Issue 97 — MAY 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:
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The President's Corner
Well, the summer heat is here early and the drought continues, increasing the likelihood of a most dangerous forest fire season. Now is the time to prepare your emergency equipment so you will be ready if and when we are called into action.
We will have lots of show-and-tell at the next meeting. The plaque for the Redwood Grove is finished and it is very nice. You will get to see it Tuesday night.
The Western Belles will display their 40-meter receiver and provide homemade cookies for those in attendance.
We participated in the Magical Merlin Parade on May 4th and you will hear all about it.
Lots of other stuff, too! So, come and have an eyeball!
CUL, Jim, WA6OTP
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2001 SOARC Officers and Board
| President: Jim McNutt, WA6OTP, 479-5630 |
Vice President: Bill Tyner, WX7U, 476-2703 |
| Secretary: Sean Smithers, N7ZWU, 476-7964 |
Treasurer: Ann Randall, KB7TGO 476-2456 |
| Board of Directors: | |
| Mike Wright, N7GEI, 471-0440 |
Anita Malmstrom, KC7MGH, 476-2339 |
| Elmer Seutter, W6IGK, 955-5240 |
Bill Leiken, KC7IXX, 846-7682 |
| Gary Ingram, KB7FCI, 474-7974 |
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Welcome From Your Editor
We have lots of events coming up, offering ample oppor-tunity for every ham to get involved in the fun! Memorial Day Weekend features the Boatnik Parade and White-water Races. The last weekend in June is Field Day. We'll be discussing these activities at the next meeting. I think nearly all of you know what these events entail, so think about what part you would like to play and come prepared to sign up!
Don't forget SeaPac at the end of this month.
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, 15 MAY
1900
SENIOR CENTER
3RD & B STREETS
GRANTS PASS
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Coming Attractions
At our next meeting we will continue our show-and-tell of amateur and other electronic equipment. Kit-built, homebrew, or store-bought — bring it to display and, if you like, tell us about it. Just about everybody has an interesting story to tell about at least one item of gear in their collection.
73, Bill, WX7U
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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 1st and 3rd 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 at 11:30 AM on May 12th at Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant, 122 SE K St., between 6th & 7th Streets, in Grants Pass.
73, Wilma, W1LMA, and Anita, KC7MGH
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2001 VE Exams
At our last session we had six folks test and four of them passed. There was an upgrade to extra and three new technicians. Two new VE's have joined the group, Wilma, W1LMA, and Kelly, KD7GBL.
Additional 2001 SOARC amateur radio license exams will be conducted at 6:30 PM at the Senior Center on July 27th and November 30th.
73, Bill Tyner, WX7U
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SeaPac — Northwest Division Ham Convention
SeaPac — billed as "The Northwest's Largest Ham Convention" — will be held June 1, 2, and 3 at the Seaside Convention Center in Seaside, Oregon. Activities are scheduled for all ages for both hams and non-hams. There will be a huge flea market, seminars, commercial booths, VE exams, and lots of drawings for great prizes.
If you didn't receive a SeaPac mailing, there will probably be some available at the next meeting or you can contact Randy Stimson, KZ7T, at 503-641-3776 or e-mail him at stemson@teleport.com. Just about everything you would want to know about the event is available at the SeaPac website www.seapac.org.
(Taken from SeaPac mailing)
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Dave Barry's Column 1/28/01
I'm a big fan of technology. Most guys are. This is why all important inventions were invented by guys.
For example, millions of years ago, there was no such thing as the wheel. One day, some primitive guys were watching their wives drag a dead mastodon to the food-preparation area. It was exhausting work; the guys were getting tired just WATCHING. Then they noticed some large, smooth, rounded boulders, and they had an idea: They could sit on the boulders and watch! This was the first in a series of breakthroughs that ultimately led to television.
So we see that there are vital reasons why guys are interested in technology, and why women should not give them a hard time about always wanting to have the "latest gadget." And when I say "women," I mean "my wife."
For example, as a guy, I feel I need a new computer every time a new model comes out, which is every 15 minutes. This baffles my wife, who has had the same computer since the Civil War and refuses to get a new one because -- get THIS for an excuse -- the one she has works fine. I try to explain that, when you get a new computer, you get exciting new features. My new computer has a truly fascinating feature: Whenever I try to turn it off, the following message, which I am not making up, appears on the screen:
"An exception 0E has occurred at 0028:F000F841 in VxD---. This was called from 0028:C001D324 in VxD NDIS(01) + 00005AA0. It may be possible to continue normally."
Clearly, this message is not of human origin. Clearly, my new computer is receiving this message from space aliens. I don't understand all of it, but apparently there has been some kind of intergalactic problem that the aliens want to warn us about. What concerns me is the last sentence, because if the aliens are telling us that "it may be possible to continue normally," they are clearly implying that it may NOT be possible to continue normally. In other words, the earth may be doomed, and the aliens have chosen ME to receive this message. If I can figure out exactly what they're saying, I might be able to save humanity!
Unfortunately, I don't have time, because I'm busy using my new GPS device. This is an extremely important gadget that every guy in the world needs. It receives signals from orbiting satellites, and somehow -- I suspect the "cosine" is involved -- it figures out exactly where on the earth you are. Let's say you're in the town of Arcola, Ill., but for some reason you do not realize this. You turn on your GPS, and, after pondering for a few minutes, it informs you that you are in ... Arcola, Ill.! My wife argues that it's easier to just ASK somebody, but of course you cannot do that, if you truly are a guy.
I became aware of how useful a GPS can be when I was on a plane trip with a literary rock band I belong to called the Rock Bottom Remainders, which has been hailed by critics as having one of the world's highest ratios of noise to talent. On this trip were two band members whom I will identify only as "Roger" and "Steve," so that you will not know that they are actually Roger McGuinn, legendary co-founder of the Byrds; and Stephen King, legendary legend.
We were flying from Chicago to Boston, and while everybody else was reading or sleeping, "Roger" and "Steve," who are both fully grown men, were staring at their GPS devices and periodically informing each other how far we were from the Boston airport. "Roger" would say, "I'm showing 238 miles," and "Steve" would say, "I'm showing 241 miles. Then "Roger" would say, "Now I'm showing 236 miles," and "Steve" would come back with another figure, and so on. My wife, who was confident that the airplane pilot did not need help locating Boston, thought this was the silliest thing she had ever seen. Whereas I thought: I NEED one of those.
So I got a GPS for Christmas, and I spent the entire day sitting on a couch, putting it to good use. Like, I figured out exactly where our house is. My wife told me this was exciting news. I think she was being sarcastic, but I couldn't be sure, because I had to keep watching the GPS screen, in case our house moved. I also used my GPS to figure out exactly how far my couch is from LaGuardia airport (1,103 miles). There is NO END to the usefulness of this device! If you're a guy, you need to get one NOW, so you can locate yourself on the planet. While we still have one.
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SEATTLE (AP) -- Windows XP, Microsoft Corp.'s new version of its personal computer operating system, will be released in late October. The system, built on the technology found in the more crash-resistant Windows 2000 operating system for corporate users, features a cleaner, simpler desktop design and allows several users to keep files on one computer private from each other. The operating system offers more robust networking and integration with the Internet, a personal firewall and greatly enhanced multimedia features. It also allows an authorized person on one computer to access another computer over the Internet to fix problems.
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