The January SOARC meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 16th at the Fruitdale Grange at 7 p.m. The board meeting will start at 6 p.m.

Note that we are back to our usual meeting schedule that is, meeting on the third Tuesday of the month.

Dues for 2007 can be paid now. Annual dues to SOARC is still only $15.

Hope to see you at the meeting!

Jim W7PUP

We had a great party on Friday, December 22nd. Elmer, Burton, their spouses and others decorated the room and cooked the turkey and ham. There was a very good attendance with lots of tasty potluck dishes.

A letter was read from Gayle Daniel, from the Josephine County Food Bank thanking our club for its donation taken at the November meeting. A total of $201 was collected and donated to the Food Bank.

After dinner we continued our traditional gift exchange. Santa Claus was present to serve as master of master of ceremonies. Thanks, Rusty.

Jim W7PUP

I recently won a new, unopened ink cartridge in a gift exchange. It is an HP 45 ink (black) cartridge which is used by a number of printers including the HP Deskjet series. If you could use this, please contact me. Jim Woods, W7PUP.

FOR SALE: Astron RS-20A (13.8V) Regulated Power Supply - $65; Novex DM-4061 Grid Dip Meter - $35; Kenwood SMC-25 Handi-Talkie Speaker Mic. - $10; Original Signal Corps J-38 Telegraph Key with base - $40; Heath CC-1000 Most Accurate Digital Clock - $25. Contact WB6CYK - Burton Griffin (541) 479-7888.

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

• 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.

In 2007, exams will be given on Friday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Fruitdale Grange (VEC people come at 6 p.m.). The dates are as follows:

• February 23
• May 25
• August 24
• November 23

Currently the fee for exams is $14.00.

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.

You may want to take a look at a couple of web pages.

http://aa7ml.net/AmateurRadio/repeaters.aspx (Willamette Valley 2M Repeaters)

http://www.qsl.net/ac7xc/nwhamrptr.html (NW Oregon Ham Repeaters) - Very comprehensive list (10 pages) of 10M through 70cm frequencies and designated areas on each band.

73, Burton WB6CYK

This item is from ARRL Propagation Bulletin ARLP031 is pretty good stuff: "David Mays, W8UI of St. Mary's, West Virginia sent some big beacon lists for HF and six meters, put together by G3USF.
See them at www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/28.htm and www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/50.htm "

-Diamonds are a ham's best friend - L.B. Cebik, W4RNL has a short article about rhombics on his web page www.cebik.com/radio.html in the series Antennas From The Ground Up. L.B. has also started a new series on Long Wire Antennas www.cebik.com/wire/lwl.html) which will eventually have a detailed analysis of the V-beam and rhombic. (Thanks, Henry K4TMC)

-Does the rumble of distant thunder make you nervous? Thomas KN4LF contributed a couple of Web URLs for information about lightning protection – http://groups.yahoo.com/group.LightningProtection and www.lightningsafety.com

-There are a lot of times when we'd like to find out whether two locations are line-of-sight. With the availability of highly detailed, accurate mapping data in electronic form, the answer to this and other similar questions isn't that far away. Kevan NS4T recommends MicroDEM by Dr. Peter Guth of USNA. It can do terrain mapping, overlay road maps, and similar useful tricks. And the price is right - free! Get the program at http://tinyurl.com/lche

-Fans of "hollow state" technology (i.e. - vacuum tubes) will enjoy the Fun With Tubes site – www.funwithtubes.net There are quite a few schematics, tutorials, projects, old parts catalogs and more. In addition, Cardwell Condensers now owns the E.F. Johnson capacitor line with information posted at www.cardwellcondenser.com/PAGES/jcd.html (Thanks, Mike AE6WA and Jim WA7DUY)

-Several folks in the construction business remind tower builders to keep the surface of a concrete base wet during the first week of the curing period. This prevents cracks due to the surface hardening faster than the inside. Either keep the surface misted with water or place old rugs or cloth on top of the concrete and keep them wet. Don't be hasty - it takes 28 days for concrete to cure to 90% strength!

-Trying to get stuck hardware apart? Dino K6RIX gives this wholehearted endorsement to PB Blaster. "Some products are rust removers and others are penetrants and lubricants. PB Blaster is BOTH! No need to climb twice. Take it up with you and get the job done!" – http://tinycurl.com/bnxsm

-Today we usually think "DSP" or "op amps" when figuring out how to get rid of noise and other "stuff" that we don't want to hear in our audio. Well, 'twas not always so! – Passive audio filters still do a fine job in many areas and you never have to change the batteries. One classic reference about these filters is Ed Wetherold W3NQN's article "Passive Audio Filter for SSB" in the Technical Correspondence section of Dec 1979 QST, page 50. Another is "The Crud-O-Ject" by Bob Myers, now W1XT, in the Feb 1972 QST, page 11. (Thanks, John W0UN)

-If you wish your noise-cancelling Bose headphones came with a boom mike, Doug K1DG shows you how to "make it so" at http://tinyurl.com/mx16c A bit of work with a drill and little, tiny screws and there you are!

-Here's a really nice toroid/coil calculator plus more: "Mini Core Calculator" by Colin G3VMU is freeware from www.dl5swb.de It makes lots of calculations for a wide range of iron powder and ferrite cores and other coils. (Thanks, Chuck W5USJ)

-Here's a new grid-dip meter by two Peters, DK1HE and DL2MI –
www.qrpproject.de/UK/DipItUk.html . It covers 1-42 MHz with a 5-digit display. The meter has several significant improvements over other widely used meters. This is not your Elmer's grid-dip meter! (Thanks, Chuck W5USJ)

-Here is an interseting item from Mike K5UO on climbing belts, somewhat edited. "At HamCom in Plano Texas; a representative of Pinkerton Sales www.pinkertonsales.com), representing the "Ultra-Safe" fall-arrest climbing belt, gave an excellent demo outside of the convention hall. He would winch up a 220-pound weight and let it fall in different situations. The message was that different lanyards (position or fall-arrest) exert dramatic differences in force to the user when a fall occurs. As I recall (approximately):

1. Six-foot conventional lanyard: 2500 pounds (ouch!)
2. Six-foot lanyard w/ sewn fold-out layers (shock absorbing): 700 pounds (still "ouch")
3. Six-foot lanyard, now get this, WITH A KNOT IN IT: "0" force; it broke instantly! (Big ouch!)

At least on two of the ouch's, the user survived. He demonstrated two types of climbing harnesses:

1. Conventional with nylon straps.
2. A nylon harness with straps that have some very slight stretch to them. I liked that harness.

He added that any and all harnesses must be tightened "firmly"; not loose and, of course, not uncomfortably too-tight. Any extreme slack or sloppiness can be harmful in the event of a fall. He mentioned that always someone should be present while the climber is working on the tower and have a plan in the event of a fall. He also demo'd one little gadget, like a reeled-up harness (see next item) hooked above your climb that catches you immediately with no drop at all; much, I think, as a vehicle safety belt does. Gradual movement around the tower or climbing does not set it off; but "instant thrust" (my words) does." Food for thought, Mike!

The catching harness is actually a Self Retracting Lifeline (an example can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/jnrpj). You can install one at the top of your tower below the guy points, attach a line to the hook, then pull it down when you need to climb. You wouldn't want to leave your lifeline exposed to the elements all the time, hence the attached line to retrieve it. Granted, these aren't cheap, but they're less expensive than a week in the hospital or your funeral. More samples are shown at www.rjsafety.com/CS5. (Thanks, Jason KC0ERG)

Steve K7LXC notes that the correct place for a fall-arrest lanyard is the D-ring between your shoulder blades. That will catch you and hold you in a benign posture. The D-ring in the front is for when you use a safety climb cable and slider system with a climbing ladder or pegs.

A text reference on tower safety is "Tower Climbing Safety and Rescue." This professionally written book is full of accurate, useful information and is available through the ARRL Products Web site at www.arrl.org.

That's it for January.
de W6IGK Elmer

New Color Bandplan Chart - HambandsColor.pdf (Adobe Acrobat File)

If you use the SD Logger program, there have been some updates to the software code. Please check the following for more information or contact Burton, WB6CYK.

Send SD-User mailing list submissions to sd-user@contesting.com

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/sd-user or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to sd-user-request@contesting.com

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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of SD-User digest..."

Thanks and 73, Burton WB6CYK

Early [in 2007], the US will join the growing list of countries that no longer require Amateur Radio applicants to pass a Morse code test as the entry ticket to HF. Announcement of the pending historic rule change arrived with no fanfare December 15 in an FCC public notice. A full-blown Report and Order (R&O) in the proceeding, WT Docket 05-235, followed December 19. The best estimate of when the Morse code requirement will go away officially is sometime in February — 30 days after the R&O appears in the Federal Register.

"We . . . believe that the public interest is not served by requiring facility in Morse code when the trend in amateur communications is to use voice and digital technologies for exchanging messages," the FCC said in its R&O. "Rather, we believe that because the international requirement for telegraphy proficiency has been eliminated, we should treat Morse code telegraphy no differently from other Amateur Service communications techniques."

The FCC says it deems the current regime of written examinations "sufficient to determine whether a person is qualified to be issued an Amateur Radio operator license."

The FCC cast aside arguments that Morse ability is advantageous in emergencies, concluding that most emergency communication is handled using voice, data, or video techniques. The Commission also turned away assertions that retaining a Morse requirement would help keep out the bad apples.

"The record is devoid of a demonstrated nexus between Morse code proficiency and on-the-air conduct," the FCC observed. It concurred with one commenter's observation that "maintaining the code requirement does not purge Amateur Radio of bad operators. Education and self-policing does."

The FCC also ordered that all Technician licensees present and future — whether or not they've passed a Morse code test, will get privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters identical to those of Novice licensees. "In eliminating this disparity between Technician and Technician Plus licenses, we are simplifying the Amateur Service licensing structure and promoting regulatory parity," the FCC said.

The FCC took advantage of the occasion to act on the League's Petition for Partial Reconsideration in the "omnibus" proceeding, WT Docket 04-140, calling on the Commission to retain 3620 to 3635 kHz for automatically controlled digital stations by moving the Extra class phone band edge to 3635 kHz. The FCC decided instead to authorize 3585 to 3600 kHz for such operations, and leave the newly expanded phone band intact.

The Commission further amended Part 97 "to authorize Amateur Extra class privileges to all individuals who have been issued a CEPT radio-amateur license by their country of citizenship, and who satisfy other requirements in the Commission's rules."

Although the FCC's Morse code decision came as no surprise, it nonetheless revived debate on the issue. The FCC had proposed more than a year ago to drop the Morse code requirement for all license classes. The record in the proceeding, the FCC said, "reflects a division of views in the Amateur Radio community." After reviewing the more than 3500 comments and counter-proposals radio amateurs had filed, the Commission stuck with its initial proposal.

ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, had this reaction: "While the Commission's decision to delete the Morse code requirement for an Amateur Extra Class license departs from the ARRL's recommendation, it is helpful to have the matter resolved so we can move forward."

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, expressed a similar viewpoint. "Now that the debate is over, we can focus on learning Morse code simply for its own sake," he said. Sumner pledged that the League would maintain its traditional support of Morse code as an operating mode and would continue to offer Morse training materials as well as such incentives as bonus credit for CW contacts in ARRL-sponsored operating events. ARRL's Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station W1AW will keep its schedule of Morse code practice and bulletin transmissions.

Since World Radiocommunication Conference 2003, the UK, Canada, Germany and other countries have dropped their Morse requirements. Sumner said other countries have successfully made the transition to a codeless testing regime, and he doesn't anticipate problems in the US.

The pending disappearance of the Morse code requirement seems to have rejuvenated the urge to upgrade. ARRL Sales and Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, says sales of General Class license training materials have skyrocketed in the week after the FCC announcement.

From the ARRL Letter, Dec 22, 2006

From The Best of Beasley by Robert Beasley, K6BJH, used with permission.

Hello SOARC,

That great hollow ringing you hear is the loss of Morse Code in Amateur Radio Licensing. Regardless of our feelings about Morse, here is the report I got tonight (01/05/2007) from ARRL VEC. No big deal to folks licensed to send Morse. No one will be in your face so to speak due to the disappearance of Morse from the venue. You won't have Techs with no Morse skill invading your space. Should that happen I'm in favor of capital punishment - but then that is another story....

73, Bill WX7U

Technician Class Licensees

FCC modifies the Amateur Radio Service rules by eliminating the Morse code exam requirements. The effective date of the FCC's action will be 30 days after publication in the Federal Register — most likely in February.

In an historic move, the FCC has acted to drop the Morse code test requirement for all Amateur Radio license classes. The Commission adopted the long-awaited "Morse code" proceeding (WT Docket 05-235), and released it December 19. The FCC's action will eliminate the Morse code test as a licensing requirement to operate on HF.

Technicians Gain Operating Privileges

Once the changes are in effect, all Technician licensees — whether or not they have passed a Morse code examination – will have "Tech Plus" operating privileges. This means you will have all of your current VHF/UHF and above frequencies and also will have access to the Novice/Technician Plus frequencies on HF.

No Morse Code Test to Upgrade

Technicians can upgrade to General by passing the General (Element 3) written exam and to Amateur Extra by also passing the Extra (Element 4) written exam. No Morse code test will be required. Visit the ARRL VEC exam search web page http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml for test session locations.

Navigating through the Upgrade Process

1. Technician Amateurs who wish to upgrade to General have a couple of options.
1. We recommend that Technician licensees who have NOT yet passed the General written exam (Element 3) wait until the new rules take effect to upgrade. At a session, the candidate must present a photo ID and their current license, pay the $14 test session fee and fill out the NCVEC form 605. If the Element 3 written exam is passed, the VE team will issue the candidate a CSCE for the upgrade to a general class license.
2. Technician licensees who have already passed the General written exam (Element 3) or wish to pass the General written exam before the rules take effect, will then have to apply for the upgrade at a VE session once the new rules are in place. At a session, the candidate must present a photo ID, their current license and the non-expired CSCE document, pay the $14 test session fee and fill out a NCVEC form 605. If the Element 3 written exam credit is valid, the VE team will issue the candidate a CSCE for the upgrade to a general class license. If the CSCE for Element 3 credit has expired (a CSCE is only valid for 365 days), you will have to retake the examination element in order to receive the credit toward your upgrade.
2. Post Session Process
   The VE Team must prepare and mail all session paperwork to the coordinating VEC. Once the session arrives at the VEC, in accordance with FCC rules, the VEC staff must verify all session documentation. All 605 forms and CSCEs must have the candidate's signature and 3 VE signatures. The CSCEs used for General written exam element credit must be validated as being passed within the previous 365 days and/or the test documents must be confirmed as being passed. Finally, the session data and information from the 605 forms can then be keyed and submitted to the FCC. The upgrade should appear in the FCC database http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/ within a few hours and a new license copy will arrive in the mail in 7 to 10 days.

VEC Test Fee

As you can see, much of the same work is involved in both types of General class upgrades, therefore the administrative costs are embedded in the process.

The FCC has mandated that all paperwork only upgrades be done through a VEC via their VE Teams. The processing and administration of FCC "projects" such as this, actually places a greater demand on all the VECs. This is not a special case involving only a few people; we expect to receive a flood of upgrades to General. The paperwork only upgrade is not automatic for the amateur and the forms may not be sent directly to the FCC or the VEC office (again the upgrade must occur at a test session and follow FCC guidelines). The VEC test session fee is regulated (per annual agreement) by the FCC.

A New Era

When the new rules are in place, we hope you explore your new band allocations, enjoy your new privileges and have fun!

73,
Maria A. Somma, AB1FM
Manager, ARRL/VEC
msomma@arrl.org
1-860-594-0300

From The Best of Beasley by Robert Beasley, K6BJH, used with permission.

Since we are making two trips during this winter season I decided to prepare the car beyond the usual maintenance for an emergency situation, if it should arise. The list below can be used in packing the car beyond our usual clothes, food, etc. This list is derived from an article at: www.theepicenter.com/tow05257/html

• small Backpack
• ace bandage & first aid kit
• adjustable wrench & screwdrivers
• air pump - 12V
• axe, shovel & knife
• baby wipes
• bic lighter & matches
• blankets & space blanket
• canned meat & bread
• cash & small change
• chains & tow rope
• Compass & whistle
• duck & electrical tape
• emergency phone #s
• enery bars & fruit
• extra radio batteries
• fire extinguisher
• flashlight
• garbage bags & small tarp
• gas can (empty)
• ham radio - 2M
• hat, coat & gloves
• ice scraper & de-icer
• jumper cables & tools
• latex gloves
• lip balm & hand cream
• note leaving kit
• Packs to put all this into
• plastic bags for feet
• plastic coffee container
• portable am/fm radio
• rain gear
• reading glasses (extra)
• road flares
• shaving kit incl. Medications
• water - 3 gal.
• work gloves
• wrecking bar (under seat)

Burton, WB6GYK

If you are traveling in Northern California, check out this web site for a list of 2 meter repeaters by highway. http://www.norcalscan.org/ham.html

Elmer W6IGK

For those of you who are not sure about working DX via the long path AI2C, Norm Styer, has a Web page that should help give you a better idea of how it works. Long path into India and that part of the world from the eastern half of North America is a very reliable path. Check out Norm's complete explanation at
http://www.k4lrg.org/Training/Tech_Notes/Long_Path/Long_Path.html.

73 Elmer W6IGK

Due to the 80-meter band plan changes that were effective December 15, 2006, the Oregon ARES Pactor frequencies are changing. Until further notice the Pactor frequencies for OEM and ARES statewide on the 80-meter band are 3588, 3591, 3594, and 3597. These are LSB (lower side band) dial frequencies. The 40-meter frequencies remain unchanged. Actual frequencies may vary slightly from these because of your TNC settings or your particular radio. For more information, contact Vince K7VV, the OEM EC (emergency coordinator).

Effective January 1, 2007, Rick Iverson will be stepping down as District 4 DEC due to his school and work schedule. He will be moving back into the Lane County EC position. Bruce Bjerke K7BHB, who is currently the ARESMat DEC and previously was the District 4 DEC, will be taking that position on again. Thanks to Rick for all his hard work in this position.

For those in Northwest Oregon, Santa Claus with his helpers will be operating their annual net on the 146.84 MHz W7LT Repeater next Saturday, December 23rd, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM PST. This is the time for youngsters with licenses to talk to Santa. It is also an opportunity for your not yet licensed children or grandchildren to talk to Santa with you as control operator. Operators will be at hospitals in the area to allow hospitalized children to talk to Santa as well.

Station Activity Reports for November 2006: W7IZ 171, N7CM 138, N7YSS 103, W7IG 96, K7PMB 55, KD7ZLF 54, W7VSE 48, KC7SRL 45, K7EAJ 36, WS7L 21, KC7SGM 18, N7APE 9

Public Service Honor Roll for November 2006: K7EAJ 166, N7CM 160, N7HAE 145, KD7ZLF 130, W7IG 125, KL7OR 110, N7YSS 110, KD7THV 95, W7VSE 84, KK7TN 83

For the complete report from Scott Gray W7IZ, visit the Oregon Section website at http://www.arrloregon.org. Scott is inviting reports from all amateur radio operators. ARRL membership is not required to report and have your activity recognized. He will also accept net report from any net that handles NTS traffic. Your net does not have to be an NTS affiliated net to report.

There will be three primary special centennial event stations operating from 2000 GMT on Dec 29 to 2000 GMT on Dec 30 and hundreds of other ham radio stations around the world. The centennial event is celebrating the first voice radio broadcast in 1906 by Reginald Fessenden. For more information on this special event, visit the ARRL website and look at page 47 in the December QST.

OO Reports: Two OO's report 52.5 hours monitoring during November.

According to Bill W7GHT, the Idaho Montana Net (IMN), which is a Northwest CW regional net is causing QRM (interference) to a longtime Ohio net on their normal frequency and the Ohio net is causing QRM to IMN. Effective Sunday, Nov 26 (Local) they changed to 35788.5 KHz. That's up one and a half.

The net managers of Oregon Section Net have agreed to a "Wait and See" policy regarding any change to Oregon Section Net time or frequency.

They meet at the following times: Oregon Section Net #1 meets daily 0230Z 3587. Net Manager WS7L. Oregon Section Net #2 meets daily 0600Z 3587. Net Manager KC7SRL. They meet one hour earlier in the summer to keep the same local time.

There is a Matrix that W2RU and W0UCE are making up for all of the new net frequencies for 80-meter CW nets. It is located at http://4rnc4.homestead.com/80mCWNETMATRIX.html

If your ARES group was activated or on standby for the storms, please submit an activity report right away for it instead of waiting until the end of the month. If you have any pictures of your activation, please submit those as well. It sounds like the storms were more severe in the state of Washington than they were in Oregon. In Yamhill County we were asked to standby and had a net operational with the EC and another member at the EOC, which was activated.

I went to the McMinnville Amateur Radio Club (MARC) Christmas party that night and there was so much flooding on my road that I was afraid I'd have to go around the other way to come back in when I got home. However when it stopped raining, the flooding disappeared quickly. We lost power in the middle of the party and on the way home I learned that the standby net was activated. I was without power for 11 hours and my Internet access was intermittent most of the time until today. Some parts of Yamhill County are still without power on Sunday.

I am receiving too many ARES reports to include all of them in the Section News so I will send a separate email to section with those reports soon.

From e-mail received Dec 18, 2006. 73, Bonnie AB7ZQ