The ARRL has posted this year’s Field Day results. While we all recognize that Field Day is not a contest, the scores still get published each November.
We were in the 12 Alpha Battery category and finished with 2,878 QSOs completed and a final score of 27,570 — a 30% jump from our score in 2022. Awesome job!
And in case you were wondering, that score puts us at #2 out of all 4,445 submitted logs from this year’s Field Day, with the only score ahead of us being from the Potomac Valley Radio Club (W3AO) — their final score was 35,633.
In 2022 we were likewise #2 nationwide, and our score was 35% below that of the Potomac Club. In contrast, this year our score was only 23% behind the Potomac team. So I guess you can say we’re gaining on ‘em.
So start thinking about ideas for Field Day 2024. We’ll hold our annual brainstorm session in January or early February.
The 24 attendees at our meeting were treated to an intuitive explanation of PLLs and phase noise as well as a very interesting demonstration of phase noise by Ed and his spectrum analyzer.
This month’s WVARA meeting will be held in-person on Wednesday, November 8, in Meeting Room 3 at the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, 2731 N. First Street at Plumeria Drive (southwest corner) in San Jose. Social time begins around 6:45pm with the meeting beginning at 7pm. If you haven’t been to the Red Cross in a while, “talk-in” is usually available on the Association’s repeaters. Best choice would be 2m/220.
Ed Fong, WB6IQN, will bring us up to speed on a central part of all modern radios — the phase-lock loop (PLL). PLLs are used everywhere. Not only in our transceivers, but cell phones, televisions, computers, etc. We could not live without them. PLL’s where not practical until the invention of the modern day integrated circuit which allowed thousands of transistors on a single chip. Prior to the PLL, we used single crystals for VHF FM. This was very expensive and most of us could only afford a few channels.
Ed will explain how PLL’s work in a non mathematical presentation. He will explain where phase noise originates and techniques engineers have used minimize it. Ed will bring his HP 8591 spectrum analyzer and compare the phase noise of various HT’s to a crystal control radio. Bring your HT and see how yours performs against a crystal control radio. Ed is an enthusiastic speaker and is guaranteed to both enlighten and enliven with his presentation.
Ed Fong was first licensed in 1968 as WN6IQN. He later upgraded to Extra Class (when 20 WPM was required ) with his present call of WB6IQN. He obtained the BSEE and MSEE degrees from the Univ. of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. from the Univ. of San Francisco. A Life Senior Member of the IEEE, he has 12 patents and over 40 published papers and books in the area of communications and integrated circuit design. Presently, he is employed by the University of California, Santa Cruz (previously with Berkeley from 1997-2010) as an instructor teaching graduate classes in Antenna Design, RF design and high speed interface. In his 35 year career, he has done work for Stanford University, National Semiconductor, Advanced Micro Devices, numerous startup companies in the Silicon Valley. Please note: • Since the west side entrance to the Red Cross Building is always locked, we recommend entering the Red Cross Building through the main entrance situated on the north side of the building. • The Red Cross locks the main entrance at 7pm sharp, so please come early in order to get access to the building. • We will be in Meeting Room 3 — about 100 feet from any entrance. As a result, late comers who knock on an outside door won’t be heard from our meeting room. If you need help getting in the door, you can my cellphone: 408-636-6172. • The meeting will be in-person only and not streamed via Zoom.
By the way, several of us meet nearby for dinner prior to the meeting at 5:30pm at Dish-N-Dash (2551 N. 1st St. San Jose): https://dishdash.com . Feel free to join us.
