April 2021 Auction

SARC has acquired equipment over the last two years that we are making available via auction to the club’s members. This auction is not open to the public, and takes place on SARC-ALL, our club’s closed mailing list.

When

Bidding opens now.

Bidding closes 8AM April 10th at CP. 

Bids must be placed through SARC-All, where rules can also be found.

VE Testing Returns!

Our VE testing will be administering amateur radio license tests on the first Saturday of each month at Schaumburg Tennis Plus, the same location as the construction project. There continue to be some COVID-19 restrictions on testing. Please read more on the VE Testing page.

History of Grounding

From Cliff K9QD

220, 221- Whatever it takes.  Electric Utility Service Drop…and why the service drop to the consumer has a center-tapped transformer grounded to earth.

Wiring diagram of today’s typical single-family service entrance panel:

Note the Utility Transformer’s center-tap is grounded at the pole.  Also, the consumer’s service entrance panel and Neutral/Equipment bonding bars are also grounded to earth.

Origin of ‘grounding’ and why utilities in the early 1900s quickly changed to (for single phase service) center-tapped transformers at the customer’s drop.

In the early 1900s, as electrification spread to more and more consumers, the new advantages of Alternating current allowed higher voltage transmission than Direct Current and saved a ton of copper [Source: Hawkins Electrical Guide Theo. Audel & Co 1917].

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Remote Operation by Jack W9YY

 
Operating A Home Station From A Remote Location, by Jack W9YY
 

My wife and I rented a condo in Florida for the month of January. We had been to this condo before, and I knew that there was no possibility of installing an antenna for the month, even temporarily. So I chose to investigate how to leave my rig at home in Hoffman Estates and operate it remotely through the internet.

 My HF station consists of an ICOM IC-7300 connected to a long wire on the backyard fence. It uses the internal antenna tuner on the ICOM for operations on all bands 80 through 10 meters. All of my HF activity is on CW.

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