DeFOREST
AMATEUR RADIO CLUB - K8GE
PO Box 73 - West Union, OH 45693-0073
SERVING SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO SINCE 1974
OCTOBER 2000
EDITOR: WB8IOW - Jerry S. Paquette
http://www.qsl.net/k8ge
MINUTES OF MEETING
October 10, 2000
Barbara Lock - N8HIA
The DeForest ARC held their CHILI COOK-OFF before the meeting. The
different chilies were hard to choose from, they were all SO GOOD! We
had 30 people present to sample all of the good chili. It was a big
success. Tom KC8NHS, Jerry WB8IOW, and Don KC8JXC did the judging of
the chili.
George KK8J called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m., leading us in
the Pledge of Allegiance. George asked for the reading of the minutes
by Barb N8HIA. Pat KC8LVE made the motion to accept the minutes as
printed in the newsletter. Linda KC8JZG seconds the motion and the
motion carried.
George said the treasurer Marlene KC8JXE did not come to the meeting
since she has been sick.
George asked Ed KE8FK for his vice president report. Ed gave Kim
N8YWX a certificate for doing the net for September. Linda KC8JZG has
the net for October. Pat KC8LVE has the net for November. Marlene
KC8JXE will have refreshments for the November meeting.
Ed said there were twenty-three special event certificates sent out.
George said he didn't have too much for the president's report for
this month. He wanted to remind everyone to be thinking about the
nominations coming up in November. If you have someone in mind please
ask them if it is okay to nominate them. If you would like to
nominate yourself that is fine.
George asked if there was anything to report on ARES. Barb N8HIA
reported that thirteen people participated in the Simulated Emergency
Test Drill. It was held at the Prather's IGA store in West Union. We
had eighteen messages that were passed for the drill. Barb thanks all
that helped and sent the traffic for the SET drill.
Jerry WB8IOW said the classes are doing fine. It is a small group.
Jerry said that Ed KE8FK, George KK8J, and Jerry were taking turns on
teaching the classes. Last class will be November 7, 2000 and the
test will be held November 16, 2000. Jerry said he is thinking of
having a general class after the first of the year.
Jerry discussed the Anderson Power Pole connectors again. He said it
would take two sets for each radio. Jerry said there are good
instructions on the web page for the connectors. Jerry made the
motion to buy 200 at $160.00 for the club. This way the club can sell
them to the members who would be interested in buying them.
Lucius KF8RC second the motion and the motion carried.
George introduced Al Norris W8UJM to the club. Al reminded all about
the hamfest at Georgetown on November 18, 2000. It is $2.00
admission. If you buy your tickets from Kim before the hamfest our
club will get to keep $1.00 of the money on the ticket. Jerry and Ed
both will have a seminar at the hamfest. There will be some nice
drawings during the day.
George had Tom KC8NHS read out the winners of the chili cook-off: 4th
place went to George KK8J, 3rd place was Debbie KB8QNT, 2nd place was
Dick W8ZFO, and 1st place went to Pat KC8LVE. Debbie and Dick both
received cups for their prize, and Pat won a jar of salsa for her
prize.
George read the by-laws for nominations to the members.
Jerry said the packet is up at Ash Ridge. It is down at Gift Ridge
due to damage to the antenna. It will need repairs done at Gift Ridge
in the future.
Jerry said that SkyWARN has taken on Bracken and Robertson counties in
Kentucky for our area, giving us a total of nine counties now.
The weather bureau is still going ahead with the Otway station.
Maysville may get a station down the line. The EMA radio is off the
air right now, but Paul Howelett said he would replace the radio.
So right now the weather bureau will listen to our net for the time
being.
Vondon KJ8I asked to be taken off the repeater committee. He returned
the repeater book and key to Jerry. He said he would help out till
the end of the year.
There was no split the pot since Marlene KC8JXE was not at the
meeting. Lucius made the motion to adjourn and Barry KB8OMG second
and the motion carried.
73's Barb N8HIA
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NEXT MEETING
November 14, 2000
NOMINATION OF 2001
OFFICERS
ABCAP SENIOR CITIZENS
CENTER, WEST UNION, OH
Across from the Courthouse
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DeForest A.R.C. Birthdays
& SPECIAL EVENTS
11-01 KB8YFA Karen Rohrback
11-02 KC8JXE Marlene Potts
11-03 KE4AUP Tim Dickson
11-05 KB8PPQ Melissa Renee King
11-06 N8WBU Thomas Webb
11-06 K8IN Jerry Grooms
11-06 KC8NHT Anthony Robinson
11-07 WA8BMY George Kreps Jr.
11-07 KB8YKO Beth Clark
11-10 KB8JTJ Troy Dotson
11-13 K8DN Donald Ramsey
11-14 DeForest ARC meeting 7 PM
11-20 KE4MZN Roy East
12-01 KD4IXQ Martin Sauer
12-02 W8ZFO Richard J. Sauer
12-04 KE4MZP Marie East
12-06 KC8OLS Kyle West
12-07 N8HIA Barb Lock
12-11 KK8N Dale A. Bailey
12-12 DeForest ARC Christmas
dinner - 6:30 PM, meeting
at 7:00 PM
12-14 N8DAC Damon A. Clark
12-27 N8CGO Russell E. Arey
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The last 4 articles in this month's newsletter, KENTUCKY HAMS HELP IN
COAL SLUDGE SPILL DISASTER, Xenia, Ohio Tornado, AMSAT 2000 special
event:, and HAM ABOARD DISCOVERY GETS SPACE WALK THRILL are courtesy
of
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 19, No. 40
October 20, 2000
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GRANT
AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
7th ANNUAL HAMFEST
November 18, 2000
8:00 AM to 3:00 PM
ABCAP Building
200 South Green Street
Georgetown, OH
Major door prize:
ICOM IC-706MKIIG
DRAWING AT 2:30 PM
Over $3000 in door prizes
Talk-in 146.73 repeater
DON'T MISS IT!
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AMATEUR RADIO
SATELLITES
K8YMI Bob Halley
A bulletin released on Tuesday September 26 stated that Ariane 507 is
now scheduled for launch on Tuesday, October 31 (Halloween). This is
the ESA vehicle that will take Phase 3-D into orbit. The Hams in the
launch crew arrived in Kouru, French Guiana in early September and
have already completed many of the pre-launch tests of the
satellite... all systems tested well and P3-D is ready to go.
A summary of these tests is included on the Amsat.org web site under
the Amsat News Service 268, which is the set of news bulletins for the
week of September 24. If all goes well on the launch, it will likely
take two months or more for the real "shake-down" of P3-D before Hams
can use any of the transponders. Next month, I will include a listing
of the possible combinations of uplink/downlink frequencies. This
satellite will have something for everyone.
Atlantis flew a near perfect mission in mid-September to the
International Space Station (ISS). After docking with ISS, crew
members (astronauts and cosmonauts) finished a six hour space walk
attaching power, data and communications cables to the ISS's newest
component, Zvezda, and the Zarya control module. Next, they opened
the ISS doors and went inside to begin unloading the 1300 pounds of
gear left there in August by a Russian supply ship and after that,
began the unloading of 4800 pounds of supplies they had carried on
Atlantis. These supplies are mainly for the three men who will move
in at the beginning of November for a four month stay. After
undocking, Atlantis flew two passes around the ISS taking pictures.
Some of these can be viewed on this URL http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov/
At this same site, more information can be found about the amateur
radio station and details about ARISS and how it came about.
Atlantis also placed the 2-meter and 70 cm. radio stations in a
temporary location in the Cargo Block Module where they will use some
existing antennas. Later on, these stations will be relocated to the
Service Module for the "nauts" to use. Plans also call for Amateur
TV, both slow and fast scan, a digipeater and relay stations.
AO-27 was back on the air as of September 9. This is the small
satellite that can be worked with a dual-band hand-held and a small
3 or 4 element antenna. This is a single channel repeater-like station
with uplink of 145.850 and downlink of 436.797.
The AMSAT bulletin board lists some visual sightings of the ISS.
It is 140 feet long so should be easily visible in the dusky skies
shortly after sunset. Since it is up about 200 miles, it is still in
sunlight, even though the sky appears dark. It moves in a north/south
(or south/north) orbit and does not blink like an airplane.
Satellites are easy to spot if one takes the time to watch the early
evening sky.
In a surprise announcement last week, Keith Baker, KB1SF, the AMSAT NA
President, stated that he will not seek re-election at the Annual
AMSAT meeting in Portland in late October. Keith lives in Xenia and
has been President for two years following four years as Executive VP.
Plans for now are that the current Executive VP, Robin Haighton,
VE3FRH, will become President and Ray Soifer, W2RS will step (back)
into the Executive VP again. Keith will stay on as a member of the
Board of Directors and continue to play an active role in AMSAT.
He believes that organizations like ours should change officers on a
regular basis to provide for new and original ideas.
There have been many good reports about use of UoSAT 14 (now AO-14)
since it became available for Ham use. It was described in the August
QST by Ray Soifer, W2RS and also in my August 2000 column.
-73- K8YMI
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KENTUCKY HAMS HELP IN COAL SLUDGE SPILL DISASTER
Amateur Radio operators in eastern Kentucky this week helped their
neighbors to cope with a lack of drinking water in the wake of a coal
sludge spill that cut off water supplies. More than 200 million
gallons of coal waste flooded waterways without warning October 11
after a coal plant retention pond near Inez gave way.
The resulting pollution--described as being the consistency of wet
cement or molasses--has forced communities in the path of the spill to
close water intakes and rely on existing water supplies.
The Amateur Radio Emergency Service has not yet been activated, but
ARES remains on stand-by to provide emergency communication, if
needed. Section Emergency Coordinator Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, says the
Kentucky Division of Emergency Management requested Amateur Radio
assistance in Martin County, where the spill originated.
In Lawrence County, Emergency Coordinator Fred Jones, WA4SWF, says
hams were helping to supplement communication among the different
agencies involved whose radios operate on a variety of different
frequencies. But Jones says the primary need was making sure affected
residents had water to drink, cook, and bathe with.
While the cleanup is under way, fire is a big concern, according to
Jones. "That is the big thing they're worrying about. Our storage
tanks are low," he said. "If we have a fire here, we're going to have
a pretty big problem." He says water can't be pumped from the
contaminated river for fear the sludge will stop up the pumps on the
fire equipment. Another worry is the possibility of bad weather. "If
we have a big rain right now, it will back that river up big time and
flood all these people," Jones predicted. Kentucky Gov Paul Patton
declared a state of emergency October 16 in a large portion of
northeastern Kentucky. Affected are the counties of Boyd, Bracken,
Carter, Fleming, Greenup, Lawrence, Lewis, Martin, Mason, and
Robertson.
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Xenia, Ohio Tornado
Clarification: A report about the tornado that struck Xenia, Ohio,
that appeared in The ARRL Letter Vol 19, No 36 (Sep 22, 2000) said:
"Area residents said they had little or no warning that the storm was
on its way.
The Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch, but no
tornado watches or warnings" While this is correct, Dayton SKYWARN
Sectional Coordinators Paula and Nelson DiGennaro, KA8HQJ and WB8VUU,
point out that the National Weather Service had issued a severe
thunderstorm warning for Montgomery and Greene counties, and the
warning set off NOAA weather radios.
Severe thunderstorm warnings mention the possibility of tornadoes and
urge residents to seek shelter if severe weather threatens. The Green
County warning went out at 7:07 PM. The tornado reportedly struck 16
minutes later. "Any type of a warning is something to take seriously,
find shelter and protect yourselves," said Paula DiGennaro.
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AMSAT 2000 special event:
Special event station W3ZM will be active October 26-29 during the
AMSAT North America Space Symposium and AMSAT-NA annual meeting in
Portland, Maine (FN43). A certificate and QSL card will be available
via KK5DO. Send an SASE with two units of postage or one IRC and a
9x12 envelope to KK5DO, PO Box 310, Alief, TX 77411. The special event
station will be active on the satellites as well as on HF.-Bruce
Paige, KK5DO
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HAM ABOARD DISCOVERY
GETS SPACE WALK THRILL
US astronaut Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, aboard the shuttle Discovery got
the thrill of a lifetime last weekend as he joined fellow Mission
Specialist Leroy Chiao during a more than six hour spacewalk.
"This is too cool! McArthur said October 15 when he got a look at the
International Space Station from outside the shuttle. "Awesome," Chiao
countered. He and Chiao let out repeated whoops of exhilaration as
they floated out of the Discovery. The space walk was the first for
McArthur and the third for Chiao.
During their space walk--the first of four in this mission--McArthur
and Chiao connected power and data cables between the newly installed
Z1 framework and the space station's Unity, Zarya and Zvezda modules.
They also oriented antennas on the Z1 and attached an S-band space-to-
ground dish antenna to the end of a 12-foot boom and swung it into
place.
McArthur performed his tasks while strapped to the end of Discovery's
50-foot robotic arm while Mission Specialist Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA,
controlled the arm from inside Discovery.
A Ku-band TV antenna failure aboard the shuttle has prevented the crew
from downloading photos and video of their activities. The astronauts
used a slower backup system to relay black-and-white snapshots and
occasional video.
After several delays, Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral
October 11. The launch was the 100th of the space shuttle program.
Mission Commander for STS-92, Brian Duffy, N5WQW, docked the shuttle
last Friday without benefit of the shuttle's radar, which failed on
Thursday along with the space-to-ground TV link.
Although there are three hams aboard Discovery, no Amateur Radio
activity was planned during this mission. Discovery is set to return
to Earth October 22. In addition to the nine-ton Z1 framework, the
Discovery astronauts also installed a new docking port for use by
future shuttle missions.
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WEEKLY NET
The DeForest A.R.C. weekly net is held Thursday evening, 9:00 PM,
all year, on the 147.00 MHz+ repeater. All check-ins welcome.
Traffic, club news, information.
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PLEASE REVIEW OUR NEWSLETTER SPONSORS ADS, BELOW
---------------------------------------------
PRATHER'S IGA
FOODLINER
107 Walnut Street
West Union, Ohio
544-2643 or 544-5488
Chase Prather - Owner
Russ Grooms - Manager
Connie Bradford - Assistant Manager
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FAMILY OWNED
AND OPERATED
BREAKFAST
LUNCH - DINNER
WEST UNION
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Blake Pharmacy
Radio Shack
"On the town square,
in West Union, Oh"
(937) 544-2451
For special pricing, tell
Joey Traylor, you're a
member of the
DeForest Amateur Radio Club
& give him your callsign.
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Radio Shack Dealer
1565 US HWY 68
MAYSVILLE, KY
(606) 759-5027
or
toll free (888) 759-5027
MANAGER
KC4UXD
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"Experience the Difference"
"You've Got Questions - We've Got Answers"
HAM DISCOUNT
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SOUTHERN HILLS
EYE CARE
DR. HOWARD L. COVERT
125 S. MANCHESTER STREET
WEST UNION, OH
(937) 544-3325
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CUSTOM ELECTRONICS
PEEBLES, OH
937 587-5122
OWNED AND OPERATED BY W8ZFO
SALES AND INSTALLATION
OF
DISH NETWORK SATELLITE SYSTEMS
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J.D.'s AUTO REPAIR
NAPA AUTO CARE CENTER - ASE CERTIFIED MECHANIC
4685 CHAPPARAL ROAD - WEST UNION
(937) 544-8586
MONDAY - FRIDAY 8AM - 5 PM, CLOSED NOON HOUR
CLOSED SATURDAY & SUNDAY
OWNERS: JD - KB8VLF & DEE - KB8VBH
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SOUTHERN OHIO DRIVING SCHOOL
PEEBLES, OHIO
(937) 587-3194 or
(937) 587-3837
First-Time Drivers
Adults and Students
Remedial for Adults and Students
Owners:
Lyle Lambert (KC8DDY)
Jayne Lambert (KC8LUH)
and
Karen Lambert (KC8LIA)
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EDITOR E-MAIL: wb8iow@arrl.net
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