April 4, 2019 Club Meeting
Thursday, April 4, 2019 at 7:00 PM Medford Police Department Community Room, 219 S. Ivy St., Medford, OR
Program: Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Tracking, Scott Cummings, NA7OM
This program will be about tracking down (finding) and reducing or eliminating Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) around your ham station.
Announced in the April 2019 issue of The Repeater.
Meeting Notes
From the May 2019 issue of The Repeater.
2019-04-04 RVARC Meeting Minutes
Meeting was begun at 7pm by Vicepresident Scott Cummings, NA7OM. About 18 people were in attendance.
President John Laybourne asked to resign some days prior to the meeting to attend to family health care needs. Treasurer Mike Bach had to leave for some medical tests, but later relayed the treasurers report: Bank balance of $5025.08 + $76.90 in petty cash. Scott mentioned that the RVARC has been active since 1936 and wanted to see more participation from the members to help keep the club active for years to come.
The permit for 7QP at Agate Lake was completed, and a thank-you was given to Jill at the County Parks & Rec Dept. for helpfulness. Scott stated that the premise for Field Day was emergency preparation trials, and looking back, it was recalled that Bud Larson, K7LNG, spent the 1955 Field Day in a pup-tent with a 200 pound radio. Radios have certainly changed since then.
So far, no place has been decided upon for 2019 Field Day. Another possible Field Day location that could be researched was a property off hwy 140 near Kershaw Rd.
7:13pm, Presentation by Tom McDermott, N5EG, on HamSci 2019 held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. on March 22-23. Cleveland is also known for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Cuyahoga River, which due to pollution, last caught fire in 1969, the 13th time since 1868! This is the second year of HamSci, which was started by Dr. Nathaniel Frissel, W2NAF. There were talks by NJIT, MIT, Haystack observatory, K9LA, N0AX, and others. And there were tours of the Case Amateur Radio Club, W8EDU, located in the CWRU Engineering Building. Some talks were at the CWRU think[box], a six-story makerspace, with an amazing complement of prototyping and fabrication equipment. More info can be found at hamsci.org/hamsci2019
7:28pm, Break for snacks and visiting.
7:54pm Presentation by Scott Cummings, NA7OM, on RFI and combating station interference. Some good tips on tracking down and eliminating RFI at your station were presented:
- Get knowledge on RFI by Google search and at audiosystemsgroup.com/RFIHam.pdf, and www.audiosystemsgroup.com/K9YC/K9YC-old.htm
- Find domestic sources via the method of elimination using circuit breakers. Also check routers, appliances, LED power supplies, TV’s, etc.
- Find outside sources, using a directional antenna, such as neighbors, PP&L, etc.
A disruption of licensed users is considered RFI, see FCC part 15.105. Intermittent or low-level interference is considered nonharmful.
The Eugene Ham Radio Club also has good info at valleyradioclub.org/rfi.html
Scott recounted his efforts finding the sources of, and having neighbors and PP&L remedy, remarkably high levels of RFI at his station. These were due to plasma TV’s, RV’s, and power-pole wiring and distribution issues. Careful searching and persistence can result in significant reduction of noise levels at your station. It never hurts to have a spectrum analyzer available, either.
Meeting adjourned at 8:58pm
John Armstrong, KF7UMK, Secretary
