October 28, 2006 Luncheon Wrap-Up

The luncheon on Saturday (October 28th) was very well attended with over a dozen people showing at the Holiday Inn in Nashua. The usual coke and root beer and lots of freshly popped popcorn started our meeting with several show-n-tells from the membership. Bruce Beford – N1RX brought his “tennis ball” launcher, powered by compressed air which could hurl a projectile (a.k.a. tennis ball) 100 feet or more over any tree. It was really slick looking and Bruce even sculptured a black terrorist case to carry his launcher in. The colors yellow and black always stand out as important and Bruce did a superb job making it look professional. We all want one!

Dave Siegrist – NT1U gave his wrap-up on the SCAF filter with many new ideas for the ‘next’ project. Dave was the sole manager from the inception of the SCAF to the mailings of the filter. Many people helped Dave along the way such as kitting, proto-building, beta testing, pay-pal, and documentations. Overall, the club did well with the project and the word is slowly hitting the QRP community with favorable reviews. It was thought that after the ‘World Radio’ article is published, a better foothold on the next step for the SCAF filter will be made. For David’s tremendous efforts in taking on this large project for the club, he was presented a “QRP is Skill” tee shirt along with a beautiful quartz clock with his call letters NT1U emblazoned on the front. It will surely be a welcome item to his shack. Kudos Dave!

Carl Achin - WA1ZCQ -- Chow'da-Con was discussed by Carl Achin - WA1ZCQ for future warm month gatherings. Carl will report to the club when and where the overnight camping will kick in. He did mention that there was A LOT of open space and A LOT of high trees to play with and that space and antennas would not ever be a problem. Good times are a'coming. Think warm weather and sleeping bags! Carl and Heidi will make a report soon.

Mike Ryan Jr. K1WVO suggested a bulk-buy from Elecraft and was wondering if others within the club wanted to "buy in." However, it was felt that there might be some people who WOULD buy low and then resell high. Also, no one was sure what a bulk rate would mean...inasmuch, shipping? per piece? high end radio? low end radio? Mike said he would 'wait & see' what others thought.

Chuck Ludinsky - K1CL mentioned that a simple SSB transceiver would be a future idea for the club to ponder. It would be for 75 meters and QRP phone. It is an interesting project and others wondered if it would be double sideband or just single sideband. Overall, it’s a project which is on the possible future kit list. Ideas from members would be appreciated and send your comments to Chuck – K1CL.

Badges-cups and shirts were mentioned and it was felt that a shirt with a collar is a good future item. Unfortunately, the number of people wishing these items is low and a bulk rate is too expensive. Future discussion will be made as to the demand and the prices. The demand is not very high at this moment. Club badges were sold at the meeting for those who wished to sew them to their knap-sacks, pup tents, hats or sleeves to show their good standing with NE QRP.

Field Day for June 2007 was brought up and it is now a good time for planning. Chuck – K1CL would like to hear from others as to their plans for FD and possible locations/number of operators and general ideas concerning FD. Early planning, of course, is the best planning.

Bruce Beford – N1RX brought along a possible future project worth kitting which is the “Zero Beat LED.” The number of parts is minimal—10, and the PC board is very small. Postage stamp size! It could also be in a lead-in to the NE SCAF project and operates solely from the Audio Frequency (AF) of any receiver. Bruce will report to the club about prices for PC boards, parts listed (BOM) and mailing charges. Bruce DID have a sample board and it was really neat and compact. Also, on the Surface Mounted SCAF project that Bruce built, the LED was in place and did perform marvelously well. The SMT SCAF project Bruce made is a sample of things to come. More later on both the LED zero-beat and SMT projects.

Chuck Ludinsky – K1CL posted a schematic on the WEB site for receiving W1AW with only a minimal number of parts. Dennis Marandos – K1LGQ made several copies and passed them to the members present. The general consensus was thought that this might be a future project for the club to take on and to kit. However, before kitting can be accomplished, the circuit needs to be tweaked to make it “better.” Chuck – K1CL and Bruce – N1RX are working together on this idea and will report their findings soon. This would be a tremendous project for it would also appeal to the non-ham wishing to copy W1AW CW for practice. The schematic can be found on the New England QRP WEB site.

Carl Achin – WA1ZCQ brought along his IC703+ and demonstrated what a quarter-wave antenna could do. He got permission from Holiday Inn to throw an antenna into the back courtyard, over some trees with a bottle hanging in sight and managed to work many…many stations on 40m, 30 and 20m. His ‘station’ was only 20 feet for where the meeting was held, and it was in the corridor between banquet rooms. Overall, it was a GREAT show of what you can do in 30 seconds and Carl did it! Several of the luncheon attendees got to use his station and made QSOs while in Nashua. Despite the rain, which was pretty heavy during the meeting (but not a problem for us), Carl set up his station and even gave ham radio a plug for those attending the wedding reception next door. Good job Carl!

In appreciate to those who helped in the SCAF project, a QRP Tee shirt was presented to Dave Siegrist – NT1U (along with a fine looking clock), Bruce Beford – N1RX and Jim Fitton – W1FMR for their efforts in helping keep the project moving. We ALL appreciate their stepping up to the plate and making it look easy. Thanks guys!

The following people were present at the luncheon:
Adam Woodbury K1ADW (Mitre – Arlington, MA)
Brian Faull AB1EF (Mitre – Burlington, MA)
Greg O’Brien NE1OB
Carl Achin WA1ZCQ
Dave Siegrist NT1U
Ken Downs W1KRT
Bruce Beford N1RX
Chuck Ludinsky K1CL
Charles Moizeau W2SH (from New Jersey)
Bob Schmeichel N1EXV
Michael Ryan, Jr. K1WVO
Dennis Marandos K1LGQ
Jim Fitton W1FMR

The conversation was great, the food was delicious, and the meeting sensational. Our thanks to Holiday Inn for putting up with us and “Mary” our waitress who was the only person on duty Saturday afternoon for keeping us happy.

Next meeting will be announced.

72

Dennis Marandos - K1LGQ