August 2025 - Maple Grove Radio Club

MGRC Mission Statement

Maple Grove Radio Club provides education to current and future amateur radio operators, with the goal of serving the public. We are a reliable communications resource for events and emergencies in Maple Grove and surrounding communities.

President's Message

Volunteer for the Twin Cities Marathon

Connect with Elmers/Mentors

Additionally, please follow the Maple Grove Radio Club Facebook page for frequent updates on club member activities.

Monthly Meeting

TALARC The American Legion Amateur Radio Club

Club Calendar of Events

Club Member Spotlight

Ham radio allows us to have a wide range of varying interest. I just wanted to provide a spot light to the amazing people we have in this club. This months interview is with Ann Foster, KØANN.

Question 1: How did I get started in amateur radio?

I was always interested in radio, but did not know about ham radio. After dark when I could tune in other AM-FM radio stations intrigued me enough to seek a degree in Physics with electronics as my favorite. When my friend suggested we get ham radio licenses (I had a CB license at the time), I thought that would be great. He had worked for Butternut Electronics but never had a license. We both got them and soon after was involved in police support after a flood summer of 1991 in the Winona area.

Question 2: What is your most favorite part of amateur radio?

Emergency services as I feel like I can make a difference. My Father and brother began a rural ambulance service while I was in College and several of us were EMT's and paramedics. So emergency services was an excellent fit.

Question 3: What is your most proud accomplishment in amateur radio?

Working the Comfrey/St. Peter tornado clean up as Net control and being the coordinator to get hams to the Wadena tornado clean up a few years later.

Question 4: Do you have any recommendations, words of wisdom, or ideas for newly licensed hams?

Question 5: How do we keep ham radio still relevant?

LDG Model RU-1-1 Product Evaluation

This is the first of several articles intended to describe the technical details of peripheral products that we ham’s use. Often, we choose, purchase and install products that were referred to us or seem necessary, as common practice but do not know exactly how it will affect our operation since not everyone has an instrument to test or see how it will affect our system.

The first product is the LDG Model RU-1-1. The manufacturer describes it as a UNUN or Unbalanced-to-Unbalanced device and acts as a “Common-Mode or Coaxial RF Choke device.

Typical market costs: $30
Power Rating: 200 Watts P.E.P. or 100 Watts CW.
Input to Output Connectors: SO-239 to SO-239
Frequency Range: 1.8 to 30 MHZ (160 to 10 Meters), Ratio: 1:1
Termination Impedance: 50 Ohms, nominal.
Suitable for outdoor use but not waterproof.

It is intended to be inserted directly, in series with a coaxial cable line after a rig and before the antenna. Its purpose is to reduce or greatly reduce common-mode RF currents on the outside of a coaxial cable. Common mode currents will be covered later.

Description. Refer to figure 1. This device simply provides a straight-through connection from the outside shield to the outside shield and inside conductor to inside conductor. Inside, these two conductors are specifically wrapped around a toroidal ferrite core in a bi-filar fashion. The transformer action is called “common mode” and can cancel certain transients or signals via the magnetic action.

Figure 1

For the following, refer to figure 2. Starting and as a point of reference of this screenshot, if this UNUN device provided no attenuation or 0 dB, the yellow trace on the screen would be expected to show a simple straight line across the top of the grid square. Now, with the device connected, as shown by the wavering yellow trace, attenuation is provided. Attenuation is read by vertical scaling while frequency is read by horizontal scaling, like an oscilloscope screen. Starting from the top, each vertical grid represents 10dB of attenuation. The yellow trace starts around ½ of a grid square down from the top or approximately 5dB. Following the trace to the right, there is a small diamond symbol near the center of the screen. That is a marker representing -21.87dB of attenuation. Next, frequency is read by horizontal scaling and is evenly distributed at 3MHZ per division or from 1 to 30 MHZ. Referring to the diamond symbol above, it is locked in at -21.87dB at 14.267 MHZ, right in the 20-meter band as shown by text on the screen. As can be seen, the trace goes lower as it progresses to the very right side or 10-meter band, approaching 30dB of attenuation. In summary, 20dB is a good target number to achieve and 30 dB of attenuation is even better. Although not shown here, tests performed up to 50 MHZ still provide good attenuation, but the manufacturer does not specify it as such.

Figure 2

In conclusion, ferrite devices are modern marvels that provide tuned coupling or attenuation, depending upon configuration, to our systems, especially when it comes to EMI or electromagnetic interference. I am sure most all are interested in simple noise reduction, and this can be the first in our line of defense. Note, care must be taken when choosing the types of ferrite materials we buy. Choose mixture “31” or “43” in our HF to VHF and up to UHF frequency bands. UHF and higher will need a closer look. Do not grab randomly from a junk box.

Gordon Patenaude, WAØWSR

Interesting Media and Links

In trying to understand microwave electronics projects I found this interesting playlist that I worked my way through. Really interesting to learn more about microwave electronic circuit design.

ARRL NEWS

Amateur Radio Helps Locate Missing Mother and Son

Amateur radio had a crucial role in locating a mother and her 9-year son lost in California’s Stanislaus National Forest, according to information from a Sheriff's news release. On Friday, July 11, 2025, the pair was reported overdue from a day trip to Camp Wolfeboro, a popular scout camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The SAR team set up a command post at Black Springs Off-Highway Vehicle riding (OHV) Recreational Area and quickly began initiating a road-based search using four-wheel-drive vehicles and air support from the California Highway Patrol.

Joining the search was a Deputy and a Forest Service Law Enforcement Ranger who responded to 911 texts from campers in the area that a vehicle possibly matching the description of the pair’s missing car had been found. The SAR team began to find handwritten notes posted near a remote Forest Service road and then another about a mile away that included a telephone number and the names of the missing individuals. Just before 6:00 PM, the car and the lost mother and son were found. But the rescue was not over.

SAR team members were unable to communicate with their command post using conventional frequencies and cell phones from their deep woods location. So they used an amateur radio frequency to report their emergency traffic. The call was immediately answered by a retired El Dorado County communications supervisor, who is also an amateur radio operator, monitoring from his home. He contacted the El Dorado 911 center, which provided the information to Calaveras County Dispatch. The SAR command post was notified, and the mother and her son were transported to waiting family members.

Young Stirling also had a hand with the rescue. He used his scout whistle to blow SOS, the internationally recognized Morse code distress signal, to give searchers a better chance of locating their position.

ARRL Files Comments to Protect 70-Centimeter Amateur Band

The formal opposition, filed by ARRL’s Washington Counsel, asserts that the permission AST seeks to use the 430 – 440 MHz band “should be denied because AST does not demonstrate need for TT&C spectrum beyond that available within existing allocations.”

The filing goes on to highlight just how unprecedented the request is:

The 430 – 440 MHz band is not allocated domestically or internationally for the requested space-to-Earth and Earth-to-space satellite TT&C operations. As others already have noted in this proceeding, signals in this band from AST’s current 5-satellite constellation have been observed throughout the world, including in the United States, notwithstanding that the satellites are authorized to communicate only with five ground stations well outside the United States. From the operations by the current five satellites, it appears that the satellites at times have transmitted continuously in the 430 – 440 MHz band throughout their orbit, not just when in communication with one of the authorized ground stations. This activity defeats the purpose of preventing interference in the United States by limiting operations in this band to ground stations distant from the United States. Authorizing an additional 243 satellites to use this band, which would result in multiple satellites over the U.S. at all times, would effectively usurp this band’s allocated use.

The 70-centimenter band is also used in emergency communications. As recently as early July, ARRL volunteers serving in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) made headlines for providing critical communications in flood-ravaged areas of the Texas Hill Country. Allowing the 70-centimeter band to become overrun with TT&C operations could impact the ability for the Amateur Radio Service to be used in future disasters. “TT&C operations in the 430 – 440 MHz band are capable of causing harmful interference to radio amateur communications, including to amateur satellites operating in the 435-438 MHz subband,” the comments state.

The comments go on to outline why the application would be non-compliant with the ITU Radio Regulations Treaty.

Reply comments to the application are due by August 5, 2025. ARRL will continue to fight to ensure amateur radio operators have reliable, interference-free access to the spectrum they depend on -- especially in times of emergency and to serve our communities.

ARRL Board Meeting Highlights

The ARRL Board of Directors met on July 18 – 19, 2025, and accomplished work on behalf of members. Some of the highlights of the meeting include:

• Establishment of a 10-Band DXCC® Award.
• Review of the status of ARRL’s Washington advocacy on behalf of amateur radio.

• Creation of a new ARRL Museum and Research Library called Radio Alpha, www.arrl.org/RadioAlpha.

• Action on the Report and Recommendations of the Special Committee on By-Law 46, that was published in December 2024, and first considered by the Board in January.
• Establishment of 2026 as the Year of the Club, to honor and support the work of ARRL-affiliated radio clubs.
• Approval for a year-long celebration in 2026 to mark the semiquincentennial of the United States, including a commemorative ARRL US250 Worked All States award for contacts made during the year.

Upcoming State, Section, and Division Conventions

• August 2 | ARRL Maine State Convention and Hamfest, Augusta, Maine

• August 3 | SVARC Berryville Hamfest, hosting the ARRL Roanoke Division Convention, Berryville, Virginia

• August 9 | ARRL Idaho State Convention, Post Falls, Idaho

• August 16 – 17 | Huntsville Hamfest, hosting the ARRL Alabama State Convention, Huntsville, Alabama

• August 21-24 | Northeast HamXposition, hosting the ARRL New England Division Convention, Marlborough, Massachusetts

• August 30 - September 1 | Shelby Hamfest, hosting the ARRL North Carolina Section Convention, Shelby, North Carolina

• September 7 | Southern New Jersey Conference and HamFest, hosting the ARRL Southern New Jersey Section Convention, Mullica Hill, New Jersey.

• September 12 - 13 | Slidell EOC Hamfest, hosting the ARRL Louisiana State Convention, Slidell, Louisiana

• September 19-21 | Duke City Hamfest, hosting the ARRL New Mexico State Convention, Albuquerque, New Mexico

• September 20-21 | Midwest Superfest, hosting the ARRL Central Division Convention, Chillicothe, Illinois

• September 27 | ARRL Dakota Division Convention, Moorhead, Minnesota

Upcoming Contests

• August 1 -- NCCC Sprint (CW)

• August 2 - 3 -- Ten-Ten International Summer Contest, SSB (phone)

• August 2 - 3 -- North American QSO Party, CW (CW)

• August 2 - 3 -- ARRL 222 MHz and Up Distance Contest (CW, phone, digital)

• August 3 -- SARL HF Phone Contest (phone)

• August 4 -- K1USN Slow Speed Test (CW)

• August 5 -- ZL Sprint (CW, phone, digital)

• August 7 -- NRAU 10m Activity Contest (CW, phone, digital)

Board Members

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