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From the May and July 2016 Balanced Modulator newsletters

MY KENWOOD TS440: WORKING AGAIN AT FIELD DAY AFTER ALL THESE (29) YEARS

By Ross Goodall, WD4NJV

I dusted off my Kenwood TS440 AT with PS 50 amp power supply and brought them to Field Day to see if they still worked. Because of living on a small lot, I do not operate at home on HF.

We were truly operating in Field Day conditions with an outside temperature of 100 degrees. The heat sinks on the equipment only got slightly warm. There were two other Kenwood 440s brought to Field Day.

I hooked mine up and I operated along with many persons on the Kenwood for 4 hours on twenty meters. Todd K1KVA noted that the carrier level pot was dirty and needed cleaning. I will use tuner cleaner at home.

The rig was hooked up directly to a Dentron tuner and the Kenwood’s built-in tuner was bypassed. Todd brought his Kenwood amplifier. He noted that it is best to bring up the amp by connecting it to the accessory jack of the Kenwood 440 rather than letting the amplifier sense the RF and go into action.

I learned from John Reynolds W4IJJ and Todd that the jumper to bring up the accessory jack needed to be connected internally to the Kenwood 440.

Fortunately I brought the instruction manual and the change was made quickly. I noted that a little extra power helps during Field Day pile ups.

I learned to be quicker on transmitting on contest pile ups and the value of having a person to log contacts.

We had several guests and we invited them to GOTA (get on the air). There were three youths (two licensed and one very interested). All were given the opportunity to operate and did so. Todd explained many of the basics and gave them pointers and they had a chance to work several stations.

Todd and John double checked the wiring hook ups to make certain that they were correct. Good electrical and RF safety practices were observed today with all stations. Many people brought refreshments, food and water.

Keeping all hydrated was essential in the 100 degree heat. It was great to see several persons that I had been involved in encouraging them to get licensed and or upgrade. One became a VE Volunteer Examiner. This is one of the extra benefit of our greatest hobby in the world.

There was a great turnout and participation. The Field Day location provided by Peter KK4WAY Pastor at Hogan Baptist Church on their gigantic sports complex. The NOFARS testing site is on the church campus also. There was plenty of area to spread out with poles and trees to tie antennas on and covered areas and tables.

On the previous day the Church’s PA system was checked for possible Sunday morning interference and none was found. Thanks to all who participated and to KK4WAY and Hogan Baptist Church.

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Fun at Scout Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) and Fall Field Day
By Ross Goodall, WD4NJV

On Saturday October 15th, NOFARS and the Scouts held a joint event at Hogan Baptist Church.

Thanks go to KK4WAY Peter Copeland for the use of the excellent facilities. The temperature reached the low eighties with a good breeze. There were many hams with approximately six stations participating along with about fifteen scouts and their leaders.

I set up a UHF/ Wires X station. Several scouts came to my table and we were able to work many stations through W4IZ/R. The most outstanding contact for the scouts at my table was with MI0HMY in Northern Ireland. He shared about his scout experiences as a youth. This station came up on my screen as 4006 miles away.

Todd’s K1KVA station attracted more scouts and they seemed to like the experience of tuning in SSB stations as well as the different sound of SSB. Todd is a good example for all as he really likes to work with youth and patiently explains amateur radio.

Billy N4UF also worked with scouts relaying messages.
The scout motto of always being prepared came back to me as my extension cord developed a short which caused me to go off the air.

Fortunately Todd had an extra one to lend me. Also a common
country prefix chart is helpful have available to immediately know what country I was hearing.

Being relatively new to Wires X and being able to experience it taught me several things. QSOs should be relatively short because many people may be listening and wanting to use the America Net.

With scouts wanting to talk, I had to ask for the use to the Net from a long winded QSO that was going on. One of the scouts kerchunked the repeater and with Wires X your call sign comes up every time you transmit. As the control operator I had to guard against it as it is not a good amateur practice.

For those of you who are new to Wires X and as I am a beginner, here is a brief explanation of how it works as I understand it. I use a Yaesu FTM-100D digital transceiver. You transmit a digital signal into the 444.400 MHz repeater and it sends out this digital signal to a radio across town that is connected to a computer and the Internet using Wires X.

Other connected stations receive through the Internet and put the signal out on the air. The process is reversed for the return trip.

If the transceiver is fully programmed it will show call signs, distance, and direction. My dual-band Yaesu was a good replacement for my older two meter radio. It got me into digital voice and Wires X which allows long distance communications. This is especially beneficial to me since HF antennas where I live are generally not practical.

It was rewarding to see the scouts' excitement and enthusiasm in the greatest hobby in the world and helping them all earn their radio merit badge.

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