Issue 98 — JUNE 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
At the next club meeting, I'll update you about my continuing adventures (with ham radio along) in the great outdoors!
Everybody get ready for Field Day! We'll have complete details about this year's activities on Tuesday. Bring someone with you!
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
SeaPac 2001 — been there — done that. Our convention had something for everyone. Both the QCWA luncheon and the Saturday night banquet were attended by the presidents of the ARRL and the IARU, both of whom I met. I made some other new friends and only spent $16.95! The banquet entertainment, a yodeler, turned out to be pretty good. I didn't win a thing. I'm sorry, SeaPac just didn't excite me. Would I go back? If I just happened to be in the Seaside area during another SeaPac, I would definitely stop by the convention center to check things out. That's about it. I can honestly say that I would have had a lot more fun if my wife had been with me and we had done some sightseeing.
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, 19 JUNE
1900
SENIOR CENTER
3RD & B STREETS
GRANTS PASS
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Coming Attractions
Jan Moller will provide an innovative DX program this month. Along with discussion, we will be taking a short quiz!!! A drawing of the quiz answer sheets will determine who wins the prize, a DSP unit that Jan built. The first quiz with all of the answers correct will win. Competition should be spirited on this. I remember when Jan built that DSP and it was quite a successful project!!
You can bet that we will be hearing about Jim's latest safari into the Kalmiopsis. Last night (Monday, 11th) Jim chatted with us on 3910 with his 2-watt SSB rig. He was pretty much 5/8 all around the group that participated.
It might be time to start thinking about the scouting expedition coming up in (late summer?). Lots to do so don't think we are going to rest on our bisquits this summer. Pretty soon it will be blustery and October!!!
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 date and place will be announced on the net and in the next newsletter.
73, Wilma, W1LMA, and Anita, KC7MGH
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2001 VE Exams
Additional 2001 SOARC amateur radio license exams will be conducted at 6:30 PM at the Senior Center on July 27th and November 30th.
Candidates for the Extra Class exam should be aware that next year's exams possibly will be much more difficult. A word to the wise.
73, Bill Tyner, WX7U
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Field Day Report
We're approaching the one-week mark for field day. Once again we'll hold Field Day at Whitehorse Park.
The following functions/aspects of field day are still in need of volunteers: Food and Publicity. So far, no one has expressed interest in coordinating these aspects of Field Day.
I think we will have no more then three HF radios on the air at any given time. The goal is to always be the air during the whole 24-hour period. Rules stipulate that no more than one radio can be on any given band at a time. However, CW, voice or SSB, and digital modes are considered separate bands. For example, while two transmitters may not operate voice on 15 meters at the same time, it's ok to operate voice, CW, and data on 15 meters simultaneously. In any case we'll look at the operator sigh-up sheet and judge what class ? 1A, 2A, or 3A ? seems most appropriate.
The operating portion of Field Day starts at 1100 local on Saturday, June 23. Rules specify that setup may begin no more than 24 hours beforehand. Thus, we may begin to setup for field day on Friday June 22 at 1100 local but not before!
Rules also stipulate that "All equipment (including antennas) must lie within a circle whose diameter does not exceed 300 meters (1000 feet)." So we'll need to be aware of this rule when setting up at Whitehorse Park.
See http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/rules-fd.html for the complete rules. I'll also have 5 or 10 printed copies of the rules at the June club meeting or you can look at your May 2001 QST.
So, hope to see you at the June club meeting. Come prepared to sign-up for an hour or two of operating time. 80 meters at 0230 local is always my favorite (hi hi). Have no fear. We should have some expert coaches for those of you new to Field Day contesting.
73, Will, N7KS
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New Language
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phase-in plan that would be known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the"k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"s in the language is disgraseful, and they should go away.
By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.
After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru! And zen ve vil tak over ze world!
(Thanks to Gary Ingram, KB7FCI)
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Revised Alcohol Warnings
Due to increasing product liability litigation, American beer brewers have accepted the FDA's suggestion that the following warning labels be placed on all beer containers...immediately.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your underwear/bra.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are, in fact, not.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe that ex-lovers are really dying for you to call them at four in the morning.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to roll over in the morning and see something really scary (whose species and/or name you can't recall).
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is the leading cause of inexplicable rug burns on your forehead.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause a disturbance in the time-space continuum, whereby small (and sometimes important) gaps of time may seem to literally disappear.
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may actually CAUSE pregnancy.
(Contributer wishes to remain anonymous as the preceding observations were based on his/her actual experiences.)
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Pet Fish
A man was stopped by a game-warden in Northern Michigan recently with two buckets of fish leaving a lake well known for its fishing.
The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish"?
The man replied to the game warden, "No, sir. These are my pet fish."
"Pet fish?!" the warden replied.
"Yes, sir. Every night I take these here fish down to the lake and let them swim around for a while. I whistle and they jump back into their buckets, and I take 'em home."
"That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!"
The man looked at the game warden for a moment, and then said, "Here, I'll show you. It really works."
"O.K. I've GOT to see this!." The game warden was curious now.
The man poured the fish into the river and stood and waited.
After several minutes, the game warden turned to the man and said, "Well?"
"Well, What?" the man responded.
"When are you going to call them back?" The game warden prompted.
"Call who back?" The man asked.
"The FISH."
"What fish?" the man asked.
Thanks again to Gary, KB7FCI
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