The April SOARC meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 17th at the Fruitdale Grange at 7 p.m. The board meeting will start at 6 p.m.

One of the items for further discussion at the April meeting will be the future of the club's 146.64 repeater.

Hope to see you at the meeting on the 17th!

Jim W7PUP

Burton Griffin put on a "cool" presentation on two logging software programs, XM Log and SD Logger. Both are freeware programs. XM Log has a large number of features and would serve best for keeping track of DX contacts, progress toward awards, and automation for preparing QSL cards. SD is super easy to use in contests, Field Day, etc where use of a mouse isn't necessary. Both programs can summarize data in a format used for submission to the ARRL.

A lively discussion was held regarding the .64 repeater that the club maintains. The club secretary agreed poll members regarding the future of this machine with results to be released at the April meeting.

Jim W7PUP

SOARC will be holding a Technician Class course starting April 10th. Classes will be held at the LDS Church on Williams Highway from 5:30 pm until 7 pm on Tuesday evenings, April 10, 17, 24 and May 1. An e-mail message was sent to club members prior to the start of the class in case they have interest in the course or know someone who might be interested.

For more information or to register for the class please contact Jim W7PUP at 956-5287.

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.

SOARC will be operating 7AP from the south end of Schroeder Park on this weekend. Come join the fun! We can camp all night and practice setting up and using a field station.

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

Although Field Day 2007 is still more than three months away, many ham radio clubs and groups already have begun making plans for this year's event, Saturday and Sunday, June 23-24. Field Day has always been an ideal time for new hams to become more proficient operators and for prospective licensees to get "bitten by the Amateur Radio bug." That may be even more the case during Field Day 2007, as many radio amateurs gain new HF operating privileges because of the rule changes that went into effect February 23.

"This is an opportunity to get new or upgraded licensees on the air for some active mentoring and active learning," says ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, N1ND. "Field Day 2007 will be a chance to learn and grow, but above all, it will be a lot of fun -- and for many there is perhaps nothing more fun in ham radio than ARRL Field Day."

The numbers support that claim. Last June, more than 32,500 operators took part in ARRL Field Day -- some as individuals but many more as part of a club or group. The League saw some 2200 Field Day log submissions for the 2006 event, during which nearly 1.24 million completed contacts went into the log -- not a record but up a little from the previous year.

While no longer a licensing requirement, Morse code (CW) remains a very popular Field Day operating mode, perhaps because CW QSOs are worth twice as much as phone contacts. Last year some 56 percent of Field Day contacts took place on SSB, while nearly 42 percent were on CW (the rest were digital contacts).

Henderson points out two small changes in the Field Day rules starting this year. First, participating stations may only complete one satellite contact for bonus points via a single-channel FM-mode spacecraft (Rule 7.3.7.1), and it must be an Earth-satellite-Earth contact. "This will allow more stations to access this very limited resource," he says.

Second, an individual Get-On-The-Air (GOTA) station operators will earn 20 points for each 20 contacts, up to a maximum of 100 per GOTA operator. Henderson notes that no partial point credit is available, and GOTA operators may not "pool" contacts toward any 20-QSO GOTA station bonus.

"Amateur Radio stands at a juncture where we can embrace both the old and new," Henderson says. He notes, too, that the variety of available operating modes -- traditional and experimental -- contributes toward Field Day's status as the most popular annual operating event.

"Field Day is truly the time where we bring Amateur Radio to Main Street USA -- a great time for 'the Bug' to bite as many people as it can," Henderson says. "Use Field Day 2007 to open up Amateur Radio to the next generation of radio amateurs on your Main Street! It's up to us to make it happen."

Complete information on Field Day 2007 packet is available on the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/.

From the March 16th ARRL Letter

OK there is a lot of activities over the next 4 to 5 weeks. This is a good opportunity to start working all states or try to get on for the Kids Round Up, they are always looking for contacts.

That's it for now. Any questions on any of the above contact Elmer W6IGK

Fans of Art Collins and everyone interested in radio history will enjoy the online article "Arthur A. Collins - A Hero Among Hams" from Electronic Design. It's short, but packed full of information about Art's achievements and the history of his company, Collins Radio. You can read it by browsing to www.elecdesign.com and entering 13670 into the "Enter ED Online ID", then click "GO".

A friend sent me a clipping from the newspaper with a short story about the Gorillapod - a flexible tripod that will hold a camera on just about any surface or structure. Made by Joby www.joby.com , the Gorillapod looked like something with workshop, garage, and antenna farm applications, as well. At the least, it's a Neat Thing!

Dave K6LL has found an "RF bulletproof" cordless phone; the Uniden Model EXP 970, available at Walmart for under $10. He also thinks that the Radioshack phone, Model ET-296 series, catalog # 43-874 (white) is similar to the discontinued, but RF resistant, model 43-591.

URL of the month - Every so often you stumble on a little Web treasure chest of goodies. This week's trove is brought to you by Tim EI8IC who tips us off to http://home.hccnet.nl/s.j.francke/software/software.htm . This site is full of useful freeware utilities, particularly CSVed for editing files in the popular CSV format. (CSV stands for "Comma Separated Values" and is used by logging and spreadsheet programs.)

Free morse code trainer using the Koch method www.g4fon.net/

Two designs for portable loop antennas that cover 40, 30 and 20 meters www.g4fon.net/

Tim K3LR is famous not only for having one of the best stations in the world, but for his attention to detail which extends to the care with which coax connectors are attached. In a station with hundreds of PL-259 connectors, how does he make time to do a good job? Here's Tim's process:

"Use silver-plated connectors that say "Made in USA" on the shell. Take a fully assembled (shell + body) connector and measure the connector against the RG8 (or similar) coax. Take the outer covering of the coax off with a sharp knife. Pull the braid back all the way by fanning it out. Wrap 3 to 4 turns of Scotch 88 black tape around the center conductor. Trim the dielectric up against the fanned out braid. Use wire strippers and remove the remaining dielectric from the center conductor. Install the fully assembled PL259 (meaning WITH the shell on the connector body - Ed.) onto the center conductor and over the tape. The back of the PL259 body should rest on the fanned out shield. Solder the center conductor. Trim the exposed shield to 1/4" long and fold over the back of the PL259. Solder the shield all the way around the back of the PL259 body. While the back is still hot wrap 2 turns of 88 tape around the soldered shield to seal it good. The shield is well soldered for 360 degrees around the connector with no chance that the dielectric is melted."

When purchasing ferrite beads and cores for RFI suppression, the question often arises as to what mix is best. Jim K9YC tested several of the popular mixes for the one that has the most resistive (loss) characteristics over the HF frequency range. "The #31 mix has significantly higher R below about 5 MHz than the #43 mix, but is nearly equal to the #43 mix up to about 50 MHz. So above 7 MHz, it doesn't matter whether you use #31 or #43 - they are equally effective. But if you need suppression on 160 or 80, the #31 mix is greatly superior."

The Electronic Research Group Web site features "SMD Soldering Tools and Technique" www.ziaanet.com/erg/SMT_Soldering.html , a good set of instructions and close-up photos. Worth a look if you plan on doing any building or repair with SMT (Surface Mount Technology) parts. (Thanks, Carter N3AO)

What is the most common piece of equipment in the ham shack? Wrong! It's the ubiquitous "wall wart" transformer. (If it's not the most popular, it's not far from it.) To learn more about these oft-used, little-investigated accessories, download "A Dummies' Guide to Working with Wall Warts" http://tinyurl.com/unmk9 by John Bryant. (Thanks, Charlie WA2ONH)

Here's how to make a surplus CD into a nice reduction drive dial. Mount the CD on the panel so that it rotates freely. Take an old panel-mount potentiometer apart and remove the stop so the shaft spins 360 degrees. Slip a rubber grommet over the shaft then mount the pot so that the edge of the CD fits in the groove in the grommet. The resulting friction drive has an approximately 12:1 ratio, depending on the grommet's diameter. Take a look at some samples at http://tinyurl.com/yycyg9 and http://tinyurl.com/y7t7o4. (Thanks, John KU4AF)

If you'd like to experiment with Phase-Locked Loops but the whole prospect seems daunting, give the National Semiconductor Webench site a try. Webench http://tinyurl.com/t2fyy is a free design aid that can help you pick parts or experiment with simulations. Once acquainted with the basic concepts, you can tinker with the simulations to really get a feel for the fundamentals.

Steve Weber KD1JV has plans for a 600 Hz resonant speaker on his site http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com/resonatespkr/cwspkr.html that removes high frequency hiss and acts as a passive AF filter. (Thanks, RC KC5WA)

Just in time for the W1AW Frequency Measuring Test www.arrl.org/w1aw/fmt the NIST Special Publication 432, "NIST Time and Frequency Services", 2002 Edition is available for download at http://tf.nist.gov/timefreq/general/pdf/1383.pdf. The section titled "Geophysical Alerts" describes in non-physicist terms what this is all about. As a bonus, there is also a nice picture of the WWVB transmitters. (Thanks, Roy K1LKY)

Randy WX5L recommends the "ISOBAR" power strip made by Tripp-Lite Co. for RFI suppression. The strips are available with up to 75 dB of RF attenuation. This may help a neighbor or with equipment for which the usual ferrite cores or bypass capacitors can't be used.

Bergen Cable offers some handy "Cable 101"-style information http://tinyurl.com/y8xzlo . Good reading for next year's antenna projects. (Thanks, Norm AI2C)

Check out Rick N6RK's Web site www.n6rk.com for information on using irrigation pipe for verticals and vertical arrays. This material is often available as agricultural surplus in farming areas. (Thanks, Terry KK6T)

Want to get your SO2R skills honed for the real thing? Turn the computer speaker on and practice copying calls from a code training program such as Morse Runner www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner while tuning a radio and copying calls in your head. (Thanks, Tom W7WHY)

Electronic Design magazine's "Ideas for Design" section often features circuits that would be handy around the ham shack. The 26 October issue has a nifty over- and under-voltage protector that might be useful for sensitive (or expensive) equipment. Enter "13788" in the "Enter ED Online ID" window at www.elecdesign.com to see the full article.

Technical URL of the week. Before the days of digital frequency meters and phase-locked loops, Lissajous figures were used to determine the frequencies of sounds or radio signals. Plus, they're groovy to stare at, man! Here are some Web sites about these interesting figures:
www.math.com/students/wonders/lissajour/lissajour.html
http://perso.orange.fr/olivier.granier/meca/simul/lisajou/simul.html
www.hgsir.netfirms.com/englishhtm/Lissajour.htm

With the tower problems in Clatsop County, I have been hearing a lot about other's experiences. It turns out that the issue in Clatsop County continues. At the last hearing, it appeared to be resolved, but the neighbors complained to the newspaper and that the County Commissioners withdrew their decision. The Larkins must appear at the April 25th meeting at 6:00 p.m. to continue petitioning to keep their tower.

Even though I know this won't work for everyone, I ask Vince K7VV to tell about how he successfully dealt with Marion County. Below is his advise.

Bonnie AB7ZQ
Oregon Section Manager

How to Cope With "The Tower Problem".

Let's assume you're about to put up that new tower, or, alas, have already had a visit from either a City or County Building Inspector because you have attracted the attention of one of your neighbors. Now you have to go down to the City/County Building or Engineering Department and 'get the permit'.

First, and maybe the most important thing to consider, is how you present yourself to them. Come dressed as if for a business appointment. You are, after all, 'doing business'. In other words, look what mother used to call 'presentable'.

Second, remember that most of the City/County people you will deal with will have little or no knowledge of what amateur radio is, or what we do. So, it's a good idea to go in with a copy of your FCC license to show them that, yes, we are a legal service, licensed by the Federal Government, we do have communications skills. Bring your ARES/RACES 'yellow card' (you are a member of ARES, right!) Be prepared to talk about the role of amateur radio in disasters. They may know, or you might have to mention, how ARES supports the City/County in these situations.

Third, and very important, be civil, be polite. In short, give the City/County employee a reason to want to help you, not hinder you. No raised voices, no talking down to them, no air of superiority. Almost always that employee is there to help you; your job is to facilitate that, give them a reason to want to help you.

Fourth, bring in copies of the following: PRB-1, to show Federal involvement and concern with the problem.

Very importantly, bring a copy of Oregon Revised Statue (ORS) 221.295.

You can get this by Googling the internet for Oregon Revised Statues, or use the text below. Read it before you go to the building department; know exactly what it says.

Also before you go to the meeting look up your local City or County building code and find the section that applies to amateur towers. In a good many cases the language is really intended to deal with a. cell towers, b. TV antennas, c. CB antennas, and really says nothing about amateur radio at all. This can be important. Also read the City/County Zoning Code. Some may require special zoning permits, others will permit amateur towers outright either directly or implicitly. If you can't find the above items the Building Department should be able to help you. In fact, the strategy of nicely asking to see them will give you a clue about how much they know about their own rules and regulations. Again, be patient, ask, 'May I see', and then, 'Gee, this seems to say that I don't need' a special use permit, a zoning permit, a variance or whatever... Help them come to your conclusion.

Fifth, and now we come to the hard part. Following is the exact wording of the Oregon Revised Statute:

221.295 Ordinances regulating placement or height of radio antennas.

Notwithstanding ORS chapters 215 and 227, a city or county ordinance based on health, safety or aesthetic considerations that regulates the placement, screening or height of the antennas or antenna support structures of amateur radio operators must reasonably accommodate amateur radio communications and must represent the minimum practicable regulation necessary to accomplish the purpose of the city or county. However, a city or county may not restrict antennas or antenna support structures of amateur radio operators to heights of 70 feet or lower unless the restriction is necessary to achieve a clearly defined health, safety or aesthetic objective of the city or county. [1999 c.507 §1]

Look carefully at the wording. The standard is 'reasonable accomodation'. The statute then tries to help define that with a height allowance of 70', UNLESS there is a CLEARLY defined reason why not. Also, the restriction must be to 'achieve a CLEARLY DEFINED health, safety or aesthetic objective'. The fact that one of your neighbors thinks it's ugly (imagine THAT!!) probably isn't enough to deny you a BUILDING PERMIT.

You need to be clear that you're not a commercial business. You do not need 'permission' to be a ham operator and put up an antenna, the Oregon Revised Statue and, to a limited extent your amateur license, gives the permission. BUT. And here is the but. You may very well be required to get a building permit. A building permit is ONLY to ensure that the tower/antenna you are putting up is safe. Frankly, that's not a bad idea. I don't want my neighbor putting a steel tower up next to a 440Kv power line either! So they may want engineering specs and drawings of some kind, or they may not. In my own case the county originally asked for seismic data, still thinking I was putting up something like a cell tower, when the antenna was a piece of 4" irrigation pipe standing up as a vertical!

None of this is of any use, at the moment, in dealing with CC&R's, home owners associations, rental agreements or the restrictive language in your deed. That is a whole different world, and not a ham friendly one.

Hope this helps. If you get into a battle you might want to back away and let everybody cool off. In one case I had to wait a few weeks and then went in to see the head of the building department and the head of the planning department, and they sorted it out for me. In the worst of circumstance, of course, you might need formal legal help. At which point I need to say: "None of the foregoing shall be seen as offering legal assistance or advise, nor as a complete, true and accurate rendering of the law."

Vince K7VV

Just spoke with K3LP, Dave, at N8S on Swains Island, where the current temperature is 108F (41C). The first batch of N8S logs have been uploaded to www.yt1ad.info/n8s/log.html . These logs cover approximately from 1306Z April 4th until 0927Z April 6th. The team is aware that some QSOs are missing from that time period. They do not know why but will check it. Apparently they were unable to use the Satellite phone to send the logs so they were going to use Winlink. Winlink apparently has a limit on file size, so they were going to have to send the log in segments. So that could explain some of the missing QSOs in the log search. But don't worry they have all the logs safe on their computers.

The 6 meter beacon is now up and running on 50080 and is pointed at VK/ZL during the day and at North America during the evening. The beacon does have a CW break. Also they are monitoring 50110.

During peak hours they are running 6 to 7 stations. They now have about 35,000 QSOs.

Dave says he will try 10 meters (not sure if CW or SSB) starting about 2200Z and check it every 30 minutes. No other details at the moment.

73, Bernie, W3UR

• 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.

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.

The First Thirty Days

Since February 23, 2007, the date that the Amateur Radio rules changed, Volunteer Exam Coordinators (VEC) around the country have been processing applications for new Amateur Radio licenses and upgrades. Incidentally, while ARRL may handle the lion's share of license applications, we are only one of twelve VECs that make up the National Conference of Volunteer Coordinators -- NCVEC. http://www.ncvec.org/

Volunteer Exam sessions around the country, many of them club sponsored events, are churning out many new and enthusiastic hams. This is evident on the airwaves. The influx of good operators looking to learn the ropes of DXing, contesting, traffic handling and just plain old rag chewing is remarkable.

Log Book of The World usage has exploded. ARRL is upgrading the LoTW hardware and software to handle the additional traffic. The switchboard at HQ has been flooded with calls from new hams asking all sorts of questions about operating practices. These zealous new operators want to make sure that they are getting it right.

In almost every conversation that I have had with a new ham they tell me of a memorable QSO or proudly boast of the number of DX countries that they have worked so far. ARRL has issued a whole shebang of First Contact Awards http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/award/certificate/1contact.html to new operators who will always remember that exciting time when they first got on the air and introduced themselves to the Amateur community. The first one hundred requests came in the first week of the changes and everyday more continue to roll in.

At the end of the phone running of the 2007 ARRL DX Contest, Tom, 8P1A reported working more than 1,000 stations that did not appear in his database of :known: callsigns. He made just over 8,000 QSOs that weekend. These totals are telling numbers--the interest in joining the fun on HF is evident.

A huge thank you goes out to all of the mentors and instructors and examiners who have helped the new hams, and to all the radio Amateurs who have extended a welcoming hand to not just the new operators, but to all hams. It is reassuring to see that nobody paid any attention to the curmudgeons that tried to tell us that ham radio was going to become the new Citizen's Band or that ham radio licenses were some how being degraded because we no longer are required to test for Morse code proficiency. It is unfortunate that some people continue to wallow in their own complacency while the rest of us adapt, accept and move forward. Ham radio in the 21st century is as exciting as ever.

From the April 2007 ARRL Club News

QSL

We have added a new Power Point program to the ARRL multi media library. www.arrl.org/multimedia The QSL card has traditionally been called the final courtesy of the contact. "QSL Cards -- Sending and Receiving Paper Gems" shows the operator the ins and outs of exchanging QSL cards. Some of the topics covered in this program include using the outgoing and incoming QSL bureaus, working with QSL managers and basic information required for a valid QSL card. We have even included some tips from the experts for QSLing those elusive DX cards. The program also includes handout material that will serve as a handy reference.

All of the programs in the multi media library are free to download and make excellent meeting programs.

Special events to commemorate 95th anniversary of Titanic tragedy

Several Amateur Radio special event operations are scheduled to mark the 95th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The "unsinkable" White Star Line passenger vessel was on its maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City when it struck an iceberg and sank early on April 15, 1912.

More than 1500 people perished, while some 700 passengers in 19 lifeboats were rescued by the RMS Carpathia, whose radio operator copied the frantic distress call (the still common "CQD" signal, possibly coupled with the then-new "SOS") transmitted by MGY radio operator Jack Phillips as the Titanic foundered.

Special event W0S http://www.wzeros.com/ (for "White Star Line") will be on the air from the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri, commencing at 1300 UTC on Saturday, April 14, and concluding at 2400 UTC on Sunday, April 15.

Members of the Nixa Amateur Radio Club and the Southwest Missouri Amateur Radio Club (SMARC) will be among those at the helm of W0S. Icom has loaned Amateur Radio equipment for the special event.

Look for W0S on or around: SSB, 3.860, 7.260 and 14.260 MHz; CW, 3.560, 7.060 and 14.060 MHz. Operators will be listening 2 kHz up for calls. Visitors are welcome. E-mail the Nixa club for more information titanichams@wzeros.com. In conjunction with the W0S operation, GB2MGY will be on the air from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In Titanic wireless operator Jack Phillips' home town of Godalming, England, members and guests of the Wey Valley Amateur Radio Group http://www.weyvalleyarg.org.uk will run special event station GB95MGY. Operation will begin at 1000 UTC on April 14 and continue through 0547 UTC on April 15, the time the Titanic sank. After a short radio silence, operation will continue until April 16 at 0547 UTC. The special event will celebrate Phillips' heroism. The 25-year-old radio operator went down with the ship.

GB95MGY will operate CW only on all HF bands, 80 through 15 meters, 15 kHz up from the band edge, and will QSL all contacts (QSL via the bureau). For more information, contact Michael Shortland, G0EFO michaelgs@dls.pipex.com.

Special event station W1MGY will be on the air from the Titanic Historical Society Museum in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts. Operation will concentrate on 40 and 20 meters April 14 from 1400 UTC until 2030 UTC, although W1MGY may be on the air at other times, bands and modes throughout the 95th anniversary weekend.

Look for W1MGY on or around: CW, 3.533, 7.033, 14.033, 18.099, 21.033 and 28.033 MHz; SSB, 3.860, 7.260, 14.260, 18.160, 21.360 and 28.336 MHz, conditions permitting.

To schedule a contact with W1MGY, contact Dave Isham, KB1MU kb1mu@charter.net, indicating a preferred date, time, and frequency. Include an SASE with QSL requests to Titanic Historical Society, W1MGY, PO BOX 51053, Indian Orchard, MA 01151-0053 USA.

Two links can help with studying for license upgrades

In my research into the wonderful world of radio licensing I found this link that is very helpful in calculating various values associated with the Extra Question Pool. http://web.telia.com/~u85920178/begin/calc-00.htm

This is a great link. I wish I would have found it several days ago. This should be made available to all club members who are planning on studying for the Extra Class License. http://w5jck.jackswinden.com/downloads/Amateur_Extra_Exam_Math_Equations.pdf

Burton WB6CYK

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.

SOARC, PO Box 1164, Grants Pass, OR 97528