The Repeater (electronic version)
Newsletter of the Arkansas River Valley Amateur Radio Foundation
Russellville, Arkansas
September, 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:
September
21 - ARVARF meeting, Ryan's, Meeting at 7:00, those who want to
eat, come
at 6:00.
27 - RACES meeting, at Red Cross, 7:00
p.m. Note - this is on a Monday,
and will be combined with the Red Cross disaster volunteers
meeting. Dr.
Karl Sandberg will present a program on medical preparedness for
Y2K and
other disasters.
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:
September - KI5QJ
October - WB5BHS
RACES/ARES NEWS
There are several interesting public service activities coming
up. First,
on September 21, Pope County OEM (new name for OES) will hold a
full-scale
disaster exercise. The scenario will be a tornado,
and there will be many
participants, including the Red Cross, St. Mary's Hospital,
police,
sheriff's dept., ambulance, rescue, etc. The
exercise starts at 9:00 AM
and ends at noon. Ham radio will be used to support the Red
Cross and OEM
during the drill. The Red Cross will set up a shelter at
the First United
Methodist Church downtown, and all drill participants will come
to the
church for lunch and a critique session at noon. We will
monitor 146.82
during the drill and may ask for stations to check in just to see
how many
people are on the air. Let me know if you would be
interested in helping
out and I'll give you the details.
The RACES meeting this month will not be held on its regular
night. It
will be combined with the Red Cross disaster volunteers meeting
on Monday,
September 27th at 7:00 PM. The Red Cross office is at 1311
E 16th St
(across from Hickey Park). Dr. Karl Sandberg, a physician
from Ola, will
present an interesting program on preparations for
"Y2K and other
disasters". Dr. Sandberg has researched Y2K
possibilities and should have
some good information. No one knows what will happen
on January 1, but
predictions range from "no problems" to "the end
of the world!
The October RACES meeting will also be combined with the Red
Cross meeting.
On October 25th, Butch Baker from the Arkansas Nuclear
Planning Response
Program will present the Plans Review training
session. All participants
will be issued an Arkansas Emergency Worker's ID
card.
On October 16 and 17, we have the annual Simulated Emergency Test
(SET).
This 24-hour exercise starts at 1:00 PM on Saturday, October
16. Most
activity will be on 3987.5 Khz SSB and on packet. The
scenario will be a
statewide power failure, essentially a worst-case Y2K
scenario. The
statewide scenario also includes a radiation release from ANO,
but I am
asking hams in my district to not mention ANO problems on voice
modes to
prevent alarming the public.
All counties in District J will be participating in the SET, as
well as the
Salvation Army communications system. Operators are
needed to handle SET
traffic. Don't worry if you have never handled formal
message traffic
before - that's why we have these exercises. Let me know if
you would be
interested in participating and I will give you some messages to
send.
You can send this traffic on FM to a local station for
relay to the HF net
if you would prefer. Stations are also needed to
originate packet
traffic. If your packet station is operational, let me know
and I'll give
you some traffic to send.
Charles, KF5JH, now has both NEBO (145.01) and POPECO
(147.495) packet
nodes operational. After the club voted last month to
support a 6-meter
node, the radio and parts to make the necessary cables were
ordered. We
hope to have the 6M node operational on 50.615 before the
SET. During
the SET, Philip, N5URB, will operate a packet mailbox for
outgoing traffic.
The K5PXP-1 mailbox at 911 is on 145.01, and W5AUU at state
ADEM (formerly
State OES) is on 24 hours a day. All we need now is
some exercise traffic
to give these systems a good workout.
73, Dennis W5RZ
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
When you sign on to write a monthly column, you sometimes find
that your
noggin isn't quite so "bursting with creative ideas" as
you might have once
thought. Fortunately, I like to read the fishing column
that a coworker
writes for The Courier. His recent "falling out of the
boat" column about
some of the funny/stupid things he'd done and seen inspired
me. I'm no
slacker in this regard--my ham radio career has provided me with
a wealth
of goofball things to tell, and I'm not shy about telling stories
on
myself. So here it is, my bloopers column.
Field Day seems to be the mother lode of ham anecdotes.
Tops for me was
the time a friend and I loaded up all our stuff and headed off to
Fayetteville to join the old school gang for field day.
Only the old gang
was a little surprised to see us a week early! Let's see,
is it the third
weekend or the fourth? Fayetteville was also the Field Day
site where I
left my keyer out in the rain all night. It was never quite
the same again.
Another time, this same friend and I (dumb and dumber?) set up on
Mt.
Magazine and were about 20 hours into the contest when the
generator seized
up, never to turn again. Oh, you're supposed check the oil
every few
hours? It was a borrowed generator too. Oops.
Antennas have got to come in second only to field day for ham
follies.
Well, I haven't dropped a tower or beam ... yet. My memory
is filled with
images of rocks and arrows dangling from backyard trees by nylon
cords,
just out of reach. And snarled bird's nests of springy
copperweld, angrily
slam-dunked into the trash barrel. A ham really shows his
character when
he tosses that rock toward the high limb for the twentieth time,
knowing
the neighbors are watching and snickering. Oh yeah, keep
those feedlines
clear. I recall once in my teenage years, riding my bike around
the house
and clotheslining myself on my own RG-58. Jerked me off the
bike and my
transmitter off the desk inside.
There are plenty of little things we've all done. Did a
great job of
soldering on a PL-259, only to find we forgot to slide the
coupling ring on
first. Most veteran hams know the acrid chemical smell of
burning
transformer insulation and overheated resistors. We've
picked up a solder
iron by the business end. But only once. We know what
a blob of molten
solder on a bare knee feels like. (It hurts.)
We know what B+ is and
also what it feels like. (It really hurts.)
I got a million of 'em on myself, but I have to tell a couple of
classics
on other guys. I visited a friend who was talking about his
Vibroplex
keyer paddle that he'd used for years. He was a bit
disappointed that he'd
lost one of the two rubber pieces that restrains the movable arm
and had to
operate with only one. Rubber piece? That was a
shipping restraint! I
couldn't bring myself to tell him and allowed myself a laugh only
after I
got outside.
Another great one was told to me by Dennis. (It's only
funny because there
were no injuries or serious damage.) An acquaintance was
putting up a wire
antenna. He needed a nylon guy to go over an 8 kV power
line. This is a
no-no but he calculated carefully that the wire would not reach
the power
line by a good margin. He already had the feeder through
the window and
connected. You guessed it, there was a slight
miscalculation and the
resulting fireball travelling down the feeder set his windowsill
on fire!
Call me cruel, but I got a good laugh out of that one.
Well, I'm just getting warmed up and I'm out of space. And
I haven't even
started on my on-the-air mistakes. Maybe next time. I
guess it's a good
thing that I count as fond ham memories my mistakes as well as my
successes. Now, if I could just figure out what's wrong with my
latest
&#!!! homebrew
project!
73,
Nick, WA5BDU
AUGUST MINUTES
Monthly meeting of ARVARF called to order at 7:03PM August 17,
1999 by Nick
Kennedy. July minutes approved as published in newsletter.
Jonathan reported on repeater controller. Thought all had
been resolved
until he called to make sure the unit the committee wanted was
available.
When he explained what we wanted a controller to accomplish, he
was told we
needed a different controller. So back to the drawing
board.
ARVARF has a web page now located at www.cswnet.com/~arvarf.
Dennis discussed packet. Estimated cost around
$250.00. Motion was made
and approved to spend up to $500.00 to set up the packet station.
Some members are interested in obtaining a concealed handgun
permit. Steve
Mercure will check on setting up. Please contact him if you
are interested.
Skywarn signs are on their way. Contact Dennis for yours.
Nominating committee to have slate ready for October meeting.
Present were
18 members and 5 visitors. Meeting adjourned at 7:33PM.
Program: John passed out test. All had fun guessing
the answers.
Charles Hall, KC5CVG
Secretary/Treasurer
FOR SALE
50' Rohn 25 tower. Call 970-4972 and ask for Dave
(N5XWZ)
80 foot tower - make offer, you take down. Renee or James
Miller, phone
284-3208
UPCOMING HAMFESTS
The 1999 All-Arkansas Hamfest will be held on Saturday, September
18
starting at 9:00 A.M. This hamfest is sponsored by the
CAREN club. The
location will be the North Little Rock Community Center, Pershing
and
Willow Streets. Talk-in is 146.94 or 444.200.
Admission is $5.00 with age
11 and under free. Flea market tables are $20.00 each and
flea market
setup starts at 8:00 A.M. VE testing will be at 1:00
P.M. Door prizes
will be given every half hour and there will be grand prizes
given away at
10:00 AM and 2:00 PM. For more information, contact Scott
Derden, K5SCD,
phone 501-834-1881 or e-mail sderden@flash.net
Hamfest web site is
http://carenclub.webjump.com
The NWAARC Hamfest will be held in Springdale on October 1st and
2nd. It
will be at the Jones Center for Families. Hours are
Friday 7 PM to 10 PM
(setup 5 PM to 7 PM) and Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM (setup 6AM to 8
AM). There
will be programs and VE testing on the premises. Pre-
register for testing
if possible with Mac, W4FH, at 501-443-3359 or e-mail dmacdona@ipa.net.
Admission is $5.00, tables are $6.00, and tailgate space is
$4.00. For
more information, contact Buster at 501-631-9231 or e-mail kc5uew@mc2k.com
SEPTEMBER CLUB PROGRAM
At this month's meeting, Jay Bromley, W5JAY, and Kelsey Mikel,
KK5KU, are
coming all the way from Ft. Smith to put on a special program for
us. They
will be talking about low-power (QRP) operation and showing off
some of the
rigs they have built. QRP is getting bigger all the time
and several club
members are already involved in building rigs. Please plan
to come to the
meeting and stay for the program.
UPDATE ON DOTTIE, W4KKI
Ben, W5HH, reported on the net last Tuesday that Dottie Starnes
was home
from the hospital after having multiple bypass
surgery. She is getting
around better and we hope that she will soon be back with us at
club meetings
We are considering the possiblity of having a combined effort
for the CQ
Worldwide DX Contest (SSB) on the weekend of October
30th. It will be at
Dennis Schaefer's house and will run from Friday evening until
Sunday
evening. If you are interested in participating, let Dennis
or Melissa know.
LOOK OUT FOR PHONE SCAM
Thanks to Charlotte and Dave Stockton for telling us about
a phone scam
that is going around. They call someone and say they
are with the phone
company and say they need to do some testing and ask you to dial
"90#'.
What this does is give them complete access to your phone line
and they can
call anywhere they want and it charges your phone.
This is not a hoax -
some Russellville businesses have been victimized by this.
WEB SITE HAS ONLINE EXAMS
QRZ has announced that free, online practice amateur exams for
all license
classes now are available at
http://www.qrz.com. The exams
include instant scoring and all images and
diagrams from current VEC question pools.--Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ
(From The ARRL Letter)
AMATEUR RADIO "COMMUNITY SITE" eHAM.NET IS ON-LINE
Dubbed an Amateur Radio "community site," eHam.net,
debuted September 2 at
http://www.eHam.net.
"eHam.net can best be described as a community of ham
radio operators from all over the world," said Bill Fisher,
W4AN, one of
the amateurs behind the new site. He says the site is--among
other
things--aimed at giving hams a place to share ideas through a
chat program,
as well as to contribute news, buy and sell, take practice exams,
see
equipment reviews, and get propagation information and DX spots.
eHam.net includes a call sign server. Users will be able to add
an e-mail
address, Web site address, personal biography, and picture.
Search tools
will allow users to find community members with the same ham
radio
interests. The site also includes an unlimited number of
real-time chat rooms.
eHam.net also offers free ads to buy, sell or swap on-line. The
eHam.net
"Detective" search tool lets users find ham radio
information on the Web.
"We have indexed all of the archived mailing lists at
contesting.com,
qth.net, and others to provide you with one place to search for
answers to
your questions," Fisher said.
The site also lets users view DX spots from all over the world
and locate
QSL managers quickly. A "Friends Remembered" department
lets hams post
reminiscences of Silent Keys. The site also includes various
Amateur
Radio-related links. The site includes news items from the ARRL
and other
sources.
In addition to Fisher, others behind eHam.net include Randy
Thompson, K5ZD,
Garth Hitchens, KG7GA, and Trey Garlough, N5KO
(From The ARRL Letter)
QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH.
Why do they report power outages on TV?
When companies ship styrofoam, what do they pack it in?
ZORRO UNMASKED
The Daily DX reports that DXpeditioner Yasuo "Zorro"
Miyazawa, JH1AJT,
voluntarily surrendered his Amateur Radio station license to
authorities
last May. The DX newsletter, edited by Bernie McClenny, W3UR,
cited a
telephone conversation with the Kanto Bureau of
Telecommunications in
Tokyo, Japan, as the source of its report in last Friday's
edition.
Miyazawa was scheduled to receive the DXer of the Year Award at
the New
Orleans International DX Convention August 28. On June 16, the
Asahi
Shimbun newspaper had reported that Miyazawa and another Japanese
amateur
were arrested after allegedly obtaining an operator license under
false
identification. Over the years, Miyazawa has been to many DX
spots
throughout Asia, Africa and the Pacific Ocean including 7O1A,
XW30/XW30A,
A51/JH1AJT, XU1A, XW8KPL, E31A, among others.--The Daily DX
FCC CITES NET CONTROL
The FCC wrote Advanced licensee Alan E. Strauss, WA4JTK, on
August 4, 1999,
to follow up on recent complaints of interference to the
"14.247 DX Group,"
for which Strauss serves as net control. FCC Legal Adviser for
Enforcement
Riley Hollingsworth wrote that the FCC has received complaints
that the
Group "monopolizes that frequency and interferes with
ongoing
communications when starting the net operations." He
reminded Strauss and
others who might act as net control for the group that Amateur
Radio
frequencies are shared and that the net "has no greater
rights than any
other licensed operator on any given frequency." He said
that a net taking
over a frequency from existing legitimate communication "is
considered
deliberate interference and cannot be tolerated on the amateur
frequencies." Hollingsworth wrote Strauss again August 24,
1999, enclosing
information it received regarding net operations on July 17,
1999, that he
said "appears to conflict" with Strauss's explanation
of alleged
interference to the net that same day. Hollingsworth gave Straus
20 days to
provide "detailed comments" on the information provided
to the FCC, and he
again reminded Strauss and other stations acting as net control
that
amateur frequencies are shared and no net has priority to a given
frequency.
(From the ARRL Web Extra)