S.O.A.R.C. CLUB MEETING: 7:00 PM, July 25.
Change of Meeting Location: Starting in June our meetings have changed to the 4th Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Fruitdale Grange, 1440 Parkdale (corner of Rogue River Hwy) in Grants Pass. Our holiday party will also be held at the Fruitdale Grange on Friday, December 22nd. In 2007 we will go back to the 3rd Tuesday at the Fruitdale Grange.

Jefferson Amateur Radio Society 23rd Annual Potluck & Swap Meet.
The Jefferson Amateur Radio Society's 23rd Annual Potluck & Swap Meet will be on Sunday August 6th, 2006 Starting at 9:00 a.m. at Tom Pearce Park in Grants Pass.

You can list your "for sale or trade" or "wanted" items in the newsletter. Send info to:W7PUP@arrl.net

Please help by sharing in the club operations cost by submitting your dues now. Individual dues are $15.00 and additional amateur family members are $7.50 each.

Membership Roster will now be printed quarterly to save cost, but an updated copy will be available on our website: http://www.qsl.net/soar/SOARC/Roster.html

If you do not have Internet access you can call to find out when your club membership due's are due: Call Treasurer John Stubbe, K7VSU, at 479-3718.

For any additional information or questions on any of these events contact W6IGK Elmer 73.

SOARC Repeaters, K7LIX with autopatch on 146.640(-) and on 147.300(+)

SOARC ARES/NTS Net: Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. on 147.300(+) repeater.

ORCA Swapnet - Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m. on the ORCA system.

Bring your favorite radio stories to share. See you all at the meeting.

73, Dennis WA5KTC

2006 Complete ARRL/SOARC Licensing Exams:

The last two sessions will be held in the new SOARC meeting facility - the Fruitdale Grange, 1440 Parkdale Dr & US 99, Grants Pass OR. Sept. 22, 2006 @ 6 p.m. (VE's assemble); 6:30 p.m.

Test Session Dec. 9, 2006 @ 6 p.m. (VE's assemble); 6:30 PM Test Session.

As everyone can see we will serve up quarterly sessions once again. And as in the old days, they are on Fridays except of the last one, which is a Saturday due to room scheduling convenience.

Remember to visit the www.arrl.org website to get the latest information about testing, requirements, new changes that are coming down the pike. The website for Grants Pass exam schedules is http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml. If you will notice the right hand side contains lots of hyperlinks covering most of the questions about exam sessions. A copy of this completed schedule has been sent to the VEC and should appear at this site very soon.

73, Bill (WX7U), VE and Liaison.

This is my first issue for Gnus and I was a little rushed on time. I would appreciate your ideas, comments and suggestions so we can have an interesting and fun newsletter.

73, Jim Woods, W7PUP W7PUP@arrl.net

Here's the correct information about commercially available radio interfaces that can read the Icom CI-V data Array Solutions DBS-1 and DBS-2: http://www.arraysolutions.com/Products/banddecoders.htm .

These interfaces decode CI-V data and properly decode 12/12/15/17 meters. The DBS-1/DBS-2 also provide both current sink and source outputs to handle mixed antenna switches and bandpass filters. microHAM Band Decoder: http://www.microham-usa.com/Products/band%20decoder.html.

This interface provides serial decoding on all of the major rigs (Elecraft, Icom, Kenwood, Ten-Tec and Yaesu) while acting as a RS-232 to radio interface. It also supports the use of "foreign" solid state amplifiers such as the Icom PW-1 or IC-2KL with Yaesu, Kenwood, Ten-Tec transceivers and the Yaesu Quadra or FL-7000 with Icom, Kenwood or Ten-Tec radios.

Both interfaces have a lot more to offer - please check the Web sites for complete information. (Thanks to Jay WX0B at Array Solutions and Joe W4TV at microHam America.

Anyone making your own PC boards might want to take a look at the following link for some very easy approaches to producing your own boards using a laser printer: http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm
(Thanks, Norm N7NSD)

Rohn tower parts are still available from Rohn (now Radian) at:
www.radiancorp.com/ROHNNET/rohnnet2004/html2004/index.html
(Thanks, Larry WA9VRH)

Pat AA6EG contributes a Web site with a large number of military tech manuals of masts and antennas that might be useful: http://www.tpub.com/content/antennaandmasts.

An oldie-but-goodie, back in 1995 Frank W3LPL generously compiled and published a table of coax cable loss vs. frequency performance. You can find it here: http://www.k1ttt.net/technote/coaxloss.html#tables .

The information is presented in several ways and the frequencies are those of the ham bands.
(Thanks, Gene AD3F)

Another contribution - thanks to Monty N5ESE for trying out several Web attenuator calculators. The one he likes best is http://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/PI-T-Pad-Attenuator-Calculator.phtml because resistor tolerance (1%, 5%, or 10%) is selectable. The closest standard values are used and a calculation of the resulting errors is provided.

While we're on the subject of coax wrangling, here is a great tutorial on PL-259 crimp-on connectors. Plenty of photos and detailed instructions make this particularly good:
http://www.bcdxc.org/pl259_crimp_on_connectors.htm
(Thanks, Paul VE7BZ)

Technical link of the week - Before you start digging that tower base...from a Web link provided by Richard NU6T: "Under federal legislation enacted in 2003 and federal regulations adopted in 2005, persons planning to dig may dial 811 to reach their states' Dig Safe or Underground Alert hotlines. The 811 system is to be fully operational on a national basis by spring 2007." Try this Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/2mmoo for details, state by state.
(Thanks, Bob K0RC)

Free information, tutorials and articles on a wide range of radio and electronic topics. http://www.rsgbhfcc.org

Contests & Events: Islands on the Air Contest CW/SSB July 29 1200Z to July 30 1200Z 80 to 10 meters. For more information go to http://www.rsgbhfcc.org

73 W6IGK Elmer