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Issue 84 — MARCH 2000

Monthly Newsletter of the Southern Oregon Amateur Radio Club

SOARC, P.O. BOX 1164, GRANTS PASS, OREGON 97528
VISIT THE SOARC WEBSITE AT: http://www.qsl.net/soar/SOARC/
EDITOR: MIKE WRIGHT, N7GEI, 432 GRANDVIEW AVE., G. P., OR 97527
PHONE: 541-471-0440 E-MAIL: n7gei@msn.com

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The President's Corner

Another month has passed. It's hard to believe that you should have planted your snap beans and peas already. I know this is the Gnus, but you still have to eat. I have built some new stuff this month and will bring it for show and tell. We should have a good turnout, for spring is in the air. What a little blue sky can do to make life great! I hope you all have had some good luck with your radios. I worked Alaska, 1670 miles, with 800 milliwatts. To keep you from doing the math, that is 2080 miles per watt, on one-fifth the power of your night-light. Fun! See you all at club.

73, Jim, WA6OTP

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2000 SOARC Officers and Board

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Welcome From Your Editor

By the time you read this, the Gnus should be available at QSL.net. Enter Southern Oregon Amateur Radio and then select SOARC for the current and past issues. You can read it and /or print a copy. An up-to-date SOARC roster also will be available at that website. We would encourage all members who have access to the internet to get their Gnus from QSL.net. Starting with the April issue, all SOARC members with an e-mail address listed in the roster will not receive a newsletter in the mail, unless they specifically contact me to the contrary. The Gnus costs about 50 cents a copy (depending on the number of pages) to mail, so the club would save that amount for every newsletter retrieved via the internet. You don't need a compelling reason to receive a mailed Gnus, just let me know that you still wish to receive one by mail.

An up-to-date roster is included in this Gnus. Please check your listing and report any changes, corrections, or additions to your editor.

If you have anything to submit for publication in the Gnus, or you just want to communicate something to your editor, you can contact me at 471-0440 or at mdwmkw@cpros.com.

73, Mike, N7GEI

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Coming Attractions

At the next SOARC meeting, Don Barkemeyer, KI7UK, will present a video about the Navajo code talkers of World War II. Also, a Navajo code talker will be present and you will have the opportunity to hear the Navajo language spoken.

Author Doris A. Paul in her book "The Navajo Code Talkers" provides the following account of their wartime service: "Major Howard M. Conner, in commenting on the gallantry of the code talkers, said, 'Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima!' This is his version of the capture of that strategic area: The entire operation was directed by Navajo code. Our corps command post was on a battleship from which orders went to the three division command posts on the beachhead, and on down to the lower echelons. I was signal officer of the Fifth Division. During the first forty-eight hours, while we were landing and consolidating our shore positions, I had six Navajo radio nets operating around the clock. In that period alone they sent and received over eight hundred messages without an error. Weeks later, when our flag was raised over Mount Suribachi, word of that event came in the Navajo code. The commanding general was amazed. How, he wanted to know, could a Japanese name be sent in the Navajo language? The Navajo who sent the message had probably pronounced that Japanese word. Sheep-uncle-ram-ice-bear-ant-cat-horseitch, or he might have used the nickname that one talker and his teammate used, Mount Seppa."

This will be a very informative and interesting program that you won't want to miss.

73, Cy Potts, W7MQL

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VE Testing

April 7th is the next license testing session before restructuring. This special test session will give folks one last chance locally to test under the old rules. On April 17th there will be a paper-pushing session only where 605's will be filled out and sent in for the successful examinees. This will give them a three-week headstart before we give the next test session under the new rules on May 5th. All tests will be administered at the Senior Center, 4th and C Streets, at 6:30 PM.

73, Bill, WX7U

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Free Satellite Equipment

I recently had my Primestar Satellite service converted to DIRECTV. My wife asked the technician if she could keep the boxes for mailing presents and stuff to the kids and grandkids back in Kentucky. He told us we could have the boxes and the old dish and receiver that were replaced. He also mentioned that there was a lot more used satellite equipment at his office that was also available. He called his office and verified that I could have as much used equipment as I wanted since all they would do with it was throw it away. The next day, I called Excalibur Cable at 476-4097 and confirmed that it would be OK to pass on this information through the Gnus. Anybody who wants some used satellite antennas and /or receivers can get them at the Excalibur Cable office in the Ballinger Industrial Park, 2001 Foothill Blvd., #A11, in Grants Pass. They are located in the same complex as United Auto Body, between Agness Ave. and Foothill Blvd.

73, Mike Wright, N7GEI

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Classified Ad

Tree trimming and antenna work--Will take down or erect antennas for SOARC members. Also do tree trimming. Call Don Moore at 471-2269 for an estimate.

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Don't Forget Newsline!

Newsline, an amateur radio newsmagazine of the air, now can be heard locally at 1900, preceding the Monday night FM net, on the 147.30 repeater. It is also available online at arnewsline.

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Ham Radio Memories and Experiences

What experiences have you had with amateur radio?

What do you remember most about your past involvement with our wonderful hobby?

Share these things with other SOARC members through the pages of the Gnus.

Here's my contribution:

When I was in high school, I was president of Amateur Radio Explorer Post 36 in North Chicago, Illinois. We enjoyed all the normal scouting acitivities--hiking, camping, etc.--but our primary objective was to provide the necessary training for our members to obtain an amateur radio license. In addition to the instruction, we always had a project going.

The project I remember the most was when we bought a surplus weather balloon, borrowed a tank of helium, and launched a payload that included a still camera and a 2 meter transmitter. We rigged the camera to be tripped after so many minutes by a mechanical timer. We adapted a music box mechanism to send a continuous Morse code ID, driven by a small, geared-down, battery-powered motor. We included contact information for anyone who found the balloon.

A couple of days later, I got a call from a homeowner in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, about 55 miles from our launch site, who told me that our deflated balloon, with payload still attached, had landed in his front yard. With the promise of reimbursement for shipping, he boxed it all up and sent it to me.

Other projects we enjoyed included experiments with moonbounce and model rocketry.

We cruised Lake Michigan aboard a U. S. Navy minesweeper, we learned about meteorology first-hand at the weather office of a naval air station, and much more.

What can we do today to provide these types of experiences for the young people in this area? Amateur radio can open the door to excitement for our youth and possibly stimulate many of them to accomplish great things during their lifetimes.

Now it's your turn.

73, Mike Wright, N7GEI

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Screwdriver-type Antennas

After the last SOARC meeting, some members were asking me about the ham in Merlin that was making these antennas. I don't remember who was asking, but I now have his name, call, and phone number. If you want it, send me a note. I do not know him personally, but met him at the post office one time.

73, Gary Ingram, KB7FCI

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Maybe You Were Wondering

How come wrong numbers are never busy?

Do people in Australia call the rest of the world "up over"?

Does that screwdriver belong to Phillip?

Can a stupid person be a smart-ass?

Does killing time damage eternity?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips?

Why is it that night falls but day breaks?

Why is the third hand on the watch called a second hand?

Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Are part-time band leaders semiconductors?

Can you buy an entire chess set in a pawnshop?

Daylight savings time -- why are they saving it and where do they keep it?

Did Noah keep his bees in archives?

Do jellyfish get gas from eating jellybeans?

Do pilots take crash-courses?

Do stars clean themselves with meteor showers?

Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just whipped out a quarter?

Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?

Have you ever seen a toad on a toadstool?

How can there be self-help "groups"?

How do you get off a nonstop flight?

How do you write zero in Roman numerals?

How many weeks are there in a light year?

If a jogger runs at the speed of sound, can he still hear his Walkman?

If athletes get athlete's foot, do astronauts get mistletoe?

If blind people wear dark glasses, why don't deaf people wear earmuffs?

If cats and dogs didn't have fur would we still pet them?

73, Gary Ingram, KB7FCI

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