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Issue 100 — AUGUST 2001

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

The President's Corner

(Jim's hiking through the wilderness again and will be sharing the details of his latest trek at the next meeting. I'm sure he would want me to remind you to bring a friend on Tuesday.)

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2001 SOARC Officers and Board

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Welcome From Your Editor

The following paragraph is repeated from last month's Gnus to explain why you may not have anything to drink at next week's meeting. Nobody volunteered for coffee duty. Unless somebody contacts me before next Tuesday to pick up the coffee boxes, BYOC.

A couple of years ago, I took on the job of bringing the coffee supplies to the meetings on a temporary, I thought, basis because nobody else would do it. It is now time to pass this duty on to another one of our 97 members. All you have to do is bring the boxes to the meeting, start the hot water pot, and set out the supplies. The first person to ask me for the job at the next meeting will get it. If no one else wants the job, you'll need to bring your own drinks to wash down the donuts at future meetings.

If you have anything to submit for publication in the Gnus, see the contact information below the masthead.

73, Mike, N7GEI

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NEXT CLUB MEETING
TUESDAY, 21 AUGUST
1900
SENIOR CENTER
3^RD & B STREETS
GRANTS PASS

SOARC Picnic

The SOARC annual picnic will commence at 1100 on 15 September at Whitehorse Park! Come one, come all! This is for all area hams, not just club members, who would like to come out and enjoy some good food and a great time getting to know the voices you?ve heard on the radio and their families.

Bill Tyner, WX7U, will once again be at the grill with some great sausages provided by the club. If you have another meat that you would prefer to eat, bring it and you may grill it yourself on the large grill. Bring your own plates and utensils and a potluck dish. Also bring your own beverages and we will have a large cooler with ice to keep them cold. To avoid duplications, please phone Ann Randall, KB7TGO, at 476-2456 to put your potluck dish on the list.

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Calling All Ladies

Western Belles is a women's ham radio chat group that meets at 7:30 PM on the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of every month on the 147.300 repeater. Please check in!

The ladies get together regularly for lunch and all female hams are invited to attend. The next luncheon will be in October. We decided to skip September due to the club picnic, back to school, and fall trips by some of our members.

73, Wilma, W1LMA, and Anita, KC7MGH

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2001 VE Exams

On the 27^th of July, the third quarterly ARRL license exams were administered by the SOARC VE team.  It was again a great display of both new licensing and upgrading.  We had another "grandfather" upgrade and six-meter-band-noted QSL cards from the 60's were used to prove Tech status back then. Patricia Coleman, KD7NQA, was eight years old when she upgraded to General!  All totaled, we had nine new or upgraded licenses granted, including two extras.  We even submitted an application for a new club call.  Congrats to all who participated! 

The last license exams of the year will be administered on Friday, November 30th.  New quarterly dates for 2002 will be arranged after that. Remember that upgrades need picture ID, any CSCE's you might want to use (less than 1 year old), and we need to gaze at your current license (though a copy isn't needed). If you don't have picture ID, then two other pieces of ID will do.

Currently, the fee levied by ARRL is $10.00.  The time of exam will be 6:30 pm and VE's will be there at 6:00, as always.  If you would like to test your CW skill and qualify for a SOARC code certificate, please give me a call at 476-2703 so I can make sure the apparatus is there.

73, Bill Tyner, WX7U

VE Liaison

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Ukonom — The Last Chapter?

Three times Ukonom Lake has beaten us.  This time we schemed and planned and trained to go for it. Because of the kennel and horses, we don't do more than two days and an overnight. To make it a quality hike we look for great little cirques no more than 10-12 miles from the trailhead.  Legendary fishing was the lure of Ukonom plus it "appeared" to be only about 12-13 miles in, a small compromise!  We could do it.  Ukonom was set so deeply into the Marble Mountain Wilderness that it would be very isolated, very appealing, and well worth the effort.  How could anything be wrong with that?

Our first try was two years ago.  Hiking out of Sulphur Springs (trail head), we started up the canyon.  Miles of absolutely beautiful old growth and granite led to more granite and then to what eventually turned into a "staircase of granite".  Always upwardly winding, the trail gained 3,000 feet in the gradual ascent of steps, knee-killing 12-14-inch-high steps, you know the kind!  At 10 miles, we stalled and, seeing "inches of map to go", turned off of the trail. We decided to go to a little off-trail destination called Blue Granite Lake. The granite walls of that cirque climbed a thousand feet all around and the beach was grassy.  We were happy to have found this neat little retreat, happier still to drop our 30-pound packs that now seemed like 50-pounders.

Two months went by.  Time for the second attempt.  Girding up for the "long haul", we left earlier, lightened the packs, stiffened our shoes (and our backs).  The trouble is, we still faced the same 3000-foot lift, the same staircase, and worse knees as this was hiking b.s. (before surgery).  As night fell, we had pushed two miles farther than before and the trail had become "intense".  We observed that our progress slowed to less than a mile per hour and night was on us before Ukonom.  Luckily "Green Granite Lake" was the "relief lake" (one mile off-trail). We were beaten again!  We had forged ahead over 12 miles and there were still inches of map to go!

We dragged our packs into Green Granite camp and collapsed.  It wasn't until the next day that we explored this wild little cirque.  It was then that we found Gold Granite Lake just 200 yards away.  The cliffs were steeper and the forested campsite grassy and lush.  No mosquitos either!  It was perfect.  But it wasn't Ukonom which we now figured must be "heaven" if it was an incremental improvement over the "warmup lakes".

My problem knee took two surgical procedures and it was brought back to about 90% of new.  Two years of recovery went by. Finally, it was time to make the third attempt, yet it still was going to be about nine hours of stairstepping and climbing.  Now 57 years old,  I just wasn't as game to try it.  We had checked the maps.  Another way in was "Tickner Hole" trail to "Johnson Hunting Ground" trail.  Locals said that this way to Ukonom was too difficult but a favorite horse pack route.  Foresters told us that no hikers go that way!  Then one said  "there's another way; the locals use it".  Who can resist "the secret passage?"

A second trail to the Johnson Hunting Ground!  It was only seven miles long and we found a Forest Service bulletin describing it.  Even though it said that this trail: "was extremely difficult, and if you hike it, even on the 4th of July, you will be the only persons there". We figured they were just trying to scare off all but the "locals".  After all, this was the lake said to be populated by 12-15-inch trout! We got half way up to the 5300-foot trail head when we were stopped by a three-foot diameter deadfall pine.  No way to get around it and no way to park and hike up the road six more miles before even reaching the trail head.  Then more bad luck! The Jeep started to cough and we dragged our tails home with a load of bad gas (fairgrounds Bi-Mor) mucking up the injectors.  As we would find out, we were lucky to have been turned back on that 90-degree early afternoon.

Sunday, July 29th, another day that shall live on in infamy, we tried for the fourth time.  We made it to the trail head ok and, remembering the Forest Service admonition, made sure we had lots of water.  The trail started slowly, switching-back about every 100 yards. It steadily climbed and we kept waiting for the "other shoe to drop".   It dropped about two miles when we dove down into a "hole", then hit the first crazy killer hill.  It was steep, rocky, and hot. Had we tried this on a 90- degree day, I would have been a heat casualty.  As it was, our speed dropped to under a mile-an-hour and we looked like we were plodding up Mt. Everest, one step every few seconds. I glanced at my watch.  Could it be that we might not be able to do the seven miles in the seven hours of light left to us?  We rested at a place I called "radio rock" because I took out my new six-watt, two-meter handheld with 5/8th telescoping whip and actually raised 146.94, about 92 air miles distant.  It was weird, talking to Rog (WA7TGA) and Leonard (KB7TSX) when we were so far back in the puckerbrush.

So it went, up a thousand and down a thousand with lots of 30% grades on loose cobble and dust.  Six and 1/2 hours went by and we were doing the last grade when Ukonom appeared.  It was shockingly huge, our dream lake and we were nearly there!

The campsite was ancient and well tended, looking like it was maybe first "brushed out" by the CCC in the thirties.  The lake was full of  lunkers and we could see them.  The place was beautiful but some lightning fires had damaged the hills.  The only signs that people had left were a flat tent spot, a fire pit, a couple of old downed logs for seats, and a flat granite "table top".  We enjoyed the evening and stayed up a while swapping ghost stories.

In the morning we tried a little fishing, but the store-bought bait wasn't cutting it.  A nibble after a few minutes and the "wind was out of the sails."  Besides, I was thinking about our retreat.

The trip out was rougher.  The day was hotter and the south-facing slopes were worse going out. Usually we shave an hour off our retreat, but this time we added another hour as we scrambled out of there.  Oh, that Jeep looked good to us!

Ukonom should be a four-day trip.  It's a good place and one heck of a challenge.  It's even in repeater range with 147.18 just 35 miles away and 146.79 maybe 40 miles away.  Don't forget your fly rod and try to hike in on a cool day, "unless", like the Forest Service flyer says, "you are Olympic-caliber athletes". Be prepared though to simply drift off, gazing at the clouds as the "urge to fish" fades with the morning mist.

WX7U & KD7IYL

(P.S. This may not be the last chapter for Ukonom because, while at the lake, we found signs of a 4th trail in!  Hoo-Ahh!)

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Oregon Section News

Oregon: SM: Bill Sawders, K7ZM--ASM: KK7CW. SEC:
WB7NML. STM: W7IZ. SGL: N7QQU. OOC: NB7J
STC: N7LA. ACC: K7SQ. The new HF ARES net is
continuing to be held at 6PM, Tuesday nights on 3993.5
KHz. Bob Boswell, W7LOU, continues to do a fine
job with the net, which was activated in early August
when fiber optics were cut between Central Oregon and
Portland. All telephone communications were down,
including cell phones, for nearly four hours. The ARES
HF and VHF nets rapidly formed and members quickly
manned the local hospitals. Some emergency messages
were passed between Bend and Lakeview on the HF net.
This proved to be very handy, as the 2 meter link between
Klamath Falls and Lakeview, was down. This is the main
reason we need to use the 80 meter band, even during
"local" emergencies. All E.C.'s and D.E.C.'s are urged
to check into the net, and all ARES members are urged
to monitor and check in at the appropriate time.
Speaking of ARES...The local ARES groups are putting
on the annual Swaptoberfest at the Polk County Fair-
grounds in Rickreall, on Saturday, October 20th. The
yearly event features lots of swap tables and also
centers around all phases of emergency communications.
The grand prize this year is an Icom 207-H dual band
mobile rig. Rickreall is located west of Salem. Take the
"beach route" west, and turn south at the "blinking light".
For more information on this event, call Bud Smith,
N7BUD, at 503-838-0266. Keep in touch!  NTS traffic
totals for July: W7IZ 237. N7YSS 124. W7VSE 71.
KC7SRL 57. KC7SGM 46. N7APE 7.

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FCC Invites Comments on ARRL's 60-meter Petition

The FCC has begun accepting comments on the ARRL's petition seeking the allocation of 5.250 to 5.400 MHz to the Amateur Service on a domestic (US-only), secondary basis. The Commission put the proposal on public notice this week and assigned a rulemaking number, RM-10209, to the proceeding.

Interested parties may comment on the proposal via the Internet or e-mail using the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (EFCS), information on which can be found at:

http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html

Those commenting should reference ''RM-10209'' in their postings. Even if the FCC eventually okays the petition, it's likely to be several years before the new band actually becomes available.

In its petition, the ARRL told the FCC that the new band would aid emergency communication activities by filling a ''propagation gap'' between 80 and 40 meters, particularly for emergency communications during hurricanes and severe weather emergencies. The ARRL also said a new 150-kHz allocation at 5 MHz also could relieve substantial overcrowding that periodically occurs on 80 and 40.

The ARRL has proposed that General class and higher amateurs be permitted to operate CW, phone, data, image and RTTY on the new band, running maximum authorized power. No mode-specific subbands were proposed. If allocated to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis, hams would have to avoid interfering with--and accept interference from--current occupants of the spectrum, as they already do on 30 meters.

The ARRL said that its successful WA2XSY experimental operation between 1999 and this year demonstrates that amateur stations can coexist with current users and that the band is very suitable for US-to-Caribbean paths.

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A Senior Moment

An older couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen.

The two senior gentlemen were talking and one said, "Last night we went out to a new restaurant, and it was really great. I would recommend it very highly."

The other man said, "What is the name of the restaurant?"

The first man thought and thought and finally said, "What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know, the one that's red and has thorns."

"Do you mean a rose?"

"Yes," the man said. He then turned toward the kitchen and yelled, "Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?"

Thanks to Bill Tyner, WX7U

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News From The ARRL Letter

The FCC has included a primary Amateur Service allocation among bands it plans to examine to support the introduction of advanced wireless services, including third-generation (3G) mobile systems. Meeting August 9, the FCC said it will seek comments on reallocating some spectrum in the 2390 to 2400 MHz amateur segment as well as in the non-amateur 1.9 and 2.1 GHz bands for unspecified mobile and fixed services.

A new Amateur Radio tracking and communications satellite called PCSat is scheduled to launch September 1 (0100 UTC) from Alaska. PCSat will augment the existing Amateur Radio Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) by providing links to the 90 percent of Earth's surface not covered by the terrestrial network.

In addition to its APRS capabilities, the satellite will offer 1200 and 9600-baud packet operation on VHF (145.825 MHz) and UHF (435.250 MHz). For APRS digipeating, the satellite will use the recognized North American APRS frequency of 144.39 MHz.

The FCC has affirmed its decision of a year ago and denied a Petition for Reconsideration of a proposal to amend FCC Part 95 rules to permit DXing on the 11-meter Citizens Band. The petition, filed by Popular Communications Contributing Editor Alan Dixon, W3HOE, sought to lift the prohibition on communication or attempts to communicate with CB stations more than 250 km (approximately 155 miles) away and to contact stations in other countries.

The FCC said individuals finding themselves in an emergency situation would be more likely to have other radio services available to them, such as amateur, marine, land mobile or cellular. "Further, we believe that messages from these stations are more likely to result in the individual quickly obtaining the needed emergency services," the FCC concluded.

Meeting July 20-21 in Connecticut, the ARRL Board of Directors adopted a goal of legislative action to provide amateurs the same protections from real estate covenants, conditions and restrictions now enjoyed under FCC rules by home satellite dish owners and others receiving over-the-air broadcast signals.

Board members felt that amateurs should be granted the right to install an antenna having a visual impact similar to that of a home television satellite dish or other antenna that falls under the FCC's Over the Air Reception Devices (OTARD) policy. In 1999, the FCC reaffirmed the OTARD rule that prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming.

The ARRL Board of Directors also endorsed the Logbook of the World. An electronic alternative to collecting traditional QSLs for awards, the project goes beyond simply replacing printed cards with electronic versions. Logbook of the World will make use of electronic confirmations within a giant repository of QSO information maintained by ARRL. Digital security methods will ensure data integrity and authenticity.

International Space Station Expedition 2 crew member Susan Helms, KC7NHZ, is proudly wearing her ARRL Field Day 2001 pin in space. The pin was ferried up to the ISS on the recently completed shuttle Atlantis mission and presented to Helms by crew member Jim Reilly. Helms not only has been an outstanding participant in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school contacts, she also took it upon herself to run the first Field Day operation from space.

"We were so impressed with Susan's abilities on the air that we wanted to give her a little recognition for her efforts," said ARISS International Board Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO.

They were happy campers indeed July 25 at the Boy Scout National Jamboree at Virginia's Fort A.P. Hill. That's because several of them got to speak directly with astronaut Susan Helms, KC7NHZ, operating NA1SS aboard the International Space Station. The approximately eight-minute 2-meter contact was arranged as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program. Various K2BSA youth staff members took turns handling the radio gear for the contact.

An audience of about 200 Scouts and Scout leaders was on hand at K2BSA for the early morning contact. About a dozen Scouts elicited answers from Helms to their questions about life aboard the ISS, such as whether weightlessnessaffects eating or sleeping.

"It doesn't affect it at all up here as far as we're concerned," Helms replied. "We still eat like pigs and sleep like babies." The answer elicited a hearty laugh from the earthbound Scouts.

Helms said life aboard the ISS requires crew members able to "adapt to unusual environments and also work well with other people, and not everybody has that skill." She said her particular jobs aboard the ISS have involved operating the robotics and serving as computer network administrator for the ISS.

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Burma Shave

SPEED WAS HIGH
WEATHER WAS NOT
TIRES WERE THIN
X MARKS THE SPOT

AROUND THE CURVE
LICKETY--SPLIT
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL CAR
WASN'T IT?

PASSING CARS
WHEN YOU CAN'T SEE
MAY GET YOU A GLIMPSE
OF ETERNITY

NO MATTER THE PRICE
NO MATTER HOW NEW
THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE
IN THE CAR IS YOU

A GUY WHO DRIVES
A CAR WIDE OPEN
IS NOT THINKIN'
HE'S JUST HOPIN'

AT INTERSECTIONS
LOOK EACH WAY
A HARP SOUNDS NICE
BUT ITS HARD TO PLAY

BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL
EYES ON THE ROAD
THAT'S THE SKILLFUL
DRIVER'S CODE

THE ONE WHO DRIVES WHEN
HE'S BEEN DRINKING
DEPENDS ON YOU
TO DO HIS THINKING

**Burma-Shave**

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