
come from. was developed, and the age of solid-state physics was born.
The growth of technology during the 20th century was cer- This was another fundamental discovery of the magnitude
tainly outstanding. In 1900, Marconi was first thinking about of the vacuum tube and the future shape of electronics would
radio transmissions. The Wright brothers had not yet flown, never be the same. Filament power was eliminated, the size
and horse-drawn vehicles were clogging our roads, not auto- of the amplifying element was reduced by magnitudes and
mobiles. If you were fortunate to have a wind-up Victrola or the eventual outgrowth was the integrated circuit. While the
a telephone with a carbon microphone, #6 dry cell batteries, frequency response for vacuum tubes did eventually actual-
and an internal hand-cranked generator to provide the need- ly extend into the low GHz range, noise figures and costs
ed high voltage to ring a bell, you could actually have an oper- were high. The transistor then eventually made GHz opera-
ator connect you to another such device. You could also lis- tion at almost theoretical noise figures an everyday occur-
ten to recorded music on shellac-coated disks and cylinders rence (with devices that cost a couple of dollars or so at the
and begin to actually light your homes with “electric light beginning) which brings me to my first prediction.
bulbs” instead of kerosene lamps or candles, but even the I firmly believe that solid-state physics as we know it now
simple vacuum tube had not yet been developed. The “great” will be replaced (or at least supplemented) at some point dur-
Thomas Edison dismissed the one-way flow of electrons from ing the 21st century with something else. Once frequencies
a filament to a metal plate in a vacuum as interesting (which of hundreds of GHz need to be routinely handled to accom-
he dubbed the “Edison Effect”) but not of much use since it modate our growing need to rapidly transfer vast amounts of
did not help prevent the blackening of the glass in his new data, basic physics comes into play and the physical size of
electric lamp. Even basic electrical service to many homes the conventional electronic switch, amplifier, or gate (as we
was rare. During the next 100 years, however, we would see know it) limits the maximum speed at which it can operate.
the development of the vacuum tube and then solid-state At that time, the THz region will probably be routine and we
electronics, television, the aircraft and space industry, orbit- will have to learn how to switch, amplify, and process light
ing satellites, nuclear physics, the laser, the entire field of directly as well as the associated frequencies, inexpensive-
opto-electronics, the microprocessor and the computer rev- ly in the way we now do with conventional high frequencies
olution, both in hardware as well as software. In 1900, pre- or perhaps something else even more remote will suddenly
dictions of where we would be in the year 2000 would have be discovered that will do the job. Remember, before 1895
fallen far short of the mark. Even as late in the century as the (Marconi’s first transmission), the entire field of wireless was
1939 World’s Fair, predictions of where our society would only a mathematical equation on James Maxwell’s desk, but
be, technologically, in the 1960s and ’70s were not particu- by 1903 the Atlantic had been spanned. Who knows what
larly accurate. Furthermore, only 40 or 50 years ago, the other equations or theories exist on someone’s desk today?
mass computer revolution was just a dream in some minds The shrinking of electronic circuitry has certainly continued
and four-function calculators were as close as we came to (with chips containing tens of millions of transistors) to the
the state of the art. The slide rule was still the sign of the “true point that we now routinely design with complete functional
engineer,” just as the typewriter was the author’s best friend. blocks. It seems that chips are everywhere and the few exter-
The general public did not even have a clue of what was to nal components (if you can even see or recognize them) are
come. As a result of developments that we don’t even know minimal or even non-existent or at the very least limited only
about of yet (but will surely come), any specific prediction by to those required for direct human interface (speakers, micro-
anyone of where we will be in 2100, in my opinion, will also phones, switches, displays, power sources, etc.). The new
way of implementing electronic designs has not quite com-
pletely come about and one is still able to acquire “older”
*c/o CQ magazine more familiar components.

48 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

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As ICs and software continue to short time and push the speed still high- not happened yet. I do think, however,
become more and more complex, how- er. Just the way amateurs, given the that we had better really get our act
ever, I believe that artificial intelligence “useless” frequencies from “200 together and “swell the ranks” by what-
will become more and more prevalent meters and down,” discovered the ever means that make sense or we will
and refined. At this point in time, we whole world of shortwave radio propa- surely lose many if not all of our privi-
seem to be well on the way to com- gation, I believe that the frequencies of leges. Barring the discovery of an
municating with machines verbally. 200 micrometers and down (well entirely new propagation media, elec-
Consider the so-called “smart speak- beyond visible light) may have many tromagnetic spectrum space is just
ers” that not only play the music we surprises in store for us as well and that worth far too much, especially the VHF,
desire but control our computers, var- we will begin to utilize these in the 21st UHF, and microwave bands which are
ious functions around the home, and century. That is why I have tried to currently needed for all sorts of com-
even “talk” back to us. Telephone “spark” enthusiasm from time to time in mercial applications.
(excuse me, I mean “cell phone”) infor- the various experimenters reading As I mentioned way back then, there
mation services using speech synthe- these columns. You can really experi- are numerous areas that could be cov-
sis are in common use and, for the most ment in this region. Common “stan- ered when trying to predict the techno-
part, are pretty reliable. In the coming dard” fiber-optic transmission systems logical future, but I have limited myself
years, I think they will become so operate at wavelengths of 600 to 1,500 to only a few to give you a fleeting glance
advanced that we will interface such nanometers (that is 10 -9 meters by the of what may come (in my opinion). I
devices almost as easily as we inter- way) and the electromagnetic sources believe, though, that while we cannot
face with each other. At that point, it will (LEDs and laser diodes) that produce really guess specifically what will come,
be much harder to distinguish a these wavelengths exist and are read- we can certainly view the coming years
machine from a fellow human being for ily available. On the receiving end, pho- as those in which technological devel-
many interactions. todiodes that also operate at these opments will occur at a much faster rate
As the century progresses, the fre- wavelengths are also readily available. than in the past. In 1900, we did not have
quencies used will most certainly climb Many of these components, by the much of a real technical base to work
higher and higher. THz will replace way, are not expensive and will cer- from. In 2021, we have an infinitely bet-
GHz as a common term, just as tainly not “break the bank.” ter starting point.
picoseconds will replace microsec- Unfortunately, I still do not have a firm Seasons Greetings to all my readers
onds. Already, solid-state semicon- prediction for amateur radio. Although and to paraphrase my usual end-of-the-
ductors that operate at frequencies of some predicted that cell phones and the year comment, “may the coming year
100 Gb/s+ are either already here or various social media applications would bring you all that your heart desires.”
well on the way. Others will follow in make amateur radio “obsolete,” it has – 73, Irwin, WA2NDM

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 49

 CQ CLASSIC
Days of Future Past
No, we’re not channeling the Moody Blues here (their album was
actually named “Days of Future Passed”), but we thought it would be
appropriate to close out our 75th anniversary year with an article from our very first issue — January
1945 — titled “Hams – Past – Present – Future.” It’s important to note that when this was published,
World War II was still raging and ham radio was still shut down. The article, and in fact, the whole
concept of a new ham radio magazine at a time when there was no ham radio, was a strong
expression of faith in what was to come. Something good to keep in mind today…
73 and thanks for celebrating our 75th anniversary with us throughout 2020. – W2VU

H A MS-
PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE
ZEH BOUCK. W8QMR-WLNG

A lot of folks are going to make the acquaintance of hams shortly after the smoke clears away over Berlin and Tokyo. Thousands
of ex-GIs will want to carry on with the knowledge of radio they gained in the armed services. Manufacturers forced into some
form of radio production in the war effort, will find their reconversion problem simplified by recognition of the expanding ham mar-
ket. Here then is a brief introduction to the radio amateur.

THOUGH the radio amateur himself has long since lived

down any derogatory implications in the epithet “ham,”
such connotations may well carry over to the uninitiate.
Just why and when the term was first applied is open to
conjecture. It is generally admitted that the “ham actor”
displays an inferior grade of histrionics. He was supposed
to have been so designated because in early times he wore
a ham rind. Thus, to be termed a ham of any kind is a
dubious compliment. According to tradition the radio ama-
teur was first called a ham back in the old days of American
Morse (1900 to 1912) by the early crop of commercial
operators—who had been amateurs themselves only the
day before! Hence the hams could never have been any
worse than their professional brethren, and, in fact, often
proved themselves a superior breed. Fig. 1. The ham’s first rig may be relatively simple and inex-
Just who the original amateur was is a moot question. pensive, but it won’t stay that way long.
It could have been Hertz,but Fessenden and Marconi are
more conventional candidates for the honor. Fessenden
certainly hammed it on the North Carolina beaches a half agation. De-Forest thought up the vacuum tube and dis-
dozen years before he “turned commercial” and broad- covered, along with Armstrong, that the device could pro-
cast the first Christmas Eve program (“Adeste Fidelis” duce as well as detect oscillations— a phenomenon that is
and all the trimmings) from Brant Rock, Mass., in 1906. the basis of all modern radio communication, from tele-
Marconi always displayed a genuine interest in ham radio, vision to the walkie-talkie. And this same lad Armstrong
and at the Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago 1933, (a member of the Junior Wireless Club, later the Radio
stated frankly, “You know, I have always considered Club of America) went on to invent the superheterodyne,
myself an amateur.” the super-regenerative receiver and FM. Pioneer broad-
Other early amateurs have blazed their paths to the niche cast station KDKA was graduated from Dr. Frank
of fame. Alfred N. Goldsmith gave us our earliest radio Conrad's ham rig W8XK.
textbooks. Pickard invented the crystal detector and con- No one will deny that the amateur, legislated to sup-
tributed a goodly bit to our knowledge of radio wave prop- posedly worthless wavelengths, pioneered the high and

50 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

ultra-high frequencies, and was thus directly responsible The work of amateur radio in emergencies is legend.
for the utilization of our present-day long-distance chan- When storm and floods strike, communication wires top-
nels. And the ham promises to carry on in that misty region ple with the first trees, leaving the ubiquitous ham as the
above 1000 megacycles. To stretch the above list in giv- sole means of communication witht e outside world. It's
ing adequate credit to every amateur who has made notable a job for which sham battles with the elements have long
contributions to the advance of radio would extend this since prepared him. While operating conditions may not
article —this magazine—beyond the bounds of its covers.
Technical excellence is an outstanding characteristic of
the ham, and this cannot be acquired overnight. The ama-
teur therefore is no callow youth haphazardly hooking up
coils and tubes with the particular goal of annoying his
neighbors. The average age of the ham is thirty years.True,
he may and often does start in as a youngster (if his old
man can afford it) with simple and relatively inexpensive
equipment such as shown in Fig. 1. Sometime later the
layout will be considerably more elaborate and costly. A
typical ham rig at maturity is illustrated in Fig. 2. A few
hams pour more money into their shacks than the individ-
ual cost of many broadcasting stations—as you may guess
from Figs. 3, 4 and 5. Your full-fledged amateur may be
your dentist, lawyer, garage owner, engineer, minister, col-
lege professor, broker, business executive favorite actor
(or actress, Judy Garland is a ham), writer, editor or avi-
ator. Put them all together and they form a group capable
of supporting an industry of no minor magnitude. Fig. 3. Sometimes the ham ends up like W4EDD of Coral Gables,
The ham’s contributions to society have by no means Fla. The power supply panel for all five transmitters is across
the top.
been confined to his scientific endeavors, creditable as
these may be. The amateur is well organized in the NCR
(Naval Communications Reserve), the Army Amateur
Radio System (the AARS), the ARRL (American Radio
Relay League) and by emergency hook-ups in both peace
and war. The NCR is primarily interested in training naval
operators, while the AARS and the networks of the ARRL
are traffic-handling groups, the former employing Signal
Corps procedure in the transmission of messages. It is not
unusual for an amateur station to handle between 200 and
300 messages a month—free-of-charge and with remark-
ably fast and reliable service half-way around the globe.
State fair stations clear as many as 2000 radiograms a
week, and W2USA, the New York World's Fair shack,
built up a total to NR23000 plus!

Fig. 4. Control desk at W4EDD. The dots around the framed

Fig. 2. A typical amateur installation. W1CTW’s shack is clean- map are lamps showing the direction the motor-driven rotary
cut neat and efficient. antenna is beamed

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 51

be so comfortable as on a practice 1938, the Army Amateur Radio System Bowdoin, Bob Bartlett with the
“field day,” his procedure is second alone handled more than 8000 mes- schooner Morrissey, Wilkins flying
nature, and the emergency rigs are sages vital to relief efforts and succor. the Southern Cross, Wilkins and
quickly functioning where they will do The ham has pounded brass from Ellsworth on the submarine Nautilus,
the most good (Fig. 6). In the New scientific expeditions to the far reach- and Admiral Byrd on all his explo-
England-Long Island hurricane of es of the earth. MacMillan on the rations toss laurels to the hams that
accompanied them.
Shakespeare said something to the
effect that men’s evil deeds live in
brass, their virtues we write in water.
So be it with the ham who is blamed
by his BCL neighbor for just about
everything that afflicts the latter's
radio—from diathermy machines to
x-rays, natural static, fading, the neon
sign down the block, the traffic light
on the corner, sun-spot blackouts,
automotive ignition, snow static,
noisy resistors and tubes, poorly bond-
ed bx, defective house wiring, electric
razors, vacuum cleaners, elevator
motors, light flashers, thermostats in
gold fish bowl heating contrivances,
oil burner ignition systems, flourescent
lights, ultra-violet ray machines— and
we could continue ad nauseam. And
the ham (to quote a book once more),
turning the other cheek, has been
known to build and install a wavetrap
for his neighbor so that the BCL can
Fig. 5. Antennas at W4EDD. The motor-driven rotary beam antenna is shown atop separate WGY from WJZ.
the roof. There’s enough justification in the
ham's peacetime activities to demand
his perpetuation.And we all like to think
that wars will end with World War II.
However, it is generally agreed that
some degree of national and interna-
tional preparedness is in order for many
decades to come. Amateur radio pro-
vides a vast reservoir of highly com-
petent radio talent upon which our gov-
ernment has gratefully drawn in two
emergencies. In the first World War,
3500 of our 6000 amateurs served in
the armed forces. Prior to Pearl
Harbor, when our ranks numbered
some 60,000, 10,000 hams were
already in uniform. Every amateur is
today serving his country in some
capacity, and the large majority of those
who are not at Saipan, Leyte, Cologne,
Ravenna, Athens or Guam, are in the
factories building radar and other appa-
ratus for the fighting hams—designing,
building and testing equipment that
might not even have approached the
drawing board had it not been for a lib-
Fig. 6. W9PKW with portable equipment in a "field day" set-up simulating an emergency eral education in ham radio!

52 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 CONTESTING
BY TIM SHOPPA,* N3QE

Contest Activity is Still Up as Contesters Stay Safe

See our new Periodic Table of Contests for 2021 on page WPX Contests Add Multi-Transmitter
56. Details below. Distributed Category
CQ WPX Contest Directors Bud Trench, AA3B (SSB and
CW), and Ed Muns, WØYK (RTTY), have announced the

T
he spike in contest activity that began in mid-March addition of a new category to all three WPX contests, begin-
continues into Fall 2020. Counting logs received in ning in 2021. The Multi-Transmitter Distributed category
2020 and comparing to last year, the major interna- will permit up to six different stations in different locations
tional event of CQWW RTTY activity was up 18% and WAE (but all within the same DX entity and CQ zone) to oper-
(Worked All Europe) SSB log submittals were up 32%. ate as a single contest entry. This was inspired by inno-
Activity in the ARRL September VHF Contest was also up vations being made in response to the Coronavirus pan-
over the previous year. The September 2020 edition had 834 demic, but Trench and Muns say the new category will be
logs submitted, an increase of 21% over 2019. Jim George, permanent.
N3BB, in writing up the results from the September 2020 See the 2021 WPX RTTY Contest announcement else-
North American Sprint CW, notes “We received 183 logs, an where in this issue for additional information. Complete
increase of nearly 50% over a year earlier.” details will be posted with the full rules on both the CQ web-
site <www.cq-amateur-radio.com> and the WPX RTTY
ARRL DX Contest Multioperator Temporary contest site at <www.cqwpxrtty.com/rules>.
Changes are a Game Changer for 2021
While single-operator contest entries have been through the
roof since March 2020, all the contest organizers have noted 50 years. In 2019, 1,656 logs were submitted, and I antici-
a decline in multi-operator entries as travel and gathering pate even stronger participation this year.
restrictions have markedly reduced multi-operator activities. The ARRL contest portal website allows access to some
You will remember that the ARRL made some special years’ public logs, and I made an effort to analyze all the logs
allowances for 2020 Field Day to allow aggregate club scores to make a graph of frequency usage in this big single-band
to be grouped together, as well as the point value of certain contest. You can find the results of my analysis in Figure 1,
contacts. where the height of the green bars represents the number of
In late October 2020, the ARRL announced that special tem- times each frequency was logged anywhere in the world. The
porary accommodations for multi-operator stations would red bars represent the distribution of frequencies of logged
allow geographically distributed multi-ops in the 2021 ARRL intercontinental QSOs.
DX contest. Stations must obey all usual multi-operator rules Especially in the single-band 160-meter contests, you have
regarding signals per band and band changes. Paul Borque, to be willing to spin the VFO dial to work everyone. Significant
N1SFE, the ARRL Contest Program Manager, tells me one activity extended from the bottom of the band at 1.800 MHz
way of thinking about the accommodation for the ARRL DX all the way up to 1.880 MHz. From my home station, I often
contest, is as “expanding the 500-meter circle rule out to 100 have had great success running in 160-meter contests above
kilometers.” He also informs me that “there are no limitations 1.850 MHz where there is less congestion. As you go above
to having to be located within the same state.” 1.850 MHz, you will find locals making phone QSOs, and a
You can find the initial ARRL announcement at <https:// little higher you will find 160-meter AM enthusiasts with broad
tinyurl.com/y5c2t73e>. The ARRL uses the word “team” nine voice signals. These phone transmissions continue (or even
times in its announcement, a word that previously did not pick up in density) through CW contest weekends and CW
appear in ARRL contesting rules. Closely watch the ARRL contesters must navigate around them.
website for clarifications, and I am sure the ARRL contest Similar to 2018, the 2019 logs show a lack of CW QSOs in
desk will be responsive to any questions as hams every- the 1.840 to 1.843 MHz region, where FT8 activity dominates,
where explore the possibility of banding together in teams. even during a major CW contest. A courteous CW operator
keeps clear of these frequencies, and an ambitious contester
ARRL 160-Meter Contest — Band Usage in 2019 looking for CW DX knows that cross-mode interference will
Fred Laun, K3ZO, reminded me at a recent club meeting that make weak-signal work nearly impossible in this segment
he won the very first running of the ARRL 160-Meter Contest. due to loud FT8 signals cycling every 15 seconds.
I went and looked it up in the ARRL contest portal — avail- There are two changes in 160-meter band usage that will
able for easy access at <https://contests.arrl.org portal>. I take effect for the first time in the 2020 ARRL 160-Meter
quickly found the 1970 ARRL 160-meter result article, and I Contest:
see that Fred (who then was known as W9SZR) logged 444 Traditionally, ARRL 160-Meter Contest rule 6 has required
QSOs, working 69 sections and 29 DX countries, while oper- that frequencies from 1.830 to 1.835 MHz be reserved for
ating CW at W9EWC’s monster station. intercontinental QSOs — the “DX Window.” This rule was
In that first year, 270 logs were submitted, and 160-meter never strictly observed, although you will note in 2019 that
contest activity has grown by leaps and bounds in the past there was a slight drop in North America-only QSOs and an
uptick in intercontinental QSOs completed on frequencies in
the range of the DX Window. In 2020, a rule revision removes
email: <[email protected]> this limitation — rule 6 states, “the 1830-1835 kHz window

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 53

is no longer reserved for W/VE-to-DX graphs to analyze my previous efforts satile tool to analyze your past contest
QSOs in this contest.” in the contest. First available as a fea- entries and plan for the next entry.
Another important change in the 160- ture with the “+” version of this popular Accessing the statistics window is
meter landscape for 2020 is that Jap- contest logger, released in 2014, the done by opening it under the “View” tab.
anese hams are no longer limited to the statistics window is an incredibly ver- There are two tabs in the upper left of
1.810 to 1.825-MHz JA window as in
past years. Beginning in April of 2020,
Japanese amateurs may transmit CW
all the way up to 1.875 MHz. You can
find more details of recent revisions to
the Japanese band plans at the JARL
website: <https://tinyurl.com/yxur3zqx>.
And as an important reminder to
Europeans: the IARU Region 1 band
plan prohibits transmission below 1.810
MHz, and some contest organizers
have remarked they will remove all
QSOs made by Europeans in violation
of the Region 1 band plan. U.S. and
Canadian operators will find there is DX
to be worked below 1.810 MHz, but it
will not be European: in 2019, ZF1A
made extensive use of frequencies
below 1.810 MHz.

Using N1MM Statistics Graphs

As part of my preparation for upcoming
RTTY Roundup in January 2021, I
began exploring N1MM+’s statistics Figure 1. Annotated band usage in the 2019 ARRL 160-Meter Contest.

Calendar of Events
All year CQ DX Marathon http://bit.ly/vEKMWD
Dec. 2 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Dec. 3 QRP ARCI Top Band Sprint www.qrparci.org/contests
Dec. 4-6 ARRL 160-Meter Contest www.arrl.org/160-meter
Dec. 5-6 PRO CW Contest www.procontestclub.ro/PCC%20Rules.html
Dec. 5-6 FT Roundup www.rttycontesting.com/ft8-roundup/rules
Dec. 5-6 UFT Contest http://bit.ly/2Mh0LDc
Dec. 7 K1USN Slow Speed Test www.k1usn.com/sst.html
Dec. 9 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Dec. 12-13 ARRL 10M Contest www.arrl.org/10-meter
Dec. 12-13 International Naval Contest www.nra.pt/index.html
Dec. 12-13 Vernon 28 MHz SWL Contest http://bit.ly/2L9eT1L
Dec. 12-13 TRC Digi Contest https://trcdx.org/rules-trc-digi
Dec. 12-14 PODXS070 Club Triple Play Low Band Sprint http://bit.ly/2Cq2yUA
Dec. 13 QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint www.qrparci.org/contests
Dec. 13 CQC Great Colorado Snowshoe Run www.coloradoqrpclub.org/contests/snow.htm
Dec.14 K1USN Slow Speed Test www.k1usn.com/sst.html
Dec. 18 AGB Party Contest http://ev5agb.com/contest/contests_e.htm
Dec. 18 Russian 160-Meter Contest www.qrz.ru/contest/detail/90.html
Dec. 19 RAC Winter Contest www.rac.ca/rac-canada-winter-contest-rules-2019
Dec. 19-20 Croatian CW Contest www.9acw.org/index.php/rules/english
Dec. 19-20 OK DX RTTY Contest www.crk.cz/ENG/DXCONTE
Dec. 20 ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW www.arrl.org/rookie-roundup
Dec. 21 K1USN Slow Speed Test www.k1usn.com/sst.html
Dec. 26 DARC Xmas Contest www.darc.de/?id=820
Dec. 26-27 Stew Perry Topband Challenge www.kkn.net/stew
Dec. 27 RAEM Contest http://raem.srr.ru/en/main
Dec. 28 K1USN Slow Speed Test www.k1usn.com/sst.html
Dec. 31-Jan. 1 Bogor Old and New Contest https://contest.orari-bogor.org

January 2021
Jan. 1 AGB New Year Snowball Contest http://ev5agb.com/contest/contests_e.htm
Jan. 1 ARRL Straight Key Night www.arrl.org/straight-key-night

54 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

the window that give you two ways to starting band choice will likely be effec- stations, that are not time-series data.
access the same information — the tive in my 2020 attempt. The N1MM For example, Run vs. S&P could be
“Statistics” tab shows data in a tabular graph display gives the key as to what plotted per each operator, with opera-
form and is probably the display that colors represent which bands — and tors along the X-axis instead of hours.
your system will default to. Because I the rightmost menu allows you to select
access information in a graphical form from 12 different color palettes.
so much more effectively, I prefer to The lower half of Figure 2 shows sta- K4BAI — 65 Years of
click on the “Graph” tab and view mul- tistics for my run vs. search-and-pounce Contesting
ticolored graphs showing my contest operation for this contest. The parame- I was delighted to run across a historic
efforts. ters for making this graph are to set row photo (Photo A) listed on eBay showing
Pulldown menus on the bottom of sta- to “Hour” and column to “IsRunQSO”. a young ham at his operating desk with
tistics window allow you to plot any of The yellow part of each hour vintage equipment. I quickly hit the
26 columns on the vertical axis against (“IsRunQSO”= “True”) show statistics “buy” button and was even more satis-
any of 16 columns on the horizontal for QSOs I made while CQing. The blue fied when I saw a label on the back of
axis. There’s an astounding number of part of each bar (“IsRunQSO”= “False”) the photo listing the pictured operator
permutations available for plotting, and shows my search-and-pounce QSOs as John T. Laney, III, in December
here I will mention and illustrate sever- for each hour. You can see my overall 1954. I knew I had found an important
al of my favorites. operating pattern is to run whenever I piece of ham radio history, showing one
The most conventional use of the sta- get a good rate, then as the contest of ham radio’s most prolific hams at a
tistics graphs for a single-operator effort goes on and my run rate drops, I begin young age.
involves setting the X-axis (the “Row”) to mix in some search-and-pounce I reached out to John, K4BAI, and he
to show hours. In the top half of Figure QSOs. I operated this contest assisted, gave me important context about the
2, I show the N1MM+ statistics display so search-and-pounce was mostly picture and how it related to the earliest
for Band vs. Hours for this contest. The “click-and-pounce.” part of his ham career. John was 12
contest started at 1800Z on Saturday, While these two contest graphs are years old at the time, and he had
and you can see from the leftmost red the ones I look at most often as a sin- received his Novice license, KN4BAI,
bar that I was on 40 meters at the start- gle-operator single-radio station, there just one month before the picture was
ing gun, and worked more than 70 sta- are other graph permutations that will taken. Local hams had helped him
tions in that hour, confirming that my be useful for SO2R or multi-operator assemble his first station shown in the

Jan. 1 QRP ARCI New Year’s Day Sprint www.qrparci.org/contests

Jan. 1 SARTG New Year RTTY Contest www.sartg.com/contest/nyrules.htm
Jan. 1 AGCW Happy New Year Contest https://bit.ly/35nBqSR
Jan. 1 AGCW VHF/UHF Contest https://bit.ly/3lw91PK
Jan. 2 ARRL Kids Day www.arrl.org/kids-day
Jan. 2 PODSX PSKFest http://bit.ly/2Qv3wkA
Jan. 2 Winter VHF Sprint http://rvhfg.org/WinterSprintRules.txt
Jan. 2-3 ARRL RTTY Roundup www.arrl.org/rtty-roundup
Jan. 2-3 EU CW 160m Contest www.eucw.org/eu160.html
Jan. 2-3 Original QRP Contest www.qrpcc.de/contestrules/index.html
Jan. 2-3 WW PMC Contest http://bit.ly/2y2QWCc
Jan. 3 Veron SWL New Year Contest http://bit.ly/2L9eT1L
Jan. 6 UKEICC 80 Meter Contest SSB https://bit.ly/2SDPqQQ
Jan. 6 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Jan. 6-7 AWA Linc Cundall Memorial Contest https://bit.ly/3iDUm34
Jan. 9 YB DX Contest SSB https://ybdxcontest.com
Jan. 9-10 AWA Linc Cundall Memorial Contest https://bit.ly/3iDUm34
Jan. 9-10 North American CW QSO Party http://ncjweb.com/naqp
Jan. 9-10 UBA PSK63 Prefix Contest http://bit.ly/2Oi8fsa
Jan. 10 DARC 10-Meter Contest http://bit.ly/2pCiRo1
Jan. 10 NRAU – Baltic SSB Contest www.nrau.net
Jan. 10 NRAU – Baltic CW Contest www.nrau.net
Jan. 13 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en
Jan. 16-17 Feld Hell “Low Down” Sprint https://bit.ly/3eKxi2f
Jan. 16-17 Hungarian DX Contest www.ha-dx.com/en/
Jan. 16-17 North American SSB QSO Party http://ncjweb.com/naqp
Jan. 16-18 ARRL January VHF Contest www.arrl.org/january-vhf
Jan. 23-24 BARTG RTTY Sprint http://bartg.org.uk/wp/contests
Jan. 23-24 UK/EI DX Contest Rules www.ukeicc.com/dx-contest-rules.php
Jan. 27 UKEICC 80 Meter Contest CW https://bit.ly/2SDPqQQ
Jan. 29-31 CQWW 160M CW Contest http://cq160.com/rules.htm
Jan. 30-31 REF CW Contest http://concours.ref-union.org/contest/?page_id=2
Jan. 30-31 UBA SSB Contest http://bit.ly/W0gZiE
Jan. 30-31 Winter Field Day www.winterfieldday.com

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 55

 The Perfect Partner For

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PERIODIC TABLE
OF SELECT
AMATEUR RADIO
CONTESTS

2021
All Your Contesting Needs

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of ham radio.
picture. He notes, “the transmitter was for T/R switching. He also mentions that WN4HYV.” In March 1955, John pass-
a 6L6-807 homebrew rig borrowed from the key shown in the photo “is a Speed ed his Conditional exam and then
John Webb, W4DDQ.” He went on to X that I no doubt have somewhere.” became K4BAI. Congratulations, John,
explain that “the receiver was a bor- John told me about his participation in on 65 years in ham radio contesting.
rowed WWII tank receiver, a BC 342 N, his first contest: “My first contest was
converted for 110 volts”, and that out of the Novice Roundup in January 1955, 2021 Periodic Table of
camera view was a knife switch used and I came in second in Georgia to Contests
We all are familiar with the periodic table
of elements from our high school chem-
istry classes. Starting in 1787, French
chemist Antoine Lavoisier devised a list
of the 33 elements known at the time.
This was a simple one-dimensional enu-
meration. It was 82 years later, in 1869,
when Russian professor of chemistry
Dimitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, published
his first two-dimensional table showing
periodicities that 19th century chemists
were discovering. The chart we are all
familiar with today was created in 1923
by Horace Deming, professor at the
University of Nebraska. Chemical sup-
ply companies made Deming’s table uni-
versally popular, as they handed out free
copies to potential customers and sold
giant wall charts of Deming’s periodic
table to every school and college.
I have applied several graphic design
principles from the chemical periodic
table to the contesting calendar. The
result is on page 56. The 18 chemical
groups that run from left to right in the
chemical periodic table become the 12
months of the year in the periodic table
of contests. Instead of increasing atom-
ic weight from top to bottom in the chem-
ical periodic table, the contesting table
shows the days of each contest week-
Figure 2. Graphical statistics features of the N1MM+ logger.
end as you move down the chart.
Most chemical periodic tables make
use of color to encode some properties
of each element. For example, whether
the element is solid, liquid, or gas. In the
periodic table of contests, I chose to
color the cells by the mode of the con-
test – CW, SSB, Multi-mode, Digital, or
VHF / UHF.
There is a very different and non-
chemical kind of periodicity in the con-
testing calendar. The periodicity in con-
testing occurs on a yearly cycle. For
example, CQ WPX RTTY is held on the
second full weekend of February, and
CQWW CW is the last full weekend of
November.
One detail that changes every year is
which months have five weekends.
October has five weekends in 2021, and
I cannot find any HF contests currently
scheduled for the fourth weekend (it is
the first weekend of the ARRL EME
Contest). Contest organizers who have
not yet chosen a date for their event in
2021, take note and make use of this as
Photo A. John Laney, K4BAI (then KN4BAI), in December 1954. an opportunity to schedule your event.

58 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 Almost every weekend had multiple
contests, and I made a conscious selec-
tion of the one contest that is most
notable on that weekend. In many
cases — for example CQWW and CQ
WPX weekends — the choice was
easy. In other cases, it was more diffi-
cult — for example I strongly promote
the North American QSO Parties, which
are wonderful events for both beginning
contesters and expert contesters look-
ing for SO2R rate. But on the third week-
end of July, I chose to list the CQWW
VHF contest instead of NAQP RTTY.
Weekends with multiple popular state
QSO parties in the U.S., often were list-
ed in favor of European contests.

December 2020 and January

2021 Contest Highlights
In addition to the ARRL 160-Meter and
ARRL RTTY Roundup I have already
mentioned, I want to call out several
more contests that I enjoy every winter.
The ARRL 10-Meter Contest is
December 12th and 13th in 2020. Frank
Donovan, W3LPL, noted on the PVRC
reflector that most 10-meter openings
in December at solar minimum will be
single-hop E-skip. In the 2018 10-meter
contest, I took advantage of an enor-
mous 10-meter opening from the U.S.
east coast to the Midwest at the start-
ing gun (even though it was already sev-
eral hours past sunset on the east
coast). In the 2019 10-meter contest,
the big E-skip opening at the start was
among western U.S. stations, and Tim
Goeppinger, N6GP, noted that he
“caught the great Sporadic-E opening
for about 1.5 hours … Never seen an
opening like that where I worked all 7-
area states.” Where and when will the
openings be in 2020? If you keep your
radio on the 10-meter band the whole
weekend, you will find some interesting
action somewhere!
The Stew Perry Top Band Distance
Challenge starts at 1500Z on December
26th. I anticipate not just superb 160-
meter conditions because we are at solar
minimum, but also because more hams
will be on from their home stations.
January 2021 features two North
American QSO Parties on adjacent
weekends. Saturday, January 9th, is the
CW mode, and Saturday, January 16th,
is the SSB activation. Hams operating
in these events are limited to 100 watts,
helping to level the playing field and giv-
ing small stations an opportunity to call
CQ. At the other end of the spectrum,
experienced operators with SO2R sta-
tions crave the high rates they can
achieve in a NAQP.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 59

 THE LISTENING POST
BY GERRY DEXTER

Palau Back on the Air as Hope Radio

Plus, Brazilian Stations Power Up

Let’s start this month with some shortwavelets…

~ I did an obit for the station located on Palau a month or

so back. Too soon, it turns out. It’s been reborn as Hope
Radio using call letters KHBN, which were put into use on
November 1st. Frequencies include 9905, 9930, 9965,
15675, and 15680 kHz in use at various hours. Hope Radio
is operated by Ministries Restoration Church International
(MRC) in Morgantown, West Virginia. *

~ Radio Brazil Central, Goiania, has reactivated 4985 kHz.

This 10-kilowatt outlet has been silent for a while, 11815 kHz
is also active. It’s good to have this one back on.

~ Radio Nacional Brasilia (6180 and 11780 kHz) has pow-

ered up both frequencies to 100 kilowatts so both Brazilian
channels should be well heard now. World Harvest Radio has been reborn as Hope Radio, now
broadcasting over T8WH on the Pacific island of Palau.
~ Radio Rio Mar from Manaus (Brazil) has re-started broad-
casts on 6160 kHz from sign-on using variable 0900 UTC.
ASCENSION—BBC-South Atlantic Relay on 15490 from
~ Opposition broadcaster Koode Radio is no longer oper- English Bay at 1822 in F. (Brossell, WI)
ating. The broadcast, aimed at Nigeria, used 9810 kHz from AUSTRIA—Radio Austria International on 6155 from Moos-
1900 UTC. brunn at 0520 with news in German. (Figliozzi, NY)
BOTSWANA—VOA Relay-Mopeng Hill on12070 at 1921 in
~ Scandinavian Weekend Radio marked 20 years on the Tigrinya. (Figliozzi, NY)
air back in July. This one, however, has yet to be reported BRAZIL—(All in Portuguese –GLD)
to the “Listening Post.” Voz Missionaria from Camboriu on 5940 with a ballad at 2350.
(Figliozzi, NY)
~ All India Radio’s (AIR) site at Thiruvanathapuram is back Radio Inconfidencia, Belo Horizonte on 15190 at 1510 with
on the air on 5010 kHz and 7290 kHz. China is reported to talks. (Brossell, WI)
be jamming various AIR frequencies. CANADA—Bible Voice on 15310 via Nauen in Oromo with
HOA music. (Brossell, WI)
*Really old timers (like me!) may remember that CHINA—China Radio International on 7210 in Spanish at 2314;
on 11780 via Kunming at 1425 with three-way talks in Burmese;
Morgantown was home to the late Kenneth R. Boord, who
on 11990 via Nanning in Khmer at 2335. (Brossell, WI) On 7295
was a well-known writer on shortwave for Radio TV News
via Mali at 2347-0000 with woman speaking in Mandarin, anoth-
magazine in the 1950s. er with a closedown announcement, time pips, and off; on 11660
via Kashi at 2157-2213 with two men speaking in French.
Listener Logs (D’Angelo, PA) On 9675 via Shijiazhuang in Russian at 1335 with
Remember, your shortwave broadcast station logs are Chinese songs; on 13635 via Mali in Arabic at 1909. (Figliozzi,
always welcome. But please be sure to double or triple space NY) On 11975 via Mali at 2257-2315 with a man speaking in
between the logs, list each according to the station’s home Mandarin, time pips at 2300 and continued in Mandarin; 11980
country, and include your last name and state abbreviation via the Cuba relay at 2315-2321 with woman giving an interview
after each. Also needed are copies of QSLs, station sched- in English; on 12085 possibly via Xian at 2322-2346 with man
ules, brochures, pennants, station and/or shack photos, and giving a long talk in Mongolian. (D’Angelo, PA)
anything else you think would be of interest. The same holds CNR-1 on 11520 at 1220 with apparent children’s program, it
for amateur radio operators who also listen to shortwave seemed to be jamming Sound of Hope. (Figliozzi, NY)
CUBA—Radio Progresso on 4765 at 0252 in Spanish.
broadcasts ... I know you’re out there. You, too, are also most
(Brossell, WI)
welcome to contribute. C’mon, I don’t bite! Here are this ESWATINI (Swaziland)—Trans World Radio on 9940 via
month’s logs. All times are in UTC. If no language is men- Manzini with a man preaching in Lingala at 1924. (Figliozzi, NY)
tioned, then English is assumed. GERMANY—Deutsche Welle on 13775 via France with man
and woman speaking in Amharic at 1618 and better than on
ALGERIA—Radio Algerienne on 9655 via France with Qur’an //15275, also 15275 was heard in English to Ethiopia at 1612.
recitations at 2027. (Brossell, WI) (Figliozzi, NY) 15200 via France in Hausa at 1852. (Brossell, WI)
GUATEMALA—Radio Verdad from Chiquimula on 4055 at
*c/o CQ magazine

60 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

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0222 in Spanish with instrumental music. (Brossell, WI) Furusato No Kaze (via Taiwan to North Korea) on 9705 with
GUINEA—Radio TV Guineenne via Conakry on 9650 at 2013 man speaking in Japanese at 1332, reception was weak with
in French with Hi-Life music. (Brossell, WI) flutter and fades. (Figliozzi, NY)
INDIA—All India Radio on 11560 via Bengaluru at 1615 with Denge Welat (via France to Turkey) on 11530 at 2014 in
Russian station ID and subcontinental music. (Brossell, WI) Kurdish. (Brossell, WI) On 11530 at 2047-2100* with Kurdish
IRAN—VOIRI on 7230 via Sirjan at 2344-0022* with French ser- vocals. (D’Angelo, PA)
vice and mainly talks and short music segments to closing. PHILIPPINES—FEBA on 9275 via Bacaue at 1142 in Chinese;
(D’Angelo, PA) On 9855 via Sirjan at 1925 in English to Europe on 9400 via Iba with children singing, not //9275. Heavy QRM
with news at 1930; on 9870 via Aziwal in Turkish at 1630 with a from WRMI. (Figliozzi, NY)
phone interview. (Figliozzi, NY) PIRATES—WDOG, 5060 at 0056 with rock, occasional sta-
KUWAIT—Radio Kuwait on 15540 at 1708 with a man speak- tion IDs, dog or wolf howls, NA at 0153. Damn Skippy, 6955usb
ing in Urdu. (Figliozzi, NY)
MADAGASCAR—Madagascar World Voice on 9845 via
Mahajanga with man speaking in Russian at 1939; on 13670 via
Mahajanga at 1912 with Arabic vocals. (Figliozzi, NY)
African Pathways Radio on 11965 via Majahanga with man and
woman speaking in English, frequency mention at 2012 then more
Bible discussions, the announced 13670 frequency was not
heard. (D’Angelo, PA) 2014. (Brossell, WI)
MALI—Radio TV Mali on 5995 at 2356 in Bambara including an
French station ID, then an alternating man and woman talk to
abrupt 0000 sign off; on 9635 at 1633 in French. (Figliozzi, NY)
NEW ZEALAND—RNZI on 5945 at 1115, apparently with
“Dateline Pacific” program. (Figliozzi, NY)
NIGERIA—Voice of Nigeria on 11770 via Abuja at 2007-2019*
with two men speaking in Hausa, off early or had tech troubles.
(D’Angelo, PA)
NORTH KOREA—Voice of Korea on 11710 via Kujang at 1309
with man and woman reading the news. (Figliozzi, NY)
OPPOSITION—Manara Radio (via France to Nigeria) on
15285 at 1626 in Hausa. (Brossell, WI)
Echo of Hope (South Korea to North) on 9105 at 1345 with Scandinavian Weekend Radio broadcasts from this small
man and woman speaking through possible NK jamming. house in the town of Virrat, Finland. It’s never been report-
(Figliozzi, NY) ed to the “Listening Post.”

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 61

 China’s Holy Tibet Broadcasting uses several frequencies
in the 4-, 6-, 7-, and 9-MHz bands.
This European pirate (The Vault) sometimes makes it to this
side of the pond, even if it runs just 40 watts. SWEDEN—IBRA Radio on 15260 via Woofferton at 1715 with
woman speaking in Arabic and lively talk and subcontinental
music. (Figlioizzi, NY) On 15510 at 1818 with HOA music and
talks in Tigrinya. (Brossell, WI)
TURKEY—Voice of Turkey on 7275 via Ermiler at *0257-0322
with Turkish music, female announcer and English opening ID
at 0300 then man reading the news. (D’Angelo, PA) On 9460
via Ermiler at 2014 in Turkish. (Brossell, WI)
UNITED STATES—Voice of America on 9615 via the
Philippine Relay at 1341 in Khmer to Cambodia. (Figliozzi, NY)
On 15165 via the Thailand Relay at 1317 in Mandarin with
Firedrake jammer under; on 15660 via Woofferton in Amharic
at 1843. (Brossell, WI)
Radio Liberty/RFE on 15180 via Woofferton in Uzbek at 1438.
(Brossell, WI)
Radio Farda on 12005 via the Biblis Relay (Germany) at 1554
with Peggy Lee’s “Fever,” and talks in Farsi. (Brossell, WI)
Radio Marti on 7345drm via Greenville at 0015. My screen
shows that station ID but no audio was heard despite an S-9 sig-
nal level. (Figliozzi, NY)
Radio Vanuatu is still in the shortwave news with its third Adventist World Radio on 9800 via Germany at 2109-2129*
harmonic on 11835 kHz. with religious conversation in Nigerian pidgin, station ID, con-
tact info at 2126, then carrier off. (D’Angelo, PA) On 15215 via
Nauen in Hindi at 1557; on 15605 via Sri Lanka in Punjabi at
(u), station ID, strange songs, several SSTV and FAXs. 1506. (Brossell, WI)
Wolverine Radio, 6940u at 0038 with a wide variety of songs, Overcomer Ministry on 11600 via Bulgaria at 1623 with Brother
SSTV / FAX at 0139. Radio 48, 5150u weak at 2352 and still Stair yammering away. (Figliozzi, NY)
very weak by 0020. Ballsmacker Radio, 6960 at 0101 with a Supreme Master Television on 5800 via Okeechobee at 0024-
pop song. WDOG, 6960u at 2359, weak with modern pop, sta- 0043 with male and female announcers, features, and several
tion IDs at 0002 and 0056. Psycho Radio, 4185 at 0003, weak station IDs. (D’Angelo, PA)
with pops. (Hassig, IL) VATICAN—Vatican Radio on 9705 at 2023 on the Pope’s talk
Yeah Man Radio, 6925 at 2303 with rock, BS&T, and much on Syria. (Brossell, WI)
QSB. Foxy AM, 6925 at 2339-0010 with light rock, and jazz, but
was under-modulated, station ID at 2356. Damn Skippy, 6930u As Time Goes By
at 0108-0133* assorted blues / rock, SSTV, email, and DJ tak- Radio Nueva Horizonte, Riberalta, Bolivia, on 4518 at 0340
ing requests. WEZL, 6933 at 0035 with rock oldies, seemingly on March 15, 1989 with its Spanish domestic service.
the same guy as behind Skippy. The Vault (Euro) 6934.2u at
2310-2355 with classic rock, station IDs with siren SFX. Quien Sabe – (Who Knows?)
(KB8QBF, MI) ~ 4940 has recently hosted an apparent new Colombian
Damn Skippy, 6950u at 0112 with rock, SSTV; also on 6925u station. Trouble is no one has yet been able to name the
at 2308 with air raid sirens, more rock, SSTVs. (Taylor, WI) thing. One “clue” — the Spanish announcer and format are
ROMANIA—Radio Romania International on 9500 via Galbeni
said to sound suspiciously like those on Al Caravan and La
at 1637 in French with a jazz concert for Southern Europe. Very
well heard in upstate NY all day and night. (Figliozzi, NY)
Voz Concencia, but whether that means anything or not is
SAO TOME—VOA on 9470 via Pinheira, poor at 1945 in an open question. We’ll see...
Kinyarwanda. (Figliozzi, NY) On 11900 at 2122 with French /
English lesson. (Brossell, WI) Thanks, Thanks, Thanks
SAUDI ARABIA—BSKSA on 11915 with Qur’an at 2225. This month I thank Andy Robbins, KB8QBF, Kalamazoo,
(Brossell, WI) MI; William Hassig, Mt. Pleasant, IL; John Figliozzi, Half
SOUTH KOREA—KBS World Radio on 15575 at 1451 in Moon, NY; Rich D’Angelo, Wyomissing, PA; and Bob
Korean. (Brossell, WI) Brossell, Pewaukee, WI.

62 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Technology Special

Looking for a simple way to match your HF antenna to 50-ohm coax?

Autotransformers offer wide bandwidth, high efficiency, and excellent
power-handling capability while delivering a wide range of matching
ratios.

The Ferrite-Sleeve Autotransformer

BY RICK LITTLEFIELD,* K1BQT

A
ferrite-sleeve autotransformer is a quick, cheap, and tion. The impedance ratio column (Z-ratio) shows the mag-
easy way to match your antenna to your feedline. It nitude of the transformation. Note that autotransformers may
works with a wide range of antenna types including be installed as step-up or step-down devices (Figure 2).
various dipoles, loops, quads, Yagis, and verticals. The auto- Referring to Table 1, a winding with a 1.78:1 impedance-ratio
transformer is unique in that it uses a single-coil winding, a will transition 50-ohm sources up to an 89-ohm load (Z-Up)
portion of which is common to both the primary and the sec- or down to a 28-ohm load (Z-Down) by simply reversing the
ondary (see Figure 1). The two design variations described terminal connections.
here (Photo A) cover 3 to 30 MHz with 22 transformation
ratios that match loads between 8 and 313 ohms. Construction
Figure 3 illustrates two winding configurations, one using a
Parts single ferrite sleeve and a second using two sleeves config-
All transformers are wound on Fair-Rite 43-mix round-cable ured as a binocular core. The single-sleeve version is espe-
EMI cores. These sleeve-shaped parts are commonly used cially compact and lightweight, making it ideal for suspend-
to suppress common-mode radiation on coax cable and
should be readily available from online RF-component ven-
dors or flea-market sellers.
For SSB and CW operation with power levels up to 300
watts, I recommend using the smaller 1/2-inch-OD x 1-1/8-
inch cores (Fair-Rite 2643540002). For “big-amp” power lev-
els up to 1,500 watts, use the larger 1-inch-OD x 1-1/8-inch
cores (Fair-Rite 2643102002). For best performance, wind
each transformer with stranded Teflon®-jacketed wire, 16-
gauge or 18-gauge for the 1/2-inch cores and 12- or 14-gauge
for the larger cores.

Matching Ratios
See Table 1 for matching data. The turns-ratio column (T-
Ratio) specifies the total number of turns and the tap loca-
T-Ratio Z-Ratio Z-Up Z-Down
7:6 1.36:1 68 37.0
Photo A. Sample transformers using the two core sizes and
6:5 1.44:1 72 35.0
both winding methods.
5:4 1.56:1 78 32.0
4:3 1.78:1 89 28.0
7:5 1.96:1 98 25.5
6:4 2.25:1 113 22.0
5:3 2.78:1 139 18.0
7:4 3.00:1 150 16.7
4:2 4.00:1 200 12.5*
6:3 4.00:1 200 12.5*
7:3 5.44:1 272 9.2
5:2 6.25:1 313 8.0
* (2:4 ratio best above 10 MHz, 3:6 ratio best below 10 MHz)

Table 1. Matching data. See text for details.

Figure 1. The primary and secondary share the same wind-
ing. Note a 50-ohm feed may be tapped at any point along
* Email: <[email protected]> the winding if the desired turns ratio is maintained.

64 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

ed-wire antennas where center-sag
might be a problem. The binocular ver-
sion weighs a bit more but provides
twice the cross-sectional core area for
increased power handling. The binocu-
lar configuration also captures more of
the inductor winding inside the ferrite
core material, yielding flatter frequency
response, less stray reactance, and
lower insertion loss.
To tap a single-sleeve inductor, cut a
gap in the insulation and tack-solder a Figure 2. Transformers may be connected to match loads higher or lower in value
tap lead onto the exposed conductor. than the 50-ohm source impedance.
Note that the turns count refers to the
number of wires passing inside the core Figure 3. Tapping
and not the number passing outside. For method for the single-
the binocular inductor, cut the winding at core and binocular
the tap point and dress the leads as core transformer con-
shown. It is normally easier to install the figurations.
tap during the winding procedure than it
is to install it later. Teflon insulation is
tough, but strips easily if you gridle the
wire first using a sharp X-acto® knife.
Testing your handiwork work will be
easy if you have a selection of standard-
value resistors and a handheld antenna
analyzer on hand. Simply connect the 1(:1(:1(:
:H VWRFN WKH QHZUXJJHG)5((6&$/( .: WUDQVLVWRU DQG
analyzer to one side of the transformer SDUWVIRUWKH0DQG-0+]DPSOLILHUGHVLJQV
and a resistor close to the desired load
value across the opposite side, then
check SWR. If you missed a tap location
or omitted a turn, the analyzer mea- COAX WIRE
&2$; :,5(
+) %URDGEDQG RF
5) Transformers
7UDQVIRUPHUV
surement will tell you right away. 5) 7UDQVIRUPHUV
TC-12
7&- TC-18
7&-
Type “U”
7\SH³8´
WR 0+]
TC-20
7&- TC-22
7&-
WR 0+]
TC-24
7&- 2 to 300MHz
Transformer Enclosures +)$PSOLILHUV
:H VWRFNWKHFRPSOHWH SDUWVOLVW &RPPXQLFDWLRQ HF Power
These devices need protection from the DQG 3& ERDUGVIRUWKH0RWRUROD

elements — but avoid sealing them up

DPSOLILHUGHVLJQVIHDWXUHGLQ &RQFHSWV ,QF 6SOLWWHU &RPELQHUV
WR0+]
WKHLU$SSOLFDWLRQ 1RWHVDQG
(QJLQHHULQJ %XOOHWLQV 0LOOVWRQH'ULYH %HDYHUFUHHN2+ -
in small air-tight enclosures. Insertion (PDLO FFLGD\WRQ#SRER[FRP 3RUW
36&-/ : 3(3
loss is low, but some core heating is $1/: $1 : ZZZFRPPXQLFDWLRQ-FRQFHSWVFRP 36&-+ : 3(3

likely, especially when running high $1+ : $5 :

3KRQH - 3RUW
$1: $5: )$;  - 36&-/ : 3(3
power or transmitting high power-den- (%$ : (%:
$5: In Business for 37 Years
36&-+
36&-+
: 3(3
: 3(3
(%$ :
sity modes such as radioteletype
(RTTY). I generally cut or drill generous
vent holes in the bottom of the enclo-
sure and glue fiberglass screening over
them to keep unwanted “critters” out.

Baluns
Like most impedance transformers in-
cluding the classic “4:1 balun,” these
devices do not effectively suppress
common-mode current from propagat-
ing on coaxial feedline. When feeding
balance elements, I normally install a 1:1
Guanella balun in series with the coax
line or install several 43-mix sleeves on
the coax to perform this function.

Conclusion
Autotransformers work well as feed-
point matching devices for a wide range
of antenna types including classic di-
poles, folded dipoles, multiband parallel
dipoles, OCFDs, loops, quads, Yagis,
and verticals. Best of all, they are cheap
and simple to construct.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 65

Announcing:
2021 CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest
NEW Multi-Transmitter Distributed Category Added as of 2021
February 13-14, 2021
Starts 0000 UTC Saturday; Ends 2359 UTC Sunday

T
he CQ World Wide WPX RTTY Contest (CQ WPX RTTY) band, multi-element antenna with one feedline for the 14-, 21-,
offers 48 hours of non-stop DX chasing fun. Whether you and 28-MHz bands, plus a single element antenna for each of the
are competing for awards, looking for a few new band- 3.5 and 7 MHz bands. One example is a three-element tri-band
countries, or simply filling the logbook, the CQ WPX has some- antenna for 14, 21, and 28 MHz plus an inverted-V wire dipole for
thing for everyone. Check out the Tribander / Single Element, 3.5 MHz and another one for 7 MHz. Another example is a single-
Rookie, and Classic Overlay Categories for even more chances element multi-band vertical antenna for all five bands or a fan dipole
to win a certificate. of single-element dipoles for each band using a single feedline.
Rookie Overlay — Only open to operators who were first licensed
New Category as radio amateurs less than three (3) years before the date of the
We are also excited to add a new Multi-Transmitter Distributed contest. Indicate date licensed in the soapbox field of your log.
category to all WPX contests as of this year. Stations operating Classic Overlay — Allows only one radio, no receiving during
in this category may have a maximum of six transmitted signals, transmitting, QSO finding assistance is NOT allowed and only
one per band at any one time, from stations in different loca- the first 24 hours of operation are scored. Off-times must be at
tions. All equipment (transmitters, receivers, amplifiers, anten- least 60 minutes.
nas, etc.), including remotely-controlled equipment, must be Multi-Operator — more than one person is involved in oper-
located in same DXCC entity and CQ Zone. Six bands may be ating the station.
activated simultaneously. Single-Transmitter: This category allows one transmitter to
This is a new stand-alone category. It is not intended to replace, work any station. It may change bands as many as 8 times per
or compete with, other multi-operator categories. The general hour. Note: A second transmitter may be used to work multipli-
rules for all entrants fully apply to this category, with the excep- ers only. This category has some very specific restrictions so
tion of the rules on station location and remote receivers. While please read the full rules carefully.
this category was stimulated by COVID-19 related concerns, it • High power: Up to 1,500 watts
is intended to be a permanent addition to WPX RTTY / SSB / • Low power: 100 watts or less
CW. See complete rules (links below) for further details.
Two-Transmitter: Allows the use of two transmitted signals on
Contest Basics two bands. Each station may change bands as many as 8 times
Working stations is easy. Exchange and log signal report and per hour.
a progressive serial number beginning with “1,” e.g., DL1ABC Multi-Transmitter: Allows the use of one transmitted signal on
599 123. each band.
Contacts are valid only on the 3.5-, 7-, 14-, 21-, and 28-MHz Multi-Transmitter Distributed: Allows the use of one transmit-
amateur bands. (No WARC bands.) ted signal on each band, each from a different station location
within the same country and CQ Zone.
Scoring
Awards
Final score is based on QSO points earned for each contact Electronic certificates will be made available for everyone who
times the number of multipliers worked. submits an entry. Handsome plaques may be sponsored for the
Multipliers are each unique callsign prefix, which is the letter top finishers in each category.
/ numeral combination forming the first part of the callsign. This In addition to the Single-Operator Triathlon Award for top
prefix multiplier is counted once per log, not on each band. cumulative score in all three CQ WPX contests (RTTY, SSB,
Contacts with other continents count three points each. Contacts and CW), there is a Club Competition Triathlon Award for the
with the same continent, but different country, count two points. highest club score in North America for all three modes.
Same country contacts count one point. In addition, these contact
points are doubled for contacts made on the 3.5- or 7-MHz bands. Submitting Your Log
Don’t worry about calculating your score; the contest log
checking will do that for you when you submit a log. Electronic logs should be in the Cabrillo format. Upload your
log on the Web at <www.cqwpx.com/logcheck>. The website
Entry Categories also includes a utility to convert your ADIF format log file if need-
ed. See full rules for instructions regarding paper logs.
The competition is divided into Single Operator and Multi- All entries must be sent WITHIN FIVE (5) DAYS after the end
Operator categories. All entry categories may use QSO finding of the contest: No later than 2359 UTC February 19, 2021.
assistance (except for the Classic Overlay), i.e., all entries are Resubmitting an entry after the deadline will result in it being
“Assisted” whether QSO alerting is used or not. Single Operator considered as a late log.
categories also offer three additional Overlay categories which Only one entry is permitted for each callsign. Any log sub-
may be entered IN ADDITION TO the normal Single-Operator mission will replace any previous submissions.
category.
Single Operator (all bands or any single band) – only the one Full Rules
operator finds, makes, and logs all contacts.
The complete rules of the CQ WPX RTTY Contest are available
• High power: Up to 1,500 watts in different languages on the Web at <www.cqwpxrtty.com/rules.
• Low power: 100 watts or less htm> and in English on the CQ magazine website at <www.cq-
• QRP: 5 watts or less amateur-radio.com>. Please review the rules and the frequent-
ly asked questions before the contest. Questions may be sub-
Tribander / Single Element Overlay — Allows the use of a multi- mitted by email to <[email protected]>.

66 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Looking for the sounds of real ham QSOs and exotic
propagation modes for presentations? WB6NOA has
you covered, and it’s all free!
DX World
Download Radio Calls from Guide
Gordo’s “On the Air” 4th Edition!
License Manual CDs By Franz Langner, DJ9ZB

for Free!
h
Buy Bot E!
T
he audio soundtracks from Gordon West’s “On the Air” CDs originally bound into
his W5YI license manuals may now be downloaded for free over the internet. and SAV
Thanks to the W5YI Group, these fun narrated audio “out-takes” show what it is
like on all the ham bands, from Technician Class operators working the International
Space Station to Generals exploring the QSOs you might find from 160 to 10 meters.
There’s a separate file that goes with each level of license manual, Technician,
General, and Amateur Extra Class.
On the Extra Class free CD download, hear the actual sounds of aurora CW, FT8
vs. many other digital modes, and the eerie fascinating sounds of CW echoes com-
ing off the moon. Known throughout the DX
“These free downloads are great for ham instructors and elmers, as each one offers and DXpedition world as a
several tracks that may be played for short classroom demos of propagation, ham eti- meticulous and tireless operator,
quette to enter an ongoing QSO, and some funny pile up calls where only the YL gets Franz Langner, DJ9ZB, is also
through!” comments Gordon West, WB6NOA. noted as one of the most
“Hams always ask me where they can get these ‘live’ on-the-air sounds, as a great knowledgeable individuals in
way to illustrate the fun of ham radio to prospective hams and kids,” adds West. Amateur Radio in terms of
documenting DXCC entities.
The download process is easy. This is the fourth edition of his
• Log on to the <www.w5yi.org> website. series of books bearing the title
• Click to the opening page of services and products that W5YI offers. DX World Guide. It was first
• In the left column, under PRODUCTS, go six down and click on BOOK AUDIO CD published in Germany in 1988
DOWNLOADS. It takes about a minute to load up the MP3 file for each disc. and followed by a second
• Begin listening at WELCOME. edition, also in Germany in 1977.
The third edition, published in the
“These free downloads are a preview of all that students may hear on our regular U.S.A in 2012 was the first to use
4-set and 6-set audio CD Q & A learning courses I write,” adds West. “These for-sale color throughout. This 380-page,
courses are described on the home page, too.” fourth edition, also full color
So if you are presenting a ham radio demo to a service organization, these “live” throughout, includes information
sounds of working stations from space, and the lure of radio wave refraction off the on well over 300 DX entities.
ionosphere, will really captivate your audience. Whether used as a desk
reference for the DXer of any
level of proficiency or as a “wish
book” for DXers just starting his or
her DXCC journey, the new DX
World Guide is a worthy and
pleasant companion!
This 380-page, Fourth Edition is
available in paperback and on CD!
6 X 9 Paperback – only $49.95
Book on CD – only $34.95
Buy both the Paperback and CD –
only $68.95
Plus applicable shipping and handling charge.
Single item shipping charge applies when you
purchase both the book and CD together.

Photo A. The audio CD included with Gordo’s W5YI Photo B. Here’s where to click CQ Communications, Inc.
license manuals is now available for free download to download the CD audio 516 681-2926
over the internet. files. See text for details. http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 67

Technology Special
COMMUNICATIONS HORIZONS
BY ROB DE SANTOS, K8RKD

Are You Going Hybrid?

I
f you don’t have a “hybrid” radio in
your car today (and VERY few do),
it’s quite likely you will someday.
What’s a hybrid radio? The radio and
vehicle manufacturers have defined a
hybrid radio as one that is able to switch
efficiently between broadcast signals
and internet-provided streams. This
capability has been under discussion for
at least a decade and is finally beginning
to appear in the first production radios
included in vehicles. Sure, many of you
already have the ability to tune to both
broadcast signals and internet streams
of stations in your car. But does the radio
switch automatically to the internet
stream if you drive out of range of the
broadcast signal? Most likely, it does not.

Stations Here, There, and

Everywhere
The extent of hybrid radio today is limit-
ed to the not insignificant efforts of bring- Audi and iHeartRadio have announced plans to begin installing and supporting
ing better graphics, geo-targeting, and hybrid radios in 2021 model year vehicles. Hybrid radios automatically switch
better data integration to car dash- between a station’s broadcast signal and its internet stream. (Images via
boards. Some limited data has been Wikimedia Commons)
available via the RDS feature in most
broadcast symbols. However, RDS is
limited in the amount of information that of the AM / FM radio in the evolving auto- to do any more than necessary. Yes,
can be transferred and the rate of data motive dashboards.5 The “entertain- presets help. However, this just speeds
transfer is very low. Now we are begin- ment center” in the car increasingly up the process, it does not eliminate it.
ning to see the implementation of the full includes a whole host of options beyond What every program director wants is
hybrid concept. In Italy, the FM-world1 broadcast radio. It’s a crowded space to keep the listener, no matter where
family of stations has announced a part- and in at least one case, AM disap- they are. With more and more com-
nership with Xperi2 to implement the peared entirely. Since around 2015, muters living farther from the center of
concept for their stations. In September there has been an increasing effort cities or completely away from major
of this year, it was announced that between broadcasters and auto manu- metropolitan areas, this has been an
iHeartRadio and Audi3,4 would collabo- facturers to discuss concerns sur- increasing problem. Then there are the
rate to bring hybrid radio to Audi vehicles rounding the dash. In parallel to this are crowded bands, directional signals, tun-
in North America with the 2021 model concerns about driver distraction as the nels, limited power at night for AMs, etc.
year. The iHeartRadio / Audi concept entertainment options increase. A bet-
includes the ability to switch back and ter and smoother integration of radio How Does Hybrid Radio Work?
forth between broadcast and internet into the modern dashboard has been First and foremost, the vehicle’s radio
sources without user intervention and needed. One small piece of the solution must have access to the internet. This
remember the source state when the car is hybrid radio. is typically achieved by way of a mobile
radio is off. While these announcements One of the selling points of satellite (cellular) signal and then a connection
appear limited to the stations that are radio has always been its “listen any- to the radio using Wi-Fi® or another
owned or affiliated with them, it heralds where” capability. Tune in once and you method. For many high- and middle-
a substantial change. can drive across country without the end vehicles, an internet connection is
need to change stations. Hybrid radio rapidly becoming standard now. The
Why Does This Matter? eliminates the need to scan the dial to other piece is the software in the car
For some time now, radio broadcasters find a similar station when you drive out dash. Organizations like RadioDNS6
have been concerned about the place of range of the station to which you were have tried with mixed success to push
previously tuned. While “scanning the the technology out to the manufactur-
dial” might appeal to DXers and hams, ers of car entertainment systems and
* <[email protected]> it is not something most listeners want software platforms such as Google’s

68 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and Radioplayer. With the incorporation of the soft-
ware into the dashboard apps for such services as iHeartRadio, it is likely the tech-
nology will spread quickly. It’s a fair bet that if it works well for iHeartRadio, the ®
competition won’t be far behind.
As you drive, the radio signal strength and / or your geographic location may be
monitored. When you enter or leave a station’s geographic service area, the soft-
ware looks to see if it has an associated stream or broadcast signal and auto-
matically switches to the source needed to “keep the music playing.” Particularly
in Europe, there is great interest in “geo-fencing” signals so that the radio stays
tuned to a broadcast source while inside a particular country.7 There is not much
indication this is happening in any way in U.S. or Canadian vehicle plans thus far.

What Does This Mean for DXing?

Were you
The days of using a car radio to DX are nearing an end. Fewer and fewer of the first licensed
modern entertainment systems have features that allow you to manually tune to
a frequency or sequentially step through a band. Progress giveth and progress 25 years ago and
taketh away. There is already a growing secondary market in car radios removed
from older car models because of this. (Side note: not just for DXers ... there are licensed today?
markets for AM radios which can receive the AM stereo standards, for example.)

Over to You Then you should join the

This is a “virtual” CQ call. Please share your thoughtful feedback, comments, sug- Quarter Century
gestions, and ideas. Always happy to hear from readers. I try to answer reader mail.
Wireless Association, Inc.
Notes:
1. Xperi Partners With FM-world in Italy, <https://tinyurl.com/y3l944r4>
2. HD Radio Owner Xperi Releases “DTS Connected Radio” Platform, <https://tinyurl. To Join or Renew, Visit:
com/y7wf2con>
3. Audi Launches Hybrid Radio in the U.S. and Canada <https://tinyurl.com/y5wmwfo6> http://www.qcwa.org/join-renew.php
4. iHeartRadio Will Support Hybrid Radio in North America <https://tinyurl.com/y2y2zt5f> For more information please contact
5. Taking the Fear Out of Hybrid Radio <https://tinyurl.com/y67ppwmj>
6. RadioDNS website <https://radiodns.org> [email protected]
7. Radio Cozies Up With Automakers On Dashboard Of The Future <https://tinyurl.
com/y48e8e2m>

AlasKit Educational & Scientific Resources

We have a large inventory of
new and surplus genuine radio
components, from QRP to
QRO. If you can’t find it, we
probably have it!
AlasKit has a well-equipped
RF design lab. If you have a
need for a custom-designed RF
accessory, we can design and
produce these in single lot, or
small production quantities.
We have a strong relationship with a world-class
PCB manufacturer, as well.
We also produce a wide range of training
materials and technical documentation. If you
need a technical manual written in clear, concise
English, we can do that too.
Check out our website for more exciting projects
in progress at AlasKit Educational and Scientific
Resources

http://alaskit.co • 907-488-0483
P.O. Box 56325 • North Pole, AK 99705

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 69

 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
BY STAN BROADWAY,* N8BHL

It’s Exercise Time!

Introducing Our New EmComm Editor “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we
We’d like to welcome Stan Broadway, N8BHL, as the fall to the level of our training.” – Archilochus
newest member of the CQ family. Stan comes to the post

I
t’s a great time to train! Typically, the winter months slow
of Emergency Communications Editor with a wide-ranging our activities, and meetings can get repetitive. Here’s an
emergency communications background, both in amateur idea: How about staging an exercise to get things going?
radio and professionally. We asked Stan to introduce him- It’s important for new hams to learn some technical lessons.
self before getting into the meat of his first column. – W2VU Plus, it’s just as important for the “old hats” to stay involved,
both to improve our overall level of service and to train the
newer hams. We don’t have to wait for our served agencies
to schedule a drill, we can certainly put a successful session
together on our own. The key is to understand the basics of
an exercise.
An exercise accomplishes several important things within
our group. It can refresh our ability to operate, it can teach
new concepts, it can enhance working as a team. Most impor-
tantly, it will help us recognize potential problems and how
we can respond to those problems. A good exercise also
brings us back to the basics — operating our radios, estab-
lishing temporary stations, refamiliarizing ourselves with that
software suite, and practicing. Just practicing.

Where Do I Start?
One solid foundation is to assess your needs in the com-
New CQ EmComm Editor Stan Broadway, N8BHL munity. Find out what is on your EMA (emergency manage-
ment agency; the name may vary state-to-state) director’s
In a gas station job I had while in high school, I was told by “headache list,” often found in a document known as a
the “old training guy” something that’s stuck with me over all Hazard Mitigation Plan. This is the list of most likely devas-
these years: “There’s no such thing as a bad experience … tating events in the community. Perhaps amateur radio would
there is only experience!” With that to help shape a positive fit into one of those scenarios. Or you can take a “normal”
outlook, I have had the wonderful opportunity to do what I activity such as a public service event, and present a sce-
loved in life (journalism, computers, music, volunteer and nario based on what would happen if things went “terribly”
professional firefighting). I dabbled with radio in 1964 as a wrong. Did you ever notice things just don’t “go wrong”? They
Novice and walked away. In 1979, I listened to the local go terribly wrong. At any rate, determine a hazard or event
weather net and I was hooked again. Shortly after, I heard which will be the theme of the exercise.
the Hurricane Watch Net and that provoked my interest in HF. Next, determine the scope of your exercise. Narrow the list
I went for my (CW — no snobbery!) Extra Class license and of participants and events so that your people will have
started putting antennas in the air. For a period, I was limit- enough time to practice their objectives. Build your scenario
ed to only mobile radio, but I had so much fun with mobile HF
(the simulated conditions which will guide your exercise play-
that I still operate these days. Knowledge of RF proved help-
ers) with the objective in mind. Try to be as realistic as pos-
ful as I moved into emergency dispatching, where I config-
ured communication centers and taught radio skills to fire- sible and acknowledge the “artificialities” up front so your
fighters. I’ve had a red light on my roof for 50 years, always players don’t get sidetracked.
learning more about emergency communications. I became
involved a little more deeply in amateur radio as a weather What Are Your Objectives?
net and Hurricane Watch Net control operator. I became a Critical to any exercise is your list of objectives. What do you
county Emergency Coordinator (EC) and took on the Ohio want the participants to learn or practice? If you’ve created
Section Emergency Coordinator’s duties in 2014. I look at the a scenario, have clear, specific objectives. Think simple here
hierarchy upside-down: I am in position to support the DECs — an exercise that’s too complex, not properly structured,
(District Emergency Coordinators), who uphold the ECs as or confusing to the participant will generate failure and (more
the primary focus for amateur radio in our communities. importantly) unwillingness of your volunteers to participate
Likewise, I want to be in a position here at CQ to support your again. “The dam has broken, handle it” is both out of scope
activities, whether under emergency conditions or in public and unrealistic for radio operators. Classic training gives us
service events. I hope to contact the nation’s leaders on dif- “SMART” objectives: Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
ferent topics that we all need to know to do our jobs better! I Relevant, and Time-framed.
welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions as we “Set up a portable station; check into the emergency net;
start this journey together. – N8BHL prepare and send specific messages.” That list might be very
attainable yet create learning experiences as the simple
* <[email protected]> things we “assume” will work often don’t. The whole purpose

70 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 A good way to guide a tabletop is to print the narrative, your
story line, with breaks in places where you would expect par-
ticipants to make decisions, deploy people, or otherwise take
part in the event.

The 2020 Exercise: A Virtual Meeting

Just as many clubs and ARES groups have spent most of this
year meeting with online conferencing such as Zoom, a table-
top is easily transferrable to that medium. In some ways, it
might be even easier to facilitate than an in-person exercise.
You can screen-share the narrative and stop the group at
appropriate times … no “reading ahead!” In a recent “Black
Swan” SET (a statewide simulated emergency test in Ohio that
involves a broad spectrum of emergency response agencies),
doctors and EMA officials created recorded interchanges for
virtually deployed operators. Some even appeared live and
District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) Mark Griggs, could directly interact with the operators. Think: You are
KB8YMN, operating W8SGT — “The Sarge” — at the Ohio deployed to a hospital. A doctor comes up to you and asks to
state Emergency Operating Center (EOC) during an exercise. send a message to another medical center. You, as operator,
create that message and send it as radio traffic. You later deliv-
er the reply to the doctor in virtual real life. These exercises
is to practice these basics, or learn the theme of your exer-
are realistic, yet nobody has to leave their home.
cise, so they don’t fail when pressed into actual service.
From this overview and scenario comes your EXPLAN
(exercise plan), which provides details on how the exercise Hot-Wash
will be conducted as well as administrative instructions. At the end of your session, make sure you “hot-wash” with
the group, getting ideas, reactions, and suggestions. These
What Kind of Exercise? are “no-fault” sessions … no criticism of individuals should
take place, only suggestions: “Perhaps a better idea is …”
The largest exercise is called a “full functional exercise.” This
Just as physical exercise helps your body stay in shape,
involves all-hands from your organization and could bring in
EmComm exercises can keep your skills sharp and help you
outside organizations. Your group has hopefully participated
build your radio “muscles.”
with your EMA or Red Cross or other agency in these.
Everybody’s moving and working as if they were handling a
real event. You will need a SIM CELL (simulation cell) where
controllers feed out “injects” to keep the exercise moving.
While this can be fun, it takes months of intense preparation
and isn’t the best choice for a smaller organization such as
a county ARES group.
A “functional exercise” is “exercise-lite.” It will involve man-
agement level people and a smaller group. It will not involve
the movement of your entire membership base. They may
“simulate” deployment, for example. It takes roughly the same
amount of prep time and coordination as the full functional
exercise. If you have experienced exercise writers, you might
try this. But there are easier ways that can be just as pro-
ductive for your group.

Put it All on the Table

A great learning experience is the “tabletop” exercise. When
presented enthusiastically as a narrative with a realistic story,
this exercise format can encourage the players’ imagination
as they put themselves into the incident. You’ll be able to
guide discussions among the group members as they work
through the injects you provide. Others may offer construc-
tive suggestions since you’re all together. The more realistic
the scenario, the better the exercise and the better the learn-
ing experience.
To be carried out properly, developers need a good sce-
nario, objectives, and an understanding of the players’ abili-
ties. In any exercise, the “MESL” (master scenario events
list) enriches the scenario by adding specific exercise injects
that prompt the players to exercise those topics on which
they’re being trained. This is the step-by-step movement of
your exercise. You can take your people through an event
step-by-step, even pausing to discuss different options and
decisions. It’s a great learning opportunity.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 71

 KIT BUILDING
BY JOE EISENBERG,* K0NEB

Being Well-Grounded

M
ost kits we buy consist of a PC nector. I also discovered that the round part of the connector. I’ll go into more
board, maybe a case, and lots holes for the pins on the military-style detail about these connectors in my
of parts to solder to a PC board. connector are tight, and do not require next column. HyGain rotators can be
One of the kits this month has parts, but too much solder on the end, and to ordered through a number of stocking
no soldering is involved. The kit I recent- trim away any excess solder before dealers as well as from MFJ at
ly bought serves the purpose of being attempting to insert them into the front <www.mfjenterprises.com>.
a convenient and secure ground buss.
Most shacks, including my own, suffer
from inadequate grounding. So I decid-
ed to use the recent long period of stay-
ing home to upgrade my antennas,
feedlines, and shack grounding. A great
reference I have found is the book
“Grounding and Bonding for the Radio
Amateur,” by Ward Silver, NØAX, which
offers a variety of solutions for simple
and more difficult grounding situations.
My station has been challenged over
the years as I made changes in anten-
nas and feedlines. My main issue
seemed to center on the grounding,
which consisted of a single 14-gauge
stranded wire that is connected only to
the water pipe in an adjacent room. In
the shack, I simply made a cluster of
wires with round lugs on them for quick
connection to my radios. On many
bands, my grounding setup didn’t cause
any noticeable problems. However, on
80 and 160 meters, RF was getting into
my computers, speakers, etc. as well
as causing intermittent difficulty tuning
the antennas if needed.
The other thing I realized is that doing
fundamental things like grounding an-
tennas and feedlines involves assem-
bling kits. Most antennas are kits in
themselves, as are the grounding kits
and installing the remote coax switch.
So, I decided to make this experience
one of both station improvement and
kit-building. The DX Engineering Grounding buss kit along with some heavy braided ground
My old Ham-IV rotator used eight leads and the lightning protectors.
screw terminals on each end, and if
you took the time, solder lugs to make
it less likely for the cable leads to come
off. The new HyGain Ham-IV rotator
cable needed both a military-style con-
nector on the rotator end and an 8-pin
Cinch-Jones-type plug on the control
end. Both connectors are supplied with
the rotator. This is probably a good
time to remind yourself to slide the con-
nector cover down the cable before
soldering the leads to each type of con-

*7133 Yosemite Drive, Lincoln, NE 68507

email: <[email protected]> The grounding buss loaded up and ready for mounting on my wall.

72 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 what’s new
New bhi Amplified DSP Noise-Cancelling
Speaker
The new bhi NES10-2MK4 5-watt amplified DSP (digital
signal processing) noise-cancelling speaker will remove
noise and interference from speech signals, making your
receive audio much clearer and enjoyable to listen to. The
NES10-2MK4 DSP noise cancelling speaker is suitable for
use in a wide range of radio communication applications
across all radio frequencies and is designed for improving
voice quality in amateur radio and shortwave listening. The
speaker can be used in a base station environment or
mobile in a vehicle.

The outside ground wire and the shack ground buss connect
together at the cold water pipe adjacent to the wiring path to
the outdoors.

The NES10-2MK4 is compact and easy to use, and incor-

porates the latest bhi DSP noise-cancelling technology. The
three-position switch on the top of the speaker controls the
main functions, “Off” (audio bypass), “On” (amplified audio),
and “DSP” (noise cancelling on). The speaker has a bespoke
5-watt audio amplifier with DSP noise cancelling from 8 to
40 dB over eight user-selectable levels, and tone reduction
of up to 65 dB.
The power “On” LED illuminates red when power is applied
The 8-gauge ground wire is attached to the ground rod out- and changes to green when the noise cancellation is active.
doors. This ground rod is also attached to one of the tower The overload LED lights if the audio input is overloading the
legs. speaker. The output level control allows you to adjust the
audio output to suit your setup.
I chose to use the DX Engineering DXE-GBWM-W kit for The NES10-2MK4 requires 10 to 18 volts DC at 500 mA
my new ground buss for my station as it gave me the most and has an integral 2-meter (~6-foot) long audio lead termi-
options for connecting grounds to radios as well as mount- nated with a 3.5-millimeter mono jack plug and comes with
ing Alpha-Delta lightning protectors. I found assembling the a sturdy metal mounting bracket. There is a 3.5-millimeter
components went very quickly and was straightforward. mono headphone socket on the side for listening with head-
Before mounting my ground buss on the wall, I first placed it phones. The NES10-2MK4 speaker measures 110 x 65 x
where I wanted to drill the holes and used a pencil to mark 55 millimeters (~4.3 x 2.5 x 2.2 inches) and is supplied with
the two holes. I then drilled the holes and inserted the dry- a rotary filter select knob, two fixing screws, four self-adhe-
wall mounts. sive rubber feet, one 1030-FPL fused DC power lead and a
Bringing the buss back to my bench, I began mounting the user manual.
three Alpha-Delta Transi-Trap lightning protectors. I chose The NES10-2MK4 is available now in the U.S. from DX
these because they have a replaceable gas discharge ele- Engineering and GigaParts and has a suggested retail price
ment, good for areas that suffer frequent lightning as we do of 99.95 £ ($130.67 U.S.). For more information, contact one
in the Midwest in the warmer weather months. Once the gas of these retailers or bhi Ltd., 22 Woolven Close, Burgess
in the elements deteriorates, the SWR rises, giving you notice Hill, West Sussex, RH15 9RR, UK. Email: <info@bhi-
to change the element. Changing the element is very easy, ltd.com>. Website: <https://tinyurl.com/y6rrxc6q>.
and they are positioned forward for easy access once they
are mounted on the buss.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 73

 place, so once completed, it was just a matter of removing
the old ground wires and connecting the new braided wires
to the radios. My wire cutters made removal of the old wiring
a snap.
A great DIY substitute for the ground buss is to use a piece
of copper pipe mounted to a board, then mounted on the wall.
You can drill the pipe for screws or use hose clamps to hold
wires in place. I am also adding a new, much larger ground
buss to my kit-building workbench so I can ensure I have
proper grounding when testing my kits. It will also be con-
nected to where my ground from outside joins the water pipe
along with lightning protection for my multiband vertical
antenna which serves my workbench.
Along the path of this project I found some interesting
things, such as discovering my original pipe clamp I used
for connecting my main ground wire to my cold water pipe
was loose, and pretty much came off in my hand. I also
discovered a cordless Dremel® tool with a steel wire brush
on it does wonders cleaning the top of my ground rod and
made preparing it for a ground wire clamp very quick and
easy. I used sandpaper to prepare the pipe for the new
connection and the Dremel tool to prepare my outside
The DX Engineering remote coax switch is attached to one
ground connections.
leg of the tower and has all of the HF feedlines attached,
feeding a single LMR-400 line to the shack.
Transmission Line Woes
The other problem that reared its ugly head was the sorry
I also added five short lengths of heavy braided ground wire state of my transmission lines. Not only was I using old coax
and connected them to the buss, aiming them toward the that was exposed to years of extreme Nebraska weather,
location of my radios and amplifier. Now, I could take the there were unused runs of even older coax and unshielded
completed assembly to the shack, screw it into the wall where control cables that had never been removed from the tower
it belongs and connect the new, much heavier, 8-gauge cop- and shack. These unused lines became a conduit for even
per ground wire purchased from the local hardware store. more common-mode RF currents to find their way into my
During this process, I left my original grounding network in shack. The solution was one that involved removing all the
old coax lines as well as the other unneeded cables and
replacing the HF cables with a single run of LMR-400 type
Looking Ahead to coax. This solution replaced four separate feeds of RG-8X
and one RG-8 line. A DX Engineering <www.dxengineer-
2021 ing.com> DXE-RR8B-HP series remote coax switch does the
duties of reliably switching full legal limit RF to my various
HF antennas. New shielded rotator and switch control cables
Here are some of the articles we’re working on for also were passed through to the tower.
upcoming issues of CQ: I found the DX Engineering remote coax switch relatively
easy to install. I simply bolted it to a leg of my tower and con-
• A Dual-Band VHF / UHF Low-Noise Amplifier nected my HF antennas to it and then ran a single LMR-400
• A Digital-to-Analog Converter for an Older Automatic feedline into the house. A 9-conductor remote control cable
Antenna Tuner also is installed to control the switch. I not only stripped each
• FP/W1UF – Setting a New DXpedition Record of the wires on each end, I tinned each one to make it less
likely that tightening the screw-down type connectors would
Plus… damage the wire ends. The outdoor box has a special polar-
ized cable plug consisting of 10 screw-tightened terminals
• Results: 2020 CQWW VHF Contest for the control cable. The indoor control box is hardwired with-
• Experimenting on MF/LF (and KL7L’s “Beverage Under out a removable control line connector and uses a similar
Lake” antenna) screw-down terminal strip inside. The remote coax switch
being grounded to the tower also helps remove common
Upcoming Special Issues mode currents from the HF feedlines. The two wire antennas
I have that use a common mode choke still have them
February: QRP attached before their feedlines connect to the switch, keep-
June: Take it to the Field ing any intentional shield radiation away from the switch.
October: Emergency Communications Two beam antennas and the rotator are all that remain to
be replaced as well as the three feedlines that go from the
Do you have a hobby radio story to tell? Something for antennas above the rotator to the tower base. I hope that by
one of our specials? CQ covers the entire radio hobby. See the time this article hits the streets, you might have heard
our writers’ guidelines on the CQ website at <http:// KØNEB a bit louder than you might have in the past. With
bit.ly/2qBFOdU>. the Orlando Hamcation® postponed until 2022, I sincerely
hope that I can see everybody in May at the Dayton
Hamvention®. – Until next time, 73 de KØNEB

74 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 QRP: Low-Power Communications
BY R. SCOTT ROUGHT,* KA8SMA

A Conversation about the True Meaning of QRP, Revisited

…and Thoughts from “the Land Down Under”

I
n June, I presented a friendly dis- Regardless of which side you align should I reduce power”. Any ham who
cussion between Eddie DeYoung, with, I believe many of us can agree with willingly reduces their power output
KS4AA (now SK), former CQ Awards the last comment that setting up a instead of increasing it receives kudos
Editor, and Doug Zwiebel, KR2Q, portable operation with a homebrew from me.
CQWW DX Committee member and antenna and reducing power to 15 watts One ham who took the discussion
former CQWW DX Contest Director, on is in the spirit of QRP. After all, the Q- between KS4AA and KR2Q to heart is
whether a low power signal (5 watts or code QRP means “reduce power, or Michael Charteris, VK4QS, of Queens-
less) fed into a high-gain antenna sys-
tem constitutes QRP. In other words, if
the output of the transmitter is 5 watts
and the calculated effective isotropic
radiated power (EIRP) of that station is
greater than 5 watts (due to high anten-
na gain), is this really QRP? KS4AA
argued that hams who radiate an EIRP
of more than 5 watts are not operating
in the spirit of QRP and should not claim
QRP-related awards. KR2Q, on the
other hand, argued that QRP is deter-
mined by the power output of the trans-
mitter (5 watts or less) and antenna
gain should not be factored into the
equation.
After the June issue was published, I
received a slew of emails from hams
siding with either KS4AA or KR2Q.
Below is a taste of the some of the com-
ments (names and call signs withheld)
I received.

• “KR2Q’s position is 100% correct!

Five watts out of your radio into what-
ever antenna system you can build is
QRP — and bigger is better!”
• “I tend to agree with the EIRP argu-
ment (KS4AA). This always made the
most sense to me.”
• “Contest rules for QRP entries gen-
erally state 5 watts output, not 5 watts
EIRP.”
• “Five watts out is a measurable
quantity that can be uniformly applied.
To stay within 5 watts (EIRP) requires
adjusting output to account for gain.”
• “To me, the real meaning of QRP is
the spirit in which you operate. I am
blessed with many saltwater beaches
within a 10-15 minute drive. Driving to
those beaches, setting up a barebones
homebrew antenna and making a few
contacts is very satisfying to me, even
using 15 watts. To me, that’s QRP.”

Photo A. The ICOM IC-7300 100-watt transceiver cranked down to less than 5
*<[email protected]> watts as verified by the WM-1 wattmeter. Is this cheating?

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 75

land, Australia. VK4QS put pen to paper and sent me his cess. So far, my two best QRP contacts have been with
thoughts on operating QRP. I included Michael’s thoughts GW3YDX in Wales and F5IN in France, both in the order of
in their entirety in this month’s column as they not only 16,500 kilometers from my QTH in Queensland.
provide his view regarding QRP and the use of high-gain
antennas, but also give insight on what it is like operating Contesting
QRP from “down under.” He also shares some additional I also really enjoy CW contesting as a QRP operator because,
information about operating QRP that many hams may in my opinion, this really gives your skills and your station a
find helpful. Regular readers of the column may recall workout on the world stage. The amazing thing is how many
VK4QS was highlighted in the October column’s “QRP stations actually hear you and work you for a point towards
Spotlight” in which we showcased some of his low-power their contest score. Most times, your QRP signal would nor-
accomplishments. mally just go unnoticed or be considered too hard to work by
the many. But in a contest, every point counts, and that’s
A View from Down Under — By VK4QS where the big guns come into play as they have the best
I recently read the QRP opinion piece “A Conversation about chance of hearing you. There are also a few factors that you
the True Meaning of QRP.” It certainly presented two differ- never really know in a contest regarding your QRP signal. 1)
ent points of view regarding QRP. I would like to offer my per- The actual RST of your signal received by both big gun and
spective based on my experience with QRP CW. other stations as 5NN is the standard response. 2) The level
In my humble opinion, the undertaking of QRP is open to of signal enhancement you are granted across the contest
as many interpretations as there are QRP advocates. It incor- by the variations of the ionization of the ionosphere. 3) The
porates a “rainbow of factors” that lead to the amazing and math behind how much work your signal is doing based on
diverse achievements of QRP stations. I agree that to oper- your antenna, when it comes to working big stations with large
ate “Queen Radio Papa,” is to use a maximum of 5 watts antenna arrays.
emitted from the back of your transmitter. But the more you Such mysteries are taken for granted in the goal of being
read about QRP, the more you find amateurs using way less worked by the next station as a QRP operator. The effect of
than the maximum 5 watts to achieve extraordinary things. all these factors may indeed culminate in you winning a QRP
The other fundamental is that QRP is not defined by the size section contest certificate. I can only relate to my own first-
of your antenna. ever contest as a QRP operator, the CQWW CW in 2017. I
decided I would focus on the 15-meter band using my 20-
Height, Gain & Directivity meter, 5/8th-wave vertical tuned with a base coil. It was the
As a QRP CW operator, I use 5 watts in conjunction with a most amazing experience to work all over Oceania as well
vertical and a vertically-oriented loop. Not just any vertical, as Russia and across the U.S. The icing on the cake came
but a 5/8th-wave vertical on 20 meters that delivers 3-dB gain a year later when I was awarded Single Operator QRP 15-
to my signal by the compression of the radiated wave. meters, No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in Oceania, and No. 15 in
Effectively, I am now radiating in the order of 10 watts by the the world. I was hooked, and QRP has been with me ever
very nature of my vertical. The loop is a full-wave vertically- since then.
oriented loop that provides a low angle of take-off and is very
quiet on receive. Many QRP operators including myself see Should QRP Stations have Antenna Guilt?
their opportunity for a better signal linked directly to their If your QTH is on a mountain or on the side of a cliff over-
choice of antenna. looking the ocean, or even down by the sea, would you feel
Now, would I accept the opportunity to have a tower and you had an unfair advantage when it came to operating QRP?
a multiband Yagi erected in my backyard to enhance my Even if you only used simple antennas like a vertical or a wire
QRP station? The answer is yes. Based on 6- to 8-dB gain antenna, let alone a tower and a beam? I think not! Why
from such a Yagi, I would in all good conscience accord- should you somehow feel that your advantage is not in the
ingly reduce my power to 1 watt as a point of fairness. It spirit of QRP? Then, if you lived in a suburban lot and man-
does not mean everyone else should or would, as 5 watts aged to scrimp and save to erect a tower with either a multi-
output is still a QRP station. I have merely acquired greater band or mono Yagi, would you feel any QRP operating guilt?
height, gain, and directivity to become a more effective QRP And what if after many years of QRO or less you decided to
station of 5 watts and below. I believe that one of the key take up the challenge of QRP from your new retirement vil-
success factors in QRP is your antenna which you can lage with the simplest of antennas for which you are
change variously for experimentation and better results as approved? In all cases, these operators will do the best they
you please. can with the station they have assembled and accept the
challenge of QRP. Amateur radio for me has always been
Goals with QRP about doing the best you can with what you have available,
So what is it about the level of power we each regard as be it a vertical, a dipole, or a long wire. It’s all relative to you
“QRP” for our operations? Why is there such a diverse range and your goals within the hobby.
chosen across this maximum of 5 watts output for us to
achieve our various goals? I feel it is all about the challenges Big Guns & QRP
you are prepared to set yourself to achieve those individual What if all the Big Gun contest stations decided to clean up
goals. Out here in Australia, we are somewhat separated in the QRP sections of every contest with stacked Yagis and
from both the New World and the Old World as well as Africa, multiple towers? Where indeed would we be then? As far as
so 5 watts for QRP is quite a challenge. One of my main QRP I am concerned, as long as they only emitted 5 watts from the
goals is to work DXCC as a QRP CW operator over the next back of the transceiver, it’s all fair game. Ask yourself how
few years with just 5 watts. Others have achieved it with much much of the work done to make a contact is done by the big-
less, and I take my hat off to them. I reckon there is a QRP ger station to hear you with his tower and Yagi. Did it matter
parallel with sport fishing, where they use light fishing line to if you were running 5 watts or 1 watt, as you could hear him
catch large fish as a challenge, with no guarantee of any suc- and he could drag you out of the ether to confirm your QRP

76 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

contact? It’s a point not often considered
in the joy of making a QRP contact.
In my humble opinion, the undertak-
ing of QRP is open to as many inter-
pretations as there are QRP advocates.
It incorporates a “rainbow of factors”
that lead to the amazing and diverse
achievements of QRP stations across
the farthest corners of the world as we
know it.

Final Thoughts
Thanks, Mike. The June issue stirred
the QRP pot with several hams provid-
ing feedback on the above topic. I also
received emails suggesting that oper-
ating at 5 watts or less with home-
brewed, kit-built or simple transceivers,
and a simple wire antenna is the only
setup that should be considered QRP.
I recently had an interesting on-the-air
experience I will share with you.
Earlier this year, I acquired an ICOM
IC-7300. After turning its power output
down to less than 5 watts and verifying
with my Oak Hills Research WM-1
wattmeter that I was in the realm of
QRP, I hopped on 20 meters for a little
casual rag-chewing. During one of my
contacts, I mentioned my QRP working
conditions (4 watts with an IC-7300) to
the other operator who responded “I’m
using an IC-7300 too — I don’t think
many hams will consider you QRP with
a 7300. Even with the power turned
down it is not a real QRP rig. Using a Last Year, our members worked thousands of hours for

NO PAY
7300 for QRP is like cheating.” I took
this comment in stride and did not let it
bother me, really. I will be the first to
admit that after using a Yaesu FT-817
as my primary transceiver since 2000,
operating the IC-7300 with all its bells
And this year are well on their way to doing

EVEN MORE!
and whistles (SDR receiver, band
scope, filters, etc.) is like stepping into
a new dimension, but it is still QRP (in
my opinion) when the power is turned
down and checked with a QRP watt-
meter. It is funny to think, if some hams WHY?
have issues with an IC-7300 being used
as a QRP rig, I would be curious to know Because they are giving back to their communities! They are
what they think about ICOM’s new IC-
705 QRP transceiver as it is essential-
helping with civic events, motorist assistance AND MORE,
ly the same as the IC-7300, but with yes even emergencies and disasters, if needed!
even more features – hi!
In my opinion the spirit of QRP means
doing more with less (power output), CONTACT
regardless of the transceiver or the
antenna system you are using. I feel no REACT INTERNATIONAL
guilt in using the IC-7300 (with power 301-316-2900
turned down) for QRP operation. As
VK4QS noted above, there are as many Or write to
interpretations as there are QRP advo- REACT INTERNATIONAL
cates when undertaking QRP. Good P.O. Box 21064, Dept CQ100
words to remember! Glendale, CA 91221
Happy Holidays, 73 RI.HQ@REACT Intl.org

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 77

 MICROCONTROLLERS IN AMATEUR RADIO
BY ANTHONY A. LUSCRE*, K8ZT

2 Projects + 2 Books = Microcontroller Fun

Photo A. Front

T
his month, we start with a project
from Ken Kaplan, WB2ART, his view of KX3
“KX3 External Tuning Knob.” External Tuning
Elecraft makes an external tuning knob Knob project.
available for its K3S transceiver called (Photo by Ken
the K-Pod. Ken decided he would like Kaplan, WB2ART)
something similar for his KX3 (Elecraft’s
portable little brother to the K3S). Ken’s
project should also work with the even
smaller portable Elecraft KX2. The
project uses a Blue Pill board from
ST-Microelectronics (STM32F103C8T6
<https://stm32-base.org>). Ken is still
tweaking his project and its features. He
has a website with details, schematic,
Arduino code, and circuit board infor-
mation at <www.wb2art.com/KX3Ext
TuningKnob>. One feature that Ken is
planning is the ability to still use the ser-
ial connection on the KX3 for other soft-
ware and hardware even when his tun-
ing knob is connected, something that
many other accessories do not allow.

ICOM CI-V Commands &

Reads via Arduino
Our second project is a collection of
ideas from multiple sources designed
around the concept of using a simple
Arduino interface to read data and / or
send commands to ICOM radios using
the ubiquitous CI-V interface (CI-V
stands for Computer Interface 5, and
has been in use with ICOM transceivers
since the 1980s). In a December 2019
CQ Microcontroller Devices (μCD) col-
umn on homebrew keypads for ICOM,
Kenwood, and Yaesu rigs, I discussed
simple resistor and switch matrices to
send commands to internal micro-
processors in many different rigs. This
Photo B. Rear / inside view of KX3 External Tuning Knob. Note Blue Pill board
project goes to the next level by utiliz-
on the left. (Photo by Ken Kaplan, WB2ART)
ing an Arduino to read data and / or send
commands.
A frequent contributor to my columns The basic idea can be expanded to (PC), an interface is needed (e.g., using
is Luc Decroos, ON7DQ, and his initial numerous other functions by under- a MAX232), but this is not necessary
project was designed to change the standing the ICOM CI-V Interface. For with the Arduino since we are working
ICOM 7300’s internal settings from more information, visit Jean-Jacques, at the TTL level. In the idle state, the
straight key to paddle input with one ON7EQ’s, page at <www.qsl.net/ bus is high or “floating” (+5 volts). If the
button instead of eight keystrokes on on7eq/en>, then click the Projects tab computer wants to send something, the
the 7300’s touchscreen. Daniel Dufault, and scroll to the Arduino section. You bus is pulled low by the computer; if the
VE2BAP, then used Luc’s idea to add should also check out “Bible of CI-V,” transceiver sends something, the trans-
an external S-meter on any ICOM trans- written by Ekki, DF4OR, at <www. ceiver will pull the bus low. The format
ceiver that has a CI-V control port. plicht.de/ekki/civ/index.html>. of the data is NRZ (Non Return to Zero).
It is a single wire bus at TTL level, the Luc is working on a multi-function
jack is a 3.5-millimeter stereo plug of interface. He has dubbed it his IC-7300
*Email: [email protected] which only the TIP and the SHIELD are “Big Controller.” He describes the pro-
Website: <www.k8zt.com> used. For control from an RS-232 port ject as, “I wanted to control all kinds of

78 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 functions in the IC-7300, that had no
dedicated button, and were too cum-
bersome, involving several keypresses
(real buttons or on-screen touch but-
tons).” For more details, visit Luc’s blog
at <https://on7dq.blogspot.com>.

Why I2C?
I2C stands for an inter-integrated circuit
bus (which is why many refer to it as
I2C). I2C is used in a wide variety of
Arduino Projects and is a great building
block for those experimenting with
Arduinos. Brian Jenkins has put togeth-
er a guide to I2C. Here’s a link to his
tutorial, “How I2C Works” <www.cir-
Figure 1. Luc Decroos, ON7DQ’s, initial project was designed to change the ICOM cuitcrush.com/i2c-tutorial>.
7300’s internal settings from straight key to paddle input with one button instead
of eight keystrokes on the 7300’s touchscreen. But his basic schematic could be New ARRL Webinar “Welcome
used to control a wide variety of the 7300’s commands by changing the software to the World of Arduino”
sketch. (Drawing by Luc Decroos, ON7DQ) Glen Popiel, KW5GP, frequent author
of ARRL books, presented the “Wel-
come to the World of Arduino” webinar
on October 15, 2020. The good news
is that this and many of the new ARRL
Learning Network Webinars have been
recorded for later viewing. For both
recorded and upcoming live webinars,
you can register at <www.arrl.org/arrl-
learning-network>. The ARRL de-
scribes the webinar as, “… An intro-
duction to the exciting world of micro-
controllers and Open Source hardware
and software. The Arduino is an inex-
pensive microcontroller that has be-
come widely popular among electron-
ics hobbyists and ham radio operators.
Hams use these powerful devices to
create new projects and amateur sta-
tion gear. Projects can be built quickly
and used as-is, or they can be expand-
ed and enhanced with your own per-
Figure 2. Daniel Dufault, VE2BAP, then used Luc’s idea to add an external S- sonal touches.”
meter to any ICOM amateur radio transceiver that has a CI-V control port. Again,
his idea could be modified to display other data from the radio or control various Two New Books
external devices. (Drawing by Daniel Dufault, VE2BAP) Jack Purdum, Ph.D., W8TEE, is the
author of two new books, “Beginning
C for Microcontrollers: Making Elec-
tronics Dance with Software” and
“Microcontroller Projects for Amateur
Radio,” which is co-authored Al Peter,
AC8GY. Jack is the author of many
technical books, including “Arduino
Projects for Amateur Radio.”
“Beginning C for Microcontrollers” is
written for those who have no prior pro-
gramming experience in any language
but would like to learn the C program-
ming language. While this book uses
the free Arduino Integrated Develop-
ment Environment (IDE) tools for its
examples, the book can be used on any
Photo C. Using Arduino an interface to add an external S-meter on any ICOM platform that supports a C compiler.
amateur radio transceiver that has a CI-V control port. (Photo by Daniel Dufault, All the information you need to build
VE2BAP)

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 79

fascinating projects using the Arduino, Some of the practical hands-on projects field without a PC. The Mini Dummy
STM32 (“Blue Pill”), ESP32, and Teen- featured: Load is small enough to fit in a shirt
sy 4.0 micro-controllers. The Morse Code Tutor — learn and pocket, can handle up to 30 watts,
“Microcontroller Projects for Amateur practice sending and receiving meth- includes an OLED display that shows
Radio” provides all the introduction you ods, with or without Farnworth encod- RF power, yet can be built for around
need to build projects such as a pro- ing. The CW Messenger allows you to $20. The Double-Double Magnetic
grammable power supply, a signal gen- send up to 50 “canned” CW messages Loop antenna sets a new standard for
erator, a DSP mic processor, and more. that are completely changeable in the small (3’-foot diameter), multiband
operation and includes remote tuning.
That’s it for this month. Remember, I
am always looking for information on
your new microcontroller projects or
experiences with any of the projects
from this column, so please email me at
<[email protected]>.

Figure 3. Brian Jenkins’ tutorial is a guide to the I2C. (Screenshot from

<circuitcrush.com>)

Photo D. “Beginning C for Microcon-

trollers” by Jack Purdum, Ph.D., W8TEE

Oops…
For the Record…
We missed a new world record in the CQ World Wide DX Contest update
(October issue). EA8AH’s 2000 record of 18,010,765 points (with N5TJ at the
key and keyboard) for Single-Op All Band High Power in the CW contest was
eclipsed in 2019 — at the bottom of the sunspot cycle — by D4C (operated by
CT1BOH), with 19,905,713 points. Jose achieved that score with a composite
total of 9,277 QSOs, 165 zones and 578 countries. It’s also worth noting that
TI7W (operated by KL9A) also broke the old record with his 2019 score of
18,316,632 points, but ended up finishing second to D4C.

Correction to a Correction
Making mistakes is embarrassing enough, but making a mistake in a correction
is even worse. We’ll let eagle-eyed reader (and occasional author) Phil Karras,
KE3FL, explain:
On page 61 of the September 2020 issue, you have a correction to a figure
from the CQ June issue article, “Multiband Off-Center-Fed Dipoles for 160 & 80
Meters.” It seems that the correction needs a correction. The title of the article
quoted in the correction is given as “Multiband Off-Center-Fed Dipoles for 16-
& 80 Meters.” It should be “160” not “16-” & 80 Meters. ;-) Photo E. “Microcontroller Projects for
73 de KE3FL Amateur Radio.” by Jack Purdum,
Thanks, Phil, for keeping us on our toes. Ph.D., W8TEE and Al Peter, AC8GY.
(Photo by Al Peter, AC8GY)

80 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

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Amateur radio operators have been responsible for many advances in commu-
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amateur radio experimentation and activity. In an effort to recognize outstanding
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two-paragraph description of this person’s accomplishments. Please include your
name and contact information as well. Email to <hall-of-fame@cq-amateur-
radio.com> or mail to CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 1206, Sayville,
NY, 11782. The official nomination form is on the CQ website <www.cq-amateur-
radio.com>. Please indicate in your email subject line for which hall of fame the
nomination is being submitted.

CQ DX and Contest Halls of Fame

Nominations for the CQ DX Hall of Fame and the CQ Contest Hall of Fame rec-
ognize those amateurs who have made major contributions to DXing and con-
testing, respectively. The activities and accomplishments that qualify one for mem-
bership in these elite groups involve considerable personal sacrifice and can
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nizations, or individuals, and must be submitted by March 1 of each year to be ϱϬƟŵĞƐŵŽƌĞůŝŬĞůLJƚŽŐŝǀĞƵƐ
considered. ϱƐƚĂƌƐƚŚĂŶƌĞƋƵĞƐƚĂƌĞĨƵŶĚ
A maximum of two (2) people may be inducted into each hall of fame (DX and ďĞĐĂƵƐĞƚŚĞLJĨĂŝůĞĚĂŶĞdžĂŵ͊
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be directed to CQ DX Hall of Fame or CQ Contest Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 1206, H+DPQHWUHYLHZV
Sayville, NY 11801; or via email to <[email protected]>. ϴϯϳ
Please indicate in your email subject line for which hall of fame the nomination is RXWRIVWDUV
being submitted. VWDU ϴϭϲ
If you feel someone has earned this recognition, please submit a nomination. VWDU ϭϴ
Please don’t assume that someone else will nominate the person you may have VWDU Ϯ
in mind. Nominations from past years will not automatically be carried over.
VWDU ϭ
We plan to announce this year’s selections at the Dayton Hamvention® in May.
Please help us recognize these “ham radio heroes” whose contributions have VWDU Ϭ
helped shape our hobby, our nation, or our world. Remember, the nomination ĞƐƚƐƚƵĚLJŵĞƚŚŽĚ͕ƐƚƵĚLJŵĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐ͕ĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌ
deadline for all three CQ Halls of Fame is March 1, 2021. ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ͕ĂŶĚŐƵĂƌĂŶƚĞĞŝŶƚŚĞŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJ͊
www.hamtestonline.com

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 81

 ANALOG ADVENTURES
BY ERIC P. NICHOLS,* KL7AJ

Getting More FUN From Your FUNction Generator

O
ne of the handiest widgets the If you have an older single channel oscil-
dedicated “analogist” can have loscope, you may have a horizontal input
in his or her widget arsenal is a connector. One needs to be cautious
function generator. While I’ve had a with older scopes, however, because the
number of high-end analog function bandwidth of the horizontal circuitry may
generators over the years, this El be limited, as well as its linearity.
Cheapo $35 DDS function generator Fortunately, we can use our triangle gen-
I found at Daily Motion.com <www. erator to test this. Set your function gen-
dailymotion.com/video/x3ismd0> out- erator to 100 Hz or so, triangle waveform,
performs them all. No kidding. at about 1 volt. Connect the generator to
The traditional function generator pro- the horizontal input and vertical input
duces sine waves, square waves, and simultaneously. You should have a per-
triangle waves in a rather efficient and fectly straight line running at a 45° angle
clever manner. It starts out with a (“southwest” to “northeast”), if the hori-
square wave generator (much easier to zontal and vertical gains are the same. If
build than a sine wave generator, at the line is either bent or shows as a loop,
least at lower frequencies), then uses a you have some work to do on your scope.
subsequent integrator to generate a tri- A bent line shows non-linearity (most Typical Diode Characteristic Curve
angle wave, and then another subse- likely the horizontal channel), while an
quent integrator to generate a sine open loop tells you that you have a phase
wave. We’ll go into a bit more detail as shift somewhere. You might have a At this time, we haven’t looked at any
to why this works later on, but suffice it phasing control on an older scope you specific numbers, but just demonstrat-
to say that we can thank (or blame) can fiddle with to try to close the loop. ing the way a diode generally behaves.
Fourier analysis for the ability to do this. Fiddle with all the controls to get the best Feel free to play around with the gen-
But at this time, we’ll go into some of straight line you can get. erator frequency and amplitude to see
the more interesting applications of the Now, if you happen to have a good how things change.
function generator. [The DDS, or Direct dual trace scope, you shouldn’t have Now, if you happen to have a Zener
Digital Synthesis, function generator any linearity issues, so for the remain- diode, you can pop that in the circuit in
creates these aforementioned particu- der of this discussion, we’ll assume place of the normal diode, and see what
lar waveforms (and many other ones) your scope is working as it should. Be the curve looks like. You’ll probably
in a rather different manner. But the end sure to have your input channels select- need to crank up the generator voltage
results are the same. –EN] ed for DC input. a bit to see the interesting results.
Let’s look at a diode. Reach into your What we have assembled here is a
trusty parts bin and pick out a nice sili- rudimentary curve tracer. You can
Ramping Things Up spend a lot of dog-walking money on a
The triangle wave is particularly useful con diode. Also grab a 1,000-ohm resis-
tor while you’re in there. Connect the commercial grade curve tracer, but this
for testing the linearity of circuits, such setup works just fine for 99.9% of the
as our oft-discussed op-amps. But it’s cathode end of the diode to one end of
the resistor, and the other end of the curve tracing you’ll ever do.
also useful for demonstrating and char-
acterizing non-linear devices such as resistor to ground. (If you have a bread-
board, so much the better, but we can Hitting the Slopes
diodes. Depending on the sophistica-
tion of your function generator, the tri- also just use clip leads for our circuit – Our curve tracer can also be used to
angle wave can be “leaned” left or right EN). Connect the function generator to measure the gain and linearity of an
to create an up-going ramp with a ver- the anode of the diode. Connect the X amplifier. We trust you have kept all
tical drop-off, or a vertical rise and a input of your scope to the anode of the your notes on fundamental op-amp cir-
“ramp down.” While these (sawtooth) diode as well. Connect the Y input of cuits from previous installments. Go
waveforms are nice to have, they aren’t your scope to the junction between the ahead and toss together a 10:1 gain
absolutely necessary; we can use the diode and the resistor. If all is well, you non-inverting op-amp. If you connect
symmetrical triangle wave for a lot of should see something like the diode channel X to the signal input of the op-
interesting things. characteristic transfer curve in Figure 1. amp, and channel Y to the output of the
To take full advantage of the triangle The X input of your scope is the op-amp, you can immediately deter-
wave, we can set up our oscilloscope in applied voltage, and the Y input is the mine two things. First, if there’s any dis-
the X-Y mode. If you have a dual trace current through the diode, measured as tortion, the displayed line will be
oscilloscope, there will be a setting that the voltage drop across the resistor. If warped. If it’s a straight line, your ampli-
will convert the time axis to the X input. you happen to have a germanium diode fier is indeed linear. The slope of the line
lying around, you can substitute that for is equal to the gain of the circuit …
the silicon diode and see what the dif- assuming the X and Y channel gains of
* 3763 Lyle Avenue, ference is. The basic curve will be the your oscilloscope are identical.
North Pole, AK 99705 same shape, but will start curving If your amplifier is an inverting op-
email: <[email protected]> upwards at a lower voltage. amp, the displayed line will slope down-

82 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

wards. And as always, we encourage itor must charge and discharge through
you to cobble together an inverting op- this extremely high virtual resistance.
amp just to prove this for yourself. Are The change of voltage across the feed-
we impressed yet? back capacitor is very small, but the op-
amp amplifies the daylights out of this
Timing is Everything very small change, and we thus have a
If you recall from about a year ago, we nearly perfect ramp. Pretty amazing,
introduced the RC time constant. We isn’t it?
showed how a capacitor being charged We can take this one step further, and
through a resistor, or being discharged use an integrator “downstream” of our tri-
through a resistor, has an exponential angle wave generator, which will then
current curve. We showed that the produce a sine wave. Every integrator is
charging or discharging current increas- a low-pass filter, and every low-pass fil-
es (or decreases) in a geometric pro- ter is also an integrator. The only differ-
gression of sorts. While the standard RC ence is whether we’re looking at the time
time constant is very simple to construct, domain, as in the case of the integrator,
the math is more complicated than it or at the frequency domain, in the case
could be. What if we could charge or dis- of the low-pass filter. Being able to tog-
charge a capacitor in a perfectly linear gle between time domains and frequen-
fashion … one in which there is a linear cy domains is the job of Fourier analy-
change of voltage over time? This is pre- sis. While the math involved with Fourier
cisely what the triangle wave does. We analysis is pretty difficult, the concept is
can use the triangle wave (or its close fairly intuitive … especially if you’ve been
cousin, the sawtooth wave) to give us a playing around with the actual circuits for
linear voltage versus time … which is a while.
precisely what we want for an oscillo-
scope’s horizontal time base. 0 Hertz Revisited
How exactly can we do this? The most Most function generators are capable of
direct means of doing this is by charg- generating sine waves down into the
ing the capacitor through a constant millihertz frequency range. This makes
current source, which a resistor is defi- them ideal local oscillators for lock-in
nitely not. Well, we can approach a con- amplifiers and many industrial applica-
stant current source by using a very, tions, as well. One of the really inter-
very, large resistor. It’s not the most ele- esting applications for such low fre-
gant means, by far, and it isn’t quite per- quencies is the measurement of the rate
fect, but we can approach perfection. heat transfer through, say, a chunk of
A circuit with a very long time constant some metal. You can attach a Peltier to
(in comparison to a driving signal) is one end of the sample of metal. A Peltier
known as an integrator. If we apply a is an interesting device … if you put cur-
square wave to a perfect integrator, we rent through it in one direction, it gets Design, Theory, and Construction
get a sawtooth wave … almost. cold, and if you put the current through for HF systems that work
Now, if the RC time constant is very in the other direction, it gets warm. If you By Jerry Sevick, W2FMI, SK
long, by means of a very large resistor apply an AC signal to it, it alternates
or capacitor — or both — the voltage between hot and cold in a sinusoidal This small but solid guide
walks you through the
across the capacitor will change very lit- fashion. You can then attach a thermo-
design and installation of
tle for every cycle of the driving square couple or other sensitive temperature inexpensive, yet effective
wave. While the actual voltage change sensor to the opposite end of the sam- short HF vertical antennas.
is still an exponential function, if we ple, and measure a sine wave as well. With antenna restric-
amplify the daylights out of this very You can then measure the phase angle tions becoming a real prob-
small change of capacitor voltage, we between your original signal and the lem, this book could keep
you on the air! This 64-page,
will approach a perfectly linear ramp. recovered signal, and work out the 6 X 9 Paperback is
We can also approximate a linear ramp speed of heat transfer through the sam- Only $10
Plus shipping
by amplifying the daylights out of a sine ple. You probably won’t be doing much Here's a look inside:
wave near the zero crossing, where the of this in the ham shack, but it’s an inter- 1. Ground-Radial System for Verticals
sine curve is almost linear. esting application. 2. Short Ground-Mounted Verticals
This is essentially the process we use In a later installment, we’ll talk a bit 3. Short Ground-Radial Systems fo
to get a triangle wave out of a function about the arbitrary function generator, Short Verticals
generator. As we mentioned quite a which is like a function generator on 4. The Loading Coil
while ago … voltage gain is very cheap. steroids. It’s an easy thing to do with
This is especially true with op-amps. Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) meth- Order yours today!
If we insert a capacitor between the ods, but interestingly enough, arbitrary
output of an op-amp and the inverting function generators were around a long CQ Communications Inc.
input, we can approach the nearly ideal, time before digital processing methods POB 1206, Sayville, NY 11782
super-high resistance current source, were available. 516-681-2922
since we know the input impedance of Stay tuned and stay safe!
Visit CQ’s Online Bookstore:
an op-amp is extremely high. The capac- – 73 de KL7AJ http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 83

 LEARNING CURVE
BY RON OCHU, KOØZ

Match This!

S
eason’s Greetings! I hope you and your family are safe back down the line to our transceiver. After all, you can’t work
and well and you’re able to celebrate the season with ’em if you can’t hear ’em.
family and friends, even if it is virtually. 2020 is almost
over and it will be good to put this year behind us. Hopefully, What is Matching?
a safe and effective vaccine will be widely available in the Drilling down just a bit farther, antenna matching is the
upcoming months and we can resume club meetings, ham- process of efficiently matching feedline impedance to the
fests, forums, and conferences. In the meantime, as winter impedance of the antenna. Typically, this impedance is 50
envelops us and we spend more time indoors, our thoughts ohms, but not all the time, because antenna impedance is
naturally turn to spring and warmer temperatures. Warmer complex. Basically, it is determined by the antenna’s fre-
temps translate into outdoor ham radio activities and that, of quency design, its capacitive and inductive reactance, and
course, means antennas! any resistive losses. Ideally, antenna designers try to null out
(cancel) any inductive and capacitive reactance; thereby,
Antennas leaving only resistive losses that result from resistance to
Antennas are a subject near and dear to every active ham electron flow along antenna elements, etc.
radio operator’s heart. Antennas “connect” us to one anoth-
er by transmitting and receiving electromagnetic radiation. Reactance
Antenna performance generates hours of exciting, enter- Reactance is a complex reaction. In essence, reactance is
taining, educational stories whether it be making a contact resistance to AC (alternating current). Dictionary.com
with a distant, remote island via HF (high frequency) or a few defines it as: “The opposition of inductance and capacitance
kilometers via 122 GHz. This month, let’s focus on mostly
directional antennas.

Matching
In past articles, this column explored the importance of anten-
na matching. Antenna matching is important because we
want our antenna systems to efficiently transmit all the trans-
ceiver’s power output into the antenna with a minimum
amount of loss. Likewise, we’d like all of the RF (radio fre-
quency) energy our antenna captures (receives) to be sent

*Email: <[email protected]

Photo A. A rather weathered 1.2-GHz loop Yagi. Note the

gap in the driven element loop. The coax center conductor
is soldered to one end of the loop and the coax shield is sol-
dered to the other end of the loop. Fifty-ohm impedance is
acquired by the proximity of the reflector and director loops Photo B. A gamma match is used with this 70-centimeter
to the driven loop. (All photos by KOØZ) Yagi. The match is the stub attached to the driven element.

84 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 Photo D. The “T” match provides a balanced (current) feed for antenna imped-
ance matching. It is a popular match with UHF Yagis.

Photo C. Moving the aluminum sleeve

up or down along the coax dielectric
combined with the shorting bar to the
driven element provides a good 50-
ohm impedance match.

to alternating current, expressed in

ohms: equal to the product of the sine of
the angular phase difference between
current and voltage and the ratio of the
effective voltage to the effective current.
Symbol: X.” Reactance is a bit more
complex than Ohm’s law. Reactance
has two components: capacitance and
inductance. Capacitance and induc-
tance are frequency dependent, and
they interact with one another. For the
purposes of this article, suffice it to say
that when matching an antenna, we want
to “cancel out” both the inductive and
capacitive reactance of an antenna.

Antenna Matching Photo E. Close-up of the U-shaped balun using UT-141 hardline is also used with
this T match. The balun assists with impedance matching.
Techniques
No doubt, if you’ve spent any time lis-
tening to hams seriously chat about ohm match. The best way depends on coax is split at the top. The coax center
antennas, you’ve heard the term whether or not the radiating element is conductor is fed to one side of the loop.
“matching.” You may have also heard surrounded by other (parasitic) ele- The coax outer conductor is at ground
“direct,” “gamma,” “T,” and “balun” in the ments. A vertical antenna with radials potential. Fifty-ohm impedance is ac-
conversation. These are nouns used by will usually employ some type of a complished by moving the grounded
antenna designers to describe com- matching transformer within the coax parasitic elements closer to the direct-
monly used matching techniques. Let’s connector enclosure. Some directional feed loop.
take a closer look at each. antennas, such as Yagis and loops, rely
on nearby parasitic elements to raise or Gamma Match
Direct Match lower the driven element’s (element to A popular impedance matching device
As the name implies, antenna feedline which the coax is attached) character- used with Yagi antennas is the gamma
(coax) is directly connected to the istic impedance. Photo A depicts a well- match (Photo B). The gamma match
antenna’s main radiating element. used 1.2 GHz directional loop antenna. cancels out the Yagi’s reactance by
There are several ways to achieve a 50- In the picture, note the loop attached to using a series-feed capacitor shunted

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 85

 BEHIND THE BYLINES... Matching antenna impedance to feedline and
transceiver impedance is critical to ensuring
maximum transfer of RF power on transmit and
receive.
… a little bit about some of the
authors whose articles appear in
to the antenna’s driven element as shown in Photo C. The
this issue. match is made up of a stub of coax stripped of its outer jack-
et and braid. The coax stub’s center conductor is directly
Peter Dalton, W6KW (“How to Tune a Yagi Antenna,” p. connected to the center pin of the antenna’s SO-239 con-
10), has held four different callsigns in the course of his ham nector. The aluminum sleeve surrounding the coax stub’s
“career,” including W6NLZ, K2RBT, and C6ASP. This is his dielectric forms a capacitor. The capacitance is determined
third article in CQ and fourth overall in ham literature. by moving the sleeve up or down along the coax stub. The
Previous articles include: QST January 1970, “Antennas for inductive shunt is accomplished by the aluminum arm con-
80 Meter DX;” CQ September 1975, “Gray Line Method of necting the stub to the antenna’s driven element. A combi-
DXing;” and CQ July 1998, “Designing and Building a Three nation of moving the stub’s aluminum sleeve in combina-
Element 80 Meter Yagi.” In addition, his antenna work has tion with moving the shunt along the sleeve and the driven
been mentioned in every edition of Low Band DXing by John element will allow for a 50-ohm match for the frequency
Devoldere, ON4UN. design of the antenna.

Pat Griffin, AA4PG (“Screwdriver Antenna Controller for T Match

Your Smartphone,” p. 12), has been licensed since 1962 and T matches are popular with VHF (very-high frequency) and
enjoys building or rebuilding tube amplifiers and operating UHF (ultra-high frequency) directional antennas. A big
QRP with μBitx transceiver kits. You can see some of advantage of the T match is that it can match a balanced
his current projects at <www.cahabatechnology.com/ antenna over a wide range of frequencies within the VHF
aa4pg.html>. Co-author Brian Wingard, N4DKD, runs a pub- amateur bands. A balanced antenna is one in which elements
licly-accessible WebSDR receiver which you can tune in at of equal length are fed on both sides, such as a dipole anten-
<http://n4dkd.asuscomm.com:8901/>. Pat and Brian both na (Photo D). Examining Photo D, please note that the dri-
live in Birmingham, Alabama. ven element is not split into halves. Instead, the entire driven
element is fed through the antenna boom, but it is insulated
Roberto Sadkowski, K6KM (“A Self-Calibrating Tuning- from the boom with non-conductive inserts. The “T” part of
Tracking Controller for Magnetic Field Loop Antennas,” p. the match is accomplished with two sets of wires that are
16), received his Extra license in 2018. He holds an MSc and shunted to the driven element. One wire set is connected to
Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University the ground side of the coax connector and the other wire is
and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin. He is attached to the center conductor. In essence, a T match can
retired from the semiconductor industry. Roberto’s current be thought of as two, slightly modified, gamma matches. This
ham interests include DXing, contesting, and SOTA particular T match also uses a balun (balanced / unbalanced
(Summits On The Air). He belongs to the Northern California transformer) in the design.
Contest Club, the Northern California DX Club, is a CWOps
member and newsletter editor for his local radio club in Balun
Livermore, California. Simply put, a balun is a transformer that can match unbal-
anced feedline, such as coax, to a balanced antenna such
Al Peter, AC8GY (“Build a Portable High-Efficiency 4-Band as a dipole. The idea behind a balun is to distribute (feed)
Vertical Antenna,” p. 28), is a relative newcomer to ham radio, the RF currents symmetrically to the driven element. In this
first licensed 10 years ago. But he’s made up for lost time in configuration, the balun acts as an impedance matcher.
contributing to the hobby, writing and co-authoring several The balun is the “U” shaped wire configuration (UT-141
articles for CQ and other publications, and — with Jack hardline coax) attached to the coax connector at both ends
Purdum, W8TEE — co-authoring a new book on micro- (Photo E).
processor projects for hams. Al lives with his wife and many
antennas in the hills of Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s A Match
Matching antenna impedance to feedline and transceiver
Gene Hinkle, K5PA (“The Texas Star Multiband Antenna,” impedance is critical to ensuring maximum transfer of RF
p. 39), is a Registered Professional Engineer, retired in Texas power on transmit and receive. A great deal of thought and
and has authored multiple amateur radio articles of interest experimentation goes into designing an optimum antenna
to amateur radio operators. He is a frequent CQ contributor. impedance system. Although this article barely scratches the
surface of impedance matching, I hope it has sparked your
Rick Littlefield, K1BQT (“The Ferrite Sleeve Autotrans- interest to learn more about antenna design. The next time
former,” p. 64), is a longtime member of the CQ “family” and you hear these terms bantered back and forth over the air-
a former columnist for Communications Quarterly (he even waves, you’ll have a better idea of what’s being discussed,
married the editor!). Currently, he lives in New Hampshire and it will make the conversation that much more interesting
and designs QRP rigs for MFJ. and relevant.
Thank you for reading CQ and happy holidays!

– 73, Ron, KOØZ

86 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Technology Special
ANTENNAS
BY KENT BRITAIN, WA5VJB

Antenna Simulation

T
his month we will be touching on
computer simulation of antennas,
and some of the pitfalls. Photo A
is a picture of my copy of the EREPS,
Engineer’s Refractive Effects Pre-
diction System, a program in between
ECHO 1 and MiniNEC. I remember hav-
ing to sign for those 5-1/4-inch disks and
being told it was a crime to discuss
EREPS with non-U.S. citizens. Some-
thing I trust has been declassified in the
last 32 years, but heck, I won’t talk about
EREPS. Hihi!

Larson Simulators
The first computer program I know of
that would really look at the gain, pat-
tern, and impedance of an antenna was
the Larson program. This simulator was
originally done in FORTRAN and was
designed around Yagi antennas.
The basis of the Larson programs was
that current in an element was half of a
sine wave (see Figure 1). This simula-
tion method works great when the cur-
rent really is half a sine wave. For a
Yagi, this means you are within 10% of
its design frequency. The farther you
get away from the design frequency, the Photo A. EREPS was a very early antenna simulation program for a computer.
less accurate the results. WA5VJB remembers having to sign for it and promise not to share info about it
Want to really have fun with a Larson with any non-U.S. citizens.
program? Test the antenna at exactly
twice the design frequency. Now there
is a full wave on the element and a null be going out the front! hihi), you end up the best antenna, but to build the world’s
right in the middle. Save your work first. with an antenna that has good perfor- worst antenna. Next it was up to other
Most computers lock up when they hit mance ... with a byproduct of being able Lockheed engineers to figure out how
divide by zero errors. One popular fea- to simply solder coax to the antenna to make this antenna fly! This was
ture of the Larson programs is their abil- without matching hardware. Imped- demonstrated with the “Have Blue” air-
ity to quickly optimize a Yagi design. ance matching is now the structure of craft which was expanded into the F-
The gain, front-to-back, and driven ele- the Yagi itself. 117 Nighthawk stealth fighter.
ment impedance can all be optimized. You may be aware that the F-117 is
Driven element impedance? Yes, if made up of just connected straight
you just optimized Gain, Gain, Gain,
NEC lines. Since this work was done in the
Gain. You get a driven element with an The Numerical Electromagnetics Code, 1970s, a collection of straight lines was
impedance of only a few Ohms. Good or NEC, goes back to a paper written about the best the computers of the day
luck matching 50 Ohms to just a few by the Russian mathematician Peter could handle. As an interesting note,
Ohms. YagiMax, YagiOptimizer, and Ufimtsev in the 1960s. Peter had revis- Peter was invited to speak at a confer-
YagiCad are just a few of the programs ited Maxwell’s equations on electro- ence in California in the 1990s and at
based on the Larson method. YagiMax magnetics and came up with a way of that time, learned that someone had
was used to design my family of Cheap calculating how nearby metallic objects actually read his paper. Oh yes,
Yagis. would interact with nearby antennas. Lockheed quickly gave Peter a con-
By controlling driven element imped- This paper was read by Lockheed sulting contract.
ance and optimizing for front-to-back engineer Denys Overholser, who got The basis of NEC is to divide the con-
ratio (if it ain’t going out the back, it must excited over the method and its possi- ductor / wire into sections, then look at
bility of being calculated with a com- the current and phase of the current in
puter. From this came ECHO 1. The each section to calculate how they
email: <[email protected]> objective of ECHO 1 was not to build would add up at a distance. The more

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 87

 rate model of the antenna is a heck of
a lot of work, and many of the secondary
effects of block insulators, mounting
brackets, stubs, and even the routing of
the coax are not included in the model.
And I won’t even start on some of the
pitfalls of NEC, NEC4, MININEC, and
even HFSS when it comes to close
spaced parallel wires such as you find
in most driven elements. These are a
few of the issues many programs have.
Even HFSS has two antennas that it just
doesn’t seem to give the same answers
as the real world. First is slot antennas.
With a minimal slot, basically a folded
dipole, HFSS gives a good answer.
With an infinite ground plane, HFSS
gives a good answer. But with a mid-
sized ground plane, HFSS seems to be
in its own world. Oh, you get answers
with lots of decimal places, and they
look good to the eye, but just don’t
Photo B. CST simulation package. match the real world.
I also have an antenna that no simu-
lator so far has come close to what we
sections the conductor is broken up see on a network analyzer and the
Current in a Yagi Element into, the more accurate the results. But antenna range. Imagine a 900 MHz Yagi
the computer task is expanding expo- made with 1/2- to 3/4-inch diameter ele-
nentially. Most NEC programs default ments. You NEC4 guys, NEC is not
small wires into eight sections. For high going to do it. NEC takes that big fat ele-
Larson NEC accuracy, you are looking at about 20 ment and converts it into an infinitesimal
sections. Now, if you want to know what line with a length correction factor based
your 160-meter dipole looks like on 2 on the element diameter. There are cou-
Figure 1. How Larson and NEC pro- meters, you really need about 16 sec- pling effects that NEC just seems to
grams distribute currents. tions per wavelength. That would be ignore. HFSS doesn’t seem to handle it,
600 or so sections. Back in the day, I either. But the prototypes have good for-
Ham Radio Magazine would set up a design in my 4.5-MHz ward gain and a return loss of better than
on CD XT computer, go to bed, and see how
it came out the next morning.
20 dB from 900 MHz to 930 MHz is the
result. Yeah, they look kind of weird, but
Enjoy quick and easy work great in RFID applications where
access to back issues of Other Simulation Programs the antenna is used for transmit and
Ham Radio Magazine! I will quickly cover HFSS, CST (Photo receive at the same time. Any reflected
These sets include high quality black B), FEKO, and other high-dollar pro- power blinds the receiver, so wide-band
and white scanned pages which are easy grams. These programs are vastly extremely low SWR is important.
to read on your screen or when printed. more complex and have a nearly verti-
30,000 pages in all! cal learning curve. These high frequen- OPENEMS
Enjoy this enormous stockpile of cy structure simulators start with Of course, these are very expensive
material including construction projects, wavelet math invented by Alan Taplove, software packages. But there is
theory, antennas, transmitters, receivers, who is also a ham. Then they look at also OPENEMS <www.openems.de>.
amplifiers, HF through microwave, test finite differences in the time domain. Openems is in many ways similar to
equipment, accessories, FM, SSB, CW Different parts of the simulated struc- HFSS and over the last few years has
visual & digital modes. All articles, ads, ture are often divided into sections and been constantly improved with a good
columns and covers are included! different solvers used on the different training package. And for hams, that
This collection is broken down into sections. Quite often, the different high- free download looks awfully good.
3 sets - by year.
dollar packages will give different
Each set includes 4 CD-ROMs: answers to the same problem due to the Questions / Suggestions?
SALE! $54.95 each different techniques used. Feel free to contact me with your anten-
1968 - 1976 Order No. HRCD1 na questions or suggestions for column
1977 - 1983 Order No. HRCD2 Computer Models of the topics. You guys do come up with some
1984 - 1990 Order No. HRCD3 Patterns doozies at times and are always good
Order all 3 sets and save $49.90! fodder for a future column. Email your
Those new computer programs make questions to <[email protected]> or
All 3 Sets - Order No. HRCD Set some very nice plots, but are rarely snail mail to my QRZ.COM address. For
$129.95 accurate. That good old computer other antenna projects, visit <www.
Plus applicable shipping phrase, GIGO — Garbage In equals wa5vjb.com>.
CQ Communications Garbage Out — holds true. A truly accu-
516-681-2922 http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com

88 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

what’s new
A Bunch of Books from ARRL
Just in time for the holidays, the ARRL has released several new or updated
publications.

The 2021 edition of The ARRL Handbook for Radio

Communications is once again offered as a set of six small
books rather than one large volume. The books are again
broken down by broad topics: 1) Introduction and
Fundamental Theory; 2 & 3) Practical Design and Theory;
4) Antenna Systems and Radio Propagation; 5) Equipment
Construction and Station Accessories, and 6) Test Equip-
ment, Troubleshooting and Radio Frequency Interference.
The Short Vertical
Updates from the previous edition include a new section on Antenna and
transverters, updated solar cycle information, antenna tuner Ground Radial
troubleshooting, FT4 / FT8 / MSK144 updates, more on sol- by Sevick, W2FMI
dering tools and techniques, amateur television updates
and several new projects. The ARRL Handbook, now in its This small but solid guide
98th edition, retails for $59.95. walks you through the
design and installation of inexpensive, yet
Jack Purdum, W8TEE, and Al Peter, AC8GY, are regu- effective short HF vertical antennas. With
antenna restrictions becoming a problem, it
lar contributors to CQ, and their easy-to-follow writing style
could keep you on the air!
is evident in their new ARRL book, Microcontroller Projects
for Amateur Radio. The book combines a tutorial on micro- 6 x 9 Paperback $10.00
controllers and the C++ programming language with near-
ly a dozen practical projects for the shack (and outside the The NEW Shortwave
shack). Some of the projects include a Morse code tutor,
a memory keyer with a touch-screen keyboard for inputting
Propagation Handbook
messages, a mini-dummy load, and a 100-watt antenna by W3ASK, N4XX & K6GKU
tuner with a built-in SWR analyzer. Retail price is $34.95. A shortwave propagation
book with information on
A new question pool for the Extra Class license exam sunspot activity, propagation
started being used for tests this past summer, and the predictions, unusual
ARRL has updated both its Extra Class License Manual propagation effects and do-it
and Extra Q&A books to keep pace with the changes. The yourself forecasting tips.
manual presents the exam material in a text- 8.5 X 11 Paperback $19.95
book style with reference to relevant ques-
CD Version $14.95
tions in each chapter, followed by the com-
plete question pool at the end of the book, Buy both for only $29.95
while the Q&A book goes through the pool
question by question, showing the correct Sloper Antennas
answer with an explanation for each one. By Juergen A. Weigl, OE5CWL
The two books contain the same basic Single- and Multi-Element
material but accommodate different Directive Antennas
learning styles. The License Manual for the Low Bands
retails for $32.95 while the smaller Q&A With calculations and
book is $19.95. practical experience, this book
shows which basi
concepts have to be
As severe weather outbreaks seem to be getting more considered for sloper
frequent and more severe, the third edition of the ARRL’s antennas for the low bands.
Storm Spotting and Amateur Radio probably needs to be 6 X 9 Paperback $24.95
on the bookshelf (after being read) of every public-service CD Version $18.95
oriented ham. The book is written by Michael Corey, KI1U, Buy both for only $36.95
and Victor Morris, AH6WX, with additional contributions
from Rob Macedo, KD1CY. It even has a foreword by The
Shipping & Handling: U.S. add $7 for the first item,
Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore! The volume covers safe- $3.50 for the second and $2 for each add’l item. FREE
ty, equipment, training and even basic meteorology, along shipping on orders over $100 to one U.S. address.
with a raft of additional resources. It retails for $19.95. CN/FN add $25 for 1st item, $10 for 2nd and $5 for each
additional. Buy Both=single item!

All of these books are available from most ham retailers and directly from ARRL, CQ The Radio
225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111; Phone: 860-594-0200; Web: <www.arrl.org>. Amateur's Journal
Phone 516-681-2922
http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 89

 AWARDS
BY RICH MOSESON,* W2VU

Net Awards
Help Wanted: Awards Editor USA-CA Update
Would you like to write this column? Are the walls of your
shack decorated with plaques and certificates? Would you 500 County Level
like to help your fellow certificate hunters discover new F4GYM – Award number 3785 dated June 21, 2020
awards to chase and offer tips on making and confirming N8DP – Award number 3786 dated July 8, 2020
EA4MY – Award number 3787 dated July 12, 2020
the needed contacts? If you’ve got the time and interest,
WA7ETH – Award number 3788 dated August 8, 2020
and at least a little bit of writing skill, let’s talk. Drop me an
email at <[email protected]> outlining your 1000 County Level
qualifications and we’ll set up a meeting by phone or Zoom. JE7JDL – Award number 1927 dated June 16, 2020
— Tnx & 73, Rich, W2VU WA7ETH – Award number 1928 dated August 8, 2020
F4GTB — Award number 1931 dated September 22, 2020

1500 County Level

N
ets have been a part of amateur radio since its earli-
est days. The ARRL — the American Radio Relay GW4BKG – Award number 1588 dated July 20, 2020
WA7ETH – Award number 1589 dated August 8, 2020
League — grew out of nets that were established to
relay messages via amateur radio from one part of the U.S.
2000 County Level
to another. Over the years, nets have served many purpos- WA7ETH – Award number 1472 dated August 8, 2020
es, including relaying message traffic in normal times and
during emergencies or disasters, providing help and phone
patches for travelers and sailors (before the days of ubiqui- tinyurl.com/yykarmm2> and pointed me toward the informa-
tous cell phones and sat phones), reporting on weather and tion that follows.
traffic conditions, and just bringing together people sharing
common interests. Ten-Ten Awards
Some of these nets, or the organizations that have grown With a new solar cycle starting up, 10 meters will soon be
up around them, offer a wide variety of awards and certifi- coming back to life. In fact, there are band openings even
cates. Let’s take a look at a few examples this month, with now, but you’ll miss them if you aren’t there. The 10-10
special thanks to former CQ DX Award Manager Billy International Net operates every day to try to promote activ-
Williams, N4UF, who has a very informative awards page on ity on the band, with or without sunspots. Its efforts include
the North Florida Amateur Radio Society website at <https:// an award program with more than a dozen different options,
from “Bar Awards” for working groups of 100 net members
to awards for working different numbers of states, countries,
and prefixes. There’s even a digital award for working at least
25 10-10 members on various FSK and PSK modes. For
details, visit <www.ten-ten.org/activity/awards>.

MARAC
The Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club, or MARAC, has
regular nets and offers some three dozen awards with a
major focus on mobile operating and working U.S. counties
on the HF bands. There’s even a Last County in a State
Award for someone who gets on the air from a specific coun-
ty to provide another ham with a needed contact to work
every county in a given state. For more information on
MARAC awards, go to <http://marac.org/awards.htm>.

The Ten-Ten International Net’s Digital Award is one of many

certificates available from the ham world’s pre-eminent pro-
moter of the 28-MHz band. Earning this one requires that
you make contact on 10 meters with at least 25 10-10 mem-
bers using one or more digital modes. (Certificate images
and logos from sponsors’ respective websites) 3905 Century Club
The 3905 Century Club is dedicated to matching up hams
seeking various state, county, and DX awards with others in
*Email <[email protected]> the needed locations. Despite its name, the club conducts

90 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

nets on the 160-, 80-, 75-, 40- people wanting to be my radio friends. If it got unruly, I might
, and 20-meter bands (the 75- flip the off switch on the radio and head for the nearest town
meter net is held, by the way, for lunch.
on 3902 kHz, not 3905!). The If I’m on an award-focused net, though, it’ll be different. The
net itself sponsors some four net control station will know that I’m there and will take check-
dozen awards, in addition to ins from stations wanting to work me. He or she will make a
helping members achieve list of all those callsigns and work down the list, giving each
awards sponsored by other person a clear frequency on which to call me. After each suc-
organizations, such as CQ and cessful contact, the NCS moves to next call on the list until
ARRL. For information, see everyone’s had their opportunity to make a contact. For some
<www.3905ccn.com/awards- DX stations, a similar arrangement will be set up, although
program.htm>. sometimes on an ad-hoc basis, without having a formal net
involved.
Some people feel these “list operations” provide an order-
OMISS ly and efficient method for a rare station to work as many
The O.M. International Sideband Society, or OMISS, oper- other stations as possible and ensure that those without big
ates regular nets on all HF bands except 60 and 30 meters power or big antennas have an equal opportunity for making
and sponsors roughly 100 of its own awards, in addition to contact. Others feel that lists take the challenge out of work-
helping check-ins make contact with stations needed for ing rare stations and make it like “shooting fish in a barrel.”
other awards, such as CQ’s WAZ (Worked All Zones) or the My take: If you don’t like lists, spin the big dial on your radio
ARRL’s WAS (Worked All States). Some of these awards and move on to working someone else.
can be quite challenging, such as the 7x25 Band Award we’re Thanks again to N4UF for the inspiration and links to the
showing here. It requires you to work the same 25 different above sites. Hopefully by next month, we’ll have a new
OMISS members on 7 nets on 7 bands. The Band Awards Awards Editor in this seat. If you’re interested, have time to
start at 5x25 and go as high as 5x325 and 7x175. OMISS research and write a monthly column and have at least a lit-
also offers add-ons to other popular awards, such as WAS tle writing experience, send me an email and let’s talk.
contacting only stations with 2x1 callsigns, or WPX (a CQ – 73, Rich, W2VU
award) working only OMISS members only during the group’s
nets. Details are available at <https://tinyurl.com/yxt88t2s>.
Young Ladies’ Radio League, Inc.
Since 1939
For 75 years the Young
Ladies’ Radio League, Inc.
(YLRL) has helped women find
their voicein Amateur Radio
with members of all ages and
interests.
The YLRL sponsors a number of certificates
for both YLs and OMs. Members can earn
special YL Certificates.
YL-Harmonics is our bi-monthly publication
highlighting what women are doing in
Amateur Radio.
YLRL gives out scholarships to YLs each
year.
OMISS — the O. M. International Sideband Society — offers For more information on the YLRL, the
nearly 100 awards, such as this 7x25 Band Award for work- current dues amounts, weekly YL Net
ing 25 different net members on 7 nets on 7 different ham locations or how to join please go to our
bands (it has to be the same 25 OMISS members on each website at www.ylrl.org or contact the
of the 7 nets).
Publicity Chairwoman, Cheryl Muhr, NØWBV
at [email protected]. All Officer
A Word About Lists information is also listed both on the website
Most of these nets operate on a “list” basis, which helps keep and in each edition of the
things orderly but is considered controversial by some. Here’s magazine and you may contact
how it works: Let’s say that I’ve driven to Musselshell County, any Officer as well.
Montana, and that lots of hams need a contact from there for With thanks to the OMs who
county awards (that’s not too much of a stretch since the encourage and support us.
entire county had fewer than 4,500 residents as of 2018,
according to the county website). If I just announced myself Visit us at www.ylrl.org
online and on the air, I might have to sift through a pileup of

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 91

 DX
BY BOB SCHENCK, N2OO

AC3PT Sikkim 1974 — Amateur Radio’s Role in a World Event

Photo A. AC3PT QSL card (Except as noted, all photos are Photo B. Gus Browning QSL card from AC3H Sikkim 1965.
from the estate of DJ9KR, provided by K8CX) (Courtesy of K8CX Ham Gallery)

T
he Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim
was a super rare DX entity at one
time. Only contacts made April
30, 1975, and before count for Sikkim.
Contacts made May 1, 1975, and after,
count as India (VU).1 It is worth noting
that Gus Browning, W4BPD, operated
from Sikkim in 1963 as a guest of
AC3PT (Photo A) and in 1965 as AC3H
(Photo B; AC3 was an unofficial prefix).
AC3PT was Palden Thondup Namgyal,
the 12th and last Chogyal, or king, of
Sikkim (Photo C). He was a DX treat to
the stalwart who could make it through
the pileups. At the age of 6, he was a
convent student; from 8 to 11, he stud-
ied to be ordained in the monkhood. In Photo C. AC3PT, Palden Thondup
1949, Sikkim gained independence from Namgyal, King of Sikkim.
India. In 1963, the king married Hope
Cooke, a 23-year-old American debu- Photo D. AC3PT with his Ameri-
tante (Photo D). This wedding brought can wife, Queen Hope Cooke.
much attention to Sikkim.
In 1975, Sikkim joined the Union of
India, becoming its 22nd state. There tress call from AC3PT. Horst recalls the I had a QSO with OM Hörning (call for-
were clashes between the Indian troops situation as follows: gotten), who lived near Hannover,
who had already been in the country “I was sitting at my radio station in northern Germany. He recorded my
and the Royal Palace Guard (see below Jakarta and suddenly heard the dis- report on tape and sent it to
and Photo E, 1981 letter from the tress call of AC3PT. Our QSO with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (North-
Chogyal to Uli Bihimayer, DJ9KR, AC3PT took some 8 to 10 minutes and German Broadcasting) and to different
describing the events). ended abruptly with his shrieky voice, news agencies. So the news about the
“now Indian troops storming my room hold up in Sikkim was spread very
Emergency Call of the …”. Our QSO was heard by two quickly over the whole world.” (see
Chogyal, AC3PT, Spread Swedish hams, Thomas Schell, Photo F)
Worldwide by Radio Amateurs SM6AFH, and Stig Pärsson, SM4JPN. In the early 1980s, the Chogyal had
They called me on the radio after my to undergo cancer surgery in the U.S.
On April 9, 1975, Horst Geerken,
radio contact with the Chogyal. We Due to complications from surgery, he
YBØAAG (ex-DJ2JB) received a dis-
checked the name and address of died on January 29, 1982 in New York
AC3PT, and Thomas informed a City at the age of 52 (Photo G shows
*email: <[email protected] Swedish journalist of the hold up. Then his funeral procession). His son from a

92 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Photo E. Letter from Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal Photo F. Newspaper clipping about India’s takeover of
(AC3PT) to DJ9KR about events in Sikkim in 1975. Sikkim.

5 Band WAZ
As of October 15, 2020 Callsign Zones Zones The following have qualified for the basic 5 Band WAZ
2247 stations have attained at least the 150 Zone level, and Needed Award:
1064 stations have attained the 200 Zone level. RZ3EC 199 1 on 40M
S58Q 199 31 Callsign 5BWAZ # Date # Zones
As of October 15, 2020 SM7BIP 199 31 K1PL 2243 2020-09-20 173
The top contenders for 5 Band WAZ (Zones needed on 80 VO1FB 199 19 SM3CZS 2244 2020-09-24 170
or other if indicated): W1FJ 199 24 W3FOX 2245 2020-09-30 177
CHANGES shown in BOLD W1FZ 199 26 W7YA 2246 2020-10-05 151
W3LL 199 18 on 10M K4ZO 2247 2020-10-10 180
Callsign Zones Zones W3NO 199 26
Needed W4LI 199 26 Updates to the 5BWAZ list of stations:
AK8A 199 17 W6DN 199 17
DM5EE 199 1 W6RKC 199 21 Callsign 5BWAZ # Date # Zones
EA5RM 199 1 W6TMD 199 34 KZ6A 2109 2020-09-16 181
EA7GF 199 1 W9XY 199 22 DK5JI 347 2020-09-20 186
H44MS 199 34 9A5I 198 1, 16 UA9FGR 1607 2020-09-21 198
HAØHW 199 1 EA5BCX 198 27, 39 K3PA 1941 2020-09-22 200
HA5AGS 199 1 F5NBU 198 19, 31 K9EU 2192 2020-02-07 200
I5REA 199 31 F6DAY 198 2 on 10M & 15M K9MM 1736 2020-10-05 198
IKØXBX 199 19 on 10M G3KDG 198 1, 12 EA3EQT 1005 2020-10-07 178
IK1AOD 199 1 G3KMQ 198 1, 27
IK6DLK 199 1 HB9FMN 198 1 on 80M & 10M New recipients of 5 Band WAZ with all 200 Zones con-
IK8BQE 199 31 I1EIS 198 1 & 19 on 10M firmed:
IZ3ZNR 199 1 JA1DM 198 2, 40
JA1CMD 199 2 JA3GN 198 2 on 80M & 40M 5BWAZ # Callsign Date All 200 #
JA5IU 199 2 JA7MSQ 198 2 on 80M & 10M 1941 K3PA 2020-09-22 1064
JA7XBG 199 2 JH1EEB 198 2, 33 2192 K9EU 2020-09-26 1065
JH7CFX 199 2 KØDEQ 198 22, 26
JK1AJX 199 2 on 10M K1BD 198 23, 26
Rules and applications for the WAZ program may be obtained
JK1BSM 199 2 K2EP 198 23, 24
K2TK 198 23, 24 by sending a large SAE with two units of postage or an address
JK1EXO 199 2
K3JGJ 198 24, 26 label and $1.00 to: WAZ Award Manager, John Bergman,
K1LI 199 24
K2RD 199 18 K3LR 198 22, 23 KC5LK, 125 Deer Trail, Brandon, MS 39042-9409. The pro-
K4HB 199 26 K4JLD 198 18, 24 cessing fee for the 5BWAZ award is $10.00 for subscribers
K5TR 199 22 K5OT 198 18, 23 (please include your most recent CQ mailing label or a copy)
K7UR 199 34 K9MM 198 22, 26 and $15.00 for nonsubscribers. An endorsement fee of $2.00
K9KU 199 22 on 15M KI1G 198 24, 23 on 10M for subscribers and $5.00 for nonsubscribers is charged for
KZ4V 199 26 KZ2I 198 24, 26 each additional 10 zones confirmed. Please make all checks
N3UN 199 18 N4GG 198 18, 24 payable to John Bergman. Applicants sending QSL cards to a
N4NX 199 26 NXØI 198 18, 23 CQ checkpoint or the Award Manager must include return
N4WW 199 26 UA4LY 198 6 & 2 on 10M postage. KC5LK may also be reached via e-mail: <kc5lk@cq-
N4XR 199 27 UA9FGR 198 1, 2 on 15 amateur-radio.com>.
N8AA 199 23 UN5J 198 2, 7
N8DX 199 23 US7MM 198 2, 6
*Please note: Cost of the 5 Band WAZ Plaque is $100 shipped
N8TR 199 23 on 10M W5CWQ 198 17, 18
W9RN 198 26, 19 on 40M within the U.S.; $120 all foreign (sent airmail).
RA6AX 199 6 on 10M
RU3DX 199 6 WC5N 198 22, 26
RWØLT 199 2 on 40M WL7E 198 34, 37
RX4HZ 199 13 ZL2AL 198 36, 37

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 93

 Photo H. Horst Geerken, YBØAAG / DJ2JB, who received
the distress call from AC3PT. Photo taken in India on his
Photo G. Funeral of AC3PT. way to Sikkim in 2002.

The WAZ Program The WPX Program

SINGLE BAND WAZ CW 4107 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DL5LH
3979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K5CD 4108 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K4AOQ
6 Meter 3980. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AF4T 4109 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UX5XK
3981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R5AA 4110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K3MEB
163.........................................................N4BAA, 25 Zones
164........................................................UR5WA, 25 Zones 3982 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KI5AL
3983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DL2TR Digital
1337 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5USK
20 Meter SSB 3984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DK8IZ
1338 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W9WH
3985. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W8DXU
1261.......................................................................W3FOX 1339 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K5YX
1340 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PU4MMZ
SSB 1341 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC4SJ
40 Meter Digital 4316 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W4DWS
10..........................................................................JR1HYA 4317 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ON8AH 1342 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OE3TWA
4318 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IW8AWZ 1343 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AB8YZ
11............................................................................N4BAA 1344 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K5CD
Mixed 1345 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AB3E
80 Meter CW 4092 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N4SV 1346. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W1LOG
108 ............................................................................K9EU 4093 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K5YX 1347 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DS1HNL
4094 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PU4MMZ 1348 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E76MB
160 Meter 4095 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC4SJ 1349 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JG1AID
649.........................................................UY7CA, 32 Zones 4096 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DG2PX 1350. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BD7IBN
1351 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KG5ZNJ
650 ...........................................................DJ5FI, 36 Zones 4097 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AB8YZ
1352 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G4ZRZ
651 ...........................................................K9EU, 32 Zones 4098 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WA1NXC 1353 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I1YDT
4099 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N2TC 1354 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W7ARW
160 Meter Update 4100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IW8AWZ 1355 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N2RSC
379........................................................ US5CB, 36 Zones 4101. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K6ZP 1356 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WX7P
4102 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K4BH 1357 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CE3MRO
4103 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K6TXT 1358 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R6MO
4104. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BD7IBN 1359 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PY2BBQ
ALL BAND WAZ 4105 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OK1ZHV 1360 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AD5JK
4106 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WA2IUS
CW
1101.........................................................................DL5XL
1102...........................................................................K1PL CW: 550: K5CD, DK8IZ. 600: R5AA. 1400: K1PL.
1103 ......................................................................IK4DKO
1104 .......................................................................DL5KW SSB: 400: WA1NXC, K9ANN, IW8AWZ, K6VHF, WB2PMC. 550: W4DWS, WX7P. 600: OE3TWA. 2300: K1PL. 3750:
1105 .........................................................................DF4IE SV3AQR.

Digital Mixed: 450: N4SV, IW8AWZ. 500: E76MB, N2TC, BD7IBN, N6FB. 550: K5YX, WA5YCG, IK2GOQ. 600: DL5KLX, KM4VI.
650: AB8YZ, NG9J, N1CEO. 700: OK1ZHV, NG9J, EB8AIU. 750: N8USY, WX7P, UX5XK, WW5XX. 800: W6NCB. 850:
190........................................................................KB7SAT
191.........................................................................W3FOX PU4MMZ, OE3TWA. 900: VE2SYQ, IW2FLB. 1000: LX2SM. 1100: N4DJT, K4IJQ, F6JSZ. 1150: DK8IZ. 1200: K4IJQ. 1250:
192.........................................................................SP6IYR K6VHF. 1350: KC1UX. 1550: K5CD. 2000: JR3UIC. 2200: IZØFUW. 3050: K1PL. 3200: HB9BIN. 3800: AB1J.
193 ...........................................................................W7YA
Digital: 350: AC4SJ, N2TC, K4BH, K6TXT, SP5WPX, WX7P, CE3MRO, PY2BBQ, K3MEB. 400: DG2PX, OE3TWA, K5CD,
194 .......................................................................EA3EQT
195 ........................................................................IKØPCT E76MB. 450: N4SV, BD7IBN. 500: AB8YZ, OH6HSD, OK1ZHV, N6FB, IK2GOQ. 550: K5YX, DL5KLX, W6NCB, WA5YCG,
196.........................................................................JJ1PFC N1CEO. 600: JG1ID, WW5XX, AD5JK. 650: NG9J, WW5XX. 700: NG9J, EB8AIU. 750: N8USY. 800: LX2SM, F5JSZ. 850:
PU4MMZ, VE2SYQ. 1000: K6VHF. 1050: N4DJT, R6MO. 1100: AB1J. 1250: KC1UX. 1300: K1PL. 1350: IZØFUW. 1650:
JR3UIC. 1950: IK4LZH, K2YYY. 2150: HB9BIN.
Mixed
9928..........................................................................NR5R 160 Meters: N4SV, K1PL, DG2PX, R5AA, F6JSZ
9929 ..........................................................................R5AA 80 Meters: K5YX, PU4MMZ, K1PL, OE3TWA, K2YYY, K4BH, F6JSZ, WX7P, KK6YYF, K6VHF
9930 ........................................................................LB7ZG 40 Meters: K5YX, AC4SJ, K1PL, F6JSZ, OH6HSD, WA5YCG, R6MO, N1CEO, WW5XX
9931 .......................................................................ON4LG 30 Meters: W4DWS, K5YX, K1PL, LX2SM, K2YYY, K6VHF, WW5XX
9932.........................................................................AE4VJ 20 Meters: K5YX, ON8AH, OE3TWA, K5CD, IW8AWZ, OK1ZHV, W4DWS, KC1UX, UX5XK, R6MO, EB8AIU, AD5JK
9933.....................................................................VU2DCC 17 Meters: K1PL, N8USY, F6JSZ
9934 ........................................................................K5HTE 15 Meters: PU4MMZ, K1PL
9935 .........................................................................R6MO 10 Meters: K1PL
9936 .......................................................................RC0CB 6 Meters: DL5LH
9937 ....................................................................BH4WPN
Africa: K1PL, K5CD
SSB Asia: N4DJT. K1PL, K5CD, R5AA, DS1HNL, JG1AID, BD7IBN, SP5WPX, WA5YCG, DK8IZ, WX7P, UX5XK, N6FB
5485...........................................................................K1PL Europe: ON8AH, PU4MMZ, DG2PX, OE3TWA, K5CD, R5AA, E76MB, IW8AWZ, DL2TR, BD7IBN, OK1ZHV, SP5WPX,
5486.......................................................................W3FOX G4ZRZ, DK8IZ, KC1UX, DL5LH, UX5XK, N1CEO, PY2BBQ
Oceania: K5CD, JG1AID, BD7IBN
Rules and applications for the WAZ program may be ob- North America: N4SV, W9WH, K5YX, PU4MMZ, AC4SJ, K1PL, AB8YZ, WA1NXC, K5CD, AF4T, AB3E, W1LOG, K9ANN,
tained by sending a large SAE with two units of postage or N2TC, K4BH, KI5AL, K4IJQ, JG1AID, K6TXT, KG5ZNJ, WA2IUS, W7ARW, N2RSC, WX7P, KC1UX, K4AOQ, UX5XK,
an address label and $1.00 to: WAZ Award Manager, John W8DXU, K3MEB, AD5JK
Bergman, KC5LK, 125 Deer Trail, Brandon, MS 39042- South America: IK4LZH, PU4MMZ, K5CD, IW2FLB, K6VHF
9409. The processing fee for all CQ awards is $6.00 for sub-
scribers (please include your most recent CQ mailing label Complete rules and application forms may be obtained by sending a business-size, self-addressed, stamped envelope (for-
or a copy) and $12.00 for nonsubscribers. Please make all eign stations send extra postage for airmail) to "CQ WPX Awards," P.O. Box 355, New Carlisle, OH 45344 USA. Note: WPX
checks payable to John Bergman. Applicants sending QSL will now accept prefixes/calls which have been confirmed by eQSL.cc. and the ARRL Logbook of The World (LoTW).
cards to a CQ checkpoint or the Award Manager must
include return postage. KC5LK may also be reached via e- *Please Note: The price of the 160, 30, 17, 12, 6, and Digital bars for the Award of Excellence are $6.50 each.
mail: <[email protected]>.

94 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

first marriage, Wangchuk Tenzing Namgyal, was named the Horst Geerken, YBØAAG / DJ4SM (Photo H), who, 27 years
13th Chogyal, but the position no longer confers any official earlier, while in Jakarta, had received the distress call of the
authority. Chogyal.
Horst wrote:
Horst Visits Sikkim
In 2002, Uli, DJ9KR, received a nice picture postcard depict- “On my round trip through India, I have landed in Sikkim …
ing Khangchendzonga Mountain, Sikkim. The sender was We arrived here by helicopter flight. Of course, I remember
well the events with the Chogyal in 1975, when I picked up
his distress call. Right now, you are not allowed to visit the
Royal Palace in Gangtok (Photo I), and when I asked police,
military, and administration, I got the answer that there are
no radio amateurs in Sikkim at all. I think radio hams are not
allowed here.”

This is a condensed overview of Sikkim and amateur radio

as remembered by DJ9KR (SK). I am sure that there is more
detail out there. If you are interested in a more detailed story
about Sikkim, I recommend checking out online resources.
I want to thank Tom Roscoe, K8CX, from <www.ham-
gallery.com> and the estate of DJ9KR for providing the back-
ground for this little peek into some fascinating DX history.

Notes:
Photo I. Palace gate in Gangtok, Sikkim, taken by YBØAAG / 1. Information provided by Tom Roscoe, K8CX, and the estate of Uli
DJ2JB in 2002. Bihimayer, DJ9KR (SK)

CQ DX Honor Roll
The CQ DX Honor Roll recognizes those DXers who have submitted proof of confirmation with 275 or more ACTIVE countries. With few exceptions, the ARRL DXCC
Countries List is used as the country standard. The CQ DX Award currently recognizes 340 countries. Honor Roll listing is automatic when an application is received
and approved for 275 or more active countries. Deleted countries do not count and all totals are adjusted as deletions occur. To remain on the CQ DX Honor Roll,
annual updates are required. All updates must be accompanied by an SASE if confirmation of total is required. The fee for endorsement stickers is $1.00 each plus
SASE. (Stickers for the 340 level and Honor Roll are available.) Please make checks payable to the Award Manager, Keith Gilbertson. Mail all updates to Keith
Gilbertson, KØKG, 21688 Sandy Beach Lane, Rochert, MN 56578-9604 USA.

CW
DL3DXX ....339 K4CN ........339 N7RO ........339 K8SIX........338 K9OW ......334 W9IL..........329 N2LM ........321 W6WF .......309 K7CU ........282
HB9DDZ....339 K4JLD .......339 NØFW ......339 KA7T .........338 PY2YP ......334 IKØADY ....328 ON4CAS ...321 KT2C........ 307 PP7LL ......282
K4IQJ ........339 K4MQG .....339 OK1MP .....339 WA5VGI ....338 WG5G/ OZ5UR......328 W2OR .......320 K4DGJ ......307 WR7Q .......282
K9MM........339 K5RT.........339 W3GH .......339 W1DF........338 QRPp ....334 AB4IQ ......327 HB9DAX/ W4ABW ....306 N2VW........280
N4MM .......339 K7LAY.......339 W4OEL .....339 W9RPM.....338 WD9DZV...334 K6CU ........326 QRPp .....319 K7ZM ........305 K4EQ ........280
WB4UBD...339 K7VV.........339 W5BOS .....339 G3KMQ .....337 K2OWE .....333 KE3A.........326 W6YQ ......319 HA5LQ ......301 W8BLA......280
WS9V........339 K8LJG .......339 W7CNL .....339 KØKG........337 K5UO ........333 EA5BY ......325 HA1ZH ......318 RN3AKK....300 WB5STV ...277
EA2IA........339 N4AH ........339 W7OM.......339 W7IIT ........337 N6AW........333 KA3S.........325 N6PEQ......318 WA9PIE ....298 YO6HSU ...275
F3TH .........339 N4CH ........339 W8XD........339 K8ME ........336 W4MPY.....333 N3RC ........324 CT1YH ......316 K4IE ..........295
K2FL ........ 339 N4JF .........339 WK3N........339 W6OUL .....336 K6LEB.......331 N7W0 ........324 EA3ALV ....315 YU1YO......295
K2TQC ......339 N4NX ........339 WØJLC .....339 JA7XBG ....335 N7WO .......331 KEØA ........322 RA1AOB ...313 WA2VQV...292
K3JGJ .......339 N5ZM ........339 WØVTT .....339 F6HMJ ......334 OK1DWC ..331 YT1VM ......322 WA4DOU ..312 4XIVF ........286
K3UA.........339 N7FU.........339 YU1AB ......339 K1FK .........334 K6YK.........329 4Z5SG.......321 YO9HP......312 K6YR.........284

SSB
AB4IQ .......340 K6YRA ......340 VE3MRS ...340 W4UNP .....339 HB9DQD ...335 KE3A.........332 K7HG ........327 IV3GOW....312 F5MSB ......293
DJ9ZB .......340 K7VV.........340 VE3XN ......340 W9RPM.....339 IKØAZG ....335 N2VW........332 K6GFJ.......326 N8SHZ ......312 W9ACE .....291
DL3DXX ....340 K8LJG .......340 VK2HV ......340 EA3EQT....338 IW3YGW ...335 N5YY.........332 KE4SCY....326 OK1DWC ..311 N3KV.........289
DU9RG .....340 K8SIX........340 W3AZD .....340 K3UA.........338 OE2EGL....335 K5UO ........331 KF4NEF ....325 KU4BP ......310 W6MAC.....289
EA2IA .......340 K9MM........340 W3GH .......340 K7LAY.......338 VK2HV ......335 KC2Q ........331 W6WF .......325 W6NW.......310 K7CU ........287
EA4DO......340 KE5K.........340 W4ABW ....340 K9HQM .....338 W4WX.......335 SV3AQR ...331 W9GD .......325 I3ZSX ........309 N5KAE ......283
HB9DDZ....340 KZ2P .........340 W5BOS .....340 N4NX ........338 WB3D........335 WØROB ....331 VE7EDZ ....324 G3KMQ .....308 IZ1JLG ......282
I8KCI .........340 N4CH ........340 W6BCQ.....340 YU1AB ......338 AA4S.........334 W6OUL .....331 WA5UA .....324 KA1LMR....308 WA9PIE ....282
IK1GPG.....340 N4JF .........340 W6DPD .....340 4Z4DX.......338 EA5BY ......334 XE1MEX ...331 F6BFI ........323 RA1AOB ...308 WD8EOL...281
IN3DEI ......340 N4MM .......340 W7BJN......340 K1UO ........338 K9OW .......334 KD5ZD ......330 ON4CAS ...323 XE1MEX ...308 IWØHOU...277
K2FL .........340 N5ZM ........340 W7OM.......340 N7WR .......338 PY2YP ......334 WA4WTG..330 VE6MRT ...323 IK5ZUK .....307 AKØMR.....276
K2TQC ......340 N7BK.........340 W8ILC .......340 WA5VGI ....338 VK4LC.......334 WØYDB ....330 W5GT........323 IØYKN.......306 NØAZZ......275
K3JGJ .......340 N7RO .......340 W9SS........340 W2CC .......338 W8AXI.......334 ZL1BOQ....330 N6PEQ......322 XE1MW.....305 SQ7B ........275
K4CN ........340 NØFW .......340 WB4UBD...340 W7FP ........338 XE1J .........334 AD7J .........329 W4MPY.....322 K4IE ..........304
K4IQJ ........340 OK1MP .....340 WK3N........340 W9IL..........338 CT3BM......333 N3RC .......329 K8IHQ .......321 K4ZZR.......304
K4JLD .......340 OZ3SK ......340 WS9V........340 N4FN.........337 IK8CNT .....333 VE7SMP ...329 KW3W.......320 K7ZM .......303
K4MQG .....340 OZ5EV ......340 XE1AE ......340 IØZV..........336 K8LJG .....333 WØULU.....329 TI8II...........320 4Z5FL/M....302
K4MZU......340 VE1YX ......340 YU3AA ......340 K3LC .........336 N6AW........333 CT1AHU....328 YO9HP......320 K7SAM......301
K5OVC......340 VE2GHZ....340 JA7XBG ....339 K8ME ........336 OE3WWB..333 N1ALR ......328 W1DF........318 KA8YYZ ....301
K5RT.........340 VE2PJ .......340 KØKG........339 EA3BMT....335 WD9DZV...333 N2LM ........328 XE1RBV....317 4X6DK.......298
K5TVC ......340 VE3MR......340 W2FKF......339 F6HMJ ......335 AA1VX ......332 AE9DX ......327 N7YB.........315 K2HJB.......295

RTTY
NI4H . . . . . 338 WK3N . . . . 338 OK1MP . . . 337 K8SIX . . . . 334 W3GH . . . . 333 AB4IQ . . . . 323 N4MM . . . . 302 K8ME . . . . 278
WB4UBD . 338 N5ZM . . . . 338 K4CN . . . . 334 W9RPM . . 334 K3UA . . . . 332 K4WW . . . 323 K4IQJ . . . . 300 IN3YGW . . 275

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 95

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 VHF PLUS
BY TONY EMANUELE,* K8ZR

K3ZR Says Tnx and 73

VHF Calendar participation may come in the form of an FT8 signal below the
audible threshold, a CW signal just above the noise during a
Geminids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak December 13th/14th EME QSO, or an S9-plus signal on 2 meters during a Sporadic-
Quadrantid Meteor Shower: January 2nd / 3rd predicted peak. E opening or tropo event. The QSO links us to someone else
ARRL January VHF Contest: January 16–18th as it always takes two. That is why, when we meet a fellow
amateur in person for the first time some 10, 20, 30, or more
years after the first QSO, there is a sense of fraternity that
comes with few other hobbies.

W
hen I took over the editorship of the VHF+ column in
2014, I told myself that I would give it four or five years
and then decide whether or not to continue as editor. Change is Inevitable
Five years flew by in an instant, a common occurrence for Predicting the future is at best problematic. Five years ago, who
those my age, and frankly, as spring turned into summer and would have thought that FT8 would become the dominant mode
as I began my sixth year as editor of this column, I had not on 6 meters? Will we lose access to other microwave bands in
given any thought to my self-imposed reassessment schedule addition to 3.4 GHz? What will Solar Cycle 25 bring in the way
made in 2014. However, I recently agreed to take on additional of DX on 50 MHz in the next few years? Change is inevitable and
work responsibilities for the next 12 to 18 months. This is a the VHF+ amateur radio community will adapt as it always has.
time in my professional life when I thought I would be coast- Change will also come to this column with a new editor. He / she
ing to the finish line, but it was my choice and therefore I have will bring a new perspective, cover topics previously not covered,
no reason to complain. Consequently, I have resign- and guide you through the changes that are a certainty. My hope
ed as editor of this column as to give it anything less than 100% is that you support the new editor as you did me and that you will
would be a disservice to the readers, this publication and to continue support this column and this publication.
the editor, Rich Moseson, W2VU, and managing editor Jason – CU on the bands & 73,
Feldman, KD2IWM. It was a difficult decision. Tony, K8ZR

Championing Weak-Signal VHF

My intent from my first column has been to promote, educate,
and champion weak-signal activity on the VHF / UHF /
microwave bands, be it 50 MHz or, of late, 122 GHz. Hopefully,
I have made more than just a few readers curious enough to
try weak-signal operation on 6 or 2 meters and for those already
hooked on our favorite part of the spectrum, to become active
on a new band or try a new mode. And for those who did not
take the bait, at least you know that there is an active and
vibrant community of operators, builders, and experimenters
that are just as passionate about their activity as anyone else
in the hobby. This small by solid guide is the perfect read for
There are many to thank for making this column what it has those interested in learning or improving CQ
been since 2014. I would like to thank Rich and Jason for giv- operating techniques!
ing me the freedom to cover a wide range of topics. I am grate-
ful for the many who have contributed to the column by send- Within its pages you'll find
ing me their summaries of their activities and observations made . The secret of becoming a proficient
during major band openings. Thankful for those who provided CQ Operator
the results and their interesting stories of their grid or EME
DXpeditions or other uniquely VHF+ activities such as 10-GHz
. Where and how to practice,
practice, practice.
rainscatter events. To the many readers who sent emails sug-
gesting a topic, taking issue with particular point of view, or fur- . Straight Key or Paddle?
thering my education on a topic — thank you. . Adjusting your Straight Key or Paddle
I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you at the Dayton . Keyers, Iambic Keying and Bugs
Hamvention while staffing the CQ Communications booth, at . Contests & Events, DXing
the VHF Forum, or in the flea market. During Microwave . Operating QSK
Update or at the Central States VHF Society, North East Weak . CW Filters
Signal Group, Packrats and Southeastern VHF Conferences,
I engaged in many passionate discussions with readers about . Signs, Signals and Procedures 6 x 9 Paperback
the future of VHF / UHF / microwave activity and our mutual . Tips on Taking CW On the Road... Only $15.95
desire to increase our ranks and increase activity. Without and much, much more! Shipping and Handling US
and Possesions $3, CN/MX $5,
exception, I always returned home from one of these events All Other Countries $10
with a renewed sense of optimism and enthusiasm for VHF /
UHF / microwave community. Order your copy today!
At its core, amateur radio is about communications between
two or more individuals. When you think about it, it is one of the
few hobbies that requires participation from others. At times, that
CQ Communications
516-681-2922
email: <[email protected]> http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com
www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 99
 OUR READERS SAY...
Translators and Repacking to 27 but installed a highly directional antenna aimed away
from this QTH, i.e., no signal here anymore. Note: Back in
The following letter was directed to “Communications the analog days, channels 2 and 4 from Pittsburgh would be
Horizons” editor Rob de Santos, K8RKD: obliterated by springtime Sporadic-E propagation.
Enough rambling. Thanks for the interesting column.
Hi Rob, – 73, Howard Reynolds, WA3EOQ
A few comments on your September column:
WWFD is on 820 AM digital only from Frederick, Maryland. K8RKD replies:
They do have an FM translator W232DG listed as analog.
Many AM stations now have FM translators shoehorned into Hi Howard,
the FM band. Many of these preclude the reception of more I’m aware of the FM translators and I neglected to mention
distant full-power FM stations. They do seem to especially that aspect in the article and probably should have. WWFD
improve the nighttime coverage area of “graveyard channel” is an interesting case and it’s not clear whether their experi-
stations and, of course, those Class D stations which are ence is applicable in other markets. A recent move by a Fort
allowed very low night power. Wayne, Indiana, station to go all-digital was quickly aban-
As for the repack, I think the FCC is simply ignoring Over- doned when listeners complained.
the-Air (OTA) reception. Their instructions to simply “RES- Yes, the “rescan” advice is not all that helpful if you, like
CAN” just doesn’t work away from large cities where stations me, are close enough to the transmitter sites that they are
are located at a distance and in different directions (like here off in several different directions. I have resorted to manual-
in the far end of western MD). If you rescan in one direction, ly entering most of the channels since a scan is only effec-
the TV set erases everything in all other directions. AND to tive for those most closely aligned with the antenna beam.
put a station in the set’s memory manually, you need to know I’ve also noticed wide variation in the sensitivity and selec-
the RF channel, something no stations advertise. tivity of various televisions, even those from the same man-
Also, a set’s algorithm has trouble figuring out why it is ufacturer. I suspect the FCC, stations, and manufacturers
receiving a different station on a particular RF channel when are using the logic that a) if you are far enough out, all the
another is in its memory. This is a condition which repack transmitters for a central city are “more or less” in the same
has caused by close-spacing stations, usually in different azimuth and b) most inexpensive antennas are largely non-
directions. directional. Of course, reality and the assumed logic often
The auction has caused WQED 13 in Pittsburgh, PA to take fail. As you note, most televisions do not ask if you want to
the money and move to channel 4. They had a good digital wipe out all the existing settings before doing a re-scan, they
signal on channel 13; my new antenna arrangement is for just do it.
UHF and HI-VHF only, so I lost that station. Pittsburgh’s chan- Consumers, when buying a new TV, almost never ask to
nel 4 (used to have a good analog signal here) had moved see the specifications of the television. They look at the price,
size and picture, and maybe their experience with the brand
and make a choice. Price and size almost always win out. It
2021-22 CQ Amateur Radio Calendar doesn’t occur to them that TV A might not be as good at weak
Yes, we’re tooting our signals as TV B. Or that the antenna might be the problem.
own horn a bit, but the Hams tend to be more sensitive to these issues.
new CQ calendar is one I appreciate the feedback and that you read the column.
of our best yet. It show- – Best regards,
cases the many differ- Rob de Santos, K8RKD
ent people and activi-
ties that make up our An Elite Review…
hobby, young and old,
male and female,
The following letter was directed to Contributing Editor
operating from home,
Gordon West, WB6NOA, in response to his review of the
going VHF hilltopping,
Eton Elite 750 receiver in the September issue.
making EME and satellite contacts, Good afternoon from the Shenandoah Valley, Gordo.
going on DXpeditions, and even practicing good I hope all is well on the Best Coast. I know you people have
social DXing. And that’s just the pictures! been having a rough year with the record-breaking fires. Our
The “business” part of the calendar includes holidays, thoughts and prayers have gone out to the people that have
major contests, lunar phases, meteor showers and more, been devastated by these tragic events.
with space for adding in your own important events. The After reading your review on the Eton Elite 750, I decided
CQ Amateur Radio Calendar covers 15 months, from this unit would be a nice addition to my ham shack. I must
January 2021 to March 2022. As always, a CQ calendar is say, it is everything you said about it and more. I have had
a perfect addition to your shack wall or a great “conversa- mine for two weeks now and it has been great fun trying it
tion-starter” about amateur radio at your business. It’s a out. It is reminiscent of my Hallicrafters S-38, my first short-
great gift as well! The 2021-22 CQ Amateur Radio Calendar wave receiver back in the early ’50s.
retails for $12.95 plus shipping ($3 to U.S. addresses, high- Thanks for your great review in the September issue of CQ
er elsewhere), directly from CQ (<www.cq-amateur- magazine. I ordered my Elite 750 from HRO.
radio.com> or 516-681-2922) or from your favorite ham 73, Gordo. I’ll see you on the radio.
dealer. – Don Landes, WX4C

100 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

HAM RADIO NEWS (from page 3) tester and DXer, Tiemstra was also heavily involved in emer-
gency communications in his hometown of Oakland,
was made through the ARISS (Amateur Radio on the California. He is succeeded on the ARRL board by Vice
International Space Station) program. ARISS is looking for Director Kristen McIntyre, K6WX, of San Jose. McIntyre is a
participants in that first contact, between astronaut Bill senior software engineer at Apple. She also holds an ama-
Shepherd and students at the Luther Burbank School in teur license in Japan.
Burbank, Illinois. Former students, family members, or staff
who took part are urged to contact Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, via “Last Man Standing” Standing Down
email to his callsign @aol.com. The 2021 television season will be the final one for the long-
COVID-19 has severely limited current ARISS contacts, but running TV comedy, “Last Man Standing,” in which star Tim
at least one school has been able to make it happen. Teacher Allen, KK6OTD, portrays outdoor store owner Mike Baxter, who
Kelly Cammarano, KM6SMW, of the Ramona Lutheran is also a ham, KAØXTT (a fictional call). The ham shack fre-
Christian School in Ramona, California, coordinated the first quently seen in Baxter’s office, as well as the one in his home
direct ARISS contact in the U.S. since the start of the basement, were operational, with licensed members of the cast
Coronavirus pandemic in mid-October. The school had and crew frequently putting them on the air when taping was
resumed in-person classes at the end of August. The stu- not in progress. Ham radio occasionally played a role in the
dents talked with Expedition 63 commander Chris Cassidy, program’s script as well. Producer John Amodeo, AA6JA, told
KF5KDR, just days before he returned to Earth after nearly Newsline that 21 new episodes will air in this ninth and final
six months in orbit. season, after which the program will go into syndication.

ZL Hams Lose 60 Meters LoTW “Harmonizes” FST4 Protocol

Hams in New Zealand no longer have access to the 60-meter The ARRL reports that its Logbook of the World (LoTW) com-
band. Under a provisional agreement with the New Zealand mittee has worked with WSJT developer Joe Taylor, K1JT,
Defence Force, the band’s primary user, amateurs had been “to harmonize the designation of FST4 among WSJT-X, the
permitted trial use of two frequencies on 5 MHz. At the end ADIF standard and LoTW,” to ensure contacts using that
of the trial, though, the military informed the New Zealand mode are properly recorded. FST4 and FST4W are WSJT-
Association of Radio Transmitters that it needed greater X modes designed primarily for use on 630 and 2200 meters,
access to the spectrum and would not be continuing the to accommodate the unique characteristics of the MF and LF
arrangement. The ARRL Letter reports that NZART is work- portions of the spectrum.
ing with the country’s telecommunications regulator to see if The ARRL Letter also reports that Taylor has expressed
there is any other way to provide hams there with continued “puzzlement” over why anyone would use FT8 in a contest
access to the band. rather than FT4, which was designed specifically for contest
use. Taylor reportedly told the Mt. Airy VHF Society’s Cheese
Milestones: New AMSAT President, Bits newsletter, “I fail to understand why anyone who uses
Thai King Becomes a Ham FT8 in a contest would fail to use FT4 for much of the time,”
AMSAT’s board of directors has elected Robert Bankston, adding, “FT4 is about 3 dB less sensitive than FT8, but it’s
KE4AL, as the amateur satellite organization’s next presi- twice as fast.”
dent. Bankston lives in Dothan, Alabama. According to the
AMSAT News Service, Bankston holds an Extra Class Satellite Acronym Wiki
license and has previously served the group in a variety of Interested in amateur satellite communication but confused
capacities, including vice president of user services, trea- by all the satellite-specific abbreviations and acronyms?
surer, and chair of the 2018 AMSAT Space Symposium. He KG4AKV and WF7T are riding to the rescue! According to
succeeds Clayton Coleman, W5PFG. the AMSAT News Service, the two have developed a wiki
Following in his late father’s footsteps, Thailand’s King page to help explain the technical jargon of the satellite world.
Maha Vajiralongkorn has become a radio amateur as well as It’s available online at <http://sats.wikidot.com/acronyms>.
patron of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand. Newsline
reports that the monarch, also known as King Rama X, is New Distance Records Set
now also known as HS1ØA. His father, King Bhumibol Jerome LeCoyer, F4DXV, has been busy setting satellite dis-
Adulyadej, who died in 2016, was HS1A. HS1ØA’s palace tance records. The AMSAT News Service reports that on
“shack” is outfitted with two ICOM transceivers, an IC-7300 October 19th, he contacted Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ, in Idaho
for HF and an IC-9700 for VHF and UHF. via RS-44 at a distance of 8,402 kilometers, or 5,221 miles,
8 miles farther than the previous record. Switching to AO-27,
Milestones: America’s Oldest Ham, LeCoyer then contacted Michael Styne, K2MTS, in upstate
ARRL Director, SKs New York grid FN22, a record-setting distance for that satel-
The oldest known amateur radio operator in the United lite of 3,661 miles, breaking the previous record by more than
States, and possibly the world, became a Silent Key in 100 miles.
October. According to the ARRL Letter, Charles Clifford “Cliff” But you don’t necessarily need a satellite to work DX on
Kayhart, W4KKP, was 109 years old and had been licensed VHF and UHF. Sometimes a tropospheric duct will do just
since 1937. Originally from New Jersey, he served in the U.S. fine … such as the contact on October 16th reported by the
Army Signal Corps in World War II, and had a 30-year career South African Radio League between Tom Ambrose, ZS1TA,
with Magnavox before retiring in 1976. Kayhart was living in in Plumstead, South Africa, and Garry Mercury, ZD7GWM,
South Carolina at the time of his death, and had been active on St. Helena island in the South Atlantic. Those two stations
on the air until recently from his assisted-living facility. are 1,960 miles apart … and their contact was on 70 cen-
ARRL Pacific Division Director Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT, also timeters FM! Keep that in mind the next time someone tells
became a Silent Key in October. He was 65. Primarily a con- you that UHF is only good for line-of-sight contacts.

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 101

 PROPAGATION
BY TOMAS HOOD,* NW7US

December Propagation: Best DX Will Be on the Lower Bands

A Quick Look at Current One Year Ago: A Quick Look at Current

Cycle 25 Conditions Solar Cycle Conditions
(Data rounded to nearest whole number) (Data rounded to nearest whole number)

Sunspots: Sunspots:
Observed Monthly, September 2020: 1 Observed Monthly, September 2019: 0
12-month smoothed, March 2020: 3 12-month smoothed, March 2019: 3

10.7-cm Flux: 10.7-cm Flux:

Observed Monthly, September 2020: 71 Observed Monthly, September 2019: 68
12-month smoothed, March 2020: 70 12-month smoothed, March 2019: 70

Ap Index: Ap Index:
Unavailable Observed Monthly, September 2019: 10
12-month smoothed, March 2019: 7

A
moderate to low level of solar activity is expected dur- DX openings on 160 and 80 meters during the hours of
ing December, with 10.7-centimeter flux levels peak- darkness and into the sunrise period, with considerably
ing in the high 70s to the mid-80s. The density of ion- decreased static levels, are a sure bet during the longer hours
ization in the Northern Hemisphere is expected to increase of darkness in the northern latitudes. Look for openings
more rapidly after sunrise than during other seasons. Static toward Europe and the south from the eastern half of the
and atmospheric noise levels will be at seasonally low val- United States and towards the south, the Far East,
ues during the month. Reasonably strong signal levels are
expected on most of the open bands. The higher bands will
not carry worldwide DX propagation often, certainly not as LAST-MINUTE FORECAST
would be expected during the peak years, coming after 2021. Day-to-Day Conditions Expected for December 2020
For this month, 10- and 12-meter DX openings will be
exceedingly rare and only during daylight hours if at all, espe- Expected Signal Quality
Propagation Index (4) (3) (2) (1)
cially where the propagation paths cross the sunlit regions. Above Normal: A A B C
If they develop, they will be rather short, with a lot of fading. 5-13, 15, 17
High Normal: A B C C-D
Expect fair daytime openings on 17 and 20 meters, pri- 3-4, 14, 16, 19, 27-28, 30
marily on north / south paths, with occasional strong open- Low Normal: B C-B C-D D-E
1-2, 18, 24, 29
ings on the 15-meter band. Openings will be short on high- Below Normal: C C-D D-E E
er frequencies. The hottest band of the two will be 20 meters, 20, 22-23, 25-26
Disturbed: C-D D E E
starting with early morning openings in all directions until 21
about an hour or two after sunrise, and then remaining open
into one place or another through the day until early evening. Where expected signal quality is:
A--Excellent opening, exceptionally strong, steady signals greater than S9
The 30-meter band will be a strong player for DXing, as B--Good opening, moderately strong signals varying between S6 and S9, with little fading or
well, following the pattern of 20 meters. Expect this band to noise.
C--Fair opening, signals between moderately strong and weak, varying between S3 and S6,
remain open towards the south and west from early evening with some fading and noise.
until about midnight, mostly for DXers in the lower latitudes. D--Poor opening, with weak signals varying between S1 and S3, with considerable fading and
noise.
On 40 meters, regional daytime openings will remain strong E--No opening expected.
for most of the day, while great DX will open early in the after-
noon. From midnight to sunrise, 40 promises some of the
hottest nighttime DX during December. The first DX openings HOW TO USE THIS FORECAST
1. Using the Propagation Charts appearing in “The New Shortwave Propagation Handbook,”
should be toward Europe and the east during the late after- by George Jacobs, Theodore J. Cohen, and R. B. Rose.
noon, then move across the south through the hours of dark- a. Find the Propagation Index associated with the particular path opening from the
Propagation Charts.
ness, while remaining open into most parts of the world. Just b. With the Propagation Index, use the above table to find the expected signal quality asso-
after sunrise, openings will be more in a westerly direction. Low ciated with the path opening for any given day of the month. For example, openings shown in
the Propagation Charts with a Propagation Index of 1 will be poor or worse on December 1
seasonal noise will make DXing a pleasurable endeavor. and 2, poor to fair on December 3 and 4, fair on December 5 through December 13, and so
forth.
2. Alternatively, you may use the Last-Minute Forecast as a general guide to space weath-
er and geomagnetic conditions throughout the month. When conditions are Above Normal, for
* P.O. Box 110 example, the geomagnetic field should be quiet, and space weather should be mild. On the
Fayetteville, OH 45118 other hand, days marked as Disturbed will be riddled with geomagnetic storms. Propagation
of radio signals in the HF spectrum will be affected by these geomagnetic conditions. In gen-
Email: <[email protected]> eral, when conditions are High Normal to Above Normal, signals will be more reliable on a given
@NW7US (https://Twitter.com/NW7US) path, when the ionosphere supports the path that is in consideration. This chart is updated daily
at <http://SunSpotWatch.com> provided by NW7US.
@hfradiospacewx (https://Twitter.com/HFRadioSpaceWX)

102 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

Australasia, and the South Pacific from
the western half of the country. Eighty
meters becomes a reliable long-dis-
tance band throughout the entire peri-
od of darkness during December.
Openings on 80 should peak towards
Europe and in a generally easterly
direction around midnight, and then
open in a generally western direction
with a peak just after sunrise. The band
should remain open towards the south
throughout most of the night.

Short-Skip
For short-skip openings during Decem-
ber, try 80 and 40 meters during the day
for paths less than 250 miles, and 80 or
160 meters at night for these distances.
For openings between 250 and 750
miles, try 40 meters during the day, and
both 80 and 160 at night. For distances
between 750 and 1,300 miles, 20 and
30 should provide daytime openings,
while 40 and 80 will be open for these
distances from sunset to midnight. After
midnight, 80 meters will remain open
out to 1,300 miles until sunrise. Try 30
and 40 meters again for about an hour
or so after sunrise. For openings be-
tween 1,300 and 2,300 miles, openings
will occur on 20, 17, and 15 meters, with
fewer on 12 and 10 meters, during the
daylight hours. Between sundown and
midnight, check 20, 30, and 40 meters
for these long-distance openings, and
then check 40 and 80 meters from mid-
night until sunrise. Try 40 meters again
for an hour or so after sunrise.

VHF Conditions
While there might be an occasional
geomagnetic disturbance due to coro-
nal hole activity, aurora will most like-
ly not occur this month. If there’s any
chance at all, you’ll want to look for
days with conditions at Disturbed or
Below Normal, when there is a possi-
bility for Field Aligned Irregularities
(FAI) and Auroral-E propagation.
Check the Last-Minute Forecast for

Figure 1. The new cycle, Sunspot

Cycle 25, is right at the beginning of a
rise in activity. We are watching intent-
ly over the next five months to see if
this rise is a trend. Look at the charts
of sunspot numbers since the early
1900s to see how the forecast for Cycle
25 measures up to past cycles since
Cycle 14. Some scientists disagree
with this forecast, and expect the new
cycle to be more like Cycle 23 than 24.
Stay tuned! (Credit: SWPC / NOAA)

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 103

 propagation since one doesn’t have to wait until after
midnight to catch this shower. The radiant rises early,
but the best viewing and operating time will be after mid-
night local time. This shower also boasts a broad maxi-
mum, lasting nearly one whole day, so no matter where
you live, you stand a decent chance of catching sight of
some Geminids. The smaller Ursids shower peaks a
week later, on December 21 st.
There is considerably less likelihood for 6-meter trans-
equatorial (TE) openings during December, but look for a
possible opening between the U.S. southern states and loca-
tions deep in South America. The best time to look for these
is between about 8 and 11 PM local time.
Check out <https://tinyurl.com/y59jwnl8> for a complete
calendar of meteor showers in 2020. The International
Meteor Organization’s 2021 calendar is at <https://tinyurl.
com/yy4xqvxa>.
If you use Twitter.com, you can follow <@hfradiospacewx>
for hourly updates that include the K-index numbers. You can
also check the numbers at <http://SunSpotWatch.com>,
where this columnist provides a wealth of current space
weather details as well as links. Please report your obser-
vations of any notable propagation conditions, by writing
this columnist via Twitter, or via the Space Weather and
Radio Propagation Facebook page at <https://fb.me/
Figure 2. A white-light image of the Sun on October 29, 2020, spacewx.hfradio>.
showing two sunspot regions, 12778 and 12779. We are
now beginning to see more sunspot regions appearing on Current Solar Cycle Progress
the Sun. This is one of the signs that the new Sunspot Cycle The Royal Observatory of Belgium reports that the monthly
25 is ramping up. (Credit: NASA / SDO / HMI) mean observed sunspot number for September 2020 was
0.8. The 12-month running smoothed sunspot number cen-
tered on March 2020 is 3.1. A smoothed sunspot count of 10,
those days during December that are expected to be in give or take about 8 points, is expected for December 2020.
these categories. Sunspot regions are starting to appear more often, as the
Look for some decent meteor shower activity this month, new cycle gets under way.
with two showers on the calendar, providing conditions for The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory at Pen-
meteor-scatter openings on the VHF bands for distances up ticton, BC, Canada, reports a 10.7-cm observed monthly
to about 1,000 miles. mean solar flux of 70.56 for September 2020. The 12-month
Meteor-scatter propagation is a mode in which radio sig- smoothed 10.7-cm flux centered on March 2020 is 70.1.
nals are refracted by the ionized plasma trails left by dust The predicted smoothed 10.7-cm solar flux for December
and small particles that have entered our atmosphere at 2020 is 80. During October, the 10.7-cm flux rose to the
thousands of miles per hour. The ionized trail is produced high 80s.
by vaporization of the meteor. Meteors no larger than a The observed monthly mean planetary A-Index (Ap) is
pea can produce ionized trails up to 12 miles long in the unavailable, as is the 12-month smoothed Ap index. This is
E layer of the ionosphere. Because of the height of these due to changes at the Space Weather Prediction Center and
plasma trails, the range of a meteor scatter contact is NOAA’s Space Weather services. This column will review
between 500 and 1,300 miles. The frequencies that are these changes in an upcoming issue. It appears that this
best refracted are between 30 and 100 MHz. However, author must program an automated data tracker to provide
with the development of new software and techniques, fre- this index for the column. You will be seeing the result of this
quencies up to 440 MHz have been used to make suc- programming here early in 2021.
cessful radio contacts off of these meteor trails. On the Geomagnetic activity this month should be mostly quiet with
lower frequencies, such as on 6 meters, contacts may last fair to good propagation conditions, except for those days
from mere seconds to well over a minute. The lower the indicated in the Last-Minute Forecast during which we expect
frequency, the longer the specific opening made by a sin- degraded propagation (remember that you can get an up-to-
gle meteor trail. A meteor trail that supports a 60-second the-day Last-Minute Forecast on the main page at <http://
refraction on 6 meters might only support a 1-second SunSpotWatch.com>.
refraction for a 2-meter signal. Special high-speed meth- I welcome your thoughts, questions, and experiences
ods are used on these higher frequencies to take advan- regarding this fascinating science of propagation. You may
tage of the limited available time. email me, write me a letter, or catch me on the HF amateur
The annual Geminids meteor shower will peak on the bands. If you are on Facebook, check out <https://fb.me/
night of December 14 th. This is one of the better show- spacewx.hfradio> and <https://fb.me/NW7US>. Speaking of
ers since as many as 120 visual meteors per hour may Facebook, check out the CQ Amateur Radio magazine fan
occur. However, some are saying that this year, we might page at <https://fb.me/CQMag>.
only see a maximum of 20 visuals per hour. This is a
great shower for those trying the meteor-scatter mode of – 73, Tomas, NW7US

104 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 2020 Annual CQ Index
ANTENNAS Learning Curve: A Relative Approach to Making Antenna
A Self-Calibrating Tuning-Tracking Controller for Magnetic Radiation Patterns, Ochu (KOØZ), Jul, p. 64
Field Loop Antennas, Sadkowski (K6KM), Dec, p. 16 Learning Curve: Antenna Switching, Ochu (KOØZ), May,
A Simple Dual-Band Upgrade for Your 40-Meter Dipole, p. 58
Glorioso (W1IS) and Rose (KC1DSQ), Dec, p. 44 Learning Curve: Antenna Tuner Basics, Ochu (KOØZ),
Antennas: All Antennas are Elliptically Polarized, Britain Oct, p. 81
(WA5VJB), Feb, p. 54 Learning Curve: Boost Me Up! Ochu (KOØZ), Apr, p. 70
Antennas: Antennas, the Early Days (Early Days of CQ, Learning Curve: DX Techniques and DX Videos, Ochu
That Is) – Part II, Britain (WA5VJB), Jun, p. 82 (KOØZ), Feb, p. 85
Antennas: Antennas, the Early Days (Early Days of CQ, Learning Curve: Hollow-State, Solid-State Primer, Ochu
That Is), Britain (WA5VJB), Apr, p. 54 (KOØZ), Aug, p. 69
Antennas: Ground Planes and Gigahertz, Britain Learning Curve: Lightning Protection, Ochu (KOØZ), Mar,
(WA5VJB), Aug, p. 74 p. 70
Antennas: Measuring Things You Can’t See, Britain Learning Curve: Perspective, Ochu (KOØZ), Jun, p. 71
(WA5VJB), Oct, p. 88 Learning Curve: Shack Safety – Fire Extinguisher Basics,
Antennas: Antenna Simulation, Britain (WA5VJB), Dec, Ochu (KOØZ), Sep, p. 53
p. 87 Learning Curve: WAØCNS: A True Inspiration, Ochu
Build a Portable High Efficiency 4-Band Vertical Antenna, (KOØZ), Nov, p. 68
Peter (AC8GY), Dec, p. 28 Learning Curve: Match This!, Ochu (KOØZ), Dec, p. 84
Building Antennas During the Pandemic, Bledsoe (KL4E),
Sep, p. 39 BROADCASTING (AM/FM/TV)
CQ Classic: Japan’s Dai Ichi Scientist (Profile of Professor Communications Horizons: Are You Going Hybrid?, De
Yagi), Ball, 10/1955 issue reprint, Jun, p. 80 Santos (K8RKD), Dec, p. 68
Does an Antenna’s Orientation Affect a Signal’s Sound? Communications Horizons: Updates on Past Columns
Madsen (K2PM) CQ 2020, Feb, p. 50 (Franken FMs, the Future of AM and WiFi6), De Santos
Gordo’s Short Circuits: Non-Resonant No-Where After (K8RKD), Sep, p. 72
Winter’s Rain and Snow, West (WB6NOA), Mar, p. 76
Homing In: Put a Foxhunting Beam on Your Vehicle, Moell CLASSIC RADIO GEAR & NOSTALGIA
(KØOV), Nov, p. 62 A Vintage Foxhunt, or … Two Hams in Crash Helmets,
How to Tune a Yagi Antenna, Dalton (W6KW), Dec, p.10 Minikiewicz (W4FSV), Aug, p. 46
Learning Curve: A Relative Approach to Making Antenna Analog Adventures: Small Advances, Nichols (KL7AJ),
Radiation Patterns, Ochu (KOØZ), Jul, p. 64 Jan, p. 70
Learning Curve: Antenna Switching, Ochu (KOØZ), May, Awards: Looking Ahead … and Looking Back, CQ Staff,
p. 58 Apr, p. 78
Learning Curve: Antenna Tuner Basics, Ochu (KOØZ), Back in the Day: The FCC and Portable Operating,
Oct, p. 81 Signorelli (WØRW), Jun, p. 29
Learning Curve: Match This!, Ochu (KOØZ), Dec, p. 84 CQ Classic: “So Who’s Looking After the Store?” Margolis,
MF/LF Operating: To the Mailbag – A Few Considerations S., 1/1971 issue reprint, Sep, p. 24
for Using a 160-Meter Inverted-L on 630 and 2200 Meters, CQ Classic: … About Grid-Dip Oscillators, Bayne (W6WB),
Langridge (KB5NJD), Oct, p. 84 3/1947 issue reprint, Nov, p. 34
MF/LF Operating: Using Scopematch to Resonate and CQ Classic: Aboard Yasme … St. Thomas to Panama, Weil
Match Your Low-Band Vertical Antenna System, Langridge (VP2VB), 10/1955 issue reprint, Jun, p. 25
(KB5NJD), Jan, p. 86 CQ Classic: Amateur Radio … A Hobby For All Seasons,
Gillmor (W1FK), 7/1980 issue reprint, Aug, p. 36
Multiband Off-Center-Fed Dipoles for 160 & 80 Meters,
CQ Classic: Amateur Radio: The Next 50 Years, Bergeron
Rose (KC1DSQ) and Glorioso (W1IS), Jun, p. 42
(NU1N), 1/1995 issue reprint, Jan, p. 35
Refurbished, Donated and Modified … Putting All the
CQ Classic: Announcing CQ’s World-Wide DX Contest,
Pieces Together at W8UM, Palmisano (KB8OIS), Guiliano
8/1948 issue reprint, May, p. 27
(KB8RCO), Laundra (N8RGF) and Fluegemann (KE8AQW),
CQ Classic: CQ in the Space Age, Jacobs (W3ASK),
Mar, p. 10
1/1995 issue reprint, Jan, p. 47
Screwdriver Antenna Controller For Your Smartphone,
CQ Classic: Dateline Washington, DC: Volunteer Exam
Griffin (AA4PG) and Wingard (N4DKD), Dec, p. 12 Program Off to a Successful Start, Cohen (N4XX), 8/1984
The Ferrite-Sleeve Autotransformer, Littlefield (K1BQT), issue reprint, Jul, p. 19
Dec, p. 64 CQ Classic: Di-Di-Di-Dit, Di-Dit, Stoner (W6TNS), 1/1995
The HEX-BEAM Revisited, Traffie (N1HXA), Oct, p. 51 issue reprint, Jan, p. 46
The Texas Star Multi-Band Antenna, Hinkle (K5PA), Dec, CQ Classic: Japan’s Dai Ichi Scientist (Profile of Professor
p. 39 Yagi), Ball, 10/1955 issue reprint, Jun, p. 80
CQ Classic: Looking Into the Future of Amateur Radio,
BEGINNERS/NEWCOMERS Matthews (W3FWJ), 2/1945 issue reprint, Jan, p. 31
Learning Curve: 75 Years and More to Come, Ochu CQ Classic: Past – Present – Future, Bouck (W8QMR-
(KOØZ), Jan, p. 64 WLNG), 1/1945 reprint, Dec, p. 50

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 105

 CQ Classic: Once in a Lifetime Conditions, Jacobs A Simple Dual-Band Upgrade for Your 40-Meter Dipole,
(W3ASK), 3/1956 issue reprint, Jan, p. 36 Glorioso (W1IS) and Rose (KC1DSQ), Dec, p. 44
CQ Classic: QRP column - QRPp, Weiss (K8EEG), 11/1973 Build a Portable High Efficiency 4-Band Vertical Antenna,
issue reprint, Feb, p. 38 Peter (AC8GY), Dec, p. 28
CQ Classic: Results … CQ’s First World-Wide DX Contest, Kit-Building: Everything’s Better in 3D, Eisenberg
6/1949 issue reprint, May, p. 30 (KØNEB), Feb, p. 75
CQ Classic: Semiconductors, Stoner (W6TNS), 4/1959 Ham Notebook: Projects on the Workbench, Yoshida
issue reprint, Jan, p. 44 (KH6WZ), Jul, p. 48
CQ Classic: The Dawn of Volunteer Examining: Ticket Talk, Ham Notebook: Using Those Harvested Parts, Yoshida
Bash (KL7IHP), 6/1984 issue reprint, Jul, p. 16 (KH6WZ), May, p. 64
CQ Classic: The Dipper, Scherer (W2AEF), 5/1947 issue Kit-Building: A “Key” Development, Eisenberg (KØNEB),
reprint, Nov, p. 40 Apr, p. 50
CQ Classic: The Song of the Flea, Waters (W2NZ), 3/1973 Kit-Building: Being Well-Grounded, Eisenberg (KØNEB),
issue reprint, Feb, p. 40 Dec, p. 72
CQ Classic: VP2VB the First Time Around, CQ Staff, Jun, Kit-Building: Don’t Be Late for FT8, Eisenberg (KØNEB),
p. 24 Mar, p. 54
CQ Classic: Zero Bias (Youth in Amateur Radio), 8/1948 Kit-Building: Face Shields and a New μBITX, Eisenberg
issue reprint, Oct, p. 44 (KØNEB), Jun, p. 62
DX: AC3PT Sikkim 1974 — Amateur Radio’s Role in a Kit-Building: Flying High with a Simple Fun Kit, Eisenberg
World Event, Schenck (N2OO), Dec, p. 92 (KØNEB), May, p. 61
JY1 50 Years On, Margolis, L. (G3UML), Sep, p. 29 Kit-Building: May the Morse Be With You, Eisenberg
Learning Curve: 75 Years and More to Come, Ochu (KØNEB), Oct, p. 64
(KOØZ), Jan, p. 64 Kit-Building: Phasers Set on Stun, Eisenberg (KØNEB),
Magic in the Sky: Milestones, Reinhardt (AA6JR), Jan, Sep, p. 55
p. 74 Kit-Building: Shields Up and More Building Time, Eisenberg
Math’s Notes: Antique Wireless Communications (KØNEB), Aug, p. 55
Revisited, Math (WA2NDM), Feb, p. 52 Kit-Building: The G-QRP Urmston Reciever: A Kit With a
Math’s Notes: Some Notes on Upgrading Older “Boat Long Heritage, Eisenberg (KØNEB), Jan, p. 72
Anchors” From Vacuum Tubes to Transistors, Math Kit-Building: The Morserino32, Eisenberg (KØNEB), Nov,
(WA2NDM), Mar, p. 43 p. 56
My Friend “Elmo” – Personal Recollections of Guglielmo Kit-Building: The SO2R Mini – Are Two Better Than One?
Marconi, Stinson (WØCP), Jan, p. 52 Eisenberg (KØNEB), Jul, p. 45
Personal Ham History, A, Hilliard (AK6OK), Jan, p. 48 Microcontrollers in Amateur Radio: Legend of the Headless
So What Have You Done for the Last 40 Years? Gillmor Horseman, Luscre (K8ZT), Sep, p. 59
(W1FK), Aug, p. 40 Microcontrollers in Amateur Radio: Lockdown Projects,
The Day I Let the Smoke Out! Milliman (K8HSY), Oct, How to Destroy an Arduino, and More, Luscre (K8ZT), Jun,
p. 56 p. 68
Microcontrollers in Amateur Radio: Two New Projects That
COMPUTERS & INTERNET Utilize Microcontrollers, Luscre (K8ZT), Mar, p. 62
Antennas: Antenna Simulation, Britain (WA5VJB), Dec, Single-Switch Station Command, Spies (WB9YBM), Jun,
p. 87 p. 48
Communications Horizons: Wi-Fi 6E: Much More Screwdriver Antenna Controller For Your Smartphone,
Bandwidth and Frequency Sharing, De Santos (K8RKD), Griffin (AA4PG) and Wingard (N4DKD), Dec, p. 12
Jun, p. 79 The Ferrite-Sleeve Autotransformer, Littlefield (K1BQT),
Download Radio Calls from Gordo’s “On the Air” License Dec, p. 64
Manual CDs for Free!, Dec, p. 67 The Texas Star Multi-Band Antenna, Hinkle (K5PA), Dec,
Microcontrollers in Amateur Radio: Lockdown Projects, p. 39
How to Destroy an Arduino, and More, Luscre (K8ZT), Jun,
p. 68 CONTESTS & AWARDS
Microcontrollers in Amateur Radio: Two New Projects That Announcing: The 2020 CQ World Wide DX Contest, Aug,
Utilize Microcontrollers, Luscre (K8ZT), Mar, p. 62 p. 24
“Peanut” for Amateur Radio, Green (K3BEQ), Aug, p. 12 Announcing: The 2020 CQ World Wide DX RTTY Contest,
Microcontrollers in Amateur Radio: 2 Projects + 2 Books = Jul, p. 33
Microcontroller Fun, Luscre (K8ZT), Dec, p. 78 Announcing: The 2020 CQ World Wide Foxhunting
An Old-School Counter and Digital Dial, Julstrom Weekend, Apr, p. 41
(KCØZNG), Sep, p. 34 Announcing: The 2020 CQ World Wide VHF Contest, May,
Build a Repeater Link Diplexer, Kincaid (WD8OYG) CQ p. 38
2020, Feb, p. 44 Announcing: The 2020 CQ World Wide WPX Contest, Jan,
Build an Adjustable Voltage Add-On for Your Power Supply, p. 54
Karras (KE3FL), Aug, p. 42 Announcing: The 2021 CQ World Wide WPX RTTY
Building Antennas During the Pandemic, Bledsoe (KL4E), Contest, Dec, p. 66
Sep, p. 39 Announcing: The 2021 CQ DX Marathon, Nov, p. 92
Announcing: The 2021 CQ World Wide 160-Meter Contest,
CONSTRUCTION Nov, p. 46
A Self-Calibrating Tuning-Tracking Controller for Magnetic Awards: 4U1A United Nations Award Program, Houser
Field Loop Antennas, Sadkowski (K6KM), Dec, p. 16 (WA8JIM), Jul, p. 79

106 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 Awards: An Introduction and Back to Basics, Houser LoJack “T” Hunt, Signorelli, P., (WØRW), Mar, p. 23
(WA8JIM), May, p. 77 November Surprise (Sweepstakes), Nichols (KL7AJ), Nov,
Awards: Awards Editor Needed – Plus Parks, States, Grid p. 26
Fields and More, CQ Staff, Oct, p. 99 Results of the 2019 CQ DX Marathon, Sweeney (K9EL),
Awards: CW Awards, Houser (WA8JIM), Sep, p. 77 Jun, p. 32
Awards: Electronic Banking, Moseson (W2VU), Nov, p. 89 Results of the 2019 CQ World Wide DX CW Contest, Dorr
Awards: Field Day and Awards from Japan, Houser (K1AR), May, p. 12
(WA8JIM), Jun, p. 88 Results of the 2019 CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest, Dorr
Awards: Getting the Confirmations You Need, De Young (K1AR), Apr, p. 14
(KS4AA), Feb, p. 88 Results of the 2019 CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest,
Awards: Helpful Tips to Earn Your Award QSOs, De Young Muns (WØYK), Mar, p. 15
(KS4AA), Jan, p. 100 Results of the 2019 CQ World Wide VHF Contest,
Awards: Looking Ahead … and Looking Back, CQ Staff, Kalenowsky (K9JK), Jan, p. 14
Apr, p. 78 Results of the 2020 CQ WPX CW Contest, Trench (AA3B),
Awards: Net Awards, Moseson (W2VU), Dec, p. 90 Nov, p. 16
Awards: The Ham Radio Honor System, Houser (WA8JIM), Results of the 2020 CQ WPX RTTY Contest, Muns
Aug, p. 81 (WØYK), Jul, p. 20
Awards: Wallpaper, De Young (KS4AA), Mar, p. 85 Results of the 2020 CQ WPX SSB Contest, Trench (AA3B),
Contesting Your Way to DX Success, Kennamer (K5FUV), Sep, p. 12
Jul, p. 28 Results of the 2020 CQ WW 160-Meter Contest, Blank
Contesting: A New Contest QSL Strategy for the Fall (N2NT), Aug, p. 16
Season, Siddall (K3ZJ), Aug, p. 91
Contesting: ARRL DX Phone Contest Leads Off a Busy DIGITAL/PACKET
Contesting Month, Siddall (K3ZJ), Mar, p. 92 Digital Connection: Alphabet Soup - ULS, FEC, IL2P,
Contesting: Contest Activity is Still Up as Contesters Stay Rotolo (N2IRZ), Jul, p. 60
Safe, Shoppa (N3QE), Dec, p. 52 Digital Connection: Data Eye Patterns and a Test Trans-
Contesting: Contesting Comes Alive in the Winter Cold, mitter to Build, Rotolo (N2IRZ), May, p. 70
Siddall (K3ZJ), Jan, p. 102 Digital Connection: Deviation and the Dongle, Rotolo
Contesting: COVID-19 Contesting Spike Continues, (N2IRZ), Sep, p. 62
Shoppa (N3QE), Oct, p. 100 Digital Connection: High-Speed Packet Making a Come-
Contesting: CW Spectrum Usage and Speed in CQWW back, Rotolo (N2IRZ), Jan, p. 83
CW, Shoppa (N3QE), Nov, p. 85 Digital Connection: Packet News, Data Radios, and Some
Contesting: July Contests Keep the Bands Active, Siddall Practical Details, Rotolo (N2IRZ), Mar, p. 58
(K3ZJ), Jul, p. 88 Digital Connection: The Propagation Whisperer (WSPR),
Contesting: On Public Logs and Mid-Winter Contests, Rotolo (N2IRZ), Nov, p. 75
Siddall (K3ZJ), Feb, p. 101 Kit-Building: Don’t Be Late for FT8, Eisenberg (KØNEB),
Contesting: Spring Contest Activities and a New Contesting Mar, p. 54
Book for Beginners, Siddall (K3ZJ), Apr, p. 82 MF/LF Operating: What is This WSPR-15 That You Speak
Contesting: The COVID-19 Spike On the Air, Shoppa Of? Langridge (KB5NJD), Jul, p. 56
(N3QE), Sep, p. 85 VHF Plus: How to Work Meteor Scatter with MSK 144,
Contesting: The Impact of Coronavirus on Contesting, Emanuele (K8ZR), Oct, p. 91
Siddall (K3ZJ), May, p. 86 Winlink: Keeping You Connected “When All Else Fails,”
Contesting: Whisper (WSPR) to Compare Your Contest Kocsis (WB9PYH), Oct, p. 32
Antennas, Siddall (K3ZJ), Jun, p. 98
CQ Classic: Announcing CQ’s World-Wide DX Contest, DX & OPERATING
8/1948 issue reprint, May, p. 27 60 Meters – The “Channel Band,” Part 2, Pater (W8GEX),
CQ Classic: Results … CQ’s First World-Wide DX Contest, Jan, p. 97
6/1949 issue reprint, May, p. 30 Announcing: 2021 Nominations Open for the CQ Amateur
CQ Classic: Transmitter Hunts on VHF, Signorelli, H., Radio, DX, and Contest Halls of Fame, Dec, p. 81
5/1961 issue reprint, Mar, p. 31 Contesting Your Way to DX Success, Kennamer (K5FUV),
CQ World-Wide DX Contest All-Time Records (2020), Jul, p. 28
Capossela (K6SSS), Oct, p. 40, 42 CQ Classic: Aboard Yasme … St. Thomas to Panama, Weil
EF8R: The World’s Best Contesting QTH? Radchenko (VP2VB), 10/1955 issue reprint, Jun, p. 25
(RA5A), Oct, p. 10 CQ Classic: VP2VB the First Time Around, CQ Staff, Jun,
Homing In: Arizona Youth Hunt for X-Beacons While Others p. 24
Hunt for Medals, Moell (KØOV), May, p. 54 DX: A5ØBOC: Thunder Dragon DX on the Low Bands,
Homing In: Put a Foxhunting Beam on Your Vehicle, Moell Schenck (N2OO) and Ciuperca (KO8SCA), Apr, p. 10
(KØOV), Nov, p. 62 DX: AC3PT Sikkim 1974 — Amateur Radio’s Role in a
Homing In: Socially-Distanced Radio Foxhunting, Moell World Event, Schenck (N2OO), Dec, p. 92
(KØOV), Aug, p. 66 DX: Chasing Old QSLs, Schenck (N2OO), Jan, p. 95
Homing In: Tales of the 2019 CQ World Wide Foxhunting DX: Chasing! Schenck (N2OO), Oct, p. 94
Weekend, Moell (KØOV), Feb, p. 70 DX: DXing and Coronavirus, Schenck (N2OO), May, p. 80
Hybrid Multi-Op Contesting at W7RN, Taormina (K5RC), DX: DXing and How I Got Started, Schenck (N2OO), Nov,
Nov, p. 10 p. 78
Kit-Building: The SO2R Mini – Are Two Better Than One? DX: DXpeditions vs. COVID-19, Schenck (N2OO), Jun,
Eisenberg (KØNEB), Jul, p. 45 p. 93

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 107

 DX: How Do YOU Work DX? Schenck (N2OO), Mar, p. 86 MF/LF Operating: Using Scopematch to Resonate and
DX: KP2A/D Desecheo 1981 … A Look Back, Schenck Match Your Low-Band Vertical Antenna System, Langridge
(N2OO), Aug, p. 84 (KB5NJD), Jan, p. 86
DX: Public Logs: Pros and Cons, Schenck (N2OO), Feb, MF/LF Operating: What is This WSPR-15 That You Speak
p. 93 Of? Langridge (KB5NJD), Jul, p. 56
DX: The History of “The Daily DX,” Schenck (N2OO) and
McClenney (W3UR), Sep, p. 80 MISCELLANEOUS
DX: Unwinding Bouvet 2018, Schenck (N2OO) and Allphin Adventures With Pico Balloons Using Amateur Radio,
(K4UEE), Jul, p. 81 Medlin (W5KUB), Oct, p. 46
Florida: A Paradise for Activating U.S. Islands, Joyner Announcing: 2020 CQ Hall of Fame Inductees, Jul, p. 34
(W4YBV), Jun, p. 30 CQ Amateur Radio: 75 Years and Counting, Moseson
Learning Curve: DX Techniques and DX Videos, Ochu (W2VU), Jan, p. 22
(KOØZ), Feb, p. 85 CQ Classic: Quiet Family Circle, Margolis, S., 9/1966 issue
Public Logs – Continuing the Discussion, Siddall (K3ZJ) reprint, Mar, p. 23
and Anonymous, Feb, p. 98 CQ Classic: Memories of JY1, Margolis, L. (G3UML),
Signals From Down Under, Charteris (VK4QS), Sep, p. 10 4/1999 issue reprint, Mar, p. 34
VHF Plus: PJ2T EME DXpedition to Curacao and HamSCI CQ Classic: Past – Present – Future, Bouck (W8QMR-
Online, Emanuele (K8ZR), May, p. 74 WLNG), 1/1945 reprint, Dec, p. 50
VP2VB Sails (the Airwaves) Again – Part II, Ciuperca Gordo’s Short Circuits: Nothing Cancelled Here! West
(KO8SCA), Jun, p. 18 (WB6NOA), Oct, p. 76
VP2VB Sails Again – Part 1, Ciuperca (KO8SCA), May, Ham Notebook: A “Swap Meet Go Bag” and Other Things
p. 11 Related, Yoshida (KH6WZ), Mar, p. 65
W7L: Exploring Colorado’s 7 Lakes Wilderness Area, Ham Notebook: Ham Radio: Thankful for the Valuable
Signorelli (WØRW), Jun, p. 16 Career Steppingstone, Yoshida (KH6WZ), Nov, p. 72
How CW Can Protect You From Dementia, Lazar
HUMOR (W4DNN), Mar, p. 24
Amateur Operators Worldwide Await First Republic of Ideas and Resources for Growing Youth Involvement in
Uzupis Operation, Heisseluft, Apr, p. 28 Amateur Radio, Luscre (K8ZT), Mar, p. 37
CQ Classic: Applications of Stealth Technology to the Learning Morse Code the Old-Fashioned Way, Averill
Design of Invisible Antennas, Heisseluft, 4/1981 issue reprint, (K4EOR), Mar, p. 26
Apr, p. 35 Magic in the Sky: The Bands Are Buzzing, Reinhardt
CQ Classic: Ionospheric Amplification, Ostermond-Tor (Ex- (AA6JR), Jul, p. 54
YM4XR), 4/1964 issue reprint, Apr, p. 31 Magic in the Sky: The Monday Morning Breakfast Club,
CQ Classic: Quiet Family Circle, Margolis, S., 9/1966 issue Reinhardt (AA6JR), Apr, p. 65
reprint, Mar, p. 23 Surviving COVID-19 or the Next Pandemic, Millner
CQ Classic: “So Who’s Looking After the Store?” Margolis, (WB2REM) and Hinkle (K5PA), Jun, p. 10
S., 1/1971 issue reprint, Sep, p. 24 WPX 2020 Crossword, Luscre (K8ZT), Feb, p. 30
Math’s Notes: Post Millimeter Wavelength Experimenta- Youth on the Air Camp Comes to the Americas, Rapp
tion, Math (WA2NDM), Apr, p. 42 (WB9VPG), Jan, p. 10

KEYS & KEYERS, CW MOBILE

Kit-Building: A “Key” Development, Eisenberg (KØNEB), Communications Horizons: Are You Going Hybrid?, De
Apr, p. 50 Santos (K8RKD), Dec, p. 68
Kit-Building: May the Morse Be With You, Eisenberg Mobiling: Deep Thoughts on Mobiling in 2020 and Beyond,
(KØNEB), Oct, p. 64 Reinhardt (AA6JR), Feb, p. 82
Mobiling: Non-Mobiling Mobiling, Reinhardt (AA6JR), May,
LEGAL & REGULATORY p. 52
Back in the Day: The FCC and Portable Operating, Mobiling: Mobile vs. Base, Reinhardt (AA6JR), Nov, p. 60
Signorelli (WØRW), Jun, p. 29 Mobiling: Something New, Reinhardt (AA6JR), Aug, p. 64
CQ Classic: Dateline Washington, DC: Volunteer Exam
Program Off to a Successful Start, Cohen (N4XX), 8/1984 OPINION/COMMENTARY
issue reprint, Jul, p. 19 Zero Bias: A Ham Radio Success Story, Moseson (W2VU),
CQ Classic: The Dawn of Volunteer Examining: Ticket Talk, Jul, p. 8
Bash (KL7IHP), 6/1984 issue reprint, Jul, p. 16 Zero Bias: HF Band Plans and the ARRL’s “Big IF,”
Drive-In FCC Exams Attract a Crowd (Sort of), Williams Moseson (W2VU), Mar, p. 8
(N4UF), Jul, p. 12 Zero Bias: Let’s Go Exploring, Moseson (W2VU), Aug,
News Bytes: The “Sunset” of the 3.3-3.5-GHz Ham Band, p. 8
Nov, p. 9 Zero Bias: Looking Back at a Year of Looking Back,
Moseson (W2VU), Dec, p. 8
LOW/MEDIUM FREQUENCY Zero Bias: Numbers (Starting with 75), Moseson (W2VU),
MF/LF Operating: Successful Low Power MF and LF From Jan, p. 8
South Florida, Langridge (KB5NJD), Apr, p. 58 Zero Bias: “See Spot Run” … Across the Sun! Moseson
MF/LF Operating: To the Mailbag – A Few Considerations (W2VU), Sep, p. 8
for Using a 160-Meter Inverted-L on 630 and 2200 Meters, Zero Bias: Social DXing in the Age of Coronavirus,
Langridge (KB5NJD), Oct, p. 84 Moseson (W2VU), May, p. 8

108 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 Zero Bias: Thanksgiving Turkey Ham – and Fee, Fi, Fo … PROPAGATION
Fee, Moseson (W2VU), Nov, p. 8 Digital Connection: The Propagation Whisperer (WSPR),
Zero Bias: The Gigahertz Imperative, Moseson (W2VU), Rotolo (N2IRZ), Nov, p. 75
Apr, p. 8 Propagation: Cycle 25 Solar X-Ray Flare, Hood (NW7US),
Zero Bias: The Power of Less Power, Moseson (W2VU), Jul, p. 92
Feb, p. 8 Propagation: December Propagation: Best DX Will Be on
Zero Bias: The “Young Hams Crisis” is Getting Old, the Lower Bands, Hood (NW7US), Dec, p. 102
Moseson (W2VU), Oct, p. 8 Propagation: Fair Conditions Predicted for 2020 CQWW
Zero Bias: Unexpected Heroes, Moseson (W2VU), Jun, DX CW Contest, Hood (NW7US), Nov, p. 94
p. 8 Propagation: Field Day, Hood (NW7US), Jun, p. 105
Propagation: Good Conditions Predicted for 2020 CQWW
POWER SUPPLIES & BATTERIES DX SSB Contest, Hood (NW7US), Oct, p. 105
Build an Adjustable Voltage Add-On for Your Power Supply, Propagation: Higher-Frequency Hope in May, Hood
Karras (KE3FL), Aug, p. 42 (NW7US), May, p. 91
CQ Reviews: Impulse Electronics Max Go Box, West Propagation: Ionospheric Radio Signal Propagation, Hood
(WB6NOA), Dec, p. 25 (NW7US), Mar, p. 98
Gordo’s Short Circuits: Backyard Lockdown (LiFePO4 Propagation: Reflecting on the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer,
Batteries), West (WB6NOA), Jul, p.71 Hood (NW7US), Apr, p. 86
Learning Curve: Boost Me Up! Ochu (KOØZ), Apr, p. 70 Propagation: Renewed Solar Activity Promises Improved
Autumn DX, Hood (NW7US), Sep, p. 90
PRODUCT REVIEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS Propagation: Solar Wind and Coronal Holes, Hood
CQ Reviews: Yaesu FTdx101MP HF Transceiver, (NW7US), Aug, p. 97
Kennamer (K5FUV), Apr, p. 24 Propagation: The HF (+/-) Bands in 2020, Hood (NW7US),
CQ Reviews: Midnight Design Solutions Phaser Jan, p. 105
Transceiver Kit, Cady (N1IXF), Aug, p. 26 Propagation: The Solar Wind, Hood (NW7US), Feb, p. 105
CQ Reviews: Impulse Electronics Max Go Box, West Winter Sporadic-E-Like Propagation on 6 Meters,
(WB6NOA), Dec, p. 25 Dzekevich (K1YOW), Nov, p. 28
First Look: Midnight Design Solutions Phaser Transceiver,
Benson (K1SWL) and Heron (N2APB), Feb, p. 32 PUBLIC SERVICE & EMERGENCY
What’s New: A Bunch of Books from ARRL, Moseson Analog Adventures: Breaking a Promise and Going Afield,
(W2VU), Dec, p. 101 Nichols (KL7AJ), Jun, p. 60
What’s New: AOR AR5700D Wideband Receiver, Feldman Backup Power When the Grid Goes Down, Bruninga
(KD2IWM) CQ 2020, May, p. 51 (WB4APR), Oct, p. 28
What’s New: ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications CQ Reviews: Impulse Electronics Max Go Box, West
2020, Feldman (KD2IWM) CQ 2020, Feb, p. 48 (WB6NOA), Dec, p. 25
What’s New: bhi Amplified DSP Noise-Canceling Speaker, Emergency Communications: ARRL’s Renewed EmComm
Feldman (KD2IWM), Dec, p. 101 Focus and 60-Meter Interoperability, CQ Staff, Nov, p. 50
What’s New: Bird SignalHawk Handheld Spectrum Emergency Communications: COVID-19 and EmComm,
Analyzers, ARRL Antenna Book (24th Edition), ARRL CQ Staff, May, p. 48
Operating Manual (12th Edition), Ampleon Transistors at Emergency Communications: CQ Krakatoa – The Sound
RFMW, Pasternack High Power Amplifiers, Feldman Heard ‘Round the World, Palmer (W4ALT), Mar, p. 51
(KD2IWM) CQ 2020, Mar, p. 22, 75, 88, 110 Emergency Communications: Do You Speak HSEEP? CQ
What’s New: Elecraft AX-1 Whip Antenna, Feldman Staff, Apr, p. 48
(KD2IWM) CQ 2020, Sep, p. 65 Emergency Communications: “Fire, Fire, Ring the Bell,”
What’s New: Eton Elite 750 Receiver, Feldman (KD2IWM) Palmer (W4ALT), Jan, p. 62
CQ 2020, Jul, p. 37 Emergency Communications: Ham Radio Operators
What’s New: Eton Elite 750 Receiver, Feldman (KD2IWM) Support COVID-19 Warriors in India, Mohan (VU2MYH),
CQ 2020, Aug, p. 54 Sep, p. 50
What’s New: Hammond Manufacturing’s New 1557 Series Emergency Communications: It’s Exercise Time!,
of Plastic Enclosures, Feldman (KD2IWM) CQ 2020, Feb, Broadway (N8BHL), Dec, p.70
p. 81 Emergency Communications: Net Basics, CQ Staff, Jul,
What’s New: ICOM ID-52A/E Handheld, Feldman p. 42
(KD2IWM), Nov, p. 74 Emergency Communications: Showcasing Our Capa-
What’s New: LDG Electronics YT-101, Feldman (KD2IWM) bilities … From Home, CQ Staff, Jun, p. 59
CQ 2020, Feb, p. 34 Emergency Communications: The ABCs of EmComm
What’s New: N3FJP Amateur Contact Log 6.6, Feldman Abbreviations, CQ Staff, Aug, p. 59
(KD2IWM) CQ 2020, Feb, p. 34 Emergency Communications: Welcome to CQ’s Annual
What’s New: Par EndFedz EF All-Band KW, RFMW Emergency Communications Special, CQ Staff, Oct, p. 16
Ampleon Transistor/Qorvo Amp, Amateur Contact Log 6.7, Emergency Communications: What the Heck is a Hamfest
Feldman (KD2IWM), Oct, p. 38, 79, 83 (and Why Should You Go to One)? Palmer (W4ALT), Feb,
What’s New: SteppIR’s New OptimizIR Evolution, Feldman p. 64
(KD2IWM) CQ 2020, Feb, p. 42 Ham Radio Activation in Philippines for Taal Volcano
What’s New: Yaesu FTM-300DR transceiver, Spirit Morse Eruption, Pascua (DU1IVT), Mar, p. 52
Key, PreciseRF HG-3 Mag Loop Antenna, Feldman Planning Your First Amateur Radio Exercise or Event,
(KD2IWM) CQ 2020, Jun, p. 51, 67, 78 Ruesch (W9JU), Oct, p. 19

www.cq-amateur-radio.com December 2020 • CQ • 109

 Sherlock Investigates: USB Connector Failure Aborts Analog Adventures: Spicing Things Up, Nichols (KL7AJ),
FT4/VARA Expedition, “Sherlock,” CQ 2020, Oct, p. 43 Feb, p. 78
Winlink: Keeping You Connected “When All Else Fails,” Analog Adventures: Ye Olde Gilbert Cell, Nichols (KL7AJ),
Kocsis (WB9PYH), Oct, p. 32 Aug, p. 72
Ham Notebook: Electrical Things: Back to Basics, Yoshida
QRP (LOW POWER) (KH6WZ), Sep, p. 67
CQ Classic: QRP column - QRPp, Weiss (K8EEG), 11/1973 Ham Notebook: SMT, SMD and μP, Yoshida (KH6WZ),
issue reprint, Feb, p. 38 Jan, p. 76
CQ Classic: The Song of the Flea, Waters (W2NZ), 3/1973 How’s My Audio? Wagner (K5KG) and Romero (W4LT),
issue reprint, Feb, p. 40 Oct, p. 53
Intense DXing from Cannon Mountain, Carter (W3ATB), Learning Curve: Hollow-State, Solid-State Primer, Ochu
Feb, p.14 (KOØZ), Aug, p. 69
QRP: A Conversation About the True Meaning of QRP, Math’s Notes: A Simple and Versatile Audio Test Amplifier,
Rought (KA8SMA), Jun, p. 76 Math (WA2NDM), Sep, p. 44
QRP: A Conversation About the True Meaning of QRP, Math’s Notes: Another Chance for THz Experimentation,
Revisited, Rought (KA8SMA), Dec, p. 75 Math (WA2NDM), Oct, p. 58
QRP: Are the Bands Dead? Not for QRP! Rought Math’s Notes: Antique Wireless Communications
(KA8SMA), Apr, p. 53 Revisited, Math (WA2NDM), Feb, p. 52
QRP: Have Radio, Will Travel, Rought (KA8SMA), Aug, Math’s Notes: Balanced Video, Math (WA2NDM), Aug, p. 48
p. 61 Math’s Notes: If It’s Not Broken, Don’t Try to Fix It, Math
QRP: “I’ll Either Get it Done With QRP or it Won’t Happen!” (WA2NDM), Jan, p. 55
Rought (KA8SMA), Feb, p.10 Math’s Notes: Post Millimeter Wavelength Experi-
QRP: QRP and POTA … A Perfect Match for Fun on the mentation, Math (WA2NDM), Apr, p. 42
Air, Rought (KA8SMA), Oct, p. 68 Math’s Notes: Some Notes on Upgrading Older “Boat
QRP From There to Here, Jurrens (N2GJ), Feb, p. 26 Anchors” From Vacuum Tubes to Transistors, Math
QRP Quickies – The Warm Glow of Accomplishment, (WA2NDM), Mar, p. 43
Wilcox (K8WPE), Feb, p.19 Math’s Notes: Some Optical Laser Communication
QRP Quickies – Combining Business Travel, QRP, SOTA Transmitter Evaluation, Math (WA2NDM), Jul, p. 36
and DX Contacts, Leonardelli (VE3IPS), Feb, p.20 Math’s Notes: Some Thoughts on Energy Harvesting, Math
QRP Quickies – Operating QRP Portable and an Invisible (WA2NDM), Jun, p. 52
(to the HOA) Antenna, Peters (K9JP), Feb, p. 22 Math’s Notes: The Future Will Not Necessarily Be What We
Think It Will Be, Math (WA2NDM), Dec, p. 48
Math’s Notes: The “Lowly” Diode, Math (WA2NDM), May,
SHORTWAVE LISTENING p. 40
Listening Post: All India Radio Silenced by COVID-19, Math’s Notes: Ultrasonic Experimentation, Math (WA2NDM),
Dexter, Jun, p. 54 Nov, p. 48
Listening Post: Australia’s Shepperton Transmitter Site Sherlock Investigates: $25,000 Radio Fails Because of 2-
Torn Down, Dexter, Jul, p. 38 Cent Plastic Part, “Sherlock,” CQ 2020, May, p. 24
Listening Post: COVID-19 and Other Causes Keep Some
Stations Off the Air, Dexter, Aug, p. 50 VHF
Listening Post: COVID-19 Continues Taking Its Toll on Build a Repeater Link Diplexer, Kincaid (WD8OYG) CQ
Shortwave Broadcasters, Dexter, Oct, p. 60 2020, Feb, p. 44
Listening Post: New Station in Chile Relays News of Unrest, Gordo’s Short Circuits: Backyard Lockdown (Plus
Dexter, Jan, p. 58 Summertime Tropo for VHF DX), West (WB6NOA), Jul, p.71
Listening Post: Palau Back on the Air as Hope Radio, Making Peace (and Sharing an Antenna) With Your Co-
Dexter, Dec, p. 60 Located Pager Transmitter, Kincaid (WD8OYG) CQ 2020,
Listening Post: Possible Reactivation in Luxembourg, Apr, p. 38
Dexter, Feb, p. 59 VHF Plus: 2020: The Year Ahead from a VHFer’s Per-
Listening Post: Radio Afghanistan Continues to Struggle spective, Emanuele (K8ZR), Jan, p. 92
With Frequency Scheduling, Dexter, May, p. 43 VHF Plus: 3.3-GHz Threat Update and HamSCI Workshop
Listening Post: South American Broadcasters Return to the to Focus on Auroras, Emanuele (K8ZR), Mar, p. 81
Air, Dexter, Apr, p. 44 VHF Plus: Changes and Possible Changes to VHF+
Listening Post: Stations Reactivated Across the Globe, Amateur Allocations, Emanuele (K8ZR), Feb, p. 90
Dexter, Mar, p. 46 VHF Plus: How to Work Meteor Scatter with MSK 144,
Listening Post: The Sad Decline of Russia’s Shortwave Emanuele (K8ZR), Oct, p. 91
Broadcasters, Dexter, Sep, p. 46 VHF Plus: K3ZR Says Tnx and 73, Emanuele (K3ZR), Dec,
Listening Post: WBCQ Buys WHRI, Dexter, Nov, p. 52 p. 99
VHF Plus: NDØB Earns Fred Fish Memorial Award (FFMA)
TECHNICAL DATA #10, Emanuele (K8ZR), Aug, p. 77
Analog Adventures: Getting More FUN From Your VHF Plus: PJ2T EME DXpedition to Curacao and HamSCI
FUNction Generator, Nichols (KL7AJ), Dec, p. 82 Online, Emanuele (K8ZR), May, p. 74
Analog Adventures: Lock Me In, Scotty! Nichols (KL7AJ), VHF Plus: Springtime Surprise, Emanuele (K8ZR), Jun,
Apr, p. 56 p. 84
Analog Adventures: Non-Linear, Nichols (KL7AJ), Oct, p. VHF Plus: U.S. Amateurs Establish New World Distance
72 Record on 122 GHz, Emanuele (K8ZR), Apr, p. 74
Analog Adventures: Small Advances, Nichols (KL7AJ), Winter Sporadic-E-Like Propagation on 6 Meters,
Jan, p. 70 Dzekevich (K1YOW), Nov, p. 28

110 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site

 ADVERTISERS’ INDEX
DECEMBER 2020

Advertiser Page Phone Website

100 Watts & A Wire .............................69................................................www.100WATTSANDAWIRE.COM
Advanced Specialties Inc.................81 ...........201-VHF-2067.............www.advancedspecialties.net
Air Boss — Innovative Tech................83 ...........252-249-0287..............www.kr4loairboss.com
Alaskit...................................................69 ...........907-488-0483...........http://alaskit.co
Alinco...................................................63 ...........209-900-1296..............www.alinco.com
Amateur Radio Roundtable .............65 ...........901-570-2188..............www.W5KUB.com
AOR U.S.A., Inc......................................5 ...........310-787-8615..............www.aorusa.com
bhi ........................................................49................................................www.bhi-ltd.com
Buddipole Antennas ..........................61 ...........503-591-8001..............www.buddipole.com
CQ Calendar ......................................39 ...........516-681-2922..............http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com
CQ Holiday Gift Ideas.......96-98,Cov III ...........516-681-2922..............http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com
CW Easy/Success Easy ......................27 ...........561-302-7731..............www.success-is-easy.com
Communications Concepts, Inc. .....65 ...........937-426-8600..............www.communication-concepts.com
EZ Hang................................................81 ...........304-856-1026..............www.ezhang.com
Electric Radio Magazine ...................83 ...........720-924-0171..............www.ermag.com
ETON...............................................Cov II................................................www.etoncorp.com
HamTestOnline....................................81 ...........888-857-6164..............www.hamtestonline.com
Icom America Inc. ...................31,56,57................................................www.icomamerica.com
Impulse Electronics.............................27 ...........866-747-5277..............www.impulseelectronics.com
International DX Association .............77................................................www.indexa.org
LDG Electronics................................1,45 ...........410-586-2177..............www.ldgelectronics.com
Pacific Antenna..................................83................................................www.qrpkits.com
preciseRF .............................................15 ...........503-915-2490..............www.preciserf.com
QCWA..................................................69 ...........352-425-1097..............www.qcwa.org
RF Parts ................................................37 ...........800-921-4834..............www.rfparts.com
RT Systems.........................................9,59 ...........800-921-4834..............www.rtsystems.com
REACT Int’l ...........................................77 ...........301-316-2900..............www.REACTintl.org
SteppIR ................................................23 ...........425-453-1910..............www.steppir.com
W2IHY Technologies...........................43 ...........845-889-4253..............www.w2ihy.com
W5SWL...................................................81.................................................www.W5SWL.com
W7DXX Remote....................................59.................................................www.w7dxx.com
YLRL ......................................................91................................................www.ylrl.org
Yaesu.................................6,7,19,Cov IV ...........714-827-7600..............www.yaesu.com

Let CQ help you get the most for your advertising dollar!
Contact Dottie K, CQ’s Advertising Director
at 516-681-2922 x 106 or via email at [email protected]
 HAMSHOP
Advertising Rates: Non-commercial ads are 20 cents per word including abbreviations and addresses. Commercial and organization ads are
$1.00 per word. Boldface words are $1.50 each (specify which words). Minimum charge $2.00. No ad will be printed unless accompanied by full
remittance. All ads must be typewritten double-spaced.
Closing Date: The 10th day in the third month preceding date of publication (example: Jan. 10th for the March issue). Because the advertisers
and equipment contained in Ham Shop have not been investigated, the Publisher of CQ cannot vouch for the merchandise listed therein. The
publisher reserves the right to reject any advertisement. Direct all correspondence and ad copy to: CQ Ham Shop, 17 West John Street, Hicksville,
NY 11801 (fax: 516-681-2926; e-mail: <[email protected]>.

FOR SALE Rare Collins KW-1, serial number 96. Only www.oldqslcards.com HAM TRAVELERS Discount travel, tours, cruises, more.
150 made and it still works! $16,000 firm. Pictures upon www.GreatExpectationTravel.com
request. Contact Teressa: <[email protected]> or via OVERSEAS AIRMAIL POSTAGE plus complete line of airmail
telephone 805-878-1691. envelopes. Order directly from our website. James E. Mackey, www.peidxlodge.com
proprietor. website: <www.airmailpostage. com>
Wanted: Original set of knobs for my Heathkit HW-8. NEAT STUFF! DWM Communications: <http://qth.com/dwm>
Paul, WBØMPG, 538 North Walnut, Wichita, KS 67203. TOWER ACCESSORIES Gin Pole Kits – stand off brackets –
(316) 351-7717. antenna mounts – vehicle radio mounts – for 30 years. IIX PROMOTIONAL VIDEO: 15-minute DVD describes amateur
Equipment Ltd., 708-337-8172, <http://www.w9iix.com/>. radio’s fun and public service. Details: <www.neoham.org>.
W anted: Old slide rules for personal collection. Send
info to [email protected] HOMEBREW ! “Recollections of a Radio Receiver” a 565 page HAM RADIO GIFTS: < www.mainestore.com>
book on HBR homebrew receivers. $10 delivered (eBook on
Morse Code on a CD. Just want A to Z and Zero to 9 in CD-ROM). Details <www.w6hht.com> WANTED: OLD QSL CARD COLLECTIONS. Collector seeks
code only. Contact Ronald (KD7FWC) (775) 962-5437.
US & DX cards. W2VRK, 9 Laird Terrace, Somerset, NJ 08873;
DXPEDITION DVD VIDEOS: For full description and how to e-mail: <[email protected]>.
AMECO A C-1 DIY K its: w ww.thenewameco.com order . . . <www.k4uee.com/dvd/>.

Affordable Custom Antenna Design www.ant-build.com TELEGRAPH KEY INFORMATION AND HISTORY MUSE-
ARMS – Amateur Radio Missionary Net. Christian Fellowship
Net, Everyone Welcome. 14.3075 Daily except Sunday UM: <http://w1tp.com>
Recognize the signature CW sounds of over 4000 words! 1500–1700Z, –1 Hr DST. Website: www.qsl.net/arms
Start to read whole words sent in fast Morse code! FT243 AND HC6U CRYSTALS: www.af4k.com
https://www.hearcwwords.com VORTEX ANTENNA SYSTEMS specialist in HF and VHF high
performance antennas. Yagis and Delta Loops. Linear Loaded OLD QSLs Available. 50’s and 60’s, DX and USA. Specify call,
Yaesu FT-100D (HF-VHF-UHF). Great mobile rig with 30 and 40m Arrays. OWA Arrays, bespoke individual design send SASE. [email protected]
manual, internal keyer and mike. $300. (281) 934-8783. solutions. Antenna related hardware. We ship worldwide
including North America. <www.vortexantennas.co.uk/>. or by RFI Filters <www.RFchoke.com>
RF CONNECTORS & G ADGETS - P arts - P roducts e-mail to <[email protected]>.
and M ore! w ww.W5SWL.com CRANK-A-WATT Power & More via KE5NYS. Visit <www.
“World of Keys – Keys III” book features highly detailed views FactorReady.com>
Keychain QRP: Worlds Smallest HF Transmitter. Handmade and photos of keys, bugs, and paddles like few people have
in the USA. <www.bit.ly/KeychainQRP> ever seen ($18)!. Also still available, “Keys II” ($16) and “QRP FMTV ARTICLES: Comprehensive transmitter and receiver
Romps!” ($18), plus “Your Guide to HF Fun” ($16). Available deviation calibration, standards, intermodulation, power ampli-
GET THE F.C.C. “COMMERCIAL” RADIOTELEPHONE from dealers nationwide.
LICENSE! Fast, inexpensive home study course. Command fier calculations. WB9OQM, http://mathison.freeshell.org
Productions. www.LicenseTraining.com. Free info: (800) 932- PACKET RADIO AND MORE! Join TAPR, connect with the
4268. Wanna ham in the CAYMAN ISLANDS?” Go to <www.
largest amateur radio digital group in the U.S. Creators of the
martykaiser.com/24a.htm>.
TNC-2 standard, working on Software Defined Radio technol-
NEVER have another fauly patch cable! 15-page, photo-illus- ogy. Benefits: newsletter, software, discounts on kits and pub-
trated manual details a revolutionary procedure for assembling lications. For membership prices see the TAPR website: www.SecondHandRadio.com
failure-proof coaxial cable patches. $10 postpaid U.S., <http://www.tapr.org>).
$15 forgeign. R.W. Parker, 1205 Sleepy Hollow Road, HF Mobile or Fixed V irtual X Antenna Patent: For Sale or
Pennsuburg, PA 18073. HONDURAS DX VACATION: K3, Alpha 86, SteppIR, Meals, License. Request Free Power Point Presentation file. Shows
Private Facilities. HR2J, (206) 259-9688. design details, pictures, prototype tests. Design applies to a
CallSign Stuff www.hamQRU.com KTØMMY broad frequency range for mant antenna arrays/beams/verti-
HY POWER ANTENNA COMPANY <http://www. freewebs. cals. <[email protected]>. Larry Slay, K5WUL
WANTED: 500-Kc Ships Transmitter. IE: MACKAY MARINE com/hypower> Multiband dipoles, delta loops, half squares
2017A. [email protected] and QRP antennas. FOR SALE: Samlex Power Supply Model SEC 1223, 13.8V @
25 amps. Not working. Includes operating manual and
NO NONSENSE LICENSE STUDY GUIDES: kb6nu.com/cq NEW AMATEUR RADIO MAP with DXCC list updates. Full schematic. Price $50 or best offer. Contact Harry, W9HRQ, at
color 22 x 34" – $10. Free shipping on club orders. <[email protected]> or phone 1-773-334-4492.
Wanted: Channel Master model 110 Quantum Antennas 1 or http://www.hamradiomap.qth.com/
more in box good condition! W.J. Gibbs, Jr. 601 Howard Street. ANTENNA & TOWER HARDWARE: Aluminum plates: Boom
Columbia, NC 27925 QRP KITS: <www.breadboardradio.com> to elements, boom to mast, GP/ Vertical antennaground plates,
Rohn 25/45 to cross arms plates, Hexabeam / spiderbeam
QRP J-36: 1/2-Scale Microkey. Full-Functional “B
BUG” Made NEED ROPE? All kinds, types, including: antenna rope,
Hubs, Moxon hubs, U bolts with sadles. All info at: e78WW@
in the USA by KA6IRL. <QRPJ36.com> hauling, gin. FREE, free consultation, Go to <http://www.
yahoo.com or at e-bay store: stores.ebay.com/yz4izØ Ø
davisropeandcable.com/>. Veteran owned, K1PEK, 978-
Premium RF Connectors, A ntennas, Coax, Parts, and 369-1738.
Accessories. W5SWL’s Ham S tore — www.DavesHobby WWW.IISO OTRONANTENN AS.COM FOR HF. CHECK IT OUT!
Shop.com FUTURE TIMES: Dreams and visions of Disasters. Great Call: 719-687-0650; <wd0e ja@i so tron antennas. co m>
guide book for Hams. www.xlibris.com/futuretimes.html
WANTED: IBM Model M, Space Saving Keyboard, Call KØKG, FLASH CARDS for ALL FCC exams, Amateur and Com-
(218) 850-1500 or email: <[email protected]>. HAWAII DX VACATION: SteppIR antennas, amplifiers, private. mercial. VIS Study Guides <www.visradio.com> 800-655-
KH6RC, <www.leilanibedandbreakfast.com>. 4267. Available from Amazon, MFJ and GigaParts.
AMATEUR RADIO ELECTRONICS: Home Study Software,
Apps, and eBooks $2.99. <www.eptsoft.com/HomeStudy

POLYESTER ROPE: excellent for antenna support and

guying. Go to <www.audiotronics.us>.

REAL HAMS DO CODE: Move up to CW with CW Mental Block

Buster III. Succeed with hypnosis and NLP. Includes two (2)
CDs and Manual. Only $29.95 plus $7.00 s/h US. FL add $2.14
tax. Success Easy, 568 SE Maple Terrace, Port St. Lucie, FL
34983, phone 561-302-7731, <www.success-is-easy.com>.

TWO NEW NOVELS involving ham radio: Full Circle, and

Frozen in Time, by N4XX. Visit <http://www.theodore-cohen-
novels.com/>.

QSLing SUPPLIES. e-mail: <[email protected]>.

CASH FOR COLLINS, HALLICRAFTERS SX-88, & DRAKE

TR-6. Buy any Collins equipment. Leo, KJ6HI, phone/fax 310-
418-9269, e-mail: <[email protected]>.

MicroLog by WAØH
Easy to use logging program.
Free download . . . www.wa0h.com

112 • CQ • December 2020 Visit Our Web Site