Hello, once again.

This week I have been operating portable VE7 from Victoria, BC, Canada. Another business trip and now headed to Vancouver via the Island Ferry, and back to Washington to finish out his week of business. I'll be back for the meeting. There is a bit of amateur activity here in Victoria, and I chatted with several of the locals on the repeaters that cover the area. Unfortunately, the day I am leaving is the night of their club meeting. I always seem to be late or early for those kinds of things.

It was nice to see some of you up at Rickreall, and we were able to get rid of a few more of the boat anchors that belonged to the club and those that were donated to the club. I would like to thank Pat Malloy for his donation of odds and ends that he gleaned from his garage. I even managed to rid myself of a couple receivers, a RS 10 meter rig and amplifier, and other odds and ends. Unfortunately, this Icom transceiver caught my eye near the end of the get together, and, well, it followed me and my now empty pockets back to Grants Pass. With the CQ Worldwide DX Contest a couple weeks later, it got a work out. I did manage to work Mongolia, most of South America, and some Scandinavians. I'll let Elmer give us a report on how he did, and anyone else who was active during the contest weekend.

It's time to make plans for the annual Christmas festivities, and we will be getting things in order for next month's party. It's once again nearing election time and we will be putting together the slate of officers for the club.

As we know the county has plans for our meeting place in the future, and we will be looking for a new place to meet each month. Any suggestions from anyone in the club will be appreciated. I hope that we will have a report at this next meeting on what the future schedule is for our using the current site.

Thing are busy until the end of the year, but it is my plan to begin some license classes for prospective hams, as well as the possibility of having some classes for those who are interested in advancing their current license class. Please keep this in mind if you know of anyone who will be interested in taking the classes as well as those of you who would like to assist in the training.

Remember to bring a friend to the next meeting; it's always nice to see new faces, as well as those we haven't seen in awhile.

This month's presentation is on LDE, VLDE, and similar radio phenomenon, reports, suspicions, and possible causes, as well as the regular club business and reports on activities.

73, Dennis Recla, WA5KTC/VE7

I can't believe 2005 is almost over! It's all been a blur! My life has become even more complicated in recent months. My dad's health has declined to the point where I have to spend more time at home to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, my wife's mother in Kentucky also needs more assistance, requiring more of my wife's presence back there. She's going back for the second time this year to help her mom get through the holidays. My dad and her mom both want to continue living at home for as long as possible. Unfortunately, their two homes are 2,450 miles apart. For this, and other reasons, I won't be seeking another term as SOARC Vice President. I will remain on the board and continue as your newsletter editor, if you all desire. Nominations for officers and board members will be accepted at the next meeting. The election will be held at the January meeting.

Don't miss the SOARC Christmas Party/Potluck/Gift Exchange next month. There will be a sign-up sheet to list your covered dishes. The club will once again be providing a ham and a turkey. Bring your own table service(s), a covered dish, and a gift for each person in your party. You will have fun and leave with a full belly!

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 Wright, N7GEI

Western Belles is a women's ham radio group that gets together regularly for lunch and all female hams are invited to attend.

Our next luncheon will be at 11:30 on December 3rd at Elmer's Restaurant, 175 NE Agness Avenue, Grants Pass.

November 15 – 1800, SOARC Board Meeting

November 15 – 1900 SOARC General Meeting

Nominations for SOARC officers and board

November 29 – VE Testing

December 20 – SOARC Christmas Party/Potluck/Gift Exchange

LZ (Bulgaria) DX Contest	1200Z, Nov 19 to 1200Z, Nov 20
ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB	2100Z, Nov 19 to 0300Z, Nov 21
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW	0000Z, Nov 26 to 2400Z, Nov 27
ARRL 160-Meter Contest	2200Z, Dec 2 to 1600Z, Dec 4
ARRL 10-Meter Contest	0000Z, Dec 10 to 2400Z, Dec 11
Russian 160-Meter Contest	2100Z-2300Z, Dec 16
MDXA PSK DeathMatch	0000Z, Dec 17 to 2400Z, Dec 18
RAC (Canada) Winter Contest	0000Z-2359Z, Dec 17

73, Elmer Seutter, W6IGK

The last SOARC VEC exam session will be November 29th at the regular meeting site. The fee is $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.

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.

Register between 6:00-6:15 PM. Exams begin at 6:30. Plan on spending from one to two hours.

Contact: Bill Tyner, WX7U, by e-mail at goodgrendl@aol.com or leave a phone message at (541) 476-2703.

73, Bill Tyner, WX7U

VE Liaison

WANTED

Hallicrafters SX-23 receiver in any condition. Contact Frank, WA6RBQ, 479-7935, wa6rbq@aol.com.

To get rid of a strong local AM-BC station signal, Bill, W4ZV, recommends the Par Electronics BCST-HPF broadcast reject 7-pole elliptic receiving filter, available from Universal Radio at:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/filters/4426.html.

The minimum attenuation below 1700 kHz is 41 dB. The housing has an SO-239 receptacle for both input and output. There is also a bypass toggle switch to take the filter out of line.

After the electrical design is done, a Yagi-builder's job isn't nearly done. Neglecting the mechanical details can lead to an early demise for your latest creation. Luckily, there's an answer in the YagiStress program by K7NV. It's available directly at:
http://www.k7nv.com/yagistress/
or from Array Solutions at:
http://www.arraysolutions.com/Products/yagistress.htm
(Thanks, John, W0UN)

The US Navy radio training course is available as a collection of PDF files. It covers electronics, propagation, feed lines, antennas, etc. Lots of good stuff!
http://www.phy.davidson.edu/instrumentation/NEETS.htm
is the URL.

Another electronics training site is:
http://www.electronics-tutorials.com
which is also highly recommended and covers a lot of ground. (Thanks Dave, W7AQK, and Gary, WA6DTX)

And if you thought putting your floppy disk on a speaker was dangerous, meet Mr. Magnetar at:
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast20may98_1.htm
(Thanks, Jack, WA0RJY)

While searching for info on the grey line, globes depicting it, and methods to calculate it at a future date, Marc, K9PET, came across this website which you might find interesting:
http://www.qrz.co.il/handbook.php?pid=179

Here's a link to a paper I just finished on power and grounding for audio and audio/video systems. Much of the material is generic and applies to all systems:
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/SurgeXPowerGround.pdf.
(Thanks, Jim, K9YC)

For those of you pondering how to get the most benefit out of radials made from a fixed amount of wire, the Al Christman, K3LC, article "Maximum Gain Radial Ground Systems For Vertical Antennas" that was printed in the March/April edition of NCJ is on-line at:
http://www.ncjweb.com/k3lcmaxgainradials.pdf.
He lays it all out there very nicely, so to speak. Another good reason to be an NCJ subscriber!
(Thanks, Bill, W7KXB, and others)

The folks at Elecraft just added a new article to their Tech Notes page at:
http://www.elecraft.com
"A 100W Z-Match for 160m - 10m", by Geoff Cottrell, G3XGC. Lots of pictures and schematics.
(Thanks, Eric, WA6HHQ)

Eric, K3NA, has put together a detailed description:
http://www.yccc.org/articles/k3na_stubs.pdf
of the switching and cabling at the top-notch W1KM SO2R station. This is not a recipe for duplication, but will give you a lot of ideas to apply to your own station, whether for contesting, emergency work, or even Field Day, where more than one station is on the air at a time. While I'm on the subject, George, W2VJN, has written a top-notch book about stubs, "Managing Interstation Interference", which is available from International Radio at:
http://www.qth.com/inrad/book.htm.

Tracey, G5VU, reports an interesting article, "Impedance Matching Transformers for Receiving Antennas at Medium and Lower Shortwave Frequencies", written in June, 2003, by Bill Bowers, John Bryant, and Nick Hall-Patch, VE7DXR. He says that it has a lot of supporting technical information and can be found at:
http://radiodx.com/spdxr/media/imt_doc1.doc.

73, Elmer Seutter, W6IGK