Issue 105 — FEBRUARY 2002
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
The middle of winter draped around us and the promise of spring lingers in our memory. Hearth fires warm us as a nagging, nagging tone echoes in our ears...A is di-dah, di-dah is A... That's right, the CW classes are fed up with me, but I am like a pit bull in a poodle shop. I am not gonna let go 'til every one is on the air!
I hope you will come to club and get all of the updates on what?s been happening in ham radio in our community and what to expect in the months to come.
73, Jim, WA6OTP
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2002 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 |
| Warren Olney, KB7EKF, 474-3575 |
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Welcome From Your Editor
Dues are due! If not paid by the end of March, you will be dropped from the roster until they are paid. -- Nuf said.
Only four more months until Field Day! Plans are already in the works for our club's participation. Mark your calendars, brush up your operating skills, and prepare to really enjoy yourselves on the fourth weekend in June! Details of this year?s operation will be announced at club meetings and in the Gnus.
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 FEBRUARY
1900
SENIOR CENTER
3RD & B STREETS
GRANTS PASS
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Coming Attractions
Marie from the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety will give an extended program on 911, including real audio tapes from 911 calls. Marie will cover how to make a 911 report, what the operator is doing while you are making your report, and what they need from you first, second, and third.
She will instruct SOARC members on how to identify and report descriptions of people and vehicles. This is an important and potentially life-saving program. Marie has spent years in the hot seat of 911 and is co-supervisor of 911/records.
SOARC members will be able to interact during this program and test themselves by filling out a brief questionaire. Don't miss it because this program won't happen more than once every couple of years. Marie is veeery good!
ARES members will have a different program than they are used to. They should pay very close attention to the SOARC program because I will follow it up with a presentation on clear speech, military commo, and ham communications, their differences and deficiencies. Pay attention to Marie when she teaches you about identification of people. That's a hint. I guarantee that after these two sessions, ARES members will be appreciated when they call in to 911. When you come to the ARES meeting, be prepared for the unexpected folks. That's what real life is like.
73, Bill Tyner, 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 on Saturday, March 2nd, at the China Hut Restaurant, 1434 NW 6th St., Grants Pass.
73, Wilma, W1LMA, and Anita, KC7MGH
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2002 VE Exams
Here are the dates for SOARC-sponsored ARRL VE license exams for 2002. Walk-ins are welcome.
February 22
May 31
August 30
November 29
Come by and test your code speed. SOARC still offers code speed certification tests rewarded by a very attractive certificate to attest to your Morse prowess.
73, Bill Tyner, WX7U
VE Liaison
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Lee Stone, N7SVH, SK
It is Marne Stone's wish that if SOARC members wish to honor her late husband, Lee, N7SVH, they may donate to Search and Rescue or Wildlife Images. Lee was given a military burial with full honors on St. Valentine's Day at the Veterans National Cemetery in Eagle Point, Oregon.
73, Bill, WX7U
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Hurray!
The 146.64 phone patch was restored at 2:00 PM on the 15th. One spin-off from all this trouble is that the audio will be much improved (if you noticed anything wrong before). A shorted wire was found by the Qwest tech and new lines are being installed. For the time being, an overhead line is rigged in the trees which is providing temporary phone service.
WX7U
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News From Southern Oregon DX Group
Good news for all who want to work DXCC in cycle 23. After peaking in mid 2000 and starting to decline for another five years, cycle 23 turned around and had a second peak of solar activity early in 2002. This is not a common phenomenon, but a second chance to work those needed countries while you can hear them. Almost any amateur radio operator with a HF rig and antenna should be able to contact their first 100 countries this year. Each week there are more than 200 different countries active on the bands. There are some good ones on now for the picking: P5 North Korea (no paper work yet), S07 southern Sahara, 5A Libya, A5 Bhutan, YA Afghanistan, ZA Albania, and a lot more. For the first time, North Korea is in second place on the Dxers most-wanted list. Ducie Island VP6/D is #1; so far they haven't been on the air after getting their paperwork approved.
How do I start? How do I get those last few? How do I get my card and what's an IRC? Why did I get a N.I.L.? Need answers? Chasing DX is more fun when you can share answers and swap hits and misses with fellow hams who understand the challenge of joining " the cream of the amateur community" (a quote from the ARRL president Jim Haynie, W5JBP, at the 2001 Intemational DX Convention in Visalia, California). There are numerous local hams who can help you with everything from tried and true techniques to new cutting-edge technology that can get that QSL card in your mail box. We have presented numerous DX handouts at previous DX gatherings that are still available for those that are interested. It is our intent to broaden the base to any ham interested in DX, local or not, to get involved on the Internet, and join us when you can at regular get-togethers. If this sounds like something you would like to do, send an e-mail to John, N7JL, at sail@at grrtech.com, subject line "DV'. Consider a couple of quotes and pick the one you like. "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do", John Wooden, former basketball coach at UCLA. Or "Anyone who limits her (his) vision to memories of yesterday is already dead", L. Langtry.
If you are limited by CC&RS, city lots, 100 watts to a vertical, or other minor challenges, don't give up on working DX before you start. Expensive rigs aren't necessary to work DX, but nice to look at and dust. High power is not the only thing you need to bust a pile-up. Many good Dxers will standby for QRP stations, that's anyone from California running less than 2000 watts output; that's running five watts for the rest of us. In retrospect, I remember working my first 200 countries on a TS-520 with a dipole on 40 and 80 and a small tribander at 36 feet, without benefit of computer packet spotting nets, with friendly neighbors who told me they could hear my radio on their stereo when it was turned off. A couple of beers solved that problem. With the addition of a SB- 220 and the same TS-520, I have run the total confirmed country count to 334 and honor roll, thanks to the computer and DX reflectors for heads-up instant information. The old DX bulletin that came by mail was nice but often came too late to do much good. The new DX spotting nets even come with audible alerts for your program ed needed list. If you haven't picked up AC6V's new book "DXING 101", 226 pages, borrow one and see what you are missing. Try his web page, ac6v.com. 700 amateur radio topics and 6000 links.
73 and CU, John, N7JL
(via Steve, WB6YQP)
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The Origin of Chapstick
The old cowhand came riding into town on a hot, dry, dusty day. The local sheriff watched from his chair in front of the saloon as the cowboy wearily dismounted and tied his horse to the rail a few feet in front of the sheriff.
"Howdy, stranger..."
"Howdy, Sheriff..."
The cowboy then moved slowly to the back of his horse, lifted its tail, and placed a big kiss right on the horse's butt. He dropped the horse's tail, stepped up on the walk, and aimed toward the swinging doors of the saloon.
"Hold on, Mister..."
"Sheriff?"
"Did I just see what I think I just saw?"
"Reckon you did, Sheriff...I got me some powerful chapped lips..."
"And that cures them?"
"Nope, but it keeps me from lickin' em."
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Just For Fun, Y'all
Did you hear about the guy from Alabama who passed away and left his entire estate to his beloved widow, but she can't touch it 'til she's 14.
How do you know when you're staying in a Kentucky hotel? When you call the front desk and say, "I gotta leak in my sink," and the front desk replies, "Go ahead."
How can you tell if a Tennessee redneck is married? There is dried tobacco juice on both sides of his pickup truck.
Did you hear that they have raised the minimum drinking age in West Virginia to 32? It seems they want to keep alcohol out of the high schools!
What do they call reruns of "Hee Haw" in Alabama? Documentaries.
Where was the toothbrush invented? Mississippi. If it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teethbrush.
A Georgia State Trooper pulls over a pickup on I-75 and says to the driver, "Got any I.D.?" The driver replies "Bout wut?"
Did you hear about the $3 million Arkansas State Lottery? The winner gets $3 a year for a million years.
Did you hear that the governor's mansion in Alabama burned down? Yep. Pert' near took out the whole trailer park. The library was a total loss, too. Both books--poof! --up in flames, and he hadn't even finished coloring one of them.
A new law recently passed in West Virginia: When a couple gets divorced, they're STILL brother and sister.
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QST de W1AW
ARLB009 President Bush addresses Florida ARES net:
President George W. Bush spoke January 31 via Amateur Radio to members of the Northern Florida Amateur Radio Emergency Service Net (NFAN). The president was in Florida to spotlight five volunteer groups--among them the Volusia County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)--for their value to the new Office of Homeland Security.
''I want to thank all the volunteers who help make sure that Florida is prepared for any kind of emergency,'' the president said in part, after checking in around 9:15 AM to a regular ARES net session. ''I want to thank you all for helping your communities be prepared.'' Bush spoke on the net for about 30 seconds.
Northern Florida ARRL Section Manager Rudy Hubbard, WA4PUP, said Bush spoke from a portable station set up at a Daytona Beach fire station to demonstrate Amateur Radio's role in emergency preparedness and in the hope that Bush would be willing to address the 75-meter net.
ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, said he was ''extremely gratified'' that President Bush recognized the valuable service Amateur Radio operators provide in times of emergencies. ''I know that all hams in the United States stand ready to do their part in America's Homeland Security Program,'' Haynie commented.
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