THE            ISSUE 5, MAY 2003

NEWSLETTER OF THE QIN AND ICN INDIANA CW TRAFFIC NETS

NET SCHEDULES:

QIN - meets on 3.656 Mhz at 0000 UTC and 1430 UTC daily

ICN - meets on 3.705 Mhz at 2315 UTC daily

QIN NCS Schedule

- QIN APRIL 2003 STATS -

* All station locations are in Indiana unless otherwise specified.

QIN Manager's Comments for April 2003

This month band conditions have even been rougher for the 1430Z morning net, and sometimes not so good for the 0000Z evening net either. The 40-meter conditions have been for the most part just as bad or worse for the morning net, so not much relief there.

In spite of the conditions, we have been able to maintain most of the net activity to a workable level.

There were 17 different stations QNI in the month of April, and 109 pieces of traffic passed, 78 during the early net, and 57 during the late net. Average time per session for the early net was 16.8 minutes, and 20.5 minutes for the late net. The (1430z) late net reported 29 sessions for a 97% participation, and the (0000z) early net reported 30 sessions for 100%. QNI's for the morning (Late) session were 109 total, and the evening (Early) session, 109 total.

Outstanding QNI's were Marv/W9KT-24, Andy/KC9BZL-27, Gary/KB9TUI-31, and Dick/K9PUI-52.

NCS stations were John/WB9OFG-3, Brent/N9HZ-4, Mark/W9PC-6,

Kirk/KO9D-6, Andy/KC9BZL-7, Dick/K9PUI-16, and Gary/KB9TUI-17. THANKS JOHN, BRENT, MARK, KIRK, ANDY, and GARY for being there and filling in a bunch of the empty spots.

KJ9J, Newt, went through some rough times toward the end of this month, going into the hospital for open-heart surgery. He is a tough cw op though, making it through the operation and is now back at his southern QTH recuperating. Send him a message or a card to cheer him up. GET WELL SOON NEWT !

KB9RDS, Steve, Newt's brother-in-law in Indianapolis, deserves a special thanks for keeping us updated with Newt's condition. THANKS STEVE !

WB9OFG, John, had an interruption in his busy schedule for a conference in Vegas early in the month. Then his antenna was victim to the high winds (as some others of us did too), so he has been trying to get back on schedule. I'm sure things will settle down for him when work eases up for the summer??

W9PC, Mark, finished up his article "Signalman" in the Newsletter. Great reading.....THANKS MARK.

QIN didn't handle as much traffic as last months traffic, down by 39, which was only about a 5% decrease. But message handling efficiency was improved on again, which is admirable.

We are now into the spring/summer slump due to vacations and other activities. I don't anticipate that it will be as severe as in past years. Keep up the good work and thank you all for your participation and support of the net.

73, Dick/K9PUI

-ICN-

*Webmaster's note: Sorry.....ICN Individual station stats and ICN Net Manager's Comments unavailable for April.

From HBN - Traffic Call (May 2003 )

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 20 (in part) ARLP020 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA May 16, 2003

To all radio amateurs....

Disturbed conditions triggered by a continuous solar wind stream appear to go on and on, week after week, seemingly without end. Nice quiet conditions would result from a daily A index of 10 or lower.

Average daily conditions near that level haven't been reported since the week of February 20-26 when the daily average was 11.1, or January 9-15 when it was 9.1.

Conventional wisdom says that disturbed conditions occur more often when the solar cycle has passed the peak and is headed down, and recent experience seems to bear this out. Recent forecasts for daily solar flux and planetary A index don't predict a daily A index below 10 until May 31. ........ The latest projection has solar flux rising over the next few days to 110 on Saturday May 17, 120 on Sunday and 125 on Monday. The daily planetary A index projection shows an unsettled 15 throughout the weekend, rising to 20 on Monday........ The solar flux and sunspot numbers were lower this week than last, but the A index was higher. The average daily sunspot number dropped around 100 points from 146 to 46.4, and daily solar flux was down over 40 points to 95.5. Average daily A index rose from 20.7 to 29.3 ....... The latest mid-latitude K index is on WWV at 18 minutes after each hour, or you can get the message at 303-497-3235. The text of that hourly message is available on the web at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/wwv.txt .

(From HBN - Traffic Call - August 2002 - KA5NNG)

The Missing Q signals

Some Q signals have never made it to the ARRL's official list. Here are some that many agree would be useful in appropriate situations. As with regular Q signals, each can be a statement or a question, depending on whether a question mark follow it.

QBA - My antenna is BIG!

QBA? - How big is your antenna?

QBO - Don't sit next to that guy in the meeting.

QBO? - Buddy, can you spare some soap?

QCW - I am going to whistle Morse Code on FM (or SSB)

QCW? - Why are you whistling Morse?

QDR - Darn Right the frequency is busy! (In response to QRL?)

QFH - This frequency is MINE! - go elsewhere.

QFH? - Is this frequency hogged?

QLF - I am sending with my left foot.

QLF? - Are you sending with your left foot?

QOK - Your last transmission was Okie Dokie.

QOK? - Was my last transmission OK?

QRC - Warning, rag chewer on frequency.

QRC? - Are you a rag chewer?

QWC? - Who cares?

QWC - I don't care.

QZZ - I fell asleep at the mike.

QZZ? - Is that a 60Hz hum, or are you snoring?

A SHORT COURSE IN ELECTRICITY

FOR MECHANICAL EINGINEERS

Submitted by KA5NNG

1. Most electricity is manufactured in power stations, where it is fed into wires that are then wound around large drums.

2. Some electricity, however, does not need to go along wires: that used in lightning, for example, and in portable radios. This kind of electricity is not generated, but is just lying about in the air, loose.

3. Electricity makes a low, humming noise. This noise may be pitched at different levels for use in doorbells, telephones and electric organs.

4. Electricity has to be grounded. That is to say, it has to be connected to the ground before it can function, except in the case of airplanes, which have separate arrangements.

5. Although electricity does not leak out of an empty light socket, that light socket is nevertheless live if you happen to shove your finger in it when the switch is on. So, if it is not leaking, what is it doing?

6. Electricity is made up of two ingredients, negative and positive. One ingredient travels along a wire covered with black plastic, the other wire covered with white plastic. When these two wires meet in what we call a plug, the different ingredients are mixed together to form electricity.

7. Electricity may be stored in batteries. Big batteries do not necessarily hold more electricity than small batteries. In big batteries, the electricity is just shoveled in, while in small batteries (transistors) it is packed flat.

Incurious people are content to take all this for granted. They press a switch and the light comes on--and that is all they know about the miracle in their homes. This has never been enough for me. I have to know how thing work; and if I cannot find out from some technical handbook, then I combine such information as I already have with simple logic. Thus it is easy to deduce that the light switch controls a small clamp or vise that grips the wire very hard, so that the electricity cannot get through. When the switch is flicked on, the vise is relaxed and the electricity travels to the light bulb. Here, for the first time, we can actually SEE the electricity, in the form of a spark. This spark is enlarged many hundreds of times by the curved bulb, which is made of magnifying glass.

- Authored by British novelist/writer Keith Waterhouse.

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