Bible
Verse
But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 (NKJV)
President's Report
Attention all members,
Make plans to join the Black Warrior group at their very first Hamfest event, this looks like it is shaping up to be really good. I'm planning on going as long as weather and work permit. Mobile's Hamfest is also coming up and it should be good as well. Make plans to attend one or both and catch up with some of those other hams you haven't heard from in a while.
Don’t forget to come join us for our regular monthly meeting on Saturday, April 6th.
Just a note: The meeting in May could be changed to accommodate the upcoming Hamfest.
73's Charles Grisham KB5SZJ
Vice President Report
MARC members Scott & Shelly McCormick are proud to announce they have two new Hams in their house. Aleks – KL4TZ & Richy – KL4UA
A few short months back, our group started sending out cards for Special Needs. We have been called on a couple of more times and mostly for Cancer Patients. Perhaps we need a Card Chairman? The feedback I have gotten so far has been very positive.
I got a quick reply back from Stan Lee regarding the Black Warrior Hamfest May 4th, 2019 in Northport, AL They are glad to know Meridian area will have people attending. He also updated us on the Talk In Frequency. 145.350 & 91.5 tone.
Keep on Praying
Frank, KF5ETN
Next MARC Business Meeting
The next business meeting will be held at the Checker Board Restaurant on Saturday, April 6th beginning at 10 A.M. Come join us for breakfast, coffee and fellowship.
PACKET IS ALIVE AND WELL!
Please look at this post on QRZ. Be sure to go to the additional links mentioned in the initial post.
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/taking-another-look-at-packet-radio.561766/
Fred, WB5BNV
Upcoming Hamfest
Mobile Hamfest
Saturday, April 13, 2019
SETUP FRIDAY 2 - 6pm, SATURDAY 6 - 7:30am
ADMISSION $5.00 per person
Tables $10.00 each, if paid by March 15, 2019
$20.00 each day of the Hamfest
TESTING begins at 8:00 am until Noon or when finished
Door prize drawings hourly, Grand Prize drawing at 1:30pm Sat.
INFO: CALL or TEXT Larry at 251-635-2327
Table info or rental call: LJ at 251-635-2327
Check the web site at: w4iax.net or email: mobilehamfest@outlook.com
Black Warrior Hamfest (W4BWH)
Saturday, May 4, 2019
Echols Middle School
2701 Echols Ave
Northport, AL 35476
8:30AM until
Admission: $8.00, Online: $6.00
Tables: $10.00 Available Online
VE Exams, Card Checking, Live Auction, Silent Auction. Food Trucks Onsite, Tailgating, Forums
Talk-In: Tall Tower 145.350 Neg Offset and PL 91.5
Can Indoor Antennas Work? Yes!
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
Recently, a reader asked:
I am studying your “No Nonsense” book as I prep for the Technician test. I am also learning CW. I am going to buy a Yaesu FT 450D as my first radio, and I want to use an indoor antenna as my first antenna. What do you recommend for CW?
I replied:
To be honest, I’ve never had a lot of luck with indoor antennas. Don’t let that dissuade you, though. I have worked many hams with indoor antennas. Just recently, for example, I worked a guy who was using a Buddipole (http://www.buddipole.com/) inside his apartment.
If you have an attic, you could easily install a dipole up there. The ARRL web page on indoor antennas notes:
“Attics are great locations for indoor antennas. For example, you can install a wire dipole in almost any attic space. Don’t worry if you lack the room to run the dipole in a straight line. Bend the wires as much as necessary to make the dipole fit into the available space.
….
“Ladder-line fed dipoles are ideal for attic use—assuming that you can route the ladder line to your radio without too much metal contact. In the case of the ladder-line dipole, just make it as long as possible and stuff it into your attic any way you can. Let your antenna tuner worry about getting the best SWR out of this system.”
There are plenty of remote tuners now, too. You could install a doublet with elements as long as you can make them, connect them directly to the remote tuner, and then run coax to your shack.
I have also worked guys who have used Slinky antennas inside a house. The advantage of using a Slinky is that it is electrically longer than a wire of the same length.
An attached garage might also make a good location for an indoor antenna. VE3SO, who I’ve worked several times, uses a magnetic loop antenna installed in his garage
(https://www. kb6nu. com/magnetic-loop-antenna-at-ve3so/).
If you do a web search for “indoor amateur radio antennas,” you’ll get many more ideas. Here are a few that looked promising to me:
Another option might be to load up your gutters! I’ve worked a couple of guys who use gutter antennas, including WA8KOQ (https://www.kb6nu.com/operating-notes-gutter-antenna-rac-contest-161-countries-worked/) and K3DY (https://www. kb6nu.com/operating-notes-computer-virus-club-net-gutter-antenna/).
This blog post garnered a couple of interesting comments. K2MUN wrote, “For many years I’ve used an attic mounted off-center fed 40 meter dipole. With an automatic antenna tuner and a
4:1 balun I’ve worked lots of dx with both qrp and, more easily, 100 watts! Certainly, outdoors is much superior but an attic is a nice location in bad weather making playing with your antenna a pleasure :-).
John, KD0JPE, said, 'If you have an attic available, check out the following 6-band coax trap-based antenna: http://degood.org/coaxtrap/. I constructed one of these 9 years ago and have had great results with it.
The bottom line is that indoor antennas can definitely work. They may take more work to put up than outside antennas, but as the saying goes, “Any antenna is better than no antenna.”
Quote of the Day
"Optimism is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat; chutzpah is taking the tartar sauce with you!”
Have a great month
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