I hope all is well with all of you on this the first month of 2005.  It's difficult for me to get a grip on those numbers.  We have elections on club night.  I hope all of you will attend. 

Call someone who hasn't been to club for a while and give them a ride.

See you at the meeting.

73, Jim, WA6OTP

Once again, we had a great time at the SOARC Christmas Party/Potluck/Gift Exchange! Lots of delicious food and some really nice gifts were exchanged, and exchanged, and exchanged & you get the picture. If you missed out, we will do it again at 6:00 on the regular meeting night in December.

My computer crashed mid-December and I wasn't able to put together a Gnus. I got it back, better than ever, and I'm back in business! I changed to Windows XP Professional and upgraded my RAM to 512 MB. Some people have told me they had problems downloading Service Pack 2 for XP, so I did some checking and found a Microsoft patch to download before SP2. Everything appears to be working perfectly and XP is a much better OS than ME. Let me know if you need the patch for SP2.

Elections will be held next meeting. A list of nominees appears in this Gnus.

Don't forget--you can list your "for sale or trade" or "wanted" items in the newsletter. Please limit them to ham or computer-related merchandise or services.

If you have anything to contribute to the Gnus, see the contact information above.

73, Mike, N7GEI

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 celebrate our 5th anniversary at 11:30 on February 5th at Black Forest Restaurant, 820 NE E St., in the Grants Pass Shopping Center.

Elections for officers and board members for 2005 will be held Tuesday night.

Also, I hope to have a little video from one of the DXpeditions that took place last year. It's an interesting little film, and Ken and Elmer might say something about the DX group that got caught in the Tsunami and ended up providing emergency communications out of the area and between assistance groups.

73, Dennis Recla, WA5KTC

The Southern Oregon Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring ARRL licensing examinations for 2005. ARRL has once again increased the fee for licensing from $12.00 to $14.00 per license class exam. As usual, if you take a written and code test together you only pay the single fee. Either one by itself is $14.00. Should you take two written tests to upgrade twice in one session it will cost $28.00. Even if you don't take any tests, the fee for an upgrade (in this instance, the invoking of the grandfather privilege for pre-1987 technicians) will be $14.00.

The SOARC VE Group keeps $6.00 per examinee to cover paper, envelope, cookies, pencils, and code test-related hardware items. What little remaining money is left after those incidental costs are addressed goes into the SOARC treasury where, once a year, the treasurer gets to go sit on the pile of coins and toss handfuls into the air like Scrooge McDuck.

Again this year the dates reflect the maximum calendar distance possible from the Rogue Valley Club exams to offer you the most convenience. As of this writing, Roseburg did not have their schedule done.

Here is the SOARC schedule: March 29th - June 28th - November 29th.

• Test Sessions this year will be on the last Tuesday of the specified month.
• Please take note of this change from previous years scheduling!
• Senior Center: 510 N.W. 4th St. (4th and C). Come in from the parking lot.
• Walk-ins are dandy with no pre-registration required. If there are many of you arriving in a group, or are examinees requiring special accommodation (PWD), then please do advise me in advance so that we can best meet your needs.
• These are evening exams.
• Register between 6:00-6:15 PM.
• Exams begin at 6:30 PM. Plan on spending from 1 to 2 hours.
• Contact: Bill Tyner (WX7U) by e-mail: goodgrendl@aol.com or leave a phone message at (541) 476-2703.

By Rama Lakshmi
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 2, 2005; Page D01

PORT BLAIR, India -- About one month ago, Bharathi Prasad and her team of six young ham radio operators landed in this remote island capital with a hobbyist's dream: Set up a station and establish a new world record for global ham radio contacts. In the world of ham slang, it was called a "Dxpedition."

It is a big honor to come to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and operate. There is no ham activity here because it is considered a very sensitive area by the Indian government," said Prasad, a 46-year-old mother of two from New Delhi.

In fact, the last ham activity in these scattered islands in the Bay of Bengal, 900 miles east of the Indian mainland, occurred in 1987, when Prasad set up a station in Port Blair and made 15,500 calls.

"I had always wanted to come back and break that record," she said. This time, Prasad set up an antenna in her hotel and turned Room 501 into a radio station. She made more than 1,000 contacts every day and said she operated "almost all day and all night, with just three hours of sleep."

In the early hours of Dec. 26, while the other hotel guests were fast asleep, Prasad's room was crackling with the usual squawks and beeps. At 6:29 a.m., she felt the first tremors of an earthquake. The tables in her room started shaking violently. She jumped up and shouted, "Tremors!" into her microphone. Then the radio went dead. She ran out and alerted the hotel staff and other guests. But with that one word, she had alerted the world of radio hams, too.

Within a few hours, the extent of the damage was clear to everyone in Port Blair. But the tsunami had knocked out the power supply and telephone service of the entire archipelago of 500 islands, leaving the capital virtually cut off from the rest of India.

"I contacted Indian hams in other states and told them about what had happened. The whole world of radio hams were looking for us, because they had not heard from us after the tremors," she said later.

Prasad set up a temporary station on the hotel lawn with the help of a generator -- and put the city back on the ham radio map.

I immediately abandoned my expedition and told all radio operators to stop disturbing me. I was only on emergency communication from then on."

While news of the death and devastation caused by the tsunami in other parts of India was quickly transmitted around the world, the fate of the Andamans and Nicobars was slow to unfold.

Prasad kept broadcasting information about the situation to anyone who could hear her radio. Over and over, she repeated that there was no power, no water, no phone lines.

On Monday morning, she marched into the district commissioner's office and offered her services. "What is a ham?" he asked her. After she explained, he let her set up a radio station in his office, and a second one on Car Nicobar, the island hit hardest.

For the next two days, as the government grappled with the collapsed communication infrastructure, Prasad's ham call sign, VU2RBI, was the only link for thousands of Indians who were worried about their friends and families in the islands. She also became the hub for relief communications among officials.

"Survivors in Car Nicobar were communicating with their relatives in Port Blair through us," she said. When the phone lines were restored on Tuesday, Prasad's team in Car Nicobar radioed information about survivors to her team in Port Blair, whose members then called anxious relatives on the mainland to tell them that their loved ones were alive and well.

Prasad also helped 15 foreign tourists, including several from the United States, send news to their families. Offers of relief aid poured in from around the world through her radio, and she directed them to government officials. She also arranged for volunteer doctors to be sent from other Indian states.

Now she has become so popular in the islands, and in the ham world, that she said she has been affectionately nicknamed the "Teresa of the Bay of Bengal."

When the earthquake occurred, Prasad's worried husband called her from New Delhi and asked her to return home immediately.

He reminded me that I have two children to look after back home," she said, laughing. "I told him that as a ham radio operator, I have a duty in times of disaster."

Under India's strict communications laws, a ham cannot leave home with his or her radio without going through an elaborate bureaucratic process to obtain permission from various ministries.

Prasad said that after her first expedition to Port Blair, she spent 17 years begging and badgering officials before she was allowed to return.

"She looked like a simple housewife when she checked in," recalled Ravi Singh, the hotel manager in Port Blair. "But now I marvel at the courage she has shown."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

Submitted by Chris Maitrejean, KF7FO

Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through two-meters,
Not a signal was keying up
Any repeaters.

The antennas reached up
From the tower, quite high,
To catch the weak signals
That bounced from the sky.

The children, Tech-Pluses,
Took their HT's to bed,
And dreamed of the day
They'd be Extras, instead.

Mom put on her headphones,
I plugged in the key,
And we tuned 40 meters
For that rare ZK3.

When the meter was pegged
by a signal with power.
It smoked a small diode,
and, I swear, shook the tower.

Mom yanked off her phones,
And with all she could muster
Logged a spot of the signal
On the DX PacketCluster,

While I ran to the window
And peered up at the sky,
To see what could generate
RF that high.

It was way in the distance,
But the moon made it gleam -
A flying sleigh, with an
Eight element beam,

And a little old driver
who looked slightly mean.
So I though for a moment,
That it might be Wayne Green.

But no, it was Santa
The Santa of Hams.
On a mission, this Christmas
To clean up the bands.

He circled the tower,
Then stopped in his track,
And he slid down the coax
Right into the shack.

While Mom and I hid
Behind stacks of CQ,
This Santa of hamming
Knew just what to do.

He cleared off the shack desk
Of paper and parts,
And filled out all my late QSLs
For a start.

He ran copper braid,
Took a steel rod and pounded
It into the earth, till
The station was grounded.

He tightened loose fittings,
Resoldered connections,
Cranked down modulation,
Installed lightning protection.

He neutralized tubes
In my linear amp...
(Never worked right before --
Now it works like a champ).

A new, low-pass filter
Cleaned up the TV,
He corrected the settings
In my TNC.

He repaired the computer
That would not compute,
And he backed up the hard drive
And got it to boot.

Then, he reached really deep
In the bag that he brought,
And he pulled out a big box,
"A new rig?" I thought!

"A new Kenwood?  An Icom?
A Yaesu, for me?!"
(If he thought I'd been bad
it might be QRP!)

Yes! The Ultimate Station!
How could I deserve this?
Could it be all those hours
that I worked Public Service?

He hooked it all up
And in record time, quickly
Worked 100 countries,
All down on 160.

I should have been happy,
It was my call he sent,
But the cards and the postage
Will cost two month's rent!

He made final adjustments,
And left a card by the key:
"To Gary, from Santa Claus.
Seventy-Three."

Then he grabbed his HT,
Looked me straight in the eye,
Punched a code on the pad,
And was gone - no good bye.

I ran back to the station,
And the pile-up was big,
But a card from St. Nick
Would be worth my new rig.

Oh, too late, for his final
came over the air.
It was copied all over.
It was heard everywhere.

The Ham's Santa exclaimed
What a ham might expect,
"Merry Christmas to all,
And to all, good DX."

Aloha
Ken, KH6CQH

CQ, CQ CQ! The US Coast Guard Auxiliary http://www.cgaux.org/ is looking for Amateur Radio operators or prospective amateur licensees.

"Like every other emergency based service, the Coast Guard operates every day, in good weather and in bad," says Wayne Spivak, KC2NJV, of the USCG's National Public Affairs Department. "We, in the USCG Auxiliary operate whether there is power to operate the normal modes of communication, such as phones, or whether the weather is bad, and the normal means of communications are out of service."

At times like these, the Coast Guard and the Auxiliary rely on the Auxiliary Net (AuxNet), a backup radio network, to maintain communication with both the Auxiliary and the Coast Guard. In areas where there is no regular Coast Guard presence, the Auxiliary may rely solely on its AuxNet for communication. In areas with a large USCG presence, the AuxNet operates in both a support and backup capacity.

The USCG Auxiliary is seeking ham radio volunteers because amateurs "are good communicators," Spivak says, in particular because of skills they've developed both in everyday radio operation and participation during emergencies in RACES, ARES and SKYWARN. He suggests Amateur Radio and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary are an ideal fit.

To find out more, visit the USCG Auxiliary Public Service Articles Web site. The US Coast Guard Auxiliary is open to all US citizens over the age of 17. A security background check, paid for by the US Coast Guard, is required before an applicant is accepted. Visit the US Coast Guard Auxiliary Web site http://www.cgaux.org/cgauxweb/getzip.html to start the process.

Oregon SM: Randy Stimson KZ7T. SEC: KK7TT. SCC: W7WZ. ACC: K7SQ. STM: W7IZ. OOC: AB7OC. PIC: W6ABM. TC: WB7UNU SGL: KA7KYQ.

I went to the last Ham-fair, called Swap-Toberfest. I didn't stay long as I was fighting a bad cold. It was bigger than last year and seemed to have more commercial dealers than before.

I even bought a used AEA Isopole.

A note from ARRL that should be good news for affiliated clubs. Not only will they get $15.00 new hams joining ARRL but now will get $2.00 for renewals.

I am a little late on the request because of when I get them and can send it.

Now for the Field Day results. I just hope that I didn't miss any one.

1A-Battery- The Three Amigos K7HZ 940, KC7EMZ 902

2A Battery-High Desert Contest Club K7AW (+N7OU) 8432, K7ZS 4014, W72VJN 3264, Southern Oregon ARC K7LIX (+WM7K) 2632, WPPC RC KG7GK 2324, SCARE KM7P 1052, The Maxim ARC AD6K/7 861

3A Battery- Keno ARC K7ENO 2260

3A-Central Oregon DX Club W7MT 5042, Skyline Tower ARC W7DTV 1734, Sunset Empire ARC W7BU 1246, Quality ARC KX7YT (+KD7YCU 1224, Umpqua Valley ARC K7AZW (+KB7WDR) 904,

4A Battery- Portland ARC W7LT 7210, Salem ARC W7SAA 3924.

5A-Hoodview ARC W7Q 6748,

1B-1 OP Battery- AD7L 1840,   W7VN 880,   AA7IH 840, N0DA 670,

1B-1 OP-K7KI 1093,   N7ICK 1004.

1B-2 OP Battery- KB7LJP 680

2B-2 OP KD7DMF 420

Mobile Station IC- K7CN,  2C K7FD 774,  Home Station COM Power K1JA, Home Station EM Power AC7IB 226

2F- Oregon State ARES unit- W7OEM 992

I read this article in the "The Eager Beaver New Letter" and thought that it would be a good thing to read every so often. If nothing else it might bring up some discussion.

Emergency Net Activation

We asked our experts what frequencies we in BSN should go to in an emergency. Here are their answers:

FROM DICK, K7DDI:

Check 3993.5, a dedicated frequency for ARRL activities. Then go to normal traffic nets from there.

Anyone familiar with our net knows who to contact to get traffic to certain areas. Handle all you can on two meters.

Leave HF for long haul stuff. On 2 meters, we plan on high level repeater 146.85 for check ins, then lower level 146.61 to handle local stuff. (Simplex 146.44 local)

FROM SCOTT, W7IZ, STM

We have several HF emergency net choices, OEN, OARES, BSN, and OSN. OEN is a resource of people from little towns who can deliver traffic. Like we who check into BSN and OARES, checking in everyday helps to let others know they are available. We can explain traffic handling to those who do not handle traffic regularly ( the "check" etc in the message when the emergency happens)

Vic, W7VSE, said in past emergencies, the stations originating traffic at the scene don't have time to put messages in correct form.. So, the first receiver of that traffic must put it in correct form, acceptable to NTS.

Actual Emergency Traffic is not generally handled on NTS, but by Red Cross. If no other means are available, NTS will do it. Hams don't like to handle death messages.

In a widespread emergency, like the California Quake a few years ago, all services will be confused, not just ham radio.

Nets are territorial, so there is resentment when a net that generally is over at 6 PM runs 24 hours for 3 or 4 days. Then other nets that normally use that frequency later in the evening (plus "ten up" or "ten down") for moving and handling) are not able to. 3927 works great for BSN before 6 PM to move off and handle traffic, but other nets are there later.We can start there, modify things as needed.

Some questions are:

Question: During an emergency should BSN-ers tune in to 3920 or 3993.5?

Answer: Go to 3993.5 first. We have limited numbers of traffic handlers.

Everyone should go to 3993.5 and get that net going first. If only one net is up and running, it should be OARES. Many of the NTS people are also ARES people. So, fire up 3993.5 ASAP.

Question: Would we get directions on 3993.5 to go to BSN, OSN, or RN7 freqs?

Answer: After enough folks are on OARES frequency, the OARES net control should ask some of the NTS stations to move to BSN and move traffic.

NTS does not work FOR the ARES, but NTS cooperates and supports ARES to get OARES functional.

When BSN is activated it can be held open for several hours, or days, depending on the traffic and the number of operators present. After BSN is up and functional, OSN people can bring OSN up and keep it going as long as necessary.

We should recognize that during an emergency in Oregon, OUTGOING traffic will be the priority, NOT INCOMING. For a large number of messages to come out and be routed around the country, our Oregon nets have to be functional and our regional ones as well.

Questions Continued:

Question: Where would NTS traffic be handled?

Answer: At present, NTS traffic should be handled at any NTS traffic net, which would be OARES, BSN, OSN and NTTN. If the only net running at the beginning of the emergency is OARES, then the traffic can be handled either on frequency or up/down from that frequency. Liasons would take that traffic to DRN7. If BSN and OSN are running, the OSN liason would take that traffic to RN7 (cw).

We hope a lot of traffic will be sent out on Packet via NTTN & N7YSS.

Bottom Line, Remember:

In an emergency, tune up on OARES, 3993.5. After OARES is fully staffed, BSN and OSN will be activated.

And:

1. Don't Panic! Don't become a victim
2. Be sure your family is OK! You can't help if you are worried about your family members.
3. Check in on your local ARES 2-meter emergency frequency"

Congratulations to James Davis AA7AZ, Mechelle K7MGO and Kevin Hedgepeth for passing EMCOMM #1 also Richard Banton KD7THV, Patrick Colton KC7ZZB, Hal Merritt KD7ZLF, Richard Rutlegde KE7BOS and Joel Simmons for passing ARECC-001.

Bill Morris has passed ARECC-003. Great work Bill.

Traffic; W7IZ 293, N7YSS 177, N7CM 137, KD7ZLF 61, KC7SGM 50, KC7SRL 49, W7VSE 41, KK1A 4 and N7APE 3.

PSHR; KD7ZLF 240, KZ7T 235, K7EAJ 207, N7CM 110, N7YSS 110, KK7TN 98, W7VSE 94, KC7SGM 90 and KK1A 71.

The web site www.oregonsectionmanager.org didn't work sorry for the delay but I will have one in December

---------------------------------------------------
ARRL Oregon Section
Section Manager: Randolph A. Stimson, KZ7T
kz7t@arrl.org
---------------------------------------------------

Donald M. "Don" Johnson, WA0EPX, SK:

ARRL has learned that Don Johnson, WA0EPX, of Lewiston, Minnesota, died July 14. He was 69. Johnson was a founding member of Handihams and described as "an extraordinarily active guy who enjoyed ham radio and was a true 'Renaissance Man.'" He also was a member of the US Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and of the ARRL A-1 Operator Club. According to his obituary in the Winona Daily News and the Tri-County Record, "From his wheelchair, Don was active throughout his life in many fields, as marksman, fisherman, a member of 4-H." A storekeeper in Fremont, he was inducted into the Winona County Fair Hall of Fame in 1989. In addition to Amateur Radio, he also enjoyed chess. A service was held July 18.