Flea Market Needs Volunteers

by Martin, AA1ON

FARA stills needs a few more volunteers to help at the spring Flea Market.  Please give Martin a call or see him at the meeting - FARA can use your help.

FARA Needs Rohn 25 Sections

FARA is looking for Rohn 25 tower sections.  The goal is to collect enough to fill FARA's Field Day needs and to be able to store them at the club.  Having them stored at the club decreases setup and takedown times since the sections are all located at one spot.  Our current situation is that someone has to drive to a number of different places to gather what's needed.
So if you know of any old (but in decent shape) sections lying around unused please contact Martin, AA1ON, or any of the club officers.  The FARA board will even consider taking down unused towers for people in return for the sections.

Remember: "Rohn was built in a day!" 

Food Suggestions Sought

FARA cook par excellance - Dick, K1KTK is asking for suggestions as to what to serve at Field Day.  If you've ever been to Field Day and had a hankering for something that wasn't on the menu let Dick know so he can take it under consideration.

Marathon Volunteers Needed

Bob Salow, WA1IDA, is organizing the radio operators to support the BAA Marathon.  He is looking for volunteers.  If you can lend a hand please give him a call at 650-9440.

Mass QSO Party

Save the weekend of May 3^rd and 4^th!  It's the Massachusetts QSO Party.  It's a lot of fun.  There will be operation from the Club shack as well as  a number of FARA members who will be traveling to different counties within the state.  In fact.  Dick, K1KTK, and Pete, KA1AXY, are planning to fly into each county and operate from that county for a while.

Dues are Due!

Each year the club dues come due on January 1st. Here is is April already and a lot of people still have not paid.  If you still owe dues please send them directly to the club.  Members not paid up by May will be dropped from the rolls and will no longer receive any mailings from the club.

Board Meeting Moving Back

Beginning in May the monthly FARA board meetings will be moving back to be the second Monday before the club meeting rather then the third Monday.

FARA License In A Weekend

Dick Marshall  K1KTK
Director of Testing

What a superb effort was given to the License in a Weekend course given the weekend of 21-23 March!!  The guys and gals who run this course, do the food and snacks and provide VE support amaze me every time we do this!!  Makes one very proud to be a member of

Teddy Ben Harav
Joshua Burchard
Carol Dossa
Pritama Haeusgen
Charles Howe
Daniel Kronick  (Age 11 - my Grandson!)
Brian Maeder
Marilyn McCormick
Brent Otto
Glenna Richards
Russell Sandow
Phyllis Smalley
Richard Wiik
Those passing Element 2 are:
Ronn Ben Harav
Robert Dossa
Jamie Gartrell
Andrew Otto
Nanci Shaffer

Congratulations to all and we look forward to some or all of the latter group completing their Tech License at the upcoming Exam Session at the Flea Market on April 6th.

Attaching PL259s to Coax

by John Broshnahan, W0UN
Submitted by Dave Hoaglin, K1HT

I was surprised at the number of private responses asking for more details and clarifications on my note on installing PL-259s.  I also noted that my original posting had some minor problems, so I have decided to write up the entire procedure in a bit more detail.  Hope it is of some use.  If anything is still unclear let me know and I will revise my note.
73  John  W0UN
Installing PL-259s on RG-8 or RG-213
Requirements:
1) Good quality coax with a high percentage of braid--96%.  Also note that good quality coax has better control on overall diameter of the jacket.  Some cheap brands have a jacket that is too thick and won't screw into the PL-259 properly.
2) Good quality PL-259s, preferably silver plated with Teflon dielectric
3) High temp soldering iron (800 degrees F) with a large heat capacity but with a tip that can be inserted in the soldering holes of the PL-259 (I use an old Weller WTCPL with a PTC8 (800 deg.) but it is a little marginal on heat capacity)
4) Very sharp knife such as a utility knife with replaceable blades and install a new