I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and I hope that 2006 proves to be a good year for all of us. Sometime soon, I expect some break in the rainy weather. All of this is good to help build up the water and snow levels for the upcoming summer dry season, but I would like a few days of sunshine, and a little warmth, so I can add another 10 feet to my backyard tower with the 16-element two-meter beam on it. Plus spend some time checking my G5RV wire dipole antenna, and the long wire, as they are both starting to droop a little. I hope I am not in the process of pulling another tree over again, like the last two.

I am sure we are all saddened to hear that Pat Malloy, KB7TWP, passed away recently. He was one of the regulars who would show up nearly every month. We got a bunch of garage sale items he donated to the club. Most of these donated items were sold off during the club's picnic at Whitehorse Park, as well as at one of the club meetings.

As I mentioned in the last newsletter, we would like to get some license exam training started for non-amateurs to pass the test and join the rest of us using amateur radio. The next step is to help all of us who want to upgrade to the next license class. I am one of them and need to do some studying to get my Extra Class, so I can talk to all those DX stations down in the lower portions of the bands. Although I have been told by one of my local amateur friends with an Extra that I can get a temporary "chit" that lets me operate out of the General Class band spectrum, during DX conditions. Ummmm – I just can't seem to find the place to get one of those.

We will talk more about the new license classes at the January meeting. If you have some time available to help get this started, or if you know of someone who is interested in attending the start up class to pass the license exam, please let me know.

Next meeting we need to finalize the election process, and get started on the New Year 2006. I hope to see you all there.

Remember, if you know of someone who is interested in coming to the meetings and needs transportation, contact one of the club officers or give Burton Griffin, WB6CYK, a call at the phone number in the club roster.

73, Dennis Recla, WA5KTC

For My Democrat Friends:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally-conscious, socially-responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally-successful, personally-fulfilling and medically- uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."

For My Republican Friends:

Here's wishing all of You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

DUES ARE DUE NOW FOR 2006!

You have until March 31st to pay your dues before you are dropped from the club roster. Individual dues are $15.00 and additional amateur family members are $7.50 each.

Elections of officers and board members at the next meeting! Nominations are not closed, so consider what you can do for your club and volunteer to serve.

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 February 4th at The Black Forest, 820 NE E St., on the west side of the Grants Pass Shopping Center.

In celebration of our 6th anniversary, everyone is invited to join us for lunch.

North American SSB QSO Party--1800Z, Jan. 21 to 0600Z, Jan. 22

ARRL VHF Sweepstakes--1900Z, Jan. 21 to 0400Z, Jan. 23

CQ 160M CW Contest--0000Z, Jan. 28 to 2359Z, Jan. 29

Vermont QSO Party--0000Z, Feb. 4 to 2400Z, Feb. 5

YL QSO Party--0000Z, Feb. 4 to 2359Z, Feb. 5

10-10 International SSB Contest--0001Z, Feb. 4 to 2359Z, Feb. 5

Minnesota QSO Party--1400Z to 2400Z, Feb. 4

Delaware QSO Party--1700Z, Feb.4 to 0500Z, Feb. 5 and 1300Z, Feb. 5 to 0100Z, Feb. 6

DX EXPEDITION: On or about Feb. 7th, 3Y0X will be coming on the air from Peter Island, located in the Antarctica Sea, which is one of the most inhospitable areas in the world. This will be the first activity from this rare entity in over ten years. This will be a large expedition with six stations on around the clock for the duration of the event. Anyone interested in working this rare entity should be able to do it with 100 watts and a wire antenna.

CQWW RTTY WPX Contest--0000Z, Feb. 11 to 2400Z, Feb. 12

New Hampshire QSO Party--0001Z, Feb. 11 to 0001Z, Feb. 13

YLRL YL-OM SSB Contest--000Z, Feb. 11 to 0200Z, Feb. 13

Louisiana QSO Party--1500Z, Feb. 11 to 0300Z, Feb. 12

FISTS Winter Sprint--1700 to 2100Z, Feb. 11

ARRL School Club Roundup--1300Z, Feb. 13 to 2400Z, Feb. 17

ARRL International CW DX Contest--0000Z, Feb. 18 to 2400Z, Feb. 19

73, Elmer Seutter, W6IGK

A reward of 500 microfarads is offered for information leading to the arrest of Hop-A-Long Capacity. This un-rectified criminal escaped from a western primary cell where he had been clamped in ions awaiting the gauss chamber. He is charged with the induction of an 18-turn coil named Milly Henry who was found choked and robbed of valuable joules. He is armed with a carbon rod and is a potential killer. Capacity is also charged with driving a D.C. motor over the Wheatstone Bridge and refusing to let the band pass. If encountered, he may offer series resistance. The Electromotive Force spent the night searching for him in a magnetic field, where he had gone to earth. They had no success and believed he had returned ohm via a short circuit. He was last seen riding a kilocycle with his friend Eddy Current who was playing a harmonic while singing ohm on the range.

Thanks Don, N7CGZ.

Ever wonder about other hams that may live in your area, or any other area? Go to:
http://www.perconcorp.com/google_ham.html

Put in a zip code and you will get a map showing the location of all hams within the zip code area. Click on a pin and you will get the name and address.

Thanks Don, N7GCZ.

Jason, W6SN, and Trevor, KG6MDW, have started an online ham radio encyclopedia website at:
http://www.hamwiki.info.

It is similar to the popular Wikipedia. Jason and Trevor encourage you to edit or add your article.

Pete, N9SSA, has updated his Miles Per Watt Calculator, MPWcalc. The program also links to Google Maps to show each end of the path. Take a browse to:
http://www.hoffswell.com/n9ssa/mpwcalc.html
and check it out. There's also a link to a grey line map. I love this stuff!

What could be more fun than radio, antennas, and things that go bang? This site just gets better and better:
http://www.qsl.net/wb6zqz/antlaunching.html

Thanks Rick, KT7G.

Jim, K9YC, recently finished and published three years worth of practical research on the use of ferrites for eliminating RFI from audio gear. The paper:
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/SAC0305Ferrites.pdf
should be quite helpful to RFI detectives everywhere. He also has created a presentation geared to hams trying to eliminate RFI in and around their stations:
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/Ferrites-Ham.pdf

Jim, WA7KYI, recently found this page while perusing the AC6V website. He suggests that it's a great tutorial for those new hams you're Elmering on how to make a CW contact and the procedures normally used during the contact. Send your proteges to:
http://www.netwalk.com/~fsv/CWguide.htm

Can't figure out what section you, or someone you're contacting, are in? Try:
http://www.arrl.org/sections

There is a county map of each section. or, if you know the city,
http://www.arrl.org/locate/locate.html
will give you the section along with grid square and other information.

For those of us who wear glasses, headphones can be a pain – literally. Airline pilots have a solution with David Clark "Stop-Gap" eyeglass frame cushions. Go to:
http://davidclark.com/PDFFiles/TwoWayBrochure.pdf

Placed on eyeglass frame temples, Stop-Gaps provide added comfort and stop noise from leaking through the ear seal. These are available from many aviation supply shops.

Thanks Bob, N6TV, and John, VE3EJ.

All Electronics Corporation, 14928 Oxnard St., Van Nuys, CA 91411, in Catalog #106 features a headseat with boom dynamic mike with separate six-foot cable, with separate 1/4" phone plugs for mike and earphones, for $4.00. Also, on the same page, they have a head-mounted magnifier with a wide body that lets you adjust for glasses. When not in use, it can be flipped up. This is a steal at $4.95. You can check out their full catalog at:
http://www.allelectronics.com

Thanks Burton Griffin, WB6CYK.

That's it for January.

73, Elmer Seutter, W6IGK