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

November

13- VE Test Session at ANO Training Center, 0900

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

22 - RACES meeting, at 911,   7:00 p.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)

Net Controls:
November - KC5BRY
December - WA5BDU

DATE CHANGED FOR DECEMBER MEETING

The December ARVARF meeting will be at the same location, same time, but on
a different night.  It will be on December 7th.  The normal meeting night
would be December 20th, and it was felt by many this would be too close to
Christmas

SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST

Amateur radio operators in Pope County recently participated in the
Simulated Emergency Test.  The scenario was a statewide failure of
electrical power and other systems, in other words, a worst-case Y2K
scenario.

Local amateur radio operators assist the Pope County Office of Emergency
Management, Red Cross, and Salvation Army in planning for all disasters,
including possible Y2K problems.   

Our public service activities locally have mainly involved severe weather
spotting.     Amateur radio operators also have a nationwide system of
message handling, and this system is used when any disaster interrupts
normal communications. 

The Simulated Emergency Test is a good chance to practice handling
messages, but to make it more interesting, groups nationwide  compete with
each other to see who can do the most during the 24-hour exercise period. 

Since we are in the process of upgrading the packet radio system, we
decided to see how many messages could be handled via packet during the
SET. Most of the messages would be sent to and from the Arkansas Dept. of
Emergency Management in Conway.  There would also be local messages between
Pope County locations. 

Messages to ADEM were mainly reports of power outages and other local
problems,  and requests for generators and other resources.  Local messages
were mainly logistical and operational information exchanged between the
Red Cross, Salvation Army, Pope County OEM, shelter locations, and
communities.
 
The exercise was a success for local hams.  Pope County RACES and ARES sent
417 messages and received 805 messages.  The Salvation Army group, led by
N5URB,  handled a total of 1395 messages.   This means each group handled
approximately one message per minute during the entire 24 hours!  

The NEBO node on 145.01 was the only local node operational during the SET.
 It stayed very busy!  NBO495 (formerly POPECO) is now working on 147.495
and we hope to have our 6 meter node on the backbone frequency soon.

Not only did we verify that ham radio is still able to do the job when
called on, but based on past results, local scores will be among the
highest in the country.

73,
Dennis,   W5RZ

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Hello everyone.  I don't have much, so my November contribution to the
information overload that's bogging us all down will be mercifully short.

First, the election.  I know there'll be a separate announcement, so I won't
belabor the details.  I just wanted to thank the current and prospective
officers and board members for their willingness to serve.  And even though
it's a year away, I also want to encourage others to jump in next time.
There will be a bunch of open positions this time next year, so start
thinking it over.

Now for fun stuff.  Recall that ridiculous little transmitter in a tuna fish
can I waved around at the October meeting?  I'm sure there were those who
doubted that QSOs were possible on such a dinky thing.  (I know because I
was one of them.)   Well, I'm happy to report that I've made about ten solid
QSO's in the 100 to 1000 mile range without much effort.  This has
emboldened me to the point that I've also built a complementary sardine can
receiver.  Eating the sardines was the hard part.  I'm hoping the full
seafood platter transceiver will be ready to show for your amazement and/or
amusement at the November meeting.

Until then, 73 and keep having fun with it,

Nick, WA5BDU

JAMES ELMORE, KC5WJW, SILENT KEY

We regret to inform you that James Elmore, KC5WJW, of Ola, passed away on
November 9.  James was 44 years old and suffered a fatal heart attack.
James was very active on the Danville repeater and served as  the ARRL
Emergency Coordinator and RACES Officer for Yell County.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS AT NOVEMBER MEETING

ARVARF will elect officers at the November meeting.  The present slate of
officers has agreed to run again, and two new board members have been
nominated.  Those nominated are:
President: Nick Kennedy WA5BDU.  Vice-President: Margaret Alexander,
KC5MCS.  Secretary-Treasurer: Charles Hall, KC5CVG.  Board: John Evans,
WB5BHS, and Jonathan Setcer, KC5BRY.  There are two board positions to be
filled. 

Ballots will be completed at the meeting because write-in votes are
allowed.  If you cannot attend the meeting, contact a club officer and give
them a written note showing who you are voting for.

OCTOBER MINUTES

Meeting called to order at 6:57 PM 19 October 1999 by Nick Kennedy.
Minutes approved as published in the newsletter.

Financial report was passed out to those in attendance and approved.

Elections will be at the next ARVARF regular meeting in November.  The
ballot will consist of the present officers as now constituted.  Two board
members are to be elected and those that will be on the ballot are John
Evans and Jonathan Setcer.  If you wish to put someone else's name on the
ballot in place of any of the above mentioned names, please do so, as I am
sure any of those on the ballot would be glad to relinquish their places.

Mary Carlson was in the hospital with heart problems.  She is now home and
will be going to Florida as soon as the Doctor releases her.  Flowers were
sent and she sent a nice thank you card.

Dennis gave away two antennas and yours truly is the proud new owner of one.

We are having a name tag or badge contest.  We will come up with an
appropriate gift for the winner.  Please go to the New Jersey QRP web site
and look at their name badge that they have for their club.  Their site is
at www.njqrp.org.  We would like to have the contest winner named by the
club meeting in January 2000, so that we might offer the badges to our club
members, at a nominal fee, so we might present a united front at our
February Hamfest.

Meeting closed at 7:20 PM

Program:  THE AMAZING "Z" MAGIC SHOW, presented by Ken Zelnick, KE5UU.

Charles Hall KC5CVG
Secretary/Treasurer

GENERIC E-MAIL ADDRESSES

 ARRL and QSL both offer e-mail alias/forwarding service. ARRL only offers
it to members. QSL offers it to all Hams. The way it works is you go to
their web site and sign up your call sign and your Real e-mail address. If
an e-mail message comes for you to the alias address, it is automaticly
forwarded to  your Real e-mail address.
For example anything sent to <kc5bry@qsl.net> Or anything sent to
<kc5bry@arrl.net> automaticly comes to me at <jsetcer@csw.net>. This is a
great service for those of us who can't remember e-mail addresses very
well, and don't keep an extensive address book.

On the air, it is VERY nice, simple, and easily understood,  to tell
someone your e-mail address as KC5BRY@qsl.net or KC5BRY@ARRL.net

Here are the addresses to sign up at:

http://www.qsl.net
http://www.qsl.net/cgi-bin/sigupwiz.pl

I hope you find this info useful.

73 J. Setcer, KC5BRY
http://www.setcer.com