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June 25 & 26

Come join in and have some

fun with the MARA

The ARRL New England Convention

Boxboro 2016! September 9, 10 & 11

Tickets Now On Sale

The Boxboro convention committee has announces that tickets for the 2016 convention are now on sale. You can purchase general admission tickets ($15) in-store at: HRO, 224 N. Broadway D12, Salem, NH, (off of I-93 between exits 2 or 3) line + additional info at http://www.boxboro.org: General Admission $15 (good for the entire convention) Flea Spaces = $10 (good for the entire convention) Friday DX/Contest Dinner = $40 ea or 8 for $280 Saturday Grand Banquet = $40 ea or 8 for $280 Special Convention : Electronics Plus, 480 King St,

Littleton, MA.(off of I-495 exit 30) Ticket also available on General Admission + Friday Dinner + Saturday Banquet = $90

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I'm EXTRA Ignorant

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

On Sunday, I received the following e-mail

from a reader: "Just wanted to let you know I passed the General exam using your study guide. It was very helpful. I am now generally ignorant whereas before I was only technically ignorant. Ha!" My reply to him was: "Well, if you're generally ignorant, I guess that makes me EXTRA ignorant!" This isn't just a joke--being ignorant is part of the hobby. Amateur radio operators will always be ignorant about something or other. Even if you could master every facet of the hobby at some point in time, your mastery would be short-lived as the technology continued to advance. Over the course of my amateur radio career, we've gone from equipment that primarily used vacuum tubes, to solid-state gear that first used discrete transistors and then integrated circuits, to software-defined radios. I could have, at some point, simply given up on the new technology and still enjoyed amateur radio. Some guys do that, and that's OK. It is only a hobby after all. I'm not one of those guys, though, and if you're not one of those guys, then you have to resign yourself to being ignorant. But, that's a good thing, as long as you realize that you're ignorant. Realizing that you're ignorant will spur you on to learn new things and accept new challenges. Recently, I realized that I'm mostly ignorant about satellite operation. I know some of the basics from having read articles and writing about the topic in my study guides, but I have never made a contact using a satellite. I think that might be one of

my next challenges. With the advent of CubeSat, there are many new satellites up in the air and many more opportunities to have interesting contacts. So, what are you ignorant about? By that I mean, of course, what's going to be your next challenge in amateur radio? ==================================

When he's not challenging himself

with new things, Dan falls back on

something he knows pretty well--

operating CW. You'll find him

mainly on the 80m, 40m, and 30m

bands. Dan is the author of the "No

Nonsense" amateur radio license

study guides, and blogs about

amateur radio at KB6NU.Com, and you

can contact him by e-mailing

cwgeek@kb6nu.com.

From ARLB015

The FCC has put on public notice and invited

comments on a Petition for Rule Making (RM-11767), filed on behalf of an amateur amplifier distributor, which seeks to revise the Amateur Service rules regarding maximum permissible amplifier gain. Expert Linears America LLC of Magnolia, Texas, which distributes linears manufactured by SPE in Italy, wants the FCC to eliminate the 15 dB gain limitation on amateur amplifiers, spelled out in Part 97.317(a)(2). Expert asserts that there should be no gain limitation at all on amplifiers sold or used in the Amateur Service. RM-11767 can be found on the web at, http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=60001536394 .

"There is no technical or regulatory reason [that] an amplifier capable of being driven to full legal output by even a fraction of a watt

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should not be available to Amateur Radio operators in the United States," Expert said in its Petition. Expert maintains that the 15 dB gain limitation is an unneeded holdover from the days when amplifiers were less efficient and the FCC was attempting to rein in the use of Amateur Service amplifiers by Citizens Band operators. While the FCC proposed in its 2004 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order in WT Docket 04-140 to delete the requirement that amplifiers be designed to use a minimum of 50 Watts of drive power and subsequently did so, it did not further discuss the 15 dB amplification limit in the subsequent Report and Order in the docket. The R&O is in PDF format at, https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-149A1.pdf.

"Although no party advocated retention of the 15 dB limit, it remains in place today," Expert pointed out in its filing." In the intervening years, advancements in Amateur Radio transmitter technology have led to the availability of highly compact, sophisticated low-power transmitters that require more than 15 dB of amplification to achieve maximum legal power output. Therefore, Expert seeks to remove the 15 dB limit from Part 97.317 so that Amateur Radio manufacturers and distributors will not be forced to needlessly cripple their amplifiers for sale in the United States." Expert pointed to its Model 1.3K FA amplifier as an example of a linear "inherently capable of considerably more than 15 dB of amplification," which would make it a suitable match for low-power transceivers now on the market having output power on the order of 10 Watts.

LED Lightbulbs In

The Shack

An article posting by Phil, KO6BB,

to Yahoo Group's ndblist, described

his recent search for some LED

lamps to replace the CFL's in his

shack / radio workbench area. If you

have been wondering how much RFI

that LED lamps might be producing,

you may find Phil's findings of some

value.

"Recap

I had a 60W equivalent CFL in the floor

lamp directly over my operating position. I'd

tried a 100W equiv one but it was extremely

noisy! Also a couple CFLs in the ceiling lamp.

This is a floor lamp with a crookneck at the

top and a triangular metalshade reminiscent

of the old style desk lamps, bulb is horiz to

thefloor. I've used it for years and like it

because it places the light directly over the

operating position work area (keyboard,

radios etc). The actual bulb was about 4.5

inches from the front of the Softrock SDR

receiver (in a plastic case), with the base of

the lamp (where the electronics are) about

7.5 inches (somebody asked about the

distances).

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This coupled a LOT of RFI directly into the

SDR, visible on the waterfall. For best results

when recording and having the light on I'd

slip a 60W incandescent lamp in place of the

CFL. The lamp is also about 16 inches above

the operating table, and when listening to

ANY portable radio on the table, if it was in

the AM or Longwave band and

using the built in loopstick antenna, got a LOT

of RFI from the lamp (unless the lamp was off

;-)

So today I went down to Lowes (we have

a Costco, but I don't have a card) and looked

at their LED lamp offerings. As I expected

they had a large variety of them, from a low

cost 3 pack for ~$9.00 for 60W units

to about $18.00 or so each (Sylvania). From

what I read here I wanted to avoid the

REALLY cheap ones as some reported them

to be 'noisy'. Also, I wanted to put a 75W

equivalent unit in the one over the

operating position, and a pair of 100W

equivalent units in the ceiling

lamp. All three had CFLs, and if I walked

around the radio room with a

portable radio and the ceiling lamp on I could

hear it's 'hash' anywhere in the room.

The ones I settled on were a brand I'd

never heard of, "UtiliTech Pro"

soft white, 75W for the bench and 2 100W

ones for the ceiling. They were what I'd call

"mid-priced", $8.98 for the 75W and $9.98

for the 100W ones.

Specs:

75 W one draws 12W and gives 1100

Lumens. 100W one draws 16.5W and gives

1600 Lumens (the pair in the ceiling should

then be 3200 Lumens if I calculated right).

How low is the RFI to my Radios?

75W one over the bench:

NO trace from the lamp electronics visible in

the SDR waterfall at all. With a portable radio

on the bench-top, NO audible RFI. Put a

portable radio up to the "bulb" part (light

area) and with no station

tuned in can't hear ANY RFI. Move the

portable to the base area of the

lamps there is SOME RFI, but I won't be

putting the radio that close to

the lamp, move it a couple inches away and

the noise disappears.

100W ones in the ceiling lamp, NO

audible RFI in the portable when

walking around the room, RFI just barely

perceptible right next to the

light wall switch that turns the lamp on,

again, audible IF I put the

radio right up to the base of the lamps, not a

likely real-world scenario!

Upshot?

Based on the sample of three that I

bought and the almost non-existent RFI from

them I'd consider the UtiliTech Pro lamps to

be a good product and suitable for use in the

radio room. I consider them good value for

the ~$30.00 I spent for three."

___________________________

Editors Note: With LED bulbs you get what

you pay for. Some cheap ‘Chinese’ LED bulbs

can produce RFI. I purchased a three-pack

at Walmart for $10 and so far so good but

they are not used in the shack.

5

MARA

members do

NEQP from

N1TRC

station

Topsham,ME: On Saturday afternoon

May 7th a small group of MARA members

set up a small contest station at the

American Red Cross building and put the

Red Cross N1TRC station on the air for the

New England QSO Party (NEQP). The

contest kicked off promptly at 4:00pm with

several folks trying their hand at

contesting. Prior to the event Steve

Kercel, AA4AK had assembled an excellent

computer assisted contest station with

automatic logging, voice and CW calling

and reporting program all run from pre

programmed macros. Steve also built a

very professional interface audio

coupling/mixer module that made the

system run smooth.

Saturday afternoon and evening met

with success with many CW and SSB

exchanges with hams all over the eastern

half of the country and a few DX stations

too. However, Sunday morning from

9am to noon a magnetic storm appeared in

the HF spectrum and the contest team only

made 28 CW contacts, mostly on 20

meters. The following graph shows the

the K-Index for the contest period.

The team made a practical decision to

end the event early because it was turning

into a futile effort on their part and shut

down at 12:00 noon

Overall the N1TRC contest team made

246 contacts, a pretty good number

considering Sunday was a bust.

Thanks to the following folks that came

out and participated in the team effort:

AA4AK-DR Steve Kercel (Team leader),

K1JJS- John Goran, N1TTT-Harry McNelley,

W1ZE- Bruce Randall, KX1I- Marjorie Turner

AB1YX- Richard Michael and W1MKD= Norm

Bosse

Brunswick,ME: The 2016 Race the

Runways took place back on April 23rd

had MARA and Midcoast ARES

members setting up and provide

communications for the run at the

Brunswick Landing, the old Brunswick

Naval Air Station.

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There were about 900 individuals

participants in the run. The crew put up

the CERT push-up poll and ran the

generator in the gentle during sprinkles.

Fortunately, it was not a cold day and the

rain stopped in time for events.

The MARA/ARES team consisted of:

1. Harry McNelley/N1TTT as net

control

2. Richard Michael/AB1YX at Rest

Stop 1,

3. Jim McIrvin/N1IPA at Rest Stop 2

4. Marjorie Turner/KX1I at Rest

Stop 3.

Rest Stop 3 was moved into the trees so

that any trash would not blow onto the

windy runways.

This was another good showing for

mid coast Amateur Radio and the

participating skilled ham communicators.

Sadly N1HOC is a

Silent Key (SK)

We received this late news that Carolee A.

Tribou, 67, of Bath passed away

peacefully on January 6, 2016 in Bath.

Lee, N1HOC as she was known to us was

an active member of the MARA and the

Midcoast ARES/CERT teams.

Lee was born in Framingham, MA the

daughter of the late William and Claire

Waugh. Carolee graduated from

Framingham North High School in 1966.

She lived in the Framingham/Ashland

area for many years prior to moving to

the mid-coast of Maine in the late 1980s

where she worked in the health care field

and volunteered for the Red Cross.

Funeral services were private, just family.

However, Association members and ham

radio friends may want to consider

making a donation in Carolees memory to

the American Red Cross Mid Coast

Chapter in Topsham, Maine.

Obituary was published in MetroWest

Daily News on Jan. 13, 2016

- See more at:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/metrow

estdailynews/obituary.aspx?pid=17726764

4#sthash.ik2nK9lZ.dpuf

Ham Flea Markets summer

& Fall in new England

Now that warmer weather is upon us, it is the season for ham radio flea markets and swap meets. The following is a list of the known events for this summer and fall:

4 Jun Hermon, ME PSARA @ 8am @ Herman High School 11 Jun Windsor, CT VR+C Museum 115 Pierson LN 13 Aug St Albans, VT STARC @ the VFW @ 8am 6 Aug Milo, ME PARC 8an @ Kiwanis Hall

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20 Aug Windsor ME AARA @ Fairgrounds @ 8am 28 Aug Adam,s MA NoBARC @ Bowe Field 28 Aug Newtown, CT CARA @ TownHall 17 Sep Forestdale RI RIAFMRS @VFW Hall 9-11 Sep. Boxboro, MA FEMARA NE Convention 10 Sep Windsor, CT VR+C Museum 115 Pierson LN 24 Sep Brookline, NH NEARC Antique @ Event Center 14,15 Oct Deerfield NH NEARfest XX @ Deerfield Fairgrounds 16 Oct Meriden, CT Nutmeg @Sheraton 29 Oct Gails Ferry ,CT TCARC @ Fire Company 12 Nov Bourne, MA FARA @ Upper CC VoTech 3 Dec Windsor, CT VR+C Mus

115 Pierson LN

BECOME AN ELMER and

help someone get into this

great hobby an guide them

through the exam study

process. You can do it!