2021-02-09 Weekly SCHH Ham Club This and That
Items of Interest:
Interesting Stories About Ham Radio & Weather Spotting
Visit the ARRL Learning Network (a members-only benefit) to register, check on upcoming webinars, and view previously recorded sessions. A future session is on weather spotting.
This presentation reviews some interesting stories about how amateurs involved in SKYWARN have saved lives and property and why this is an important amateur radio activity.
Thursday February 11, 2021 @ 8 PM EST (0100 UTC on Friday, February 12)
ZEN and the Art of Amateur Radio Tuning.
From time to time you will hear “tuner-uppers” during nets and when it occurs, it’s a real nuisance. Net participants comprise the bulk of this tuning activity, although some might argue that it is deliberate interference from some “friends” up and down the band. We can never know the answer to that question. What we can do, however, is to promote proper tuning etiquette.
After looking online for articles/information about amateur radio tuning etiquette, where to tune radios and amps, how to tune radios and amps, and so forth. The one universal constant is “Be sure to pick a vacant frequency to tune.”
While that is correct advice, it is severely lacking in detail, especially for the new ham.
Question: I want to join a net on 7.185 LSB. Where should set I my VFO to first listen for a vacant frequency and then tune up? Pick the best choice of these three.
A. 7.188
B. 7.182
C. 7.185
The best answer is A. If you know the reason why, you can stop reading now and I thank you for your patience. For all others, class is now in session.
Look at the figure above. It should look familiar even if you are newly licensed for HF. The figure shows an AM signal including the two sidebands and the carrier. For the purposes the issue of tuning, we are interested in the Carrier and the Lower Sideband.
When tuning, the radio is set to CW mode, either automatically or manually. In this mode my signal is centered on the frequency displayed on the VFO. This is represented by the Carrier in the figure. When I switch to Lower Sideband, the signal occupies 3KHz of bandwidth starting at the frequency displayed on the VFO and extending down in frequency. So, when the VFO reads 7.185, my LSB signal is present from about 7.182-7.185.
If I tune right on 7.185, I am too close to the lower sideband and I will interfere with the net.
If I tune anywhere between 7.182 and 7.185, I will be in the middle of the lower sideband and right on top of the net. OUCH!
If I tune at 7.188, I will be 3KHz above the net, and provided that I listen first to make sure there is not someone else up there, I should not cause a problem.
For Upper Sideband the logic is reversed. The signal occupies 3KHz of bandwidth starting at the frequency displayed on the VFO and extending up. So, when the VFO reads 14.290, my USB signal is present from about 14.290-14.293.
If I tune right on 14.290, I am too close to the upper sideband and I will interfere with the net.
If I tune anywhere between 14.290 and 14.293, I will in the middle of the upper sideband and right on top of the net. OUCH AGAIN!
If I tune at 14.287, I will be 3KHz below the net, and provided that I listen first to make sure there is not someone else down there I should not cause a problem.
In short, where you tune does matter. Here is a little memory trick:
Upper sideband, tune lower. Lower sideband, tune upper (i.e. tune higher).
Virtual Conventions
The Vermont Ham-Con this year is on-line. ham-con.org The date is February 27th, 2021.
Hamcation February 13th and 14th Forums and Speakers (hamcation.com)
Humor:
Meetings:
The next meeting will be March 1st at 7 PM via Zoom (online video). The guest speaker will be a surprise. There is another guest speaker lined up for April, I hope.
The virtual meeting will start on March 1st at 6:45PM to work through any issues and rag chew to fill in the dead air.. The guest speaker will be first on the agenda.
Club Website:
The URL is https://www.ke4ham.org. If you notice any errors or have site-related questions, email: webmaster at ke4ham dot org.
Nets:
Wednesday Nets (8 PM) operates from KK4ONF/Jasper repeater, 147.060+ and Echolink node: KE4HAM-R
Sunday NET (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex and Echolink node:
KE4HAM – L
Other operating:
Daily — DX spotting and open chat 24/7 on 147.550 MHz simplex and the Jasper Repeater, 147.060+ (no Echolink).
AD5EN – SCHH Amateur Radio Club VP