RADIO AMATEUR NEWS & VIEWS, APRIL 2011

RADIO AMATEUR

NEWS & VIEWS

APRIL 2011

IN THIS ISSUE...
Wire Antennas Secretary's Report Prez Sez
Electricity Meets Relativity

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NEXT MEETING: April 12, 2011 - WIRE ANTENNAS

Tom W1EAT, will be giving us a presentation on his various antenna-building adventures. You'll come away with lots of ideas on things to try and things not to try! We'll have the usual sumptuous snacks and lots of good fellowship, so don't miss it.


SECRETARY'S REPORT - MARCH MEETING

JEFF N1YD

BUSINESS:
- The MS walk will be Saturday, April 9th, and as usual, a few amateur operators will help to coordinate everything. If interested, contact Bob Allen KB1FRW.

- The March of Dimes Walk is May 7th, and that is another worthwhile way to help out. Contact John Clift N1LXI, if you would like to participate. I had a good time last year as a "trail walker."

- NEAR-Fest in Deerfield, NH, will be April 29th and 30th.

- HAMCON went well. Several new hams passed the exams at the VE sessions. Welcome to new ham Kristen Talley, KB1VHF. She has been assigned the coolest call sign that a person could ever get without paying an extra vanity fee!

PRESENTATION:
- The movie was "Midway Atoll, 2009", in which a group of ambitious hams travel to a particularly remote Pacific island and put it on the air. Lots of planning, dedication, and hard work led to a successful DXpedition.

NEXT MEETING:
- Jim KE1AZ will bring snacks to our next meeting.


THE PREZ SEZ

Bob KB1FRW, President

It is almost finally spring! I sure hope so at least, I've had enough with the snow already and burying my car right up to the floor pan on a back road in Richmond. That was no fun - 9 o'clock at night and an hour wait for the AAA tow truck to get there, bah! What does this have to do with ham radio, well nothing, I just wanted to whine about getting stuck.

Spring is the real topic and with is the time to get outside and get those antennas (antennae?) up you have been thinking about . Don't wait or pretty soon you won't have time because winter will be coming and you'll have to put the lawn equipment away. The leaves are off the trees so you can see where to shoot your favorite arrow, lead sinker or tennis ball and get the job done right.

Don't forget that it is cool too, I know when I put up my 7-element, 24-foot boom, 75-pound tribander last year I was thankful is was a nice spring day, it was also another nice day when I went back up the tower and turned it around because it was on backwards (always mark it on the ground before you are swinging around at 50 feet and you won't make dumb mistakes like that).

Speaking of antennas, don't forget to show up at the April 12th RANV meeting to hear Tom, W1EAT, tell us about some of the wire antennashe has built, it might give you some ideas as to what you can do. Tom always does a great job presenting his subjects.

Do any of you remember the two German fellow hams that have been coming to meetings the last few months? They were Ralf and Tobias, they work for SUSS MicroTec and were here a few months training at the Waterbury facility to learn how to service Suss' semiconductor manufacturing equipment. While they were here they both got U.S. ham licenses, Ralf actually took and past his Extra test last month! They both have departed for Europe and I wanted to wish them well and hope to hear them on the air from their homeland.

Back to spring things, don't forget that NEAR-Fest is right around the corner, April 29th and 30th, I believe that Carl AB1DD, has tickets. This is a nice regional Hamfest with on-site camping and a Friday night ham jam, lots of fun ham stuff and people you may have talked to on the air. Be there or be square.

The MS Walk is happening Saturday, April 9th and the weekend after NEAR-Fest, May 7th, the March of Dimes Walk takes off - two very important events for these organizations that do so much for people. If you want to help out with the March of Dimes walk contact John Clift, N1LXI he can be reached by email at jrclift@comcast.net. These are great opportunities to warm up for the Vt. City Marathon coming at the end of May.

Anyhow, plenty to do in the spring, which makes it fun, see you out and about I hope.


ELECTRICITY MEETS RELATIVITY

Jeff N1YD

Electric current travels at nearly the speed of light, but electrons themselves do not go quite so fast. According to Einstein's theory, accelerating an electron to the speed of light would require an infinite amount of energy, and then the electron would have infinite mass.

This is a good thing. Nobody would want to buy a portable radio that is infinitely heavy. Even if you did buy one, the shipping charges would really suck. The FAA normally does not let us use amateur radios on airliners. If you failed to turn it off as requested, its infinite weight would make take-off awfully difficult. Besides, once you key up and call somebody, they would be soon be right there on top of you as you, your radio, and the entire universe would collapse into a black hole singularity.

If that is not bad enough, such a radio would need an infinite power supply. Charging that thing would be a God-awful hassle. I read about a guy on the Internet who tried it. He plugged in its charger, waited a month, paid a truly heartbreaking electric bill, and after all that the battery was not even one percent charged. And if you ever did get the infinite battery charged, how long would it even function, considering the radio's infinite current drain? No one seems to know.



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