Feedline

pioneer in participative interactive journalism

Hint: It has its own web site.

Answer later in Feedline.

Here are the scores for the top ten performers on Field Day 1998.

Seem's that stations on the west coast didn't fare as well!

Now for the 3A Class Top 10 Statistics. There were a total of 358 entries in this class. And the winners are .... (drum roll please..)

Note that the second and third place winners had more QSO's than we did, but we still won! I think the strategy to run 2 CW and 1 SSB station is a good one! I thought our antenna system this year was great also. Now the heat is really on for next year.

Frank, "CARC President the year we won 3A Field Day!" KE4ZEQ

It was 27 degrees (F) outside before the sun came up. Surely, this must be Cary H.S. Marching Band's 40th Annual Band Day. It was. The Cary ARC has helped out by supplying needed communications for a good number of years.

Again, this year, the troops are answering the call to serve by "playing radio" on a Saturday morning. It is a tough job, but somebody has to do it!

Most of the slots traditionally have been filled by those who have done those jobs before. That seems to make things go a little smoother. It works here, because there is not so much to learn by moving around to different slots every year. New people can be put into the empty slots more conveniently.

This year, the unit-count in the parade was down to 65. I have seen parades with132 units. Of course, that was when every marching band was required to march in the parade to qualify for the Field Competition later in the day/evening. The reason that was changed was that some band come from so far away that they would have to leave the night before to make the parade. Their only choice was to drop out of Band Day, since it made for such a long day.

So, the "parade requirement" was dropped. Now, they don't have to arrive until around noon. A much more civil situation for the marching bands and their adult chaperons. The closer in marching bands participate because they enjoy it and want the experience.

Still, the parade is a good mixture of bands, cub scouts, brownies, antique vehicles, dignitaries, floats, special interest groups, rescue/police units, etc. I' m really surprised there are not more Cary area folks taking advantage of the free entertainment. I suppose if you charged admission to get to downtown, they would be five deep at the curbs! Go figure!

As far as I know, things went fairly smooth. The usual lost band and only one medical emergency. The Cary ARC should be proud of another job quietly done. We do what we do best. Sandra Williams stopped by my post before the parade and expressed her appreciation for our efforts and that they be conveyed to the membership.

Thank you, CARC.

Herb, W3HL

Meeting called to order by Frank, KE4ZEQ, at 7:35 p.m. All present introduced themselves.

Treasurer's Report - Will, K4IWW. Checking, $1,472.02; Savings, $1,195.11;C-O-H, $230.00; Total, $2,897.13.

Announcement: Alan K4PB, retired from Northern Telecom. His cohorts at Nortel gave him a party last Tuesday. Suitable pictures are on the club web page. Check it out. Congratulations, Alan!!!

American Radio Relay League (ARRL) - Reed Whitten, AB4S, NC Section Manager, reported that Wake County Emergency Services were involved in a simulated emergency exercise centered around an air crash. Amateur Radio helped out. It was a good effort by the County. They learned a lot. // We have lost our Wake Co. Emergency Coordinator (EC), again. John, N4YRD, moved out, again!!! // We need a Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for Wake Co. Stay tuned.

Piedmont-Coastal Repeater Network (PCRN) - If you experience any jamming, ignore it. Giving the jammer any recognition only encourages more jamming. If they don't get any attention, they leave.

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) - Mike, KE4OQO, and Jerry, KE4TTS, helped set up the staffing the aircraft emergency exercise.

Band Day -see report on how it went!

The E-mailed FEEDLINE - The question is: should the FL be attached to the e-mail or not. Quite a discussion on both pro and con. The main thing is the demands on Tom's, KM4LB, time. The final determination: Tom to continue doing the FL in WORD, then saving the end product in HTML for transfer to Frank, KE4ZEQ, or Bob, K4HA, to put it on the CARC web page. BTW, that is:

www.ipass.net/~falynch/carc/carc.html

Nominating Committee Report - Tom, W4KX, gave the railro..., er, uh, the slate of officers as: Pres., Charles, KE4CDI; Vice Pres., George, WX4DX; Sec'ty, Herb, W3HL; and Treas., Will, K4IWW. There being no nominations from the floor, the whistle blew!!!

Christmas Dinner - Herb, W3HL, reported that the Christmas Dinner will be Thursday, December 3, at the K&S Cafeteria, at 6:30 p.m. Come as you are and bring the whole family. Go through the line between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. We will gather way in the back. Tell them you are with the Radio Club. BTW, everyone pays their own bill.

CARC Ragchew Net every Monday evening at 9:30 p.m., on 28.450 MHZ, USB. All qualified are welcome to join in with the group.

Information on the CARC Christmas Traffic Project at the Cary Towne Center will be available at the Christmas Dinner.

Program by Herb, W3HL was on sunspots and propagation. Cycle 23 is starting already. The year 2000 looks like a super one for DX, and all-around ragchewing. Get ready!

Herb, W3HL

To: hardcopy recipients of Feedline.

Subject: interim format.

Electronic distribution of Feedline is outpacing first class mailings at the rate of two to one. At the October meeting, it was decided the hours I spend publishing Feedline should go to improving the web version. To that end I have purchased web authoring software, a tutorial on HTML and have left MS Publisher in the dust as my composition tool. So until I get really whiz-bang at formatting web pages, the layout will be rudimentary and the graphics will be kinda sparse. November's snail-mail version of Feedline will just be a printout of the webpage. Sorry, if you tap your pencil on the imbedded links, nothing will happen.

Kenwood 430 Transceiver Matching Power Supply Power Mike Contact Frank, N4MAR at 387-3563.

That's right. The editor will be on sabbatical, boning up on the fourteen points of web page design. Actually, there could be subscriber-written version. If everyone sends me one link to an interesting web page, (those with family values) the December issue will be just a list of places other members want you to know about. They don't have to be amateur radio sites, but let's try to keep it "in the ballpark" i.e. Science and technology sites, manufacturer or "mods" sites, weather and mapping sites, or online Smith Chart generators would all be appropriate. Go for it! The December issue is in your hands! Send your link to [email protected].

The Shame and Pain of Addiction by Tom, KM4LB

I am in crisis.

I need intervention.

My supply of tab cards has run out. What's a tab card? Gee, didn't you ever see Dragnet where Friday stands beside an 023 sorter while cards spew his suspects names into the output bin? Where have you been�under a rock? If you ask me what Dragnet is, then there is no hope of you ever understanding. After 25 years of list-making on virgin cards, I am reduced to bootlegging poor imitations. What started as a casual habit has, over the years, imprisoned me as a persistent user.

My supply had been cut off about three years ago so I started rationing my remaining stash. It finally ran out and now I am experiencing classic signs of withdrawal. I am fighting withdrawal and will do anything for a fix. I find nothing wrong with destroying other things in pursuit of my addiction. I lie to get the raw materials to support my habit. I have unsuccessfully tried to quit, inhibited by a persistent desire and craving. I spend excessive time in locating contraband.

The administrative assistant where I work was first to notice. "You sure are going through a lot of file folders. Are you working on a project?" She had no idea I could get nine full size replicas or twelve slightly smaller copies of tab cards from one letter size manila folder.

I build them in secrecy. I use the paper cutter in the copier room, always on guard for footsteps down the hall. Careful not to leave any evidence, I discard the scraps into the locked, confidential materials waste bin.

My life has become a constant, futile, search for a new supplier. Progress is my enemy. The nearest tab card manufacturing plant is in Peru. My mind races. I could install a fake gas tank on my van. They'd never catch me. There is no such thing as a tab-card-sniffing dog. It would be easy to evade the technology police.

Is there no hope? Am I condemned to share my life with pretenders - imitations - look-a-likes?

Univac! Where are you now that I need you?

The club is submitting an article to the Cary News about our success on Field Day. This positive publicity is a great opportunity to attract new members. One way to do that would be to offer a Novice/Tech Class. In the past, CARC has offered this class over a six to eight week period, with two classes per week. Members volunteered to teach one or two classes, usually on a subject they have an interest in such as antennas, diagnostics, cw, station operations, etc.

This article is really a "feeler" to see how many volunteer instructors we could beat out of the bushes. Contact [email protected] if you are interested in teaching or helping to administer a course in the Feb - May timeframe.

"Interesting article on CW in your October edition. To add a comment (IMHO) ... it is reasonable, possible and even fairly commonplace to be an active ham in the USA without learning CW. And many folks take that to mean that CW is dead. But most ham activities, including especially contests, DX activity and awards show high levels of CW activity (i.e. about 1/3 of all DXCC endorsements, and probably about 1/3 of contests also, are CW). And in many part of the world where just staying on the air is a challenge, CW is the mode of choice due to its simplicity and robustness."

"Whether or not there is a code or no-code-requirement in the future in the USA matters very little. CW is going to be around for quite a long time, not because its required for a license, but rather because many hams here and worldwide enjoy it and rely on it." KO4PY --- Brent ---

It's easy to send your two-cent's worth to the editor at [email protected]. Here's a chance to try it out. What follows is Feedline's first attempt at participative interactive journalism.

At a conference in Baltimore, Maryland recently, historians debated whether technical progress has turned ordinary Americans into passive consumers instead of tinkerers. While you listen to this report from National Public Radio, compare and contrast (kinda sounds like your high school history teacher assigning homework) the evolution of the automotive industry and the vanishing "shade-tree mechanic" with your experiences in amateur radio. Send your observations to the editor at [email protected]. I will compile them into an article for a future issue.

http://www.npr.org/programs/wesat/archives/1998/981031.wesat.html

scroll down to "Tinkering"

The photo shows a very large 35 kV, 55 Amp rectifier, circa 1960. Not your average diode! I got this from a web page dedicated to DIODES! The page is http://www.avtechpulse.com/faq.html.

Here you can learn how Kim Chi can be used as a diode...

Dr. Chudobiak,

I would like to direct your attention to a description of an experiment I conducted with colleagues at Digital Semiconductor a few years ago. We constructed a light emitting "diode" of sorts from a sample of horseradish kim-chi. It rectified. It emitted light. It emitted a stench that could raise the dead.

Matt Reilly (Ph.D.) Principal Hardware Engineer Alpha Products Group Digital Semiconductor

If you follow that thread, you'll end up at the "Official Vegetable Conductor Home Page"

http://www.tiac.net/users/reilly/levd-page.html

Enjoy!