F  E  E  D  -  P  O  I  N  T

The coldest temperatures we have had in a dozen or more years occurred January 16-18th. Our generator would not start without Stan heating it with a kerosene heater. There was ice in the batteries. The cat's water dish froze in the furnace room. Snow is getting deeper. The cold weather is keeping it fluffy, and the sun shining on the snow is dazzling. The skiing up the mountain to the tower is good now.

The Hughes Net Satellite service, endorsed by N7GLR, is going to be installed at Maibec for the Can-Am dog races. This will not replace the radio communications, but will be there for reporting times. Rocky Brook was able to use 146.64 for reporting times 95% of the time last year. If 146.64 is not usable at any time, Rocky Brook can use simplex to call Maibec.

The January meeting was well attended, and there was cheering when N1QMC and N1JHD arrived at the meeting. It has been quite awhile since they have been able to join us, because of Gil's treatments and therapy for injuries sustained last summer.

Please remember Can-Am starts February 28th. If you can help, please contact me.

"Impedance is the relationship between voltage and current at any point in an alternating current circuit. The impedance of an antenna is equal to the ratio of the voltage to the current at the point on the antenna where the feed is connected (feed point). If the feed point is located at a point of maximum current, the antenna impedance is 20 to 100 ohms. If the feed point is moved to a maximum voltage point, the impedance is as much as 500 to 10,000 ohms.

The input impedance of an antenna depends on the conductivity or impedance of the ground. For example, if the ground is a simple stake driven about a meter into earth of average conductivity, the impedance of the monopole may be double or even triple the quoted values. Because this additional resistance occurs at a point on the antenna circuit where the current is high, a large amount of transmitter power will dissipate as heat into the ground rather than radiated as intended. Therefore, it is essential to provide as good a ground or artificial ground (counterpoise) connection as possible when using a vertical whip or monopole.

The amount of power an antenna radiates depends on the amount of current which flows in it. Maximum power is radiated when there is maximum current flowing. Maximum current flows when the impedance is minimized—when the antenna is resonated so that its impedance is pure resistance. (When capacitive reactance is made equal to inductive reactance, they cancel each other, and impedance equals pure resistance.)

Kingman Reef is a coral island 1,000 miles southwest of Hawaii. The reef is 450' long and 40' wide. It's a treeless pile of shells and coral. Fifteen hams operated 6 stations with Icom-756Pro rigs. They erected 11 Force-12 half-wave antennas, well guyed. The call sign was K5K. K1FTK thought the call sign sounded familiar. When he got home he checked his log. He sent me this: K5K sounded familiar ... checked my 2000 log ... got him on 10m from AZ under my old WB0FXX call. 10/27/2000 2341 UTC 28.474 K5K Kingman Reef

KJ5KV, my Louisiana contact, told me he also had contacted Kingman Reef.