The Q-Fiver for February 1999 Volume 41 Number 2 President's message Greetings! It is with a smile that I say February has arrived with a host of new activities for us to participate in. Not only do we have long, cold January behind us but also we are just that much closer to spring! Oh yes, I _like_ that thought! February does hold for us our usual meetings and workshops. One recent workshop was put together by Brian KE4HOR and hosted by Bob WA6EZV, bringing a group of the foxhunters together to work on building Doppler systems for use in foxhunting. This has turned out to be a challenging but fun project. Bob WB8W gave a recent workshop covering radio modifica- tions. The OH-KY-IN sponsored classes will begin here in the near future --so get geared up! I was encouraged by the feedback concerning involvement of more youth in amateur radio. Keep those thought processes going -- help out where you can. Personally, I am pleased to learn that the ARRL and FCC are taking a more aggressive role in policing the ham bands. This action should benefit all of us. I'll be looking forward to seeing you at the regular membership meeting, February 2d at 7:30 PM. Our program should prove to be of interest. See you there. 73, Dick WB4SUV Next meeting The program for the OH-KY-IN meeting on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1999 will feature Ken Scheper WA8JOC, the QSL manager for Dave Heil K8MN. Ken has many interesting tidbits for a program, including info on Dave, himself, being a QSL manager, and Sable Island. The meeting will be held as usual at 7:30 PM at the Western Hills Church of Christ, 5064 Sidney Road, one block from Glenway Avenue. From town, pass Ferguson Road and turn left on to Sidney between the BP station and Sebastian's restaurant, just before the Frisch's, then turn right at the light into the church drive which leads down to the parking lot. The entrance is at the back of the church building. Plenty of parking is available. 73, Eric N8YCL PS. If you haven't yet turned in copies of logs for your N8FU CW Achievement Award contest contacts, you only have until Sunday the 31st to do so! Get that amateur radio license you've always wanted or Upgrade your present license! OH-KY-IN ARS spring code & theory classes begin Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 PM at Salem Presbyterian Church, corner Mozart & Higbee on the edge of Cheviot (behind the White Castle at Boudinot & Harrison) Instruction for all license classes, Novice thru Extra including no-code, is offered -- all Morse code classes are free ! Classes run for 11 weeks (10 classes) and finish with FCC license exams on Saturday, May 8 at the church No age requirement, no prior experience needed! To register or for additional info please contact Carol Hugentober K8DHK, 513=661-5323 or Bruce Vanselow N8FWA, 513=251-1555 E-mail queries to n8fwa@juno.com In case you live on the east side of town, or if Thursday is not available to you, Milford ARC begins Novice, Tech & Tech Plus classes on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 7 PM. For info or to register contact Gary Porter KC8BTA at 513= 575-2511. Tally icicles! Due to terrible weather conditions, the January Fox Hunt, originally scheduled for Saturday the 9th, was rescheduled for Friday evening Jan 15th. Three teams tried their luck on this dark and cold evening at sniffing out the fox, who was located at t he end of a series of no-outlet streets behind Xavier High School. The fox den was perched high above and just south of the Ronald Reagan Cross County highway, just west of I-75. Reflections from the surrounding hills and high power levels provided a challenge for the hunters. Ernie's decision to move out of the reflections and come from another location proved to be the right guess as he managed to nab the fox first. Here are the results: Ernie W8EH and Lyle KC8ECK 23.2 miles 73 minutes Brian KE4HOR 28.7 miles 101 minutes Dick WB4SUV and Janie 39.0 Miles 137 minutes See you at the February hunt. Good Hunting de Bob WA6EZV Beasley K6BJH cartoon: Door of FCC Field Office is open, Field Examiner looks out at motley group of 4 carrying guns, clubs, knives, blackjacks, headset, yagi on a stick, small loop antenna on a stick. Sailor-type guy has anchor tattoo on arm, smoke s cigar & has 5 o'clock shadow (same guy who worked for Ajax Repo Company last month and came to get the radio while the ham was making a QSO with Clipperton Island). Another wears fedora & trenchcoat with collar turned up. 3 of 4 frown. Guy in front says to Field Examiner, "Understand you people are looking for a little enforcement on some of the bands." From Worldradio via MARC Sparks, Nov 1996 DX Extras February 1999 It's a brand new year. I hope you made a resolution to work some DX this year. With increasing solar activity, things are looking better all the time. Ten meter spots are on the rise and DXpeditions seem aplenty at present. Look for these upcoming operations: XT -- Burkina Faso -- Feb 7th to March 1st FW5ZN -- Wallis & Futura -- scheduled for Feb 23 to March 8th H40 -- Tomotu -- Jan 23 till April Currently QRV are FK8 -- New Caledonia; TZ -- Mali; VQ9 -- Chagos Is. till March, ET3 -- Ethiopia mostly on 10 meters; T30, T32, and T33 by JA group now till mid March. Did you get a chance to work the FT55ZH operation from Amsterdam? Check their logs at http://perso.easynet.fr/~f5nod/ft5zhlog.html Check your ZL9CI Campbell Island contacts at www.qsl.net/zl9ci Cancelled Operations -- Both the planned operations from St. Peter & Paul Rocks in March and HK0, Malpelo Island, have been scrapped due to a shortage of funds. CU next month. GUD DX Bob WA6EZV DXers' meeting The February OH-KY-IN DXers' meeting will be held at WA6EZV's QTH. We have received encouraging feedback from Top Sail Island in NC, and are still investigating the possibility of a light house operation from Hunting Island. Some 400 to 500 QSL cards from last year's operation have already been processed, and QSLing is up to date. A spare Mosley TA-33 MP triband beam is being refurbished, which should be available for Field Day or other Club activities by spring. Design of an insignia for Logo T-shirts for the DX group is ready. 73, CUL Bob WA6EZV Contests February 1999 6-8 NA Sprint, SSB DE QSO Party MN QSO Party NH QSO Party VT QSO Party Ten Ten International Net Winter Phone QSO Party YL-OM CW Contest FYBO Winter QRP Field Day Spring Classic CW Radio Exchange 12-14 NA Sprint, CW YL-OM SSB Contest PACC Contest (Dutch) WW RTTY WPX 20-21 ARRL International CW DX Contest 26-28 CQ WW 160-meter SSB Contest YL International SSB QSO Party RSGB 7 MHz Contest CQC Winter QRP QSO Party NC QSO Party REF SSB Contest UBA CW Contest Lots of good little contests and QSO Parties -- perfect for the cool wet days of February. (OH QSO Party returns to the air next month -- see either last month's or next month's Q-Fiver for more on that -- ed.) For more info see QST, CQ, NCJ or http://www.arrl.org/contests/months/feb.html 73, Dan KF4AV VE exam opportunities Sat. Feb. 6 at Hartwell Presbyterian Church, Parkway & Woodbine Avs, sponsored by CRA. Registration 8:30 AM; walk-in only! Info: Herb Blasberg WA8PBW, 513=891-7556. Sat. Feb. 13 at Indian Springs Admin Bldg, Morris & Millikin Rds in suburban Hamilton OH, sponsored by Butler Co VHF Assn. Registration starts at 9 AM, testing at 10. Parking on side opposite police station only; don't block the driveways! Info: Ted Wilson K8TCR, 513=868-7012 or Bill Moore W8KVU, 513=868- 0102 or 868-0210. Talk-in 146.97 Sun. Feb. 21 in Mt. Auburn, sponsored by SOTA & OMIK. All license classes. Info: Thierry Winkfield W8UX, 513=861-2544. Sat. Feb. 27 at Quality Hotel Central, 4747 Montgomery Rd. in Norwood, in the Norwood Room, sponsored by OH-KY-IN ARS. Exams for all classes begin at 8 AM. Reservations must be received no later than Feb. 19; however, walk-ins will be accepted. Check or money order for $6.45 made out to OH-KY-IN ARS, copy of present license & interim CSCE if applicable, executed FCC Form 610 dated Sept. 1997 or newer, with SASE if you wish confirmation, to Bill Simpson KI4QJ, 10743 Palestine Dr., Union KY 41091. Info: Carol Hugentober K8DHK, 513=661-5323. IN ALL CASES 2 IDs (at least 1 with photo), originals (bring to exam) & photocopies (enclose with preregistration or bring to exam to file with 610) of license & CSCEs are required. Headphones for the CW elements and photocopying available at OH-KY-IN exams but NOT at most other testing loca- tions (call for info). A Form 610 (required) can be obtained from the FCC by calling 1=800=418-3676. Pre-registration encouraged where available (see specific exam info for where to send, enclose SASE for confirmation). $6.45 is 1999 ARRL/VEC exam fee; if paid in cash, correct change expedites walk-in registrations. Elements 1A & 2 are always free at ARRL/VEC exam sessions. Another EZ-pack antenna: the suction cup dipole (This originally appeared in "Keyed-Up", the newsletter of the London (Ontario) ARC, and was obtained via the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club "Rambler" which passed it on to the "Amateur Radio News Service Bulletin" for June 1998.) Need a simple antenna that will enable good 2 meter FM communications into and out of today's brick, concrete and steel buildings? Like most projects, this one is cheap and easy to make. It is a dipole antenna cut for 2 meters, approximately 37 inches long. Remember, the same formula that works for the HF bands also works for higher frequencies, but it requires two attachments, strings, etc. to hold it. This project dispenses with the strings and such by using soft rubber or plastic suction cups, the type used to hold stuffed animals to the inside of car windows. Today, most modern buildings have an ample number of windows, many of which cannot be opened. By simply attaching a small suction cup to the end of each leg of the dipole, as well as to the centre coax feedline connection, you can stick the antenna to the inside of any window in any position or polariza- tion. And if the window happens to be on the top floor, so much the better! Just think of the wide coverage you can get from such a location on a very low amount of power. By using a short run of coax, you can set up an effective communications centre at a comfortable distance from the window. We concede that the dipole doesn't give any gain, but you should also remember that the rubber ducky itself is only 7% efficient. Vertical antennas all need an effective ground plane in order to perform well, but the dipole inherently has its own, by design. This whole antenna and feedline can easily be coiled and stored inside a small plastic bag, making it easy to carry around with you in case you need it. Hamfests&c. February 1999 The Cincinnati Winter Great Lakes Division Communications & Computer Convention this year is one week later than usual. It will be the LAST weekend of February (27 and 28) in Cincinnati Gardens (all indoors). There will be commercial exhibits, major manufacturers, large indoor flea market, forums, FCC exams (see above), Saturday night banquet, hourly and major door prizes, just like always. Exhibits open 8:30 AM, close at 5 PM Saturday. Major door prize drawing at 3 PM Sunday, convention closes at 4 PM. Advance sale tickets at R&L and Debco for $6. Leading the ARRL forum will be First Vice-President Steve Mendelsohn W2ML and Division Director David Coons WT8W. Steve will also be the main speaker at the Saturday night banquet, just as he was three years ago. Free parking, adequate handicapped access, adequate dealer and hamfest set up access is available in the 30,000 square foot facility. For more information, please call 513 = 791-6300 or E-mail . Tnx Joe K8QOE ARRL OH SM Computer epigrams Proper credit is due Alan J. Perlis for at least the compilation of these epigrams. I (who he? identity lost in transit) understand these are part of a list he distributed to his students at Yale. (Re-copied from the Co-evolution Quarterly, Summer 1983) 1. One man's constant is another man's variable. 2. Every program is part of some other program and rarely fits. 3. If a program manipulates a large amount of data, it does so in a small number of ways. 4. It is easier to write an incorrect program than to understand a correct one. 5. A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant. 6. Get into a rut early: Do the same processes the same way. Accumulate idioms. Standardize. The only difference(!) between Shakespeare and you was the size of his idiom list -- not the size of his vocabulary. 7. Recursion is the root of computation since it trades description for time. 8. Everything should be built top-down, except the first time. 9. Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't. 10. If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up. 11. A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing. 12. Optimization hinders evolution. 13. To understand a program you must become both the machine and the program. 14. One can only display complex information in the mind. Like seeing, movement or flow or alteration of view is more important than the static picture, no matter how lovely. 15. There will always be things we wish to say in our programs that in all known languages can only be said poorly. 16. Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it. 17. AROUND COMPUTERS IT IS DIFFICULT TO FIND THE CORRECT UNIT OF TIME TO MEASURE PROGRESS. SOME CATHEDRALS TOOK A CENTURY TO COMPLETE. CAN YOU IMAGINE THE GRANDEUR AND SCOPE OF A PROGRAM THAT WOULD TAKE AS LONG. 18. Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it. 19. Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be taught how not to. So it is with the great programmers. 20. The most important computer is the one that rages in our skulls and ever seeks that satisfactory external emulator. The standardization of real computers would be a disaster -- and so it probably wouldn't happen. 21. RE Graphics: A picture is worth 10K words -- but only those to describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures. 22. Some programming languages manage to absorb change but withstand progress. 23. Like punning, programming is a play on words. 24. When we understand knowledge-based systems, it will be as before -- except our fingertips will have been singed. 25. Bringing computers into the home won't change either one, but may revitalize the corner saloon. 26. Software is under a constant tension. Being symbolic, it is arbitrarily perfectible; but also it is arbitrarily changeable. 27. It is easier to change the specifications to fit the program than vice versa. 28. Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it. 29. In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn. 30. Often it is means that justify ends; Goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble. 31. When we write programs that "learn," it turns out we do and they don't. 32. Make no mistake about it; Computers process numbers -- not symbols. We measure our under-standing (and control) by the extent to which we can arithmetize an activity. 33. Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is meant to be discarded, that the whole point is to always see it as a soap bubble? 34. Because of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches: Banality soothes our nerves. 35. A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. 36. Prolonged contact with the computer turns mathematicians into clerks and vice versa. 37. In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration. 38. What is the difference between a Turing machine and the modern computer? It's the same as that between Hillary's ascent of Everest and the establishment of a Hilton hotel on its peak. 39. When someone says, "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done," give him a lollipop. 40. Computers don't introduce order anywhere near as much as they expose opportunities. 41. Computer science is embarrassed by the computer. 42. Within a computer natural language is unnatural. 43. Most people find the concept of programming obvious but the doing impossible. 44. You think you know when you learn, are more sure when you can write, even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program. 45. It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children to program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self-critical? -- saved off KI4QJ BBS on June 1, 1990 (izzat old, or what??) What's coming in OH-KY-IN in February 1999 Sun Jan 31 Logs for N8FU CW Achievement Award contacts due to Eric N8YCL Tue Feb 2 7:30 PM Club Meeting at W HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Speaker: Ken Scheper WA8JOC, QSL mgr for Dave Heil K8MN Wed Feb 3 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol K8DHK, 146.67 Fri Feb 5 8 PM ARPSC meeting at Hamilton Co. Sheriff's Training Center Tue Feb 9 7:30 PM Technical Committee meeting, location TBA Wed Feb 10 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Bruce N8FWA, 146.67 Fri Feb 12 Copy deadline for March Q-Fiver Sat Feb 13 10 AM Monthly fox hunt, hounds start from Mt Storm Park; talk- in to start on 146.67 Tue Feb 16 7:30 PM DXers at Bob WA6EZV's Wed Feb 17 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Dennis KB8ROA, 146.67 Thu Feb 18 7:30 PM Hamfest Team meeting at Carol K8DHK's Tue Feb 23 7:30 PM Board of Directors' meeting at Carol K8DHK's Wed Feb 24 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Rick KD4PYR, 146.67 Thu Feb 25 7 PM Code & theory classes begin at Salem Presb Church, Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot Tue Mar 2 7:30 PM Club Meeting at W HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Topic: To be announced Wed Mar 3 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol K8DHK, 146.67 Thu Mar 4 7 PM Code & theory classes at Salem Presb Church, Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot News of members & students in recent classes Our sincere condolences to Harry Davis WA8LOJ, his wife Lily and their son Eric N8XJL on the recent losses of Harry's and Lily's mothers, both of Eric's grandmothers New license, new call, new member Becca Haltermon KG4BDO (continuing the tradition of immediate families with all members licensed) Call regained John Loze WA4ZKO (was KF4UBZ); vanity-call program has allowed John to recover the call he was first issued in 1965 -eof-