DIRTY DISHES and clean signals the publication of The 50 MHz and UP Group of Northern California.

Volume 3 Number 3                  March 1998

(Edited by Rex Allers, KK6MK)

Visit our web site at: http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/50UP.html

Next Meeting: SUNDAY, March 1, 1PM sharp - at Lockheed Bldg. 202.

PROGRAM:  Discuss and vote on optional place/time for group meetings.

I (Rex KK6MK) will describe a program I wrote for microwave contesting. It does distance/bearing calculations and is a CW keyer. General discussion on distance/bearing principles and calculations. The DOS-based program is free to anyone who wants it.

• SWAP: Bring any goodies you might have for a small buy/sell/swap session.

DIRECTIONS: The meeting place will be the Lockheed Auditorium in bldg. 202 on Hanover St. in Palo Alto, California. Access Hanover from Page Mill Road (between 280 and El Camino). Follow Hanover as it curves right and up the hill. Watch for the Lockheed sign indicating Bldg. 202 on the left side, about 2/3 of the way up the hill.

Officers for 1998

Contests and Events

Foothill Swap Meet - The first meet of the year will return on Sat. Mar. 14

3-4 Apr 98   Southeastern VHF Conference, Atlanta, GA http://www.akorn.net/~ae6e/svhfs

Livermore Swap Meet - 1st Sunday of each month at Las Positas College in Livermore, CA, 7:00 AM to noon, all year. Talk in 147.045 from west, 145.35 from the east. Contact Noel Anklam, KC6QZK, (510) 447- 3857 eves.

ARRL 50 MHz-Up Contests

VHF+ WeakSignal NETS
 

Dues reduced to $15/yr - new members welcomed
The vote was unanimous to reduce the dues back to $15.00 per year. It was also decided that a special rate of $25 for two years be implemented. So far, 34 people have sent or given the Treasurer their dues. Most of these were for two years at the special rate.

50 MHz & Up Group Minutes

Feb. 1, 1998 Minutes

The 50 MHz & Up Group held their February meeting at the Lockheed-Martin auditorium on Feb. 1, 1998. Group executives and directors present were: Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL, President; Bill Ogilvie, KQ6FY, Secretary; Will Jensby, W0EOM, Treasurer; and Jim Moss, N9JIM, director. There were 18 members and visitors in attendance. During this meeting the 50 MHz & Up Group held their annual elections.

It was announced that the 50 MHz & Up Group has become a registered non-profit entity dedicated to scientific and educational goals, related to Amateur Radio, and that tax exempt status had been filed with the IRS.

Elections: Because of the term limits clause of the constitution, the 50 MHz & Up Group's President and Vice President both have to be replaced this year and can't run for the another executive post for two years. Nominations were opened during the January meeting with Will Jensby, W0EOM, being nominated for Treasurer; Bill Ogilvie, KQ6FY, for Secretary; Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL, and Rex Allers, KK6MK, as directors. Nominations continued during the start of February's meeting with Rex Allers, KK6MK nominated for President and Jim Moss, N9JIM, for Vice President. The 50 MHz & Up Group's constitution states that there must be three elected members of the board of directors and that there can be no overlap with the executive. So nominations were held for board members during February's meeting. Three candidates for the board of directors were nominated, for the two positions that had to be filled. After a secret ballot election, by the members in attendance, the following members were elected:

President: Rex Allers KK6MK

Vice President: Jim Moss N9JIM

Secretary: Bill Ogilvie KQ6FY

Treasurer: Will Jensby W0EOM

Directors: Jeffrey Pawlan WA6KBL

Sam Wood K6MSR

Bob Johnson KF6KVG

With the conclusion of the elections, Will Jensby delivered a report on his agenda for the planned conference of spring 1999. Potential dates for this event are Feb. 5 & 6 or March 5 & 6, both a Friday and Saturday. The activities proposed for this event are:

Friday: Surplus tour, for attendees from out of this area

Saturday: 8:00 - 9:00 Registration

9:00 - 12:00 First presentations, 3-4 talks

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch, possibly a ordered in pizza

1:00 - 3:00 2 or 3 sessions

3:00 - ? Swap session

Sunday: Livermore swap meet

This plan leaves Sunday free for attendees who would normally be unable to attend, or who would not want to miss the swap meet at Los Positas College.

Other items of discussion during the meeting were:

• Possible group projects that could facilitate more activity on amateur microwave bands.

• The possibilities of changing the meeting time; perhaps having a week night restaurant gathering.

• A request by members to monitor the weak signal segment of 2 meters so that more information about inappropriate activities can be forwarded to the ARRL.

• An update on the ARRL's efforts to have the FCC terminate illegal commercial activities on the 23 cm band by a European medical products company. [See section below. Ed.]

de KQ6FY, Bill Ogilvie

1997 ARRL 10 GHz Contest Results

The March 1998 QST has the results of last year's 10 GHz and Up contest. Two of our members Ron, K6GZA and Jim, W6ASL, were listed (as usual) with good scores within the 6 call area. Ron had the second-longest-distance QSO with a distance of 770 km. I didn't see any of our members listed in the above-10 GHz sections. It seems to me, we had members operating at 24 GHz or higher during the contest. Maybe they didn't submit their logs?

Check out the March QST article for all the details.

1998 Group Officers

During the February group meeting, elections were held for the 1998 officers. See the group minutes for a description of the election process. Some of you may not know all the new officers by name. Here is a picture of the new officers taken after the elections.

Back row: (Left to right) Will Jensby, W0EOM - treasurer, Bob Johnson, KF6KVG - board member, Sam Wood, K6MSR - board member.

Front row: Bill Ogilvie, KQ6FQ - secretary, Rex Allers, KK6MK - president, Jim Moss, N9JIM - vice president, Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL - board member.

Microwave Technology on the Web

HP has a selection of their application notes available for access on the Internet. Some of these might be of interest to our ham builders who also have access to the Web.

Two that I have seen and found interesting are:

AN95-1 S-Parameter Techniques for Faster, More Accurate Network design

AN1091 1 and 2 Stage 10.7 to 12.7 GHz Amplifiers using the ATF-36163 PHEMT

There are many more available on similar subjects. Documents are in PDF format. Links for the above are:

HP T&M - Interactive Application Notes http://www.tmo.hp.com/tmo/appnotes/interactive/

HP - Microwave & RF Application Notes http://www.hp.com/HP-COMP/rf/app_index.html

I have no affiliation with Hewlett Packard and this is not intended to be a specific recommendation for their products. It is provided as a reference for hams who might be interested in examples of methods for design and construction in the microwave bands.

1296 MHz alert

At the February meeting, Brad Wyatt, K6WR, ARRL Pacific Division Director and 50 Up Group member, warned us about another challenge to our ham bands around 1296 MHz. Brad also forwarded an alert message to concerned hams in the Pacific Division soliciting comments to the FCC. The comments needed to be submitted in hardcopy, and by the time this newsletter reaches you, the deadlines for submitting comment will have past.

Although it is too late to provide the required written responses, I am including some portions of the message from ARRL that describes the situation, so that we all may be aware.

On May 23, 1996, a company called EDAP Technomed, Inc. (EDAP), a United States subsidiary of a French biotechnology corporation, filed with the FCC, a Petition for Waiver, to allow the marketing and use of a new Part 18 (Industrial, Scientific or Medical) device at significant power levels considerably beyond those permitted for the frequency band on which the device is configured to operate.

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The EDAP Technomed device known as the "Prostraton" has come back again to continue to haunt us. You may remember that in March of 1997 this same device for thermal prostate therapy treatment was being proposed for a waiver by FCC to use 1296 MHz.

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March 25, 1997

Dear Friend of 1296 MHz:

I am writing to ask for your help in opposing the use of 1296 MHz by a medical device that could cause significant interference to Amateur Radio operations.

A company called EDAP Technomed, Inc., has requested a waiver of FCC rules to permit the marketing of a medical diathermy device that operates on 1296 MHz and produces field strengths far in excess of what the rules allow. See the attached Fact Sheet for details. It appears that the company is already actively marketing the device, in violation of FCC rules. It further appears that the only reason for selecting 1296 MHz was the availability of inexpensive Amateur Radio equipment that could be modified to suit their purposes.

The ARRL has filed a series of comments opposing the waiver request, and we had expected that the waiver request by now would have been denied. However, it now appears that the Commission is leaning toward granting the waiver, despite what we believe is clear evidence of a lack of candor on the part of the applicant.

Feel free to share this information with other amateurs who are active on 1296 MHz. However, two cautions should be kept in mind. First, the window of opportunity for influencing the outcome is very narrow, perhaps just a couple of weeks. There is no point in circulating the information via media where it will reach people too late to do any good. Second, the issue is best kept on a technical plane; we need to respond with facts, not emotion.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide. 73,

Sincerely,

David Sumner, K1ZZ

Executive Vice President

More information on this alert situation is available from the ARRL Pacific Division Web page. See the link at the end of this newsletter.

On the Internet…

Do you have a Web Page relevant to our members? Let us know and we will put it here. (You must be a member.)

50 MHz and Up Group page: http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/50UP.html The official group web page. Hosted by Rein Smit, W6/PA0ZN as part of his Weaksignal News Kiosk. The 50Up page includes an archive of newsletters.

ARRL Pacific Division Web page:  http://www.pdarrl.org/
Ham RF Exposure Guidelines Effective Jan. 1, 1998: http://www.arrl.org/news/rfsafety
Vanity Call Sign Gate 4 to Open Dec. 2, 1997

Rex's Place - KK6MK: http://www.dnai.com/~rexa/ Microwave stuff, 50 MHz Up Group pictures and information.

Laser Communications Home Page! http://www.qsl.net/wb9ajz/laser/laser.htm Lots of bright stuff.

Swap/Wanted/For Sale

Members may submit ads to the newsletter editor for inclusion in the next newsletter. Ads are free for members.

For Sale by Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL, (408) 371-0256 8am - 10pm PST:

Marconi Signal Generator 10-470 MHz AM,FM,CW $100

HP 8616A Signal Generator. 1.8 - 4.5 GHz $250

8-ft. Andrews high quality and heavy-duty steel dish.  $100