October, 1998 K0SI 146.760/146.160

Greetings

Welcome to another edition of the Squelch Tail, the newsletter of the Central Missouri Radio Association. I'm still getting used to the features of a new word processor, so bear with me Hi. This month, Bill, KB0TNM, has a short article he would like to share with the Club. Thanks for the input, Bill. The newsletter almost writes itself if you have much to say. Also, in the news this issue, I'll mention some news at the Club Station.

Next Meeting

The next club meeting will be held Tuesday, October 13^th, at 7:00 p.m. in the community room of Boone Electric. See below for some of what we'll be discussing.

Club Breakfast

The next Club Breakfast will be held Saturday, October 10^th, at 8:00 a.m., at Country Kitchens Restaurant, on Providence Road. Bring along a friend and an appetite.

From Bill, N0MAM

While on vacation east this summer to visit my in-laws, I had a nice Ham radio treat. One day while my wife and kids were busy with my in-laws I made the 2 hour trip from the northern burbs of New York City to Newington, Connecticut to visit ARRL headquarters. The drive up the parkway itself was a treat, but it was very nice visiting the ARRL offices. I've heard that in years past the ARRL staff have had a reputation of not remembering who pays the bills and have been rude to Hams. It was obvious at every turn that they have made a conscious effort to change this reputation. I walked in and was greeted by a very pleasant receptionist. She asked me if I wanted a tour and I said I did and that I also was interested in operating W1AW. She advised me to do that first and come back to tour the offices and lobby museum, afterwards. I was directed across the parking lot to the quaint old brick building that houses the studio. A very nice man let me in and set me up at an operating station. The main W1AW transmitter is a large commercial looking automated system filling a large rack in a built in glass case about 6 feet high and 8 feet wide. There is a control console in front of it in the middle of the main room and it is from this location that the automated bulletins, code sessions and, other transmissions are sent. The guest operating sites are in three small soundproof studios, each equipped with a fairly full complement of equipment. Mine had an HF rig, tuner, linear amplifier, rotor controller and a computer.

I requested 15 meters and the station manager set it up for me and chose an antenna. He even loaned me a pen and pad so I didn't have to go back to the car to get mine. I had promised to try a scheduled contact with KS0M, Dick White, of the Fulton Ham Club. I asked to use the phone and used my calling card to call Dick. We agreed on a frequency, I found him and we worked each other on CW for about 20 minutes or more. It was about 1:00 in the afternoon on July 28th. The bands were not great but I gave Dick a 469 with some QSB and he gave W1AW about the same. When I finished I made the mistake of trying to listen to other bands to see what was happening and all the other Novice bands were worse than 15 meters. By the time I got back to 15 meters it had died down also and I never made another contact. I was disappointed because I thought it might be exciting to work a couple of Novice operators who probably don't often have the chance to hear W1AW's call on the Novice bands. It occurred to me, someone might have thought that I was a prankster and wouldn't believe what they were hearing. It was about three o'clock by then, so I gave up and went back to the offices and got my tour. They very quickly had a young college student summer employee come and take me on my own individual tour. Everyone was extremely nice and most left their desks to shake my hand and welcome me. My tour guide took me everywhere and showed me absolutely every aspect of the ARRL operation. I was particularly interested in the QSL bureau and the technical testing lab where their team of technicians test equipment for product reviews. Just as I was leaving, at about 5 minutes till 4:00, their quitting time, I remembered a loose connector on my 2 meter mag mount antenna. I went back into the lab and asked to borrow a soldering gun. George Beloin, one of their technicians helped me replace the connector so I could have two meters again, on the way home. It seemed obvious that they were making a concerted effort to earn a new reputation and it worked. I felt valued and important to them as a member of the organization. It was definitely red carpet treatment. I strongly recommend making the trip if you are ever within a few hour drive of Newington or Hartford Connecticut.

Bill Clark, N0MAM

(Sounds like Bill had a great trip, and FB to hear the ARRL values their members, again. How about you? Have you gone anywhere, or seen anything you would like to do a short article on? Let me know. -ed)

Hamfest

Well, the 1998 CMRA Hamfest is now history. Hope everyone had a great time and went home with something they needed. This year, the Club was plus or minus $40 from breaking even. I think that qualifies this year's effort as a success. It would have been nicer if we had more people selling, flea-market and commercial. We had pretty good attendance, as a whole, but there weren't nearly as many tables set up indoors this year, compared to last year. I suspect one reason we were so low was the fine job of recruiting the Mid Mo. ARC did in getting ready for the MS-150 this year. This cut down on the number of available "semi-local" ACTIVE hams, those who would be likely to attend our hamfest. One of the changes for next year will certainly be to pick a new date. I think the facilities at Good Time Country served us well again this year. Other things we may want to consider for next year would be to add some forums, and maybe a special event station or fox hunt. Our main limitation is probably getting enough help on the day of the hamfest. A collective tip of the old Club hat goes to John, N0EG, for stepping in and filling the shoes of Hamfest Chairman this year. Thanks, OM ! Also, thanks to everyone who came out and pitched in. The Club couldn't have pulled it off without everyone's efforts.

N0BR, SK

Most regrettably, it has come to the attention of the Club that Mr. William J. Reagan, N0BR, has joined the ranks of the Silent Keys. Robert, KB0TCR, mentioned at a previous meeting that Bill had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and that he intended to donate his station to the Club. On Saturday, September 19^th, Robert, John, KB0PHQ, and myself met at Bill's house and moved the equipment over to the Club Station. The only stipulation Bill made was that the Club use the equipment as the Club sees fit. (Thanks for the very generous gift, Bill !)

What is most remarkable about Bill's equipment is the pristine shape he kept it in. A short list of the equipment follows:

After much thought, and a little visiting with others, it seems to me that probably the best course of action for the Club, would be to keep the Ten Tec QRP rig for use at the Club Station and at Field Days, and probably sell the Collins and Hammerlund equipment, as well as many of the miscellaneous items, hopefully putting some of the proceeds back into the Club station in the form of a new, upper tier HF rig. The Collins equipment is just too nice (and collectable) to keep, while the funds it could generate would go a long way toward purchasing a nicer HF rig. I've heard many times over the years that people would be more likely to frequent the Club Station if the rig there is better than the rig they have at home. I don't know if that's true, but I think it would be in the Club's best interest to do what we can to improve the Club Station, and hopefully the participation from the membership would increase. As I've said in the past, most clubs would love to have a station like we have, and it is a shame we don't use it more.

One of the pieces of new business at the October meeting should be deciding what the Club would like to do with the N0BR equipment.

Upcoming Contests

Speaking of the Club Station, any interest in operating one of the next upcoming contests from there? Some of the bigger DX contests coming up are the CQ WW phone (Oct. 24/0000Z to Oct. 25/2400Z) and CQ WW CW (Nov. 28/0000Z to Nov. 29/2400Z) contests. These contests are always a lot of fun. I plan on operating in both, it's just a question of from where. I don't operate too many contests from my station at the home unless the YL and kids are on the road. We get in each other's hair too much, if I do Hi.

Red Cross Info Request

I just received a request from Sandy, with the American Red Cross. She would like a member or two of the Club to attend a meeting Sunday, Oct. 18^th, 2:00 p.m., at the Red Cross building on Worley. She would like to know how the Club could help during a disaster, as well as what the Club would need from the Red Cross. This sounds like an excellent time to solidify our working relations with the Red Cross, as a served agency, as well as get the word out about the benefits of Amateur Radio during emergencies. If you would like to attend, let me know.

73

Well, that just about does it for this time around. 73, es CUL OM/YL,

de WY0B …

Central Missouri Radio Association

P.O. Box 283

Columbia, Mo. 65205