Category: News

Tonight’s Meeting

Hi Everyone:
The meeting tonight is at North Delta.
We had a visitor last week regarding the towers in Point Roberts. If you would like to get her newsletter let me know and we will get your email address to her.
See you tonight at 7 at NDPSB
Gord

DARS NewsNotes

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We are now accepting table reservations for ComFest 2014 to be held on Sunday September 28. You can either email me directly or sign up from the link on the website. Tables are $25 but if you pay before the early bird cutoff it’s only $20.

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DARS DATES TO KEEP IN MIND

-Sunday Sept 28 – ComFest 2013 at South Delta Rec. Center
-Thursday Oct 30 – Adam Farson and part two of his World War II radio series
-Thursday Nov 13 – Adam Farson and part three of his World War II radio series
-Both of Adam’s talks are at North Delta
-Sunday Jan 11, 2015 – Special event station on the 200 birthday of Sir John A Macdonald. Details to follow in the coming months. If you would like to help organize this event email me and let me know. Probably most of the organization will be done my emails so not to worry you have to attend more meetings.

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Interesting Tid Bit from VE7WIT via VE7DID

from VE7WIT
> Interesting.
> I had to install AFCI s in any room used for sleeping my new house on Salt Spring Island (Cuttler-Hammer/Eaton ) but so far no problems. AFCI s detect high frequency noise that is generated by an arc (which can cause a fire) but may not cause an over-current that will trip a regular breaker.
> This note is via a Yahoo Group re FT-857..

in response to this yahoo post.

>> I just purchased a 857D a few weeks back and am really enjoying it. What I am posting here does not have anything to do with the operation of the 857 unless you are trying to operate it in an area that has AFCI’s installed in the electrical panel of your home or your neighbors home.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am posting this as a matter of information so that the amateur community can be informed about these troublesome devices that trip when you transmit on HF.
>>
>>
>>
>> Up until around the first of April of this year I had not even heard of an Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter or AFCI. It did not take me long to become acquainted with them and the problems that they can cause amateur radio operators and their neighbors can have with them.
>>
>> Let me tell you my story with them and the problems I had. We built a new home last year in a 55 and older community not far from where our old QTH was and moved in late November 2013. We were busy getting situated and unpacking from the move and did not try to get any ham gear on the air until late March. We assembled a modest station with a small vertical antenna and went on the air around the first of April. In testing the antenna with RF my wife advised the power had gone off upstairs. I reset the breakers reduced power to say 40 watts and tried again with the same results. I then fired up my KX3 with just 10 watts and they tripped again. I was also tripping my neighbors AFCI’s. That is when I paid attention to the type of breakers I had in my electrical panel, they were Eaton (Cutler-Hammer) AFCI’s. I began to do Google searches on line and found that they had problems with AFCI’s and the ARRL Lab had helped them identify the problem and work to a unit that would be immune from RF.
>>
>> http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-helps-manufacturer-to-resolve-arc-fault-circuit-interrupter-rfi-problems
>>
>> I contacted Joe Fello with Eaton and left him a message he returned my call a few days later. They acknowledged they had a problem with several million of these breakers already installed in homes across the US . They sent an electrical contractor in on May 2 to change my and my neighbors AFCI’s out to the new type (RF immune “ham” breakers). I had 18 and my neighbor had 19. These breakers retail for $45 to $50. Well I thought my problems were over until I went back on the air and realized that I was still having 6 of the 18 breakers tripping and my neighbor had 1 still tripping. I tried all sorts of power levels and antenna configurations and even moved my equipment outside and powered it from a generator to insure that RF was not coming back into the shack through the power line or coax. The results were still the same breakers were still tripping. I called Eaton again and they agreed to send me and my neighbor another type of AFCI that had additional filtering, etc. to make it more immune to RF. My neighbor and myself installed the “more immune” breakers when they arrived and so far no more problems in both houses.
>>
>> The point I am trying to impress and get across to the amateur community is that this is a serious problem for amateur radio in general. The AFCI breakers are required by the NEC to be installed on almost every circuit inside all new residences when constructed. The 2014 NEC will also require that they be installed on ALL Interior circuits including appliances, refrigerators, freezers, etc. If you change the AFCI’s out to a conventional breaker you are in violation of the NEC and if you have a fire your insurance will more than likely deny payment because of this. What happens if your neighbor is gone on vacation for say a couple of weeks and comes back home and finds his refrigerator/freezer is not working because his ham neighbor has tripped the refrigerator/freezer AFCI. To me this problem is very similar to the TVI problems we had to deal with in the 60’s and 70’s. These problems are not just occurring in my neighborhood but are occurring in neighborhoods all across the US . You can do a Google for problems with HF RF tripping AFCI’s and find a lot of problems that are occurring with these devices. Eaton has been very responsive in dealing with resolutions on the problems. I started a forum on E-Ham in late May regarding the problems with AFCI’s. This forum has had over 31,000 hits. The links to the forum is:
>>
>> http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/board,25.0.html
>>
>>
>> http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,96949.0.html
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>> My advice is if you are considering moving or building a new house, or remodeling your existing home take heed. As these troublesome devices as they will probably be in your next new home and you will have to deal with the manufacturer to resolve the problem(s). Some of the devices are being tripped as far away as 400 feet.
>>
>> 73
>>
>>
>> Terry Jones, W4TL

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Have a good weekend everybody
>

Tonight’s meeting

Hi Everyone:
The meeting tonight is in Tsawwassen. Received an email from OZ and if you haven’t gotten your FD Logs in please do it now so he can tie the ribbons on this one. Let you know where we are about our upcoming special event station.
See you tonight at 7
gord

DARS News Notes – Mark Your Calendars

Some dates to keep in mind:

ComFest
Sunday September 28, ComFest 2014 at South Delta Rec Center. Tables are now available – reserve while we still have some left.

World War II Radios
For those of you who attended Adam Farson’s talk on World War II radios we have booked him for parts two and three of his presentation.
Thursday Oct 30 for part 2 and Thursday Nov 13 for part 3. These are North Delta nights.

Sir John A MacDonald’s 200 birthday
Sunday January 11, 2015 will be our next special event station. Plan to participate. More details to follow but we will be looking for as many operators as possible especially CW operators. Looking for suggestions how to make this a bang up event.

Tonights Meeting

Hi Everyone:
The meeting tonight is at North Delta. If anyone has a printed copy from the Optimist on the Field Day event can you bring it along please. See you tonight at 7
Gord

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