Hello all,
We had a fairly good turnout for today’s meeting. 15 members shared Joey’s coffee and some pastries I brought in. WalMart went from $3.96 / dozen (incl TAX) to $4.50 for a dozen pastries some time in the last 2 weeks. The “Donut fund” after today stands at $417.22.
The question of the day: “What is the difference between a RAMJET engine and a SCRAMJET engine?” (answer below)
The first thing we had to cope with was a notice from Allan Williamson that we would not have access to the DeBary EOC next Monday. He also notified us that he would not be available to open the doors on two other Mondays, I failed to note the dates but have asked him to eMail them to me.
I foresaw this situation and encouraged everyone to be looking around for an alternate meeting place. My experience with the library system let me see that the use of any public facility can be a problem. It would not greatly surprise me to hear that someone has objected to our use of this room in the future, it would be wise to have an alternate meeting place up our sleeve.
Next week we will meet at N4TJO Hank Slauson’s house at 1485 West French Avenue in Orange City. On 17/92, south out of DeLand, north out of DeBary/Deltona, French Avenue is the road to Blue Springs Park. It is identified by a large brown sign for the Park. Turn west and look for Hank’s place on the right just before Valentine Park. If you pass Valentine Park you’ve gone just a little too far. I’ll see if we can get Hank to put something on his mail box so we can easily identify his driveway. I’ll send Joey a map so check the web site if you need better directions. Hank will be right at home with his presentation on the Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and I’m sure the time will fly by at WARP speed ;-)
For future meetings we will return to DeBary EOC. Bud, I and others have volunteered our QTH for meetings but I’m concerned that by moving the meeting place around we’re going to lose a bunch of members. We certainly can’t afford that.
Bob Waterson, KC4LXW and Russ W4ZIP will check out some possibilities but please, each member, think hard about churches, fraternal organizations and any other places that might have a room available. We could not pay for a meeting place unless it was very cheap, $5 or less.
Russ W4ZIP brought his great new IC-7000 and gave a very good account of it which made our mouth water. At $1,500 I probably won’t be getting one any time soon but I sure would like to. One great thing about the rig, and other ICOMS is that they can be run by a computer program. As is true in a lot of our modern gadgets the manual is almost as heavy as the rig. I’m still dealing, when I operate at all, with vintage
Kenwoods, TS-130, TS-930 and TS-50, so I’m really out of touch with the newer generation of rigs. I can’t imagine a rig better than my old TS-930 which is as good a CW rig as was ever made, I think, but too slow in switching to run AMTOR without some modifications. Now the capacitors have dried up and it is DEAD.
Bob Waterson, KC4LXW, mentioned that his 2M rig is in need of repair but, due to its age, the manufacturer (Kenwood) won’t work on it. In QST there are several repair offers, here is one that Bob might be interested in: AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE / ALIGNMENT: Factory Authorized Kenwood, ICOM & Yaseu, Including Amplifiers & Tuners, Beltronics, Inc. Hollis, NH 603/465-2422 hamrepairs@beltronics.net.
Here is another: ALL TYPES OF RADIO REPAIR, alignment, and refurbishing done by FCC commercial licensed technicians. Amateur, Business, Shortwave, Citizens Band and GMRS. Reasonable rates, Fast turn around on most items. Call today for shipping authorization. Call Cook Towers Inc. Toll free 877/992-2665 or eMail at CookTowersInc@aol.com.
Joey sent a neat joke that I won’t repeat here, very funny. I had one too. If anyone would like to have them eMail me and I’ll send you a copy.
March 11, 2006 - pancake breakfast 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the 1st United Methodist Church, 1045 E. Normandy Blvd. See Keith SØCIAL (386/789-6182) for tickets, $4 advance, $5 at the door. Children under 10 free with an adult.
That takes care of breakfast, now you can head for Daytona Beach for some fun and another great meal.
March 11, 2006 – Polka Blast (2 great MI bands) Polish food and dancing at the Polish American Pulaski Club of Daytona Beach 3621 Int’l Speedway Blvd W. in Daytona Beach 12 noon until 9 p.m. $15.00 per person. Call 386/736-2543, 386/258-7059 or 386/736-3438 for reservations. Location S.R. 92, W of I-95, 1 mile W or I-4, S side. More info – Joey N9LQ (386/740-9900)
Find out whether you’re in good enough condition to enjoy the rest of the calendar ;-)
March 19, 2006 – Health Fair at Fla Hosp DeLand and Fish Mem in Orange City. Have tests done at a minimal fee on March 15th 7-8 a.m. or March 16th 8-9 a.m. in the lab at Fish Mem. Review your results with a medical professional (tech or physician.) Tests available are: Comprehensive (14 assorted tests) $25 (fasting 12 hrs required.) PSA ($21,) Lipid Panel (Cardiac Risk Profile) ($15) Cholesterol ($7.) Call 386 917-5170 to schedule the tests.
If you are in good health this place is always a hoot.
March 25, 2006 – St. Patty’s Dinner/dance at the Sons of Italy Lodge 1270 Doyle Rd Deltona beginning 6 p.m. Menu: corned beef & cabbage, boiled potatoes, dessert & coffee. Music by Ernie (this guy is very good.) Donation of $18 per person BYOB Setups available. Reservations by March 18th. Call 386/574-1122.
April 28, 2006 – Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will simulate two simultaneous train wrecks in Volusia county (Ormond Beach and DeBary.) Bud WØIA was not certain how much participation will be requested of the Ham Radio community. We may be called upon to man the DeBary EOC for a while.
Looking for another hobby? Genealogy is a very good choice, come join us and begin learning how to research your family history.
April 29, 2006 - Genealogy Mini-Conference, Bill Morgan KE4HO keynote speaker “DNA & Genealogy,” eight classes throughout the afternoon (1 – 4:30 p.m.) plus a “Munch and Mingle” snack after the classes. FREE at the Family History Center, LDS Church, 1345 Aquarius Avenue, DeLand 32724 – Register by calling FHC at 386/822-9695. THE FHC MINI-SEMINAR IS ALWAYS GREAT, DON’T MISS IT.
After you’re full of knowledge let’s go have some fun in DeBary
April 29, 2006 – Old Country Hoedown in DeBary. 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. at the DeBary Hall Historic Site (210 Sunrise Blvd) Enjoy country music, dancing and a barbeque dinner. Bring your lawn chair. Tickets $15 advance or $20 at the door. Call 386/666-3840 for more information.
73 see ya Monday at Hank’s house
Jerry KØJH
ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Scramjet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet)
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variation of a ramjet where the flow of the air and combustion of the fuel air mixture through the engine is done at supersonic speeds. This allows the scramjet to achieve greater speeds than a conventional ramjet which slows the incoming air to subsonic speeds before entering the combustion chamber. Projections for the top speed of a scramjet engine (without additional oxidiser input) vary between Mach 12 and Mach 24 (orbital velocity). By way of contrast, the fastest conventional air-breathing, manned vehicles, such as the U.S. Air Force SR-71, achieve slightly more than Mach 3.2.
Like a ramjet, a scramjet essentially consists of a constricted tube through which inlet air is compressed by the high speed of the vehicle, fuel is combusted, and then the exhaust jet leaves at higher speed than the inlet air. Also like a ramjet, there are few or no moving parts. In particular there is no high speed turbine as in a turbofan or turbojet engine that can be a major point of failure.
A scramjet requires supersonic airflow through the engine, thus, similar to a ramjet, scramjets have a minimum functional speed. This speed is uncertain due to the low number of working scramjets, relative youth of the field, and the largely classified nature of research using complete scramjet engines. However it is likely to be at least Mach 5 for a pure scramjet, with higher Mach numbers 7-9 more likely. Thus scramjets require acceleration to hypersonic speed via other means. A hybrid ramjet/scramjet would have a lower minimum functional Mach number, and some sources indicate the NASA X-43A research vehicle is a hybrid design. Recent tests of prototypes have used a booster rocket to obtain the necessary velocity. Air breathing engines should have significantly better specific impulse while within the atmosphere than rocket engines. However scramjets have weight and complexity issues that must be considered.
