Amateur Radio Recommendations

The file BackupPowerForAHandheld.pdf describes several ways of providing backup power for your handheld radio. This article was prepared by Scott Grimmett, AD7KV
Red Cross Policy Re Health and Welfare Traffic Clarified

This statement is from Keith Robertory, Disaster Service TechnologyManager, American Red Cross, regarding Amateur Radio's role in Healthand Welfare Traffic and the American Red Cross.

"There has recently been some posting on Amateur Radio discussiongroups on the Internet that is carrying false or misleadinginformation. The Red Cross does not have a policy against amateurradio participating in passing health and welfare messages. In fact,we recognize the importance of amateur radio in being a vital methodfor people to get registered.

"The American Red Cross welcomes the support of Amateur RadioOperators in connecting friends and family members together throughour health and welfare programs. The grassroots, independent natureof Amateur Radio Operators in communities around the country makethem well suited for this task.

"General welfare messages are processed through the Red Cross Safeand Well Web site. This site allows people to register their status,which can be checked by friends and family who search by your name,address or phone number. A quick look at the Web sitehttp://disastersafe.redcross.org will show how both theregistration process and search are done.

"As few as two hams can set up an effective registration process. A ham located in the disaster zone can use any mode to transmit thebasic Safe and Well registration information to another ham locatedoutside the disaster area who would enter the information on the Website. This quick ad-hoc setup doesn't rely on any affiliations andcan be established by a call out to another ham who can help.

"The Red Cross also processes welfare inquiry messages that containspecific medical information. These contain more sensitive andpersonally identifiable information at the same time that the RedCross keeps confidential to respect client privacy. We areresearching if and how these messages can be passed across openfrequencies, and what federal restrictions (such as HIPPA) may impacthow this is done. Thank you. -- Keith Robertory, Disaster ServiceTechnology Manager, American Red Cross, KG4UIR"

(this quote is from the ARES E-Letter published on the third Wednesday of each monthby the American Radio Relay League http://www.arrl.org)
Live in the Seattle area? Check out www.psrg.org
-Eric, KD7WZP
Keeping the Water Out
by D. Hilton (VA7DH) Victoria BC

Sealing coaxial fittings and coax from water penetration. It's a problem everywhere including in industry. Water can get into the fittings and then water can get into your coax. You may not even realize that you have a problem. Water can act like a linear dummy load. Power is getting into your coax but not much is getting out and your VSWR looks pretty good. That's a pretty sure sign your coax is wet inside and once it's wet it's usually a good idea to replace it. Once upon a time I used to use silicon sealant and it helps but I've found that most of the old sealants just did not stand up over time and under the UV from the sun.

There is a sealant you can get that's in the form of a tape about an inch wide. It has a peel-off paper on each side of it making it possible to be sold as a roll without it sticking together forever. What you do is tape over your coax fittings with one or two layers of vinyl electrical tape.. Then you unroll about 6 to 10 inches or so of the sealing tape. Start by wrapping it around the coax and work your way onto the fitings, stretching the sealant tape as you go. It will stretch somewhat like chewing gum. End up with a couple of inches of the coax covered on the far end of the fittings. If you run out of the sealant tape then rip off some more and keep going until you're through. You can work it a bit with your fingers but don't work it to the point you have exposed the fittings or the coax. If you do then patch it with more sealant tape. Then comes an important last step. Put a couple of wraps of black vinyl tape over the whole thing. It protects the sealant which can dry out a bit and is also somewhat UV sensitive. The pressure of the vinyl tape gradually forces the sealant into all cracks and crevices so that water cannot penetrate.

Products I know of:

Scotch Electrical Moisture Sealant
3M Rubber Mastic 2228

You can also get some from your friend the telephone company splicer. They have packages of it that come in foot long sticks. It works the same way. The reason you want to tape over your coax fittings is in case you may want to recover the fitting some day in the future. If you don't protect the fiting the sealant will stick to it like crazy and it's very hard to clean off. A stick of that stuff goes a long ways.

73 everyone.
Take a look at the following reference. It's over 100 pages, so I don't necessarily think it's worth printing out for everyone, but possibly saving it on your computer and checking through it for useful info in local cases.

ARES Field Resources Manual
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/aresman.pdf

--David, AA7L
online community site - ldshams.com
Canadians: Thinking of Writing Your Canadian Amateur Radio Exams?

I contacted one of the other members of the club I'm a member of regarding this because I know he is qualified as an examiner. He told me that he would be happy to do exams and he even sent me a writeup which explains things well and is a great start for how to get started in a home study sort of thing: [ download: Word , PDF]

By the way, if you're at all curious about that course we run through WARA you can look it up on our web site: http://www.ve7vic.ca/

--Donn, VA7DH
I would suggest adding the tried and true easy method for beginning radio operators of using a mag mount 5/8 wave (best choice, but I’ve even seen it work well with ¼ wave) antenna on a 12 x 12 piece of metal. For UHF/VHF this especially works well, and they are the bands that most Technicians use anyway. You don’t have to get into a lot of antenna theory to put one of these up in your attic.

--Dee, KE7CFM

If you are operating a Base Station from your home, you must have a permanently mounted external antenna, or at the least be able to erect a base station antenna within an hour of activation. A Copper J-Pole is an excellent antenna and is very inexpensive to build. You can find instructions for this on the internet. Or you can purchase a simple antenna from various sources: Ham Radio Outlet, or on line.

In the case of those living in Apartments or Condominiums where permanent external antennas are forbidden, a Roll-up Twinlead J-Pole hung in or out of a window will work.

I have used a long fiberglass fishing pole. Tie the Roll-Up J-Pole to the end eyelet and then just tie the reel end of the pole to a vertical support of a deck rail, or heavy chair. The J-Pole MUST be a minimum of 6 feet from the nearest metal object, preferably away from ANY object.

You can purchase a Dual-Band Roll-up J-Pole for around $45.00 from HRO , OR you can make a 2-meter band J-Pole using information found on the internet and materials from Radio Shack. Building one gives you the experience and is VERY cheap (around $15.00 for the finished antenna).

It is NOT recommended using more than 50W on the Roll-up J-Pole!!!

If you are running a mobile set up, you will need at the very least need a magnetic mount antenna to put on your vehicle. If you are worried about it damaging the paint on the roof, you can purchase a piece of thin leather and put it between the magnet of the antenna and the roof.

It would be preferable to have the antenna mount already on your vehicle (NMO type mount, or whatever type of mount your antenna uses), then you could just screw on the antenna and go! Mag mounts are ok for temporary operations, but not for the long term.

For Base Station operations you will need a power supply that can handle the current draw of the radio. A 20-amp, 12 Vdc power supply will handle 99% of all mobile type base station operations. A deep cycle 12-Volt battery in parallel with the power supply is a GOOD idea as you never know when your house power will go out. If you have generator back up, all the better!

For Mobile operations: You will NEED a permanent source of power for the radio (in vehicles). Do NOT use the cigarette lighter plug! This is NOT a good source of power and can actually damage a radio as the grounding isn't always good in them!!

--Rodney, KC7CJO
The all-out "go kit" http://w4ti.net/gokit.html
--Eric, KD7WZP
Elmers needed! This is a work in progress. Do you have wisdom to add? Please send it by email to KD7WZP at ARRL dot NET with a link to this page.

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