The Repeater (electronic version)
Newsletter of the Arkansas River Valley Amateur Radio Foundation
Russellville, Arkansas
July, 1999



Officers:
     
President: Nick Kennedy,  WA5BDU                               
Vice-President - Margaret Alexander,  KC5MCS                       
Secretary-Treasurer - Charles Hall,  KC5CVG

ARVARF Board:
John Evans, WB5BHS
Dick Koski, W5VUB
Tom Hughes KC5VRI
Les Hendrickson KD5DKL
Dennis Schaefer W5RZ


Newsletter staff
Dennis Schaefer W5RZ
Melissa Schaefer KI5QJ
John Evans WB5BHS
Jonathan Setcer KC5BRY
Charlotte Stockton KC5CKQ

CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

July

20 - ARVARF meeting, Ryan's, Meeting at 7:00, those who want to eat, come
at 6:00.

27 - RACES meeting, 911 building.  7:00 p.m.

August

14 - VE test session at ANO Training Center, 9:00 a.m.

Every Saturday  at 0700-0800 - breakfast meeting at Perkins Restaurant.

ARVARF Net - Every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. on 146.82 (except club meeting night)

July NCS - KD5DKL
August NCS - Volunteer needed

THOUGHTS ON FIELD DAY 1999

I have been going to Field Day and Field Day related activities for the
past 30 years.   There are 100's of stories that I know about club members
concerning events that happened on White Oak Mountain, Magazine Mountain,
and Rich Mountain, just to name a few.   But I won't go into those now just
to protect the innocent.

There were several incidents that took place at the ARVARF Field Day 1999
that must be chronicled.   Things happened in this Field Day that will
never happen again in this century.  Y2K is close!

First I want to start off by denoting some of the folks that were not
present at this year's big event.   Kevin Paddock was the dare devil that
always climbed the 30 feet of tower that was not even guyed.   Heck, it was
not even secure to the ground in some cases.  His tower rising ability was
missed by all.  

Dallas Scott and his family always made a big contribution in putting
together the antennas and supporting equipment.  Plus the fact that his
family kept the Novice/Tech station running non-stop in years past.

Danny Carr usually always rode up on his HOG and helped out with the ground
work.  He was always good at walking up the push-up poles or towers.   I
was never tall enough.  

Steve Mercure was the switch hitter for the club.  He could work either CW
or SSB.   That seems like an easy task, but it takes a multi-talented
individual to be an expert in both modes.

And lastly, Jon Caery.   What can I say, our thoughts and prayers go out to
him and his family.   Jon always won the award for bringing the most
equipment and supplies to Field Day.   He always was the first to be up on
top of the building putting up his VHF antennas.   Even when the conditions
were sour, Jon had enough aluminum in the air to pull out the weak signals.

As you can see there was a big gap left by some heavy hitters in the Field
Day game.  But as usual the unique abilities of Amateur Radio Operators
prevailed in some very interesting ways.

In past Field Day efforts, one of the essential elements of any station was
getting the dipole antennas, and wire antennas secured in a tall tree.
For the most part, wire antenna erection consisted of someone with a strong
arm and big rock tied to fishing line. In later years some folks used a
little sling shot and small nut and bolt for weight.   In the past few
years we have escalated to using a bow and arrow to put the fishing line at
the desired and sometimes not so desired height and location.

In keeping with tradition we followed along the same path, except that Les
used a COMPOUND Bow to launch the arrows into NASA jurisdiction.

I don't want to go into the physics of the superior abilities of a compound
bow over a conventional bow.   To keep it brief just let me say this:  If
the Indians (True Native Americans) had been using compound bows during the
1800's you would be reading this newsletter in Cherokee instead of English.
 And we would have used smoke signals and blankets for the communication
medium for Field Day.

The tried and true material to support any wire antenna has always been
nylon cord.   It was always easy to use, easy to find, and not that
expensive when bought in big spools.   Once again modern technology has
creeped into the Amateur Radio arena.   This year Dennis brought miles of
"Weed Eater" cord.   When I first saw Les using a fly fishing knot to
attach the "Weed Eater" cord to the antenna wire, (especially that little
blue stuff) I thought you would have a better chance of finding a snowman
around the equator than having that antenna stay up all night.

Boy was I wrong.   That stuff DID stretch, but no more than the best nylon
cord.   Plus it did not tangle up into a bird's nest when you tried to work
with it.   It did not take very long for me to warm up to the "Weed Eater"
cord.  I really liked the bright orange stuff.   The great part of the
"Weed Eater" cord was that it did not fray at all.   You did not even have
to think about melting  the ends to keep it together.   After you cut it to
the proper length it was ready to go.   No post cut preparation for the
"Weed Eater" cord.

Lastly was the actual antennas themselves.   I have used a Zepp in years
past, with poor results.   The modified center fed Zepp seemed to work
exceptional on 20M and 40M.   The SSB station was able to run with the big
dawgs on 20 using only a wire antenna.   In years past this would have
never happened.  Another first, in a long list of "FIRSTS" that was
accomplished during this year's Field Day effort.

Dennis also built and brought another antenna for the SSB station.  The
Moxon antenna was designed for 15M.  This antenna worked very well for the
contest effort.   It has great front-to-back ratio, but not enough to
prevent you from scoring a few points off the lobes.  

Too bad it was 20 feet up in the air, no one could appreciate the fine
craftsmanship that went into this super antenna.

Everyone was safer this year as compared to years past.  I always had
equated safety to having fire extinguishers handy when re-fueling the
generators.   JJ thought being safe was bringing your Glock.  (If you don't
know, don't ask!!)   Once again, another first in the long long list of
outstanding firsts.

This Field Day had a lot of new blood to take up the slack.  Everyone saw
the problems, stepped right up, and solved them in their own ways.  I
learned a lot, and I am confident that everyone else learned something also.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's Field Day effort.  I
especially want to thank all the ladies that worked so hard on providing
all the good food and snacks for everyone.   Anyone can bring out some wire
and string it through the trees and call that an antenna, but it takes real
genius to make brownies that can survive a Field Day and still taste
perfect the next day!

73 -John Evans   WB5BHS

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Seems like in the old days, you just woke up one Saturday in late June,
grabbed some radios and refreshments, and headed for the woods.  But
nowadays Field Day preparations are like D-Day and the Manhattan Project
combined.  Fortunately, the fun and satisfaction are still the same.
 
Superficially, everything looked about the same this year as in 1998.  We
even made almost exactly the same score, falling short by eight points
(7156 vs. 7164).  But we had different rigs, different antennas and mostly
different operators on three of our four stations.  Our scoring
distribution was quite a bit different.  We doubled our production on SSB,
fell off a bit on CW and were fairly comparable on Novice/Tech SSB (down a
little) and on VHF (up a fair amount).  Hey, if I'd just skipped seconds
and thirds at the picnic and gone back to my station, we would have  topped
last years total score.
 
There a few ways of judging the success of the outing other  than comparing
contest points, though.  We found out what we're capable of doing, both in
terms of logistics and of operator skills.  We may have introduced a few
folks to some  different facets of ham radio.  We found out a dipole can
perform pretty well on ten meters and a very effective 15 meter beam can be
constructed from wire and a few other commonly available materials.  And we
combined it all with a really good picnic.  Thanks to everyone who
participated in any way.  For those who can't get enough stats, here are
the QSO breakdowns by station and band:
73,
Nick, WA5BDU

WANT ADS

FOR SALE: Tri-Ex 70 foot self-supporting crank-up tower with 6 and 2 meter
beams.  Drake TR-6 6-meter transceiver.  Gonset G-76 transceiver.    Marie
Horak, KA5MEF 893-2308.

FOR SALE: Kenwood TS-940S/AT transceiver, Yaesu FT-736R transceiver (6M,
2M, 440 multimode), PK-232, MFJ keyer, Glen Martin 50 foot aluminum
self-supporting tower with Hazer and motorized winch.  Vernon Bradford,
N5RVF.  885-3983 e-mail vbradfor@cswnet.com

FREE - 286 computer to give away.  Dennis Schaefer 967-4372 or w5rz@cswnet.com

JUNE MINUTES

Minutes of June 15, 1999 meeting held at Ryan's.

Called to order at 7:00 by Nick Kennedy. (He remembered to bring his
gavel.)    Motion to approve 1999-2000 budget was made and seconded and
approved by  vote.  Minutes of May meeting was approved as published in the
newsletter.

Margaret Alexander to be Hamfest chairperson.  Jonathan said no progress
has been made on the repeater.  Jonathan working on a WEB page for the
club.  Site clean up date and means for working on antenna on hold.

The following have volunteered to be net control for the following months: 
Les for July, Melissa for September, John for October, Jonathan for
November and Nick for December.  Still need a volunteer for  August.

Meeting adjourned at 7:12.

Program:  Field Day discussed.

Charles Hall, KC5CVG
Secretary

ARES REPORT

The Arkansas Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will start at 1:00 p.m. on
October 16th and run for 24 hours.   The scenario is a statewide power
blackout and a possible problem at ANO.  There will be activity on HF, FM,
and packet.  I hope you will take part, especially if you have never been
involved in public service activities.  We will be glad to help you send
your first message traffic.  It's not hard and your skills may be needed
someday!

The NEBO packet node is back on the air, thanks to lots of hard work by
Charles, KF5JH.  NEBO is on 145.01.  It is able to communicate with lots of
other nodes, and can connect you with the K5PXP-1 mailbox, which is at the
Pope County EOC.    Charles is also working on the POPECO node, which is on
147.495, and hopes to have it on the air also.

All hams are invited to the Red Cross disaster volunteer meetings, which
are held at the Red Cross office on the 4th Monday of each month.  This
month's meeting will be on July 26th.  We will be visiting the EOC and also
the OES (Marine Rescue) building.

I will be ordering Skywarn magnetic signs for vehicles soon.  They are
normally $15.00 each, but if we can order 20, they are only $10.00.  They
are 8 x 11 inches in size.  This is a good way to show the public what you
are doing when you are parked by the side of the road gazing at the sky!
Let me know if you would like one or two.

Have you ever wondered what you would need to take if you were called on to
go assist in a disaster area?  At the July ARVARF meeting, I will show you
how to pack rigs for 160 through 2 meters, including packet, and all you
will need to take with you.   Everyone will have their own ideas about
this, but I'm going to attempt to pack all of this in my pockets and one
very small briefcase.  Come see if I succeed!  (And see if you can come up
with a necessity I forgot).  

Dennis   W5RZ

ARVARF NEWS ITEMS

Our sympathies go to James Judd, N5UNM, and family, on the loss of his
father,  Elmer Judd.

There was a Johnson Matchbox antenna tuner at our old club station.  It
belongs to Tom, WB5VOX.  We attempted to find it to use at Field Day this
year, but it could not be located.  If you have the Matchbox or know where
it is, please let one of the club officers know.

Steve Mercure would like to know who made the wonderful macaroni and cheese
casserole at the Field Day picnic, and would like to have the recipe if
possible.    You can call Steve at 754-3339 or send e-mail to smercure@ipa.net

N5RQD HAND GLIDER ACCIDENT

Phil Morgan had a 0 mile flight launching from the east side of Nebo at
2:17 PM and landing 0 Hours and 0 Minutes later (2:17 PM) halfway between
the rim trail and the bench trail. Highest altitude was 1270 Ft. AGL. The
hangglider was a bright pink Ramair 154.

This will be my last posted flight for a long time. I was lucky today in
that I only broke the bones on my left leg below the knee. No ribs or
vertebra were injured and I felt only minimal pain throughout the whole
ordeal. Four days later I would begin showing a little poison ivy rash on
my right wrist. Unfortunately, the rescuers were exposed to in a lot more
poison Ivy than I was because I was protected by the stretcher while they
had to wallow and sweat in it to get me down the steep hill in 105 Degree F
heat index temperature.

So, What happened?

Quite simply, I couldn't get the glider to fly. I have successfully
launched from this site with no wind on cooler and dryer days. I have drug
my feet through the branches of the oak tree below launch before but this
is the first time that I couldn't clear it with my glider. I think that the
higher temperature and humidity combined with higher pilot weight resulted
in takeoff not being possible even with a perfect launch run. When I saw
that the glider was going to impact the side of the tree I pushed out to
try to climb over it. That didn't do any good though because I was already
at stall speed. I plowed through the upper branches of the first tree with
my base tube and my lower body. This is probably where I broke my leg.
After that I mushed into a tree on the other side of the rim trail and the
glider flipped upside down and fell through the trees. The mountain is
pretty steep at this point and I continued to fall/slide while on top of
the glider. I knew that my leg was broken and as I fell I tried to think of
ways to protect it but probably was not
successful.

Getting me off the side of the mountain and to St. Mary's hospital involved
a lot of effort by many people and I do owe them a debt of gratitude. The
first group of people to help me was the family that was standing on launch
waiting for me to go. If they hadn't been there to see what happened then I
might have been hooked in to the glider and immobile for a long time. I
thought that I was prepared to get help because I had my 2 meter radio and
two semi charged batteries . My antenna was an original rubber ducky that
had probably been dropped 12 times too many but most of the time people
heard me when I transmitted. I had the Nebo repeater in memory and if I
could get into the repeater then someone for sure would hear my SOS.
Unfortunately I found out soon after I crashed that I couldn't get into the
Nebo repeater. One of my weak batteries was probably too far gone; The
rubber ducky didn't quite cut it and I'm not quite sure but I may not have
switched to high (2.5 watts) power. Another possibility is that I may have
been too far down the mountain for line of site to the repeater. One other
trick that I thought I had up my sleeve was to switch to 146.820 simplex
but under the stress of the moment, I couldn't figure out how to do that. I
also wished that I had had the Russellville repeater in memory because it
definitely was line of site to that one.

The second group to thank was the people who splinted my leg so that no
more damage would be done to it while I was carried down the mountain.
Scott, the assistant park superintendent was the man of the hour to me. He
did an excellent job of preparing my leg. He was also the first person to
get to me and I was impressed how prepared he was. He had all the splints,
bandages, knife, etc. that he needed. I tried to learn the names of the
people helping me that day but I'm afraid that stress doesn't do much to
improve my memory. I remember the concerned look on the man's face who was
holding my leg while Scott wrapped it. There was some blood caused by the
bone puncturing the skin and I believe that he was concerned for my comfort.

The third group that I want to thank is the people who carried me down the
mountain. I am a pretty big boy now (208#) and it was no easy task. There
was poison ivy everywhere and lots of places where it was difficult to get
a footing. It was very hot and they had no water to drink. Scott wisely
made the decision to bring me down the mountain head first. That kept my
leg elevated and probably had a lot to do with the lack of pain that I
felt. By this time Andy Thomas the park superintendent had driven his truck
to a spot downhill of us on the bench trail. He and Scott did an excellent
job of communicating with each other to make sure that the stretcher was
under control at all times.

The fourth group that I want to thank is the two ambulance drivers who took
me to Saint Mary's hospital. They had been with me since before I was
placed on the first stretcher and were part of the team that carried me
down the mountain. They transferred me to their stretcher and reexamined
the wound before driving towards Russellville. Very professional were these
guys.Last but not least I want to thank:

   1.The people who made sure that Loretta knew where I was.
   2.The Nurses who laughed when they saw that I was wearing knee high
stockings. (To keep the chiggers off)
   3.The Doctors who operated that night instead of waiting until the
morning.
   4.All the people who made my stay so much more enjoyable.