Utah Amateur Radio Club

News About UARC and Ham Radio in Utah

Mysterious HF signal near 7033 kHz New Beam Antenna at Leamington 2022 License Classes in Orem On-Line License Classes Starting in January FCC Proposes New License Fees New Procedure to Get an “Official Copy” of a License ————Accounts of Past Events———— Ham Radio Exempted from Possible New Law Pre-ordering Handbook and Antenna Book Photos from 2019 Homebrew Night UARC Field Day Results Ray Larsen, W7NMK, SK New Amateur Radio Club in Murray Beware the ST-7900D Transceiver! 2018 Utah Field Day Scores Photos from 2018 Homebrew Night UARC 2018 Field Day Results Utah 2017 Field Day Results UARC Field Day Results for 2017 DX Links as provided by Bob Carter, WR7Q Photos from Homebrew Night 2016 Amateur Radio Parity Act Passes House of Representatives Fall Work on UARC Repeaters Photos of Recent Repeater Work 2016 Field Day Results for Utah 2015 Field Day Scores for Utah Stations Photos from 2015 Homebrew Night UARC 2015 Field Day Results Bob Bruninga's Talk is Online NM7P Reelected as Section Manager Off the Grid Slides are Available Turning Off the Yaesu WIRES Mode   Trip to Scotts' Hill Repeater Site Photos from Field Day 2013 Pictures from Lake Mountain Excursion Web Site Gets New Look

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Mysterious HF signal near 7033 kHz, real-world group direction finding exercise

A mysterious, apparently unidentified and illegal signal has been on the air near 7033 kHz (in the 40-meter band CW portion) for over five weeks, from around March 3rd to now (April 13th, 2022). Group discussion about this signal includes several UARC members such as myself KK7DV as well as KA7OEI, NG7M, KR1P, WA7X and others, especially since the signal can be heard well in Utah, day and night, and might even originate in Utah. Triangulation efforts have not yet narrowed down the location of the transmission.

Read more about (and participate in) ongoing efforts to track down this mysterious signal here in the QRZ and CWOPS discussion forums for example:
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/carrier-on-7033-khz-for-3-weeks.808535/
https://cwops.groups.io/g/main/topic/90293826 (requires joining CWOPS group)

You can probably listen to this continuous mystery signal using a WebSDR, day or night as long as it continues:
http://websdr4.sdrutah.org:8904/index1a.html?tune=7032.28cw

[UPDATE: Signal is off the air as of Tue 4/19, see the discussion links above.]

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New Beam at Leamington

As of Friday, October 29th, 2021, UARC's remotely-controlled station near the town of Leamington has three antennas available to its users. In addition to the G5RV and the end-fed half-wave, there is now a rotatable log-periodic antenna which has forward gain in the neigborhood of 6 dB over a dipole. It can be used on 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meters. Some DX has already been worked on the 17-meter band.

For more information about the new antenna, and the remote station in general, see http://user.xmission.com/~uarc/HFRemote.html. The station is available to any UARC member holding a General class or higher license.

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License Classes Offered in Orem

The 2022 Schedule for the Orem Ham Radio Courses follows. Each course is $10 per person, and will be held only in person. Please register at psclass.orem.org

License Class	Day	Dates	Times
Technician	Four Tuesdays	Jan 18, Jan 25, Feb 1, Feb 8	6:30 to 8:30 pm MST
General	Four Tuesdays	Mar 22, Mar 29, Apr 5, Apr 12	6:30 to 8:30 pm MDT
Extra	Five Tuesdays	Jul 12, Jul 19, Jul 26, Aug 2, Aug 9	6:30 to 9:30 pm MDT
Technician	Four Tuesdays	Sep 20, Sep 27, Oct 4, Oct 11	6:30 to 8:30 pm MDT

These are homework courses; you'll be expected to complete an assignment (and email me the results) by the start of every class period, even the first one. No course textbooks are required. Then again, these courses will be casual, hands-on, and fun for those who remain awake.

Please contact Noji (nojiratz@hotmail.com or 801-368-1865) with any questions about the courses.

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On-Line Classes Starting in January

UARC President, Morris Farmer, AD7SR, will be conducting on-line classes in January for those seeking Technician or General class licenses. The classes will meet weekly. The Technician class will begin on Monday, January 17, and meet on following Mondays. The General class will begin on Wednesday, January 19, and continue on Wednesdays following.

To sign up and get further information and instructions, send email to Morris at AD7SR@arrl.net

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FCC Changes “Official License Copy” Procedure

The FCC has announced changes in the procedure for amateurs to get printed “Official Copies” of their licenses. The following message has appeared on the FCC web site at https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/systems-utilities/universal-licensing-system.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to provide an email address on their license application(s), which will trigger the electronic issuance of an official copy of their license(s) to the email provided upon application grant. Per the timing specified in Rulemaking FCC 20-126, the FCC will no longer print, and Licensees will no longer be able to request, hard copy license authorizations sent by mail.

It is still possible for anyone to get a file that can be used to print the “Official Copy” of his license by using his FRN and password to log into the FCC's system at https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp. It is not clear if the Commision will also maintain this path.

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FCC Proposes New Fees

The FCC has proposed new fees for certain kinds of filing. The proposal was released on August 26. There would be a fee of $50 which would apply to applications for new licenses, vanity callsigns, renewals, and requests to receive a printed license. The proposal, released on August 26, 2020, is part of MD Docket No. 20-270, but also identified as “DA/FCC #; 20-116.” Details can be found at https://www.fcc.gov/document/amendment-schedule-applications-fees.

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Possible New Law Adds Amendment Favorable to Hams

A bill, HB-101, was recently introduced into the Utah House of Representatives with the intent of outlawing the use of hand-held phones and similar devices while driving a vehicle. Unfortunately, it could have been interpreted to outlaw the use of amateur mobile stations. Section Manager Mel Parkes, NM7P, recently sent to all Utah ARRL members the following announcement:

Great News! Representative Carol Spackman-Moss to amend HB101 to exclude 2-way Radio.

Many Utah HAM radio operators have been closely following with concern HB 101, a bill targeting Utah’s Distracted Drivers. The ARRL and two-way radio community are deeply concerned about the problems caused by distracted drivers; however, the initial wording of H.B. 101 would have “outlawed” the use of hand-held held two-way radio microphones. The ARRL proposed an amendment to HB 101 to exclude two-way radio operations. Many of you have been actively contacting your legislators in support of this amendment.

As of 9:30 this morning [February 10] the ARRL is reliably informed that the bill’s sponsor, Representative Carol Spackman-Moss has heard our concerns, chosen to work with us, and will be amending her bill to accept the ARRL's suggested amendment, which exempts wireless devices operating under FCC parts 97, 95, and 90, prior to the bill reaching the House floor.

The ARRL wants to thank and commend Representative Carol Spackman-Moss for her prompt attention to and accommodation of our concerns. We all need to actively encourage this type of positive response on the part of all legislators.

Those that may have already contacted their legislator are encouraged to follow-up to thank their representative for their attention and support, and to let them know that we all can” now support HB 101 as amended to exempt two-way radio”.

The ARRL would also like to thanks its members and affiliated clubs, UT VHF Society members, and the entire Utah HAM radio and two-way radio community that have contacted legislators and otherwise help out on this issue.

The amendment has been introduced in the House and reads as follows:

(iii) “Handheld wireless communication device” does not include a two-way radio device described in 47 C.F.R. Parts 90, 95, or 97.

Our thanks go out to Mel and to Jay Brummett, W7WJB, the Governmental Liason for the ARRL Utah Section. Jay is also the speaker at the upcoming March UARC meeting.

There is no guarantee that HB 101 will be voted into law. Similar bills have been introduced and failed for several years. You can follow the bill's progress at https://le.utah.gov/~2020/bills/static/HB0101.html. A link to the amendment (“House Floor Amendment 1”) can be found along the right-hand side of the page.

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Pre-ordering Handbook and Antenna Book

UARC Members ——

With the release of the latest ARRL Handbook and Antenna Book, we are offering a special pre-paid order discount. Purchase either of these titles at the November meeting for a 10% discount off the ARRL list price. This is in addition to the regular free shipping and no UT sales tax that applies to all purchases from the book table.

These are the titles available for the additional 10% discount:

ARRL Handbook 2020 97th Ed. (Softcover, 1280 pages): The ARRL Handbook is your guide to radio experimentation, discovery, and innovation. Item No. 1076 - $49.95 — UARC PRICE $44.95

ARRL Handbook 2020 97th Ed. (Six-Vol. Book Set), Six-volumes (1280 pages): The ARRL Handbook, is divided into six softcover volumes shrink-wrapped together (no box). Item No. 1137 - $59.95 — UARC PRICE $53.95

ARRL Antenna Book 24th Ed. (Softcover, 1024 pages): The ARRL Antenna Book covers antenna theory, design, and practical treatments and projects. Item No. 1113 - $49.95 — UARC PRICE $44.95

ARRL Antenna Book 24th Ed. (Boxed Set, 1024 pages), Limited Edition! The ARRL Antenna Book is divided into four volumes and included in a hard slipcase box. Item No. 1144 - $64.95 — UARC PRICE $58.45

All four books include a unique download code to install a fully-searchable digital edition of the book.

Orders will be available for pickup at the December UARC meeting on 12 December.

— Rick Gregory, KG7GOW
    UARC Bookseller

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UARC's 2019 Field Day Entry

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the club's entry in the national Field Day non-contest, last June 22 and 23. Our score wasn't quite as high as last year, but at least was in the same general ball park. Thanks to those who put in hours operating and those who pitched in for setup and teardown.

A special thanks should go to our Vice-President, Bruce Fereday, KF7OZK, who managed the food preparation for both Field Day and the Steak-Fry.

Mark June 27 and 28 on your calendar for next year. We could use more operators, someone to set up an information table, and someone to send out press releases. If you've never been to a Field Day entry before, give it a try!

UARC 2019 Field Day Contacts and Scoring
(2018 Values in Green)

Band	CW		DIG		SSB		Total
80	65	(117)	18	(—)	104	(111)	187	(228)
40	15	(17)			555	(766)	570	(783)
20	597	(534)	15	(—)	195	(187)	907	(721)
6			11	(—)			11	(—)
Total Contacts	677	(668)	44	(—)	854	(1064)	1675	(1732)
Contact Points	1354	(1336)	88	(—)	854	(1064)	2296	(2400)
Power Mult	X2						4592	(4800)
Bonus Points	Emergency Power:			300
	Media Publicity			—
	Message Origination			100
	Natural Power			100
	W1AW Bulletin			100
	Educational Activity			100
	Safety Officer			100
	Social Media			100
	Web Submission			50
Total Bonus				950	(1050)
Grand Total							5542	(5850)

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New Amateur Radio Club Forming in Murray

Dan, N7XDL, tells us that there is a new club forming in the Salt Lake valley aimed particularly at those near Murray. Dan writes:

The Murray Amateur Radio Club is open to all amateurs, living in Murray Utah or not. Founded by Dan (N7XDL), the club meets monthly on the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM at the Murray Fire Station 83, 484 W 5900 S, in the EOC downstairs. In addition, the club meets every Thursday (same time and place) for a training meeting intended to get new hams up to speed on radios, radio technology, and how to communicate. The club also runs a weekly net on Sundays at 8:00 PM on the Ensign Peak repeater at 147.16 MHz tone 127.3. The club supports Murray City's emergency services and disaster response team with supplemental communications. Our webpage is at https://www.murrayarc.org/.

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Ray Larsen, SK

It is with great regret that we note the passing of Ray Larsen, W7NMK, on Thursday, April 11. Ray was 98 years old, possibly the oldest ham in Utah.

Ray got his first license in 1933 at age 12, and stayed active in the hobby for virtually his whole life. He served in the military during World War II, and on his return used his electronics skill to get a job at Standard Supply Company.

He helped organize hams to provide communications for the new “Civil Defense” organization at the end of the war.

Ray was a great friend to UARC through much of his life. He created the name of our publication, The Microvolt, in the late 1940's and served on the UARC Board of Directors for many years. He frequently found electronic items he could give away for door prizes at club meetings.

Last December he attended the UARC Officers' Christmas get-together and was amazingly alert for a 98-year-old.

Ray's obituary can be found here.

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Problems with the ST-7900D

An inexpensive four-band mobile rig called the “SocoTran ST-7900D” has recently appeared on the market. Four bands and 25 watts for $60 to $80 sounds attractive. But beware. Clint Turner, KA7OEI, put his spectrum analyzer to work and found that the rig has serious problems with spurious emissions. The “four-band” part is also a bit misleading as one of the frequency ranges does not contain any U.S. amateur bands.

The harmonic content of this transceiver is so bad that it does not meet minimum FCC requirements on two meters or the 222-MHz band. Clint was actually able to key up a 70-cm repeater while “officially” transmitting on two meters! The second and third harmonics were only 23 dB down from the fundamental. (The FCC requirement is 60 dB! See 97.307(e).) On the 222-MHz band it's a little better: 42 dB down, but still well below the legal requirement. The lone low-pass filter in the rig does keep harmonics under the wire for the 420 MHz band, but operation on the other two bands will guarantee that you can be heard on frequencies where you should not be, and that you are out of compliance with FCC rules.

See Clint's full report at www.utahvhfs.org. Scroll down to the ST-7900 headline.

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Utah Field Day Results for 2018

The results are in! ARRL published scores in the annual Field Day operating event (which some might call a contest) in the December issue of QST magazine, a month later than in the last several years. UARC had the second best raw score among entries from Utah, with the highest going to the Davis County Amateur Radio Club. UARC also came in second in percentile within its operating class (3A) among other portable stations.

Below are the results directly from the ARRL database, arranged in order of total score.

2018 Utah Field Day Entries in Order of Raw Score
#	Call	Score	Category	QSOs	Power Mult	GOTA Call	Section	Participants	Club
1	K7DAV	7,258	4A	2,072	2	N7CN	UT	55	Davis Co. ARC
2	W7SP	5,950	3A	1,732	2		UT	53	Utah ARC
3	K7UVA	5,212	3A	1,520	2	K7GSL	UT	60	UT Valley ARC
4	K7KC	5,192	1D	1,570	2		UT	4	(GSL Contest Club)
5	K7UM	4,134	2A	1,057	2		UT	13	UT DXA
6	W7RCH	2,540	1F	424	2		UT	20	Cottonwood Heights ARC
7	K7CAR	2,308	1B1	1,029	2		UT	1
8	W7BAR	1,884	4A	367	2		UT	35	Basin ARC
9	W7DRC	1,842	2F	317	2	NA7UT	UT	23	Dixie ARC
10	W7SU	1,312	2A	405	2		UT	20	Ogden ARC
11	AG7GX	1,048	4A	26	2		UT	13	Cedar Hills Utah LDS Stake
12	KB6UNC	980	1D	318	2		UT	1
13	K7BSK	728	1A	207	2		UT	12	Skyline RC
14	K7BWC	614	1C	232	2		UT	1
15	W7SAG	580	1B1B	43	5		UT	1
16	K7EA	458	1E	77	2		UT	1
17	W7S	416	2F	19	2		UT	2	Sandy ARC
18	K7RFW	384	1E	48	2		UT	1
19	WI7J	376	2C	63	2		UT	2
20	W6MJS	338	1E	73	2		UT	1
21	W7DBA	330	1E	40	2		UT	1
22	KB0LQJ	325	1B1B	15	5		UT	1
23	WA0PFC	282	1E	66	2		UT	1
24	K7UB	248	3F	89	2		UT	19	Golden Spike ARC
25	KF7WGL	206	1B1	28	2		UT	1
26	K7DBN	186	1D	45	2		UT	1
27	N7GTE	173	1D	123	1		UT	1
28	W0JTC	134	1D	67	2		UT	1
29	WA7BME	126	1B1	19	2		UT	1
30	K7PCB	124	1E	26	2		UT	1
31	KI7DNO	72	1D	1	2		UT	1

It is not really fair to use raw score to compare a station with 50 operators and three 100-watt stations to a one-operator, five-watt, battery-operated setup. A better scheme is to use “percentile” to compare a station's score only to others within its own entry class. Percentile for a particular station is the percentage of entries in its class that had lower scores than it did. For example K7CAR in the table below came in 10th place among the 125 stations that entered in the 1B1 class (one-operator portable stations). That means 115 stations had lower scores than he did, putting him in the 92nd percentile.

We can't resist calling attention to the entry of WI7J, James Cowley, from Ivins. He operated in the 2C class — two transmitter mobile. (How do you do that?) He made the top 2C score in the nation, but since there was only one other 2C entry, that put him in the 50th percentile.

2018 Utah Portable Stations In order of percentile within class)
Call	Score	QSO's	Place	Of (entries)	Percentile	Percentile 2017	Class	Club
K7CAR	2308	1029	10	125	92.0	—	1B1
W7SP	5950	1732	34	346	90.2	88.5	3A	Utah ARC
K7DAV	7258	2072	15	137	89.1	80.4	4A	Davis Co. ARC
K7UVA	5212	1520	41	346	88.2	79.5	3A	UT Valley ARC
K7UM	4134	1057	49	328	85.1	99.7	2A	UT DXA
K7BWC	614	232	10	43	76.7	—	1C
WI7J	376	63	1	2	50.0	—	2C
W7SAG	580	43	62	119	47.9	—	1B1B
W7BAR	1884	367	92	137	32.9	—	4A	Borderline ARC
W7SU	1312	405	229	328	30.2	32.1	2A	Ogden ARC
K7BSK	728	207	97	135	28.2	—	1A	Skyline RC
KF7WGL	206	28	96	125	23.2	—	1B1
KB0LQJ	325	15	96	119	19.3	—	1B1B
WA7BME	126	19	114	125	8.8	41.2	1B1
AG7GX	1048	26	129	137	5.8	—	4A	Cedar Hills Stake

2018 Utah Fixed Stations (In order of percentile within class)
Call	Score	QSO's	Place	Of (entries)	Percentile	2017 Percentile	Class	Club
K7KC	5192	1570	2	616	99.7	—	1D	(GSL Contest Club)
KB6UNC	980	318	45	616	92.7	94.0	1D
W7RCH	2540	424	3	32	90.6	93.3	1F	Cottonwood Heights ARC
W7DRC	1842	317	25	72	65.3	70.6	2F	Dixie ARC
K7EA	448	77	128	270	52.6	—	1E
K7DBN	186	45	316	616	48.7	—	1D
N7GTE	173	123	333	616	45.9	—	1D
K7RFW	384	48	148	270	45.2	59.9	1E
W6MJS	338	73	167	270	38.2	—	1E
W7DBA	330	40	170	270	37.0	—	1E
W0JTC	134	67	391	616	36.5	66.8	1D
WA0PFC	282	66	183	270	32.2	—	1E
KI7DNO	72	1	514	616	16.6	—	1D
W7S	416	19	68	72	5.6	39.1	2F	Sandy ARC
K7PCB	124	26	255	270	5.6	41.0	1E
K7UB	248	89	37	38	2.6	—	3F	Golden Spike ARC

Explanation of Entry Classes The initial number in an entry class is the number of simultanous transmitters used. For example UARC entered in the 3A class, so used three transmitters. After the initial number is a letter indicating the type of entry: A: Club or Group portable station B: One- or two-operator portable station C: Mobile station D: Home station using commercial power E: Home station using emergency power F: Station at an Emergency Operating Center (EOC). A class B entry may have a “1” or “2” after the letter. The number indicates the number of operators. A final “B” after the number of operators indicates battery power.

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UARC 2018 Field Day Results

Thanks to all who came out and helped with UARC's 2018 entry in the national “Field Day” event near Payson Lakes. Things went reasonably well with the only panic moment happening when the generator needed oil and we had none on hand. Thanks to N7FOD who came to the rescue.

We did only slightly worse than in 2017, making about 100 fewer contacts on SSB and about 100 more on CW. We had no digital contacts this year so that made the total contact points lower. That was partially compensated for by finding 100 more bonus points than last year. We won't know how our score compares to other groups in Utah and the nation until about November when the final scores are released and published.

Below is a tabulation of our score by band and mode that might offer clues on how we can improve next year.

UARC 2018 Field Day Contacts and Scoring
(2017 Values in Green)

Band	CW		DIG		SSB		Total
80	117	(110)			111	(141)
40	17	(—)			766	(938)
20	534	(458)	—	(101)	187	(78)
15			—	(7)	—	—
6					—	(2)
Total Contacts	668	(568)	—	(108)	1064	(1159)	1732	(1757)
Contact Points	1336	(1136)	—	(216)	1064	(1159)	2400	(2511)
Power Mult	X2						4800	(5022)
Bonus Points	Emergency Power:			300
	Public Information Table			100
	Media Publicity			100
	Message Origination			100
	Natural Power			100
	W1AW Bulletin			100
	Educational Activity			100
	Safety Officer			100
	Social Media			100
	Web Submission			50
Total Bonus				1150	(1050)
Grand Total							5950	(6072)

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Utah Field Day Results for 2017

The results are in! We now know the scores of those stations who operated in the national Field Day contest (aka “operating event”) held last June 24 and 25. We were happy to see that UARC had the best raw score. This has not happened very often!

Below are the results directly from the ARRL database, arranged in order of total score.

2017 Utah Field Day Entries in Order of Raw Score
#	Call	Score	Cate- gory	QSOs	Pwr	GOTA Call	Sec.	Partici- pants	Club
1	W7SP	6,172	3A	1,835	2		UT	98	Utah ARC
2	K7DAV	4,504	3A	944	2	N7CN	UT	44	(Davis Co. ARC)
3	K7UM	4,456	1D	1,426	2		UT	3	(Utah DX Assn.)
4	K7UVA	4,236	3A	1,237	2	K7GSL	UT	55	(Utah Valley ARC)
5	N7U	3,452	5A	637	2		UT	75	Rainbow Canyons ARC
6	WA7LNW	3,336	2D	1,229	2		UT	2
7	W7RCH	2,642	1F	432	2		UT	16	Cottonwood Heights ARC
8	W7IVM	2,570	5A	703	2		UT	60	Bridgerland ARC
9	NN7ZZ	1,942	1B1	423	2		UT	1	(West Lea Contest Club)
10	W7DRC	1,882	3AC	551	2		UT	8	Dixie ARC
11	AD7KG	1,866	1B1	480	2		UT	1
12	KI7EWG	1,368	2A	59	2		UT	15	Draper Ham Radio Assn
13	KB6UNC	1,282	1D	470	2		UT	1
14	WR7Q	1,204	1B1	291	2		UT	1
15	W7S	1,134	2F	157	2		UT	40	Sandy ARC
16	N7XJ	1,122	1D	268	2		UT	1
17	KI7BEQ	1,010	2AB	32	5		UT	6	UHAM
18	K7DLX	804	2E	177	2		UT	3
19	W7SU	758	2AC	207	2		UT	18	Ogden ARC
20	K7RFW	690	1E	101	2		UT	1
21	K7PDW	560	1E	46	5		UT	1
22	KZ7ZUL	500	1D	125	2		UT	1
23	K0ESX	400	1B1B	50	5		UT	1
24	AF7HJ	344	1B1	97	2		UT	1
25	W0JTC	306	1D	128	2		UT	1
26	K4UB	176	1D	35	2		UT	2
27	WA7BME	138	1D	29	2		UT	1
28	K7PCB	138	1D	22	2		UT	1
29	K7GMX	118	1B2C	34	2		UT	2
30	K7OJL	78	1D	12	2		UT	1
31	KI7KSN	74	1D	12	2		UT	1
(Club names are shown in parentheses if the call belongs to a club but the club name was not shown in the ARRL listing.)

Of course it may not seem fair to compare folks operating three simultaneous transmitters and having enough operators to keep them all going through the night, to a station with one lone operator running QRP on batteries. Perhaps a more fair way to compare different sized operations is to look at the percentile of each entry within its entry class. (Percentile is the percentage of those in the same entry class that got lower scores than the one being rated.) Below we have entries listed in percentile order.

As an example of how percentile works, look at NN7ZZ below. They entered in class 1B1 (one transmitter portable with one operator). There were a total of 102 stations across the country entered in that class. NN7ZZ was 10th of the 102. That means that 102 - 10 or 92 of the entries had a lower score than NN7ZZ, so NN7ZZ's percentile is 92/102 or 90.2%.

Utah 2017 Portable Stations (in order of percentile within class)
Plc	Call	Class	Score	QSOs	Place	out of	Pctl	Pctl 2016	Group or Club Name

Utah 2017 Fixed Stations (in order of percentile within class)
Plc	Call	Class	Score	QSOs	Place	out of	Pctl	Pctl 2016	Group or Club Name

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UARC Field Day Results for 2017

[06-11-17]
Thanks to all who attended UARC's Field Day entry over June 24 and 25. New this year was a number of digital contacts that count for twice the number of points each as phone contacts. There were a few problems with six-meter antenna, a Vee antenna that wasn't really a Vee, RFI into the logging network, and poor performance of the smaller Yagi on 20 meters.

Nevertheless, things turned out fairly well. We made about 200 more total contacts than last year (although not quite as many as 2015) and qualified for more bonus points than in recent years thanks to efforts by Chuck Johnson, WA7JOS, and Mary Jelf, KG7QNG.

Below is our scoring as submitted. As we write this, one day before the submission deadline, there have been 23 Utah stations that submitted entries. We won't know how we compared to others until the results come out on the ARRL web site, probably next November.

UARC 2017 Field Day Contacts and Scoring
(2016 Values in Green)

Band	CW		DIG		SSB		Total
80	110	(—)			141	(160)
40		(471)			938	(544)
20	458	(226)	101		78	(95)
15	—	(—)	7		—	—
6	—	(—)			2	(22)
Total Contacts	568	(697)	108		1159	(832)	1757	(1529)
Contact Points	1136	(1394)	216		1159	(832)	2511	(2226)
Power Mult	X2						5022	(4452)
Bonus Points	Emergency Power:			300
	Public Information Table			100
	Media Publicity			100
	Message Origination			100
	Natural Power			100
	W1AW Bulletin			100
	Educational Activity			100
	Safety Officer			100
	Web Submission			50
Total Bonus				1050	(970)
Grand Total							6072	(5422)

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DX Links from WR7Q Now Online

[01-14-17]
Bob Carter, WR7Q, gave us an interesting presentation on DX at the UARC meeting on January 12. His list of helpful links for DXing is available at http://user.xmission.com/~uarc/wr7q.html.

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Parity Act Passes House or Representatives

[09-13-16]
On Tuesday, September 13, the “Amateur Radio Parity Act,” a bill intended to solve the problem of home owners associations disallowing amateur antennas, passed the U.S. House of Representatives. This was a significant triumph after years of attempts. ARRL members received the following letter:

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Fall Work on UARC Repeaters

[10-07-16]     by Clint Turner, KA7OEI

Scotts' Hill Get's New Battery: Several weeks ago Scotts’ Hill was the destination of one of our Wednesday Night Hikes — but there was an ulterior motive: Recent telemetry — and the power bill — indicated that something was amiss as the room was noticeably hotter than before and the power bill higher. Upon arriving and entering the building, we found it to be very noticeably warm, the cause being two-fold: The ventilation fan's bushings had seized, locking its rotor, and one of the nine 12-volt batteries was bulging, smelling of sulfur and very hot to the touch.

The immediate remedy was to unplug the fan and remove the defective battery from the circuit. This had the immediate effect of allowing the building to cool down, but it spelled out another need: To replace the battery bank as soon as possible since some of these batteries — which were pulls from a 300 kVA UPS — were well over a decade old and had been in service at Scotts since 2009.

The replacement was available, but presented a difficulty: Some years ago Bryan, W7CBM, approached the club noting that a fairly new set of “station” cells had been abandoned. These cells, “float charged” since that time, were much less than halfway through their 25-year lifetime and were good candidates for installation. There was one problem: each 6-volt module of three cells weighed well over 800 pounds! Getting them onto the mountain and over the 8-inch door threshold would be a challenge.

With the weather rapidly changing — and the uncertain state of the current battery bank — the pressure was on, but Bryan and his friend and co-worker, Randy, got to work. Borrowing a hoist they were able to lift the modules up, stand them on end and bolt them together. On the day of the installation a portable gantry was set up to put it into Randy's one-ton truck and a myriad of straps used to secure it into place.

On the way to the mountaintop, another two of Bryan's friends joined the caravan and we made our way up the canyon, onto the access road, and up the mountain. Around us, clouds swirled about the higher peaks, occasionally enveloping us in fog while cold wind blew and the snowfall forecast for that altitude seemed to be delayed.

Arriving on site we removed the old battery bank, set up the tall hoist and gantry, lifted the battery bank so that the truck could drive out from under the battery and so that we could attach a set of casters to it. Once on the ground, the smaller gantry was set up, straddling the doorway, allowing us maneuver the 3/4 ton battery through the doorway, over the threshold, and into the building. From that point on, it was just a matter of wheeling it into position, reconnecting the battery, and checking that it was functioning.

Approximately two and a half hours after arriving, we headed off again, down to the valley but just two hours after that, the very strong weather front — the one that spawned several tornadoes and funnel clouds — struck the area and doused the mountains with rain and snow: We were glad that mother nature had delayed 16 hours or so to allow us to complete the project!

—•••—

Some Surprising Work on the '62 Receiver: A couple of months ago we were notified by Randy (K7SL) that we needed to work on the receiver at the Farnsworth Peak (146.620) site –– but the problem was not what one might expect: The “repair” would need a chain saw.

When the receive site –– some 400 feet away from the transmitter –– was placed in the early 1980s, it was on a (more or less) barren ridge, located distantly to better remove it from the noise from the many broadcast transmitters atop the peak. In the 35 or so years since it was installed, it seems as though some sort of wild brush managed to establish a foothold on the ridge and now it had grown to the point where it had made it difficult to access the equipment box and was now taller than the bottom of the receive antenna itself.

Wielding a chainsaw, a bow-saw, and “loppers,” Gordon and I spent a few hours cutting back the wild brush, gradually re-exposing the rocky ridge and, once again, the ability to just walk up to the base of the tower.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, we also checked the performance of the receiver and noted that it was working as well as it had when last checked a few years ago, but we did find that the coaxial cable had been “nibbled” on by a rodent or deer at some point, exposing a short section of braid and center dielectric. Disconnecting the coax jumper and checking its loss we could see that, although water had gotten into it at some point, its loss was negligible so we re-routed the coax to the center of the tower –– more out-of-reach from larger animals –– and put several layers of tape over the damaged section, awaiting replacement on a future trip.

See also: More Photos.

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2016 Field Day Report for Utah Stations

[11-22-16]
During November, ARRL published the results of the annual Field Day Operating Event, held last June. Utah's entries in this “non-contest” included 20 from portable and mobile stations and seven from fixed stations including one emergency operating center (EOC). UARC was the top scorer with 5422 points, even though that was somewhat less than last year's 6954 (which was not the top score in that year).

Raw score, though, is probably not the best way to compare success in different entry classes. It is pretty likely that a station with three 100-watt stations will make more contacts than one using a single QRP transmitter on battery power. The best way we have discovered to compare stations in different entry classes is to calculate the percentile each station achieved within the list of other stations across the country in its same operating class. We have made that calculation in the table below.

Using this scheme among the portable and mobile entries, UARC comes in second (with a percentile of 89.0) to WR7Q, Bob Carter, whose single-transmitter, single-operator operation achieved a percentile of 92.3 in the 1B1 class.

The top portable station did even better with a 96.3 percentile. This station was that of the W7RCH operated by the Cottonwood Heights Amateur Radio Club at the Cottonwood Heights EOC. However their competition was a bit less stiff with only 27 stations in the whole country having entered the 1F category (one transmitter in an EOC).

Below is our percentile tabulation. We have included last year's value for those stations which also operated in 2015. Using UARC as an example of how to read the table, we were 36th place among 326 stations that entered the 3A class. This means that 290 3A stations had lower scores than UARC, so 290/326 gives 0.88957. Rounding to three signifiant figures we get a percentile of 89.0.

Utah 2016 Field Day Scores
 

Call	Class	Score	QSOs	Place	out of	Pctl	Pctl 2015	Group or Club Name

Fixed Stations (in order of percentile)
Call	Class	Score	QSOs	Place	out of	Pctl	Pctl 2014