F E E D - P O I N T
The Official Newsletter of the St. John Valley Amateur Radio Association
August 1998 Vol.8 no.8
Dear Fellow Hams,
Summer is hastening to a close. The flowers are still ahead of schedule. Fireweed seeds are being carried by the wind, the goldenrod is getting brown, and color is creeping into the tree leaves. Should be cold enough for antenna work soon - hi, hi!
Recently Stan and I made a trip to Waldoboro. In order to escape the Phish traffic, we went down route 11 to Benedicta and then south on the Aroostook Road. The Aroostook Road is a long, wide, smooth, dirt road with nothing but logging side roads. When a bull moose held us hostage for quite a while, I was wondering if we'd end up radioing for help! Anybody know anything about the history of the Aroostook Road?
I had another interesting experience with CARA on the air down there. They have a swap-sell net on Monday's, as I have mentioned before, but on Tuesday's they have a half hour CW net. That night they were working on Q signals. The leader would send a Q signal twice, then in round-robin fashion each of the participants would sound the same signal twice. Then the leader asked one of the others to explain what the signal meant with and without a question mark. I assume they do a different exercise every week. I think it's a good way to get neophytes on keys or paddles started on the air. I know at least three of us have keys or paddles and have not yet been on the air, so my hope would be that KW1C and others might help us set up a CW net.
I attended the weekly ham breakfast at Woody's Restaurant in Hallowell while down there. I asked a question about antennas and gathered some interesting information. One idea is that if you tune an antenna to a certain frequency, it's not so good at other frequencies. By installing some clips, one fellow clips on additional wire when he wants to vary much from his tuned frequency. He says he gets the best results with this system.
Address comments, questions, or suggestions to:
WRITE: Gale Flagg R.F.D.#3 Box 250
Fort Kent ME 04743
PHONE: 207-834-6670
E-MAIL: sgflagg @ ainop.com
73/ N1UYA Gale
Rocky Mountain
HELP NEEDED!!!
See Page 2.
Schedule of Coming Events
Date Event Place Contact Sponsor Time Freq
Sundays Net Canada VE1PIN 1800 147.30 Sundays Net SJ Valley N1QMC SJVARA 2100 146.64 Mondays Net Presq Isle WA1YNZ AARA 2000 146.73
Note : NEW summer SJVARA Net Time is 9 PM
Next Meeting
Monday, September 14 at 6:30 PM
SPRED Building on Pleasant Street
N1YUQ, Don, is scheduled to display his wonderful bird carvings. Please join us for his demonstration.
Page 2 Feed-Point, August 1998
CALLED TO ORDER: 1853 EDT by N1UYA.
IN ATTENDANCE: N1UYA, N8VJM, N1CGV, N1CHF, N1PMS, N1JHT, N7GLR, KA7VNR.
N1PMS requested that the secretary's minutes from the last meeting be read. Motion to accept N1PMS, second N1CGV, passed after discussion.
TREASURER'S REPORT: Previous balance $321.08; +$36.00 (dues); +$0.98 (interest); -$36.93 (repeater parts); ending balance $321.13. Motion to accept N8VJM, second N1PMS, passed.
Old Business:
Various aspects of Feed-Point (the monthly newsletter) were discussed. N1CHF gave an accounting of parts recently purchased for the Rocky Mountain repeater. He went on to tell that we have three walls inside and one wall outside scraped and painted. A sheetmetal hatch has been made and installed replacing a wooden hatch which leaked badly. Considerable trail maintenance was done enabling passage of a three-wheel ATV to within less than 50 metres from the summit. Nearly all of the telephone cable was removed from the trail. Maintenance is the key to keeping our privileges for using this site. Windows have been acquired that will fit with little modification. Other items discussed were a possible workday for the coming weekend (Sunday?) and a ham license study book for the gatekeeper.
New Business:
N1UYA asked if anyone would be interested in foxhunting and there were several affirmative replies. N1CHF said that we could have a foxhunt anytime members were ready, because he has the fox working well with an external antenna. He also mentioned a design for a simple board to make any HT a fox and an attenuator. Old foxhunts were also discussed with particular attention to deception (exempli gratis: N1JHT's recording of traffic sounds).Propagation, reception, phased arrays, verticals, QRN, Radio Netherlands were discussed by N7GLR, N8VJM and others.
Next meeting set for second Monday in September. Motion by N1CGV, second by N8VJM, passed.
N1CGV suggested a harvest supper set for SUN 25 OCT 98 1400 H at Lakeview.
Adjourned at 1934 EDT by N1UYA with no objection from the floor.
Submitted by N8VJM, secretary.
In Case You're Interested
September
6 Good EME Conditions
12-14 ARRL Sept. VHF QSO Party-50 or 144MHz, 222 or 432 MHz, 902 or 1296 MHz, 2.3+GHz Happy Birthday
Please wish the following a Happy Birthday:
Louis Albert 9-06
Jeff Pelletier 9-22
Phil Dumond 9-27
John Theriault 9-27
Rocky Mountain
Help Needed!!!
N1CHF and N8VJM have painted enough of the inside of the tower so that equipment may be taken up and moved in. They need drivers to get them to Rocky Mountain with trucks or 4-wheel drive. Steve has permission for an ATV until Sept. 15th. It is important for us to get everything up by then. So, please, those who voted for this project, join us and help us complete it to get the repeater on the air. Call Steve , Miles, or me and tell us when you can help - any day of the week. Page 3 Feed-Point, August 1998
SJVARA NET NEWS
This is a summary of 76 SJVARA nets held from April 6, 1997 to August 23, 1998.
There were 76 nets, 4 of which were special nets for severe weather, and 2 were special information nets.
Forty-three hams with U.S. calls checked in, and ten hams with Canadian calls joined us at various times.
The nets averaged 10.70 hams per session. (I wonder, what is a .70 ham ?) A few of the hams checked in only once. At the other end of the scale, N1ZBY , Jessica Boutot, checked in 56 times. N1UYA was net control 73 times.
The largest number of check-ins during this time was 22. The smallest number of check ins during regularly scheduled nets was 3.
During the next year, I would like to have more net controls lead the nets. I would like to have the club membership contribute ideas for making a 10-15 minute part of each net a learning experience - perhaps certain topics, or emergency practice, etc. Think about it and let me know!
If anyone would like to know how many times
they have checked into the net during these 76 nets, let me know. I have the figures.
Thanks to everyone who takes the time to check into our net. It lets us know who is listening in case of an emergency.
BITS OF INFORMATION
Vanity Call Signs
The cost of a vanity call sign will change from $50 for ten years to $13 for ten years on Sept. 14,1998. So if you have longed for a certain call sign but couldn't afford it, maybe you can now!
Turkey
Turkey (TA) has now signed a reciprocal operating agreement with the United States. If you are going to Turkey, you'll be able to operate there. Turkey also joins the list of third party traffic handlers.
ARRL Maine section
Check out the new ARRL Maine Section Home Page at http://www.dlois.com/mainearrl/