The March SOARC meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 20th at the Fruitdale Grange at 7 p.m. The board meeting will start at 6 p.m.

Burton Griffin WB6CYK will be doing an introduction to SD Logger and XMLog at the meeting along with eQSL and Logbook of the World.

If you haven't paid your 2007 dues, you can take care of this at the meeting. Annual dues to SOARC is still only $15.

Hope to see you at the meeting!

Jim W7PUP

At the February 20th club meeting we enjoyed a great PowerPoint presentation on QSL cards, how they are used and why they are important. Thanks to Elmer and Dennis for putting this program together!

Also, at the meeting there was a discussion regarding use of the two club repeaters. It was reported that the auto-patch on the 64 machine hasn't been working although the repeater itself is operational. This will be checked out and more information will be available at the March meeting. Do you use the 64 repeater? Is the autopatch feature important to you? The cost of a monthly phone bill and limitations of the site are questions that the board will need to be addressing. Your suggestions and opinions are welcome & please contact any of the board members listed in this newsletter. Thanks!

Jim W7PUP

Hey, Oregon guys, it's that time again... The annual 7QP (was the Oregon QSO Party) will run this year on Saturday, May 5. We have better rules, an outstanding record to uphold, and plaques for the winners. Whether you can participate again this year or not, I'd appreciate your reply so we can make other arrangements to cover your county. The counties of Gilliam, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Wasco, and Wheeler remain as targets for expeditions and/or mobiles.

Talk it up when you can. Your support and enthusiasm for this event is the backbone for the participation in Oregon.

PS: If a club or individual would like to sponsor a 7QP category plaque, it's just $25. You can even make up your own category! Details are on the web at www.7QP.org

Richard Frey - K4XU
61255 Ferguson Rd. Bend, OR 97702
Email: k4xu@arrl.net
Web page: www.codxc.org

Former Grants Pass resident Bob Wallace, 78, of Albany died Feb 12, 2007. As reported in the February 26th Daily courier, Mr. Wallace was a member of the "Grants Pass Ham Radio Club". He and his wife lived in Grants Pass for 53 years before moving to Albany in June 2006. Jim W7PUP

• SOARC Repeaters, K7LIX, 146.640(-) and on 147.300(+). The 64 machine has autopatch.
• 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.

The League wants the best of your culinary art, those recipes designed to please the most discriminating Field Day palates. After all, Field Day is a social event for many clubs and nothing goes better with friends than food.

If we receive a sufficient number of qualifying entries, we will publish the best of the best on the ARRLWeb and possibly in QST.

• The recipe must be reproducible with ordinary outdoor equipment. Most Field Day sites have a charcoal grill or fire pit, at best. It's safe to assume that a gourmet chef's kitchen will not be available.
• If the food is designed to be prepared in advance, it must be an item that can be stored for at least 48 hours without refrigeration. You don't want Charlie's Egg Salad turning into Charlie's Salmonella Surprise.
• The recipe ingredients must be obtainable at an ordinary grocery. Pureed snail's tongue, for example, may be difficult for some amateurs to locate.
• The recipe must be original. In other words, don't steal it from Betty Crocker and call it your own.
• The recipe must include a complete list of ingredients, the amounts of each and instructions on how to cook the dish into something a human being would consider edible.

E-mail your recipes to Steve Ford, WB8IMY, QST Editor, at sford@arrl.org no later than February 16. Include the name and call sign of the chef, along with the name and location of your club. If you have a photo of the finished product, the chef or both, send them, too!

From the ARRLClub News for February 2007

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:

• 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.

There are a lot of licensed amateur radio operators in Oregon. According to QRZ.com, here is the data:

See you on the airwaves --- de W6IGK Elmer

How do you go about making long-lasting, low-loss contacts where an aluminum tube is fitted into another tube? "For Yagis it's easy. I install a small #6 stainless sheet-metal screw at each joint. Before I insert the screw into the hole I put a dab of NoAlox into the hole and then on the screw. I cover the screw with a few wraps of tape. When you take the tape off years later the joint is still clean." (Thanks, Bill K4XS)

Perhaps you're curious about your magnetic declination - and who isn't - or you can't find True North to align the plastic owl? Luckily, an on-line resource exists to solve this problem. You'll find a zip code-to-declination calculator at www.thecompassstore.com/decvar.html Now you'll be able to lay out the new four-square to put the null precisely at the bearing of the local Big Gun. He's toast! (Thanks, Mike K6BR)

A recent issue of "Radiouser" www.radiouser.co.uk contained an ad for a new weather satellite receiver (The R2FX from Holger Eckhardt) sold by the Group for Earth Observation (GEO) – www.geo-web.org.uk GEO is an amateur radio group that promotes reception of data from weather and Earth-imaging satellites. The group offers satellite reception hardware, image handling software, and a lot of information about these satellites and how to

For all of you yagi builders out there, the VE3GK Web site www.ve3gk.com is a must-visit, particularly "The Gain Game." There is a lot of good information on radio sprinkled around the various pages. VE3GK became a Silent Key in May 2004, but the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club maintains the site to keep its information available to us all - thanks! (Also thanks, Steve K7LXC)

Dave N0RQ contributes a nice on-line coax calculator www.ocarc.ca/coax.htm - that does a fine job of making it easy to calculate losses. Select the type of cable, the frequency, the length, press the button and no more nepers!

Dave also gets this issue's Daily Double with his Web site dedicated to power-line noise (preventing, not promoting) www.powerlinenoise.com There are links to quite a few useful topics, including recording and commentary on different types of noise. (As if we don't already hear enough of it...)

Larry N8LP refers us to an excellent source of quality dummy loads at very reasonable prices – http://ridgeequipment.com/store/page1.htm . There are several models of up to 200-watt capacity. And no mineral oil!

How can you tell if an MOV (metal oxide varistor) has gone bad? A regular voltmeter won't do, so you have to measure current through them, as Roger K8RI points out, "at their working potential. Every over-voltage, even testing, degrades them. Normal MOV failure mode is shorted. If they have failed open it is usually quite evident. MOVs failing open are usually nothing but a pair of leads pointing to where the MOV had been located." Gary K4FMX suggests using a hi-pot (high-potential) tester, if available, since the small current will not degrade the MOV and unexploded, failed-open MOVs can also be detected.

Those of you in the process of beefing up your low-band antennas might benefit from a reading of this article on radials by K3LC – www.ncjweb.com/k3lcmaxgainradials.pdf The article contains a simple formula for calculating an optimized number and length of radials based on a fixed length of wire. I.e. - you score a 500' spool of hookup wire at the hamfest, so how many radials should be made from the wire? (Thanks, Hasan N0AN)

With the price of cable and wire of all sorts going up, here's a nice tip about low-current control cable from Rick N6RK. He uses Cat-5 Ethernet cable obtained cheap or free by scrounging it or buying it on sale. It has eight conductors to for dc applications such as a relay and allows you to use a separate conductor for each dc return. This avoids overloading one conductor with too much current.

That's it for March -- Elmer W6IGK

A class will be held at Burton Griffin's house for up to 5 people on March 23rd at 10 A.M. If this isn't convenient the class could be moved to March 26th. Please respond to me if interested at 479-4772.

Thiss training will include the 7QP and ARRL Field Day log input. I have four computers available so will need some to bring laptops

Burton WB6CYK

By Phil Temples, K9HI, phil@temples.com

With our busy schedules, sometimes going to your local radio club meeting is just one of those things that gets put off. But what if your club meetings were fun? What if everyone came to the meetings? What would it take for that to happen? The author has a few ideas how to make this a reality.

In recent weeks, I've had a number of conversations with radio club presidents and leaders concerning dwindling member participation. Nearly everyone reports that meeting attendance and participation is down. And it's becoming more difficult to recruit volunteers to assist with Field Day and other activities. One well-known club in my section recently failed to rally sufficient interest to field a candidate for President for their annual election!

So, what's a club leader to do? Shrug your shoulders and admit defeat? Try to shame the membership out of its complacency? Some club leaders respond by taking on more and more of the chores and responsibilities. But this can lead to burn-out -- or worse -- feelings of bitterness and animosity.

What can you do to keep your radio club healthy? Here are some tips that will rekindle interest and inspire the troops. First, though, a few disclaimers: It's not an all-inclusive list, and it's in no particular order. Not all of these suggestions may be applicable to your particular organization. Finally, your mileage may vary. But hey, what have you got to lose?

You've always had your meetings on the second Thursday of each month. The meeting consists of a business portion for the first half, followed by a guest speaker or show-and-tell -- that is, when you have someone. Why not schedule your business meeting every other month, followed by a special presentation the following month? Or, have a special meeting for the presentation? Make it a top priority to book a really interesting guest speaker for that special meeting.

Don't limit the topic to ham radio. There are lots of fascinating subjects that your members might want to hear about. Plan an annual meeting where you feature an extraordinary speaker or presentation. Invite a Nobel Laureate or an astronaut or a famous DXer or a politician. Use your imagination!

Might it be an opportune time to reconsider your present meeting location? There might be a more comfortable, convenient location at your public library, town meeting hall, police station or a church. Consider entering into a reciprocal agreement with a nearby club to hold occasional joint meetings. A change of venue might be just the thing. Break out of the ordinary! If you're not sure what might work best, don't be afraid to poll the membership.

Field trips aren't just for kids in grade school any more. Has your club ever organized a field trip to ARRL Headquarters? It's an easy day trip from this part of the country. The gang in Newington goes out of their way to welcome clubs with guided tours of the facility and W1AW. Or how about visiting your local town's police or fire dispatch facility? Arrange to tour a nearby radio or television station. There are many, many possibilities.

What happens when that newcomer (or long-lost member) walks through the door of your meeting? Is he or she greeted personally? Do they feel like a welcomed participant? Or are they eyed with suspicion, maybe even given the cold shoulder? Do you warmly applaud the visitor who has just moved into town from Des Moines or the new Tech who has just passed her exam? Do you ask at your meetings who is newly licensed or has upgraded?

Do hand out sticky tags that say, "Hello, my name is..." to everyone who walks through the door. Don't assume that everyone knows everybody else. Have meeting attendees list their favorite hobby or interest other than ham radio. They can be read off when you have your round of introductions. You do have introductions, don't you? Sure, you've known ole Joe for 20 years, but did you also know he was into model trains? Or that Susan competes in national BBQ competitions?

Make color-coded dots or shapes to stick on meeting attendees' name tags denoting their different interests in ham radio: DXing, rag chewing, volunteer exams, Morse code, county hunting, 6 meter AM, contesting, QRP and so forth. Who will end up with the most colorful badge? The possibilities are endless. Or how about a radio trivia contest where you award the winner with a small prize? Who said radio club meetings can't be fun? One club even sponsors a group ticket purchase for its members to semi-professional sports events. Fun doesn't have to be limited to ham radio!

Has your club conducted a License-in-a-Weekend session? Here's a news flash, folks: The traditional course that runs every Tuesday night for six weeks from 7:30 to 9:00 PM no longer works. People have busy lives; they're very unlikely to complete a long, prolonged course. Instead, try to focus on a concentrated, all-day Saturday session from 9:00 to 5:00, followed by a Sunday morning review, culminating in a VE session in the afternoon. Clubs that follow this format have reported spectacular results!

How's your club's newsletter doing these days? How's the Web site look? Editing a newsletter or maintaining a Web site is a lot of hard work. And sometimes it's a thankless job. That's why it's so very important as a club leader to recognize and reward the Editor or Webmaster for their efforts. Content can make or break a Web site. Has that Web home page contained the same story or photo for the past six months? That's a bad sign! Try and find out if the person or persons responsible still want to hold the job. And if they do, perhaps you can scare up an assistant Webmaster. Be sure to remind club members to contribute material for the newsletter or Web site on a regular basis. Pictures really go a long way in contributing to the content. Don't forget to publish an occasional "spotlight" article highlighting a member-at-random, describing his or her entry into ham radio, accomplishments, interests and such.

When was the last time you solicited for new members by conducting a mass mailing of all hams in your local Zip code? It's easy to do. Web sites like www.qrz.com can be used to obtain the data. Be sure you have a well-written, convincing letter that talks about all the great things your radio club is involved in. Don't forget a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you're including a membership application form.

Does your club have a Public Information Officer (PIO) or PR chairperson? Why not? Make sure your meetings and your VE sessions are listed in the community newspaper or mentioned on the local radio station. Media outlets are desperate for stories that highlight its local citizens and the public services they perform. Do you have a member who recently helped out with communications during a public service event or a SKYWARN session? How about that town fair or walk-a-thon?

Consider establishing a Member of the Year award, and promoting the winner to the media. The more your club is featured in the media, the better the chances that non-hams will learn about your local radio club -- and about ham radio.

Are your club members informed about what's happening on the national scene? Do you make it a point of reading the ARRL Letter and other bulletins during your local net or meeting? Make sure that everyone is aware of that latest FCC rule making or BPL threat. Better yet, consider organizing a letter-writing session to show members how they can voice their opinions their elected representatives. Empower your members so that they feel ownership and responsibility for what happens to the Amateur Radio service--and to their local radio club.

Phil Temples, K9HI, has been licensed since 1970. He served as state training officer for Indiana MARS, and Emergency Coordinator for Monroe County, Indiana. While attending Purdue University, he was active with W9YB, the Purdue ARC. He later moved to the Boston area where he is a member of the Boston ARC(where he served as President) and the Crocker Public Service Group. He is a Life Member of the ARRL and QCWA. Phil has served as Section Manager for the Eastern Massachusetts Section and is currently their Affiliated Club Coordinator. He is also Assistant Director of the New England Division. Phil lives in Watertown, Massachusetts with his wife Barb, K9ERA, where he is a computer systems administrator for Boston College.

This article was made available from the ARRL Club News, March 2007.

The Southern Oregon Amateur Radio Club is a general purpose ham radio club and is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League. Anyone interested in amateur radio is welcome to attend our meetings. We operate the ARRL-sponsored field day each June and support emergency communications. We also promote volunteer exams for those interested in becoming licensed by the FCC. For more information contact one of the board members listed below.

Blue Wildebeest. This picture was taken by Jarno Elonen in March 1999 at the Kruger National park, South Africa, and contributed by himself to Wikipedia in October 2003.