The New England Amateur Radio Festival (NEAR-Fest III) at DEERFIELD
May 2nd and 3rd 2008
ALL radio enthusiasts are invited to attend the Spring 2008 convocation of NEAR-Fest II at the magnificent Deerfield New Hampshire Fairgrounds.
Gates open Friday 0900. Prepaid ticket holders admitted first. Admission is $10.00 per person ($5.00 Saturday after 0600) and $10.00 per vehicle (RVs, Campers, Trailers) $20.00) into the flea market. Ample free parking available outside the flea market.
Thursday night camp over and pre-hamfest get-together @ $20.00 per vehicle. Plan on joining us and help get the fun started early! Purchase advance tickets and vehicle passes by mail as well as at the Fairgrounds. We are pleased to welcome the Simadi Shriners back to Deerfield. Send check or money order to: NEAR-Fest, PO Box 511, Hartford VT 05047.
In addition to the hundreds of hams “tailgating” in the flea market there will be several educational forums, the traditional Friday night “Jam Session” and three buildings packed full of commercial vendors and dealers offering everything from the latest in radio equipment, books, accessories and who knows what else? You never know what treasures, old and new, you will find at Deerfield!
The Deerfield Fairgrounds is located on Route 43 approximately 15 miles NE of Manchester NH. Take Exit 3 off Highway 101 East and follow Highway 43 north to the fairgrounds. GPS coordinates: N42° 5’ 57.4” W71° 14’ 33.5” (Lat 43.099286 Lon -71.242663). Talk-in on K1JEK/RPT 146.700 MHz (-600 PL 88.5).
NOTE: The Deerfield Fair Association rules prohibit alcohol and open fires anywhere on the grounds. Charcoal grills, barbeques, gas grills are okay!
Full details are available on the official NEAR-Fest Web Site: www.near-fest.com
Don’t forget! BOXBORO August 23-24 2008 www.boxboro.org
Tentative Fall Dates: October 10th and 11th 2008
> From ARRL News http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/04/22/10059/
Antenna Expert L. B. Cebik, W4RNL (SK)
L. B. Cebik, W4RNL, ARRL Technical Adviser and antenna authority, passed away last week. He was 68. An ARRL Life Member, Cebik was known to many hams for the numerous articles he wrote on antennas and antenna modeling. He had articles published in most of the US ham journals, including QST, QEX, NCJ, CQ, Communications Quarterly, Ham Radio, 73, QRP Quarterly, Radio-Electronics and QRPp. Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, QEX Editor, called Cebik "probably the most widely published and often read author of Amateur Radio antenna articles ever to write on the subject."
Cebik lived in Knoxville, Tennessee and wrote more than a dozen books on antennas for both the beginner and the advanced student. Among his books are a basic tutorial in the use of NEC antenna modeling software and compilations of his many shorter pieces. A teacher for more than 30 years, Cebik was retired, but served as Professor Emeritus of philosophy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
One of Cebik's last articles for QST, "A New Spin on the Big Wheel," appeared in the March 2008 issue. The article, co-written with Bob Cerreto, WA1FXT, looked at a three dipole array for 2 meters. This was a follow-up to their article in the January/February issue of QEX that featured omnidirectional horizontally polarized antennas. Cebik authored the "Antenna Options" for QEX; his last column appears in the May/June 2008 issue.
Former ARRL Senior Assistant Technical Editor Dean Straw, N6BV, and editor of The ARRL Antenna Book, said, "LB will be greatly missed by the thousands of hams he's helped through his incredibly prolific -- and invariably proficient -- writing about antennas. LB helped me personally in numerous ways while I worked on antenna matters at the League, always communicating with a gentle, scholarly attitude and a real eye for detail. I'm in shock at the news of LB's passing. May his soul rest in peace."
Licensed since 1954, Cebik served as Technical Editor for antenneX Magazine. According to Jack L. Stone, publisher of antenneX, he had not heard from Cebik for a few days and became worried: "I called the Sheriff in Knoxville to go check on him since I hadn't heard from him in over 5 days, either e-mail or phone, which is highly unusual. The Sheriff [went to Cebik's house to check on him and] called back to tell me the sad, devastating news. As his publisher of books, monthly columns, feature articles and software/models for more than 10 years, we communicated almost daily during that span of time. Not hearing from him for that long was unusual, causing my concern. He was like family to me and was loved and respected by so many."
In a Web posting, Cebik fondly remembered his first QSO and how his father came to his rescue during his first contact: "I was licensed in 1954 as both a Novice and a Tech, since then you could take both exams in one session and privileges were separate. My calls were W1APS and WN1APS. I got on the air for the first time with a ham a couple of blocks away, an fine old timer. However, I got key fright half way through. My dad, James S. (Jim) Cebik, came to my rescue and finished the contact, although he had not touched key in over 20 years. Jim Cebik had been 1ATG and later W1BUK in the late 1920s and early 1930s (and wrote a few articles on his experiments). He gave up Amateur Radio when he married in the depression years; the cost of parts were high and family came first. In fact, he rarely mentioned Amateur Radio, and my entry was independent via some high school comrades and a cousin. But he had not forgotten his CW or key skills and saved me from embarrassment on that first day. I returned the favor by renewing his interest in Amateur Radio and about 1964, he was relicensed and obtained his old W1BUK call which he used for very many years. He died in 2002 in his high 90s."
Cebik maintained a Web site, www.cebik.com, a virtual treasure trove to anyone interested in antennas. Besides a few notes on the history of radio work and other bits that Cebik called "semi-technical oddities," the collection contains information of interest to radio amateurs and professionals interested in antennas, antenna modeling and related subjects, such as antenna tuners and impedance matching. Cebik said that his notes were "geared to helping other radio amateurs and antenna enthusiasts discover what I have managed to uncover over the years -- and then to go well beyond."
His Web site also contains information on antenna modeling. His book, Basic Antenna Modeling: A Hands-On Tutorial for Nittany-Scientific's NEC-Win Plus NEC-2 antenna modeling software, contains models in .NEC format for over 150 exercises. "Since the principles in the book apply to any modeling software," Cebik said, "I have also created the same exercise models in the EZNEC format. For more advanced modelers using either NEC-2 or NEC-4, I have prepared an additional volume, Intermediate Antenna Modeling: A Hands-On Tutorial, based on Nittany-Scientific's NEC-Win Pro and GNEC. The volume includes hundreds of antenna models used in the text to demonstrate virtually the complete command set (along with similarities and differences) used by both cores."
ARRL Contributing Editor H. Ward Silver, N0AX, said, "LB typified generosity. He was always developing material that was published widely. Furthermore, the quality of the articles and concepts was always high, but the writing was such that an audience with a wide range of technical backgrounds could understand it. His Web site is a Solomon's Treasure of solid antenna information -- available to all."
Wolfgang remembered Cebik, saying, "L. B. was an ARRL Technical Advisor, with expertise in antenna modeling and design. I learned that I could count on L. B. to offer clear, concise comments on any submitted article dealing with antennas. He was always a friendly voice on the other end of my phone line when I needed to talk to an expert, and I came to expect a quick e-mailed response to any antenna questions that I sent him. L. B. was so much more than an antenna author, though. He was one of the first ARRL Educational Advisors I ever had the pleasure of working with when I became editor of the ARRL study materials. He played a key role in helping develop the concept of online courses when ARRL began to study the idea of the Continuing Education program; his Antenna Modeling course has been one of the most popular offerings in the program. L. B. leaves a legacy of friendly advice and Amateur Radio wisdom. I will miss him as a friend and as an advisor."
In his Web reminisces, Cebik summed up his own life in Amateur Radio:
"My Dad was a part of my Novice beginning in Amateur Radio, and I strove to send CW with a straight key so that one could not tell it from a keyer. He remains a strong part of my effort. He noted that the ham spirit is to give, if needed, the shirt off one's back to a fellow ham and to expect -- not its return -- but rather that it be passed on to the next ham who needs it."
To all RI ARRL members:
The ARRL has announced recipients in their 2007 ARRL Foundation Scholarship Award program. I am very pleased to report that two Rhode Island Amateurs have been selected among the fifty seven deserving winners.
Mr. Adam DiLuglio, KB1LJR of Jamestown was chosen to receive one of the $500 awards in The Challenge Met Scholarship program.
Mr. Brian Earley, W1BWE of Cumberland was chosen to receive one of the $1000 Awards granted by the New England Federation of Eastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association.(FEMARA)
Congratulations Adam and Brian. We're very pleased for both of you. For more information on the ARRL Scholarship program, you may go to http://www.arrlf.org/programs/scholarship . Applications for the 2008 ARRL Scholarship program open on October 1st.
73, Bob Beaudet, W1YRC
*MONTGOMERY, Alabama* (AP) -- In the chaos after a tornado killed nine people in Enterprise, Alabama, emergency workers had trouble talking to one another because they tried to use their cell phones instead of the state's $18 million emergency communications upgrade, officials say.
"People were frustrated, but all they had to do was turn on their radios," state Homeland Security Director Jim Walker told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
Most police, firefighters and other emergency responders in Coffee County use Southern LINC Wireless phones and walkie-talkies for day-to-day communications.
But after the tornado struck on March 1, traffic on that system more than tripled "instantaneously," said Southern LINC's manager of radio frequency and construction, Clay Brogdon.
"It overwhelmed our network," Brogdon said.
Like most people, police and other rescue workers have gotten used to using cell phone technology, said Larry Walker, Coffee County deputy emergency management director.
"Because of our reliance on it, if it goes down you're in a quandary," Larry Walker said.
He said emergency workers eventually switched from cell phones to radios "and that system worked fine."
The problems in Enterprise show how dependent society has become on cell phones, said Rosanna Guadagno, a social psychology professor at the University of Alabama.
"Humans tend to be creatures of habit and our habit these days is the cell phone. It's disabling when technology we have come to rely on is not available to us," Guadagno said.
For years, law enforcement agencies in Alabama struggled with different radio systems that often would not allow officers in one city to talk to police in the next town or even to their own fire department.
In an effort to fix that problem, the Alabama Department of Homeland Security used $18 million from a federal grant in 2004 to buy equipment that would bridge the gaps between various radio systems.
Brogdon said the Southern LINC cell phone tower in the area stayed in service throughout the emergency and Enterprise never completely lost service. He said many callers were unable to get through because so many people were trying to use the system.
On Monday, February 26th, at 8:00 p.m. a new net will begin. This net will be called the ARES Tactical Net. Its purpose will be to provide a very easy and enjoyable way for new radio amateurs to start using their radios. This net is planned for the 2nd and 4th Monday of every month. It will not occur on significant holidays.
The primary goal will be to provide a place for CERT volunteers to move their ham radio skills to the airwaves. But all new or inexperienced hams are very welcome.
Of course there will be discussion of emergency nets, how they run, what you want to say to them, and how you convey information from shelters or other places during an activation. But there will also be discussions of how to hold the microphone, how to increase the distance you can reach with a handheld, etc.
One of the neatest parts of the FCC rules for Amateur Radio Operators is to ‘get on the air and talk.’ They also refer to this talk as “unimportant” and of “no consequence.” Sounds like me on the air. But there is a very deep importance to this directive! If you get on the air and go “blah blah blah,” when Rhode Island needs you, you’ll be prepared and comfortable with your radio!! Hopefully everyone can remember this directive and have a good time. That’s also why it’s great to overhear conversations on repeaters that are absolutely unimportant and of no significance whatsoever. It means that hams are working hard on the FCC directive.
Perhaps we can attain this lofty directive and also sneak in a few pointers and helpful hints as we go along.
Steven Hodell (KA1RCI) has enthusiastically endorsed this new net and has offered his repeaters for this effort.
We will start with the following repeaters:
147.075 positive offset with a PL tone of 67.0
for access Portsmouth
441.350 positive offset with a PL tone of 103.5
for access Providence
All ARES members who consider themselves to be mentors (I think that’s everybody) are also welcome to monitor the net and to participate. This will also be a great opportunity to try out some net control skills.
Another internet site to follow on this matter is http://www.arrlri.org/ . Thanks to Mark (W1EOF) for keeping us informed on this site.
Finally, not all new hams will receive this e-mail. Please forward this note to those who can benefit from getting on the air for the first time.
Also glad to answer any questions along the way.
73s
Bill (W1VH) W1VH@cox.net
