New Universal Shack Access

By Dan Bowen , KB2UVE

Great news members! Everyone can now get access to the shack! One of the reasons for the existence of this club is to allow people here at UT access to Ham gear that they don't have access to on their own. I am proud to announce that this goal has now been achieved with the installation of an

electronic access system on the shack. The system was designed and constructed over a three week period by Dan Bowen (K2VOL) and Mike Coffey

(KJ4Z) incorporating programmable microcontrollers, Macintosh computers, the internet and many long hours of programming and soldering! To gain access,

a member must be instructed in proper operation of shack equipment and checked out for good operating procedures by the chief op. Then you will be

assigned a personal access code to access the shack any time you like. UT affiliated members will be added to the building's external door card readers. Unfortunately, the only card reader is near the Vol-Card office in south stadium hall, so it is currently a long walk through the buildings to get to the shack. The actual route is: Turn right when you get in, follow

South Stadium hall to infinity, (just kidding, but you'll see what I mean... when you see how long that hall is) at the end of the hall, go down to the basement, turn left and follow the signs to East Stadium Hall and Industrial Engineering up to the 4th floor. Walk all the way to the end of East Stadium Hall, 401 will be on your right.

Please Contact the Chief Op, Mike Coffey to arrange your access now, chiefop@utarc.org !

The New Antenna is UP!

By Mike Swiatkowski, AA9VI

I was very excited to use the new HF antenna the other day. Preliminary contacts have shown that we are getting out to the west and south better than we had before. Time will tell how much we have improved our station with the addition of this new antenna. I have heard from Mike and Dan that at one point we were the only US station heard in Tunisia. Thatâs impressive! We have had a rash of solar activity lately and the semester is winding to a quick halt, so HF time is limited. I am looking forward to making more contacts with the new antenna. Thanks to all those who spent the better part of a day planning and constructing this work of art!

Finally, it has been very neat to help and see so many people pull together and bring the club back from the ashes. Good work! We now have a good operating station and we will be continually improving things for next fall. I will be around the area until my thesis is complete. So, it looks like youâll have to see my mug until October. Congrats Dan, Mike and Arun on being elected to your officer positions! Youâll all do a fine job. 73 de AA9VI!

Telecommunications: A Case of Sunspots

From KG7FU and WA5WHN, of AR Newsline

Telecommunications was disrupted briefly and the northerly night skies were filled with shimmer red and green the weekend of March 21st to April 1st. This, as largest solar storms in a decade raged on the sun. And the flare brought some amazing propagation to the VHF bands.

That was one half of a QSO involving Paul Kiesel, K7CW, near Seattle Washington as recorded by Robert Neff, N7ORY in Twin Falls Idaho on March 30th. And on the 31st, Jay Miller WA5WHN, in Albuquerque reported that southern New Mexico was copying repeaters to the west in Arizona with the classic Aurora ringing in the audio.

NASA scientists said the most powerful flare erupted Thursday, March 29th. rated a class X, the most potent category. The eruptions on the sun triggered a brief radio blackout to some shortwave and low-frequency navigational aids. The solar activity also produced an aurora in the night sky over northern latitudes that lead to the strange, watery sounding DX signals on the VHF bands.

For those not aware, flares are directly linked to sunspots. These are cooler, darker regions on the sun's surface and are caused by a concentration of temporarily distorted magnetic fields. This disruption becomes the source of tremendous eruptions, or solar flares, into the sun's atmosphere, hurling clouds of electrified gas outward.

In addition to radio disruptions, charged particles from solar flares can bombard satellites and orbiting spacecraft. In some rare cases, damage industrial equipment on the ground.

But hams on the VHF bands welcome these flares. While it may kill propagation for their brethren on the high frequency bands, the VHF'ers know that anything can pop up on 6 or 2 meters, and probably will. In fact, it was James Kaplan, KG7FU, who may have summed it up best. He says that this was the longest continuous Aurora event in his 24 years of radio!

Trinidad Ham Provides New Details of Pirate Shooting

From ARRL Letter Vol 20, No. 13

                    A Swedish sailboat skipper, shot when pirates accosted his vessel March 20 off the coast of Venezuela, remains hospitalized in Trinidad. The victim has been identified as Bo Altheden, SM7XBH, of BjŠrred, Sweden. Hams on the Maritime Mobile Service Net assisted Altheden and his wife, ViVi-Maj Miren, after Miren put out a call for help on 20 meters.

                    One of the hams who assisted in coordinating the rescue, Eric Mackie, 9Z4CP,

of Trinidad, met late last week with Miren aboard the couple's vessel in Trinidad and was able to learn additional details about what happened.

According to what Miren told Mackie, the couple was en route to Trinidad and Tobago and having lunch around 12:30 PM Atlantic Standard Time when their 44-foot-ketch Lorna was approached by six men in a fishing boat. "The vessel

approached from behind, pulled alongside and Bo went out on deck to see what they wanted," Mackie related. "They asked for cigarettes, and Bo said they did not smoke."

                    Sensing trouble, Altheden started back toward the helm with the intention of pulling away from the other vessel--a fishing boat. But as he turned away, the intruders shot him once in the back. Miren told Mackie that the bullet wound caused considerable internal damage and bleeding. At that point, the pirates boarded the Lorna and helped themselves to what was on board.

                    According to Mackie, the pirates' booty amounted to less than $20 in cash and a few miscellaneous items. Before leaving, the pirates destroyed two VHF radios but missed the HF radio--an SGC SG-2020. Miren fired up the transceiver and found her way to 20 meters, where she located the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.300 MHz. Her calls for help eventually were heard, although some on frequency later said they'd worried that her pleas might be overlooked. Mackie and others broke in to alert the Net to her calls÷made nearly three hours after the shooting.

                    Mackie also was able to contact the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, which

came on frequency to  speak with the Lorna directly, he said. As it worked out, vessels from the Venezuelan Navy and the Trinidadian Coast Guard

arrived on scene at approximately the same time. While a medical team from Trinidad was able to board the Lorna, it was decided to wait until the

vessel was in calmer waters before attempting to transfer Altheden to the Coast Guard vessel. Altheden remains in critical, but stable, condition at

St Clair Medical Center, a private hospital set up to deal with trauma cases.

The shooting was an eerie reminder of a similar pirate attack one year ago in the Caribbean. In that incident, March 28, 2000, armed marauders shot young Willem van Tuijl from The Netherlands, who was sailing with his parents at the time.

Calendar

April 21st- License Testing Session UC 237 9am

April 26^th- General Meeting UC 217 8pm

The Volunteer DX is the official newsletter of the Amateur Radio Club at the University of Tennessee and is published 5 times or more each academic semester. The newsletter is free to all UTARC club members.

UTARC Officers 2001-2002 Academic Year

President- Dan Bowen, KB2UVE 595-6879

VP/Treasurer- Mike Coffey, KJ4Z 595-6240

Secretary- Arun Srikantaiah, KF4LKK 946-5166

Newsletter Editor: Mike Swiatkowski, swiat@utk.edu

Club Monitored Frequencies: 145.43 MHz Knoxville repeater and 146.58 simplex

Webpage: http://web.utk.edu/~utarc

Email: utarc@utk.edu

QSL Correspondence:

Amateur Radio Club of UT / AA4UT

Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.