MINUTES OF GENERAL MEMBERSHIP

MEETING OF SILVER SPRINGS

RADIO CLUB, INC.

February 16, 2004

The meeting was called to order by President Bill Britt, KQ4UJ, at 7:30 p.m. Present at the meeting were Officers, President Bill Britt, KQ4UJ, Vice President Tony Blalock, K4OCF, Secretary Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA, Treasurer Johnny Williams, K4ANJ, and Board Members, Richard Cardinali, KG4TLE, and Bill Miller. N6WGM. There were 37 in attendance, including 33 members and four visitors. A quorum was present.

The invocation was given by Gene Layerd. The membership recited the pledge of allegiance, led by Richard Cardinali.

The membership introduced themselves.

Upon motion made, seconded and adopted, the Minutes of the January General Membership Meeting and February Board Meeting were approved as published in The Oracle.

Upon motion made, seconded and adopted, the Treasurer's report was approved as published in The Oracle.

MEMBERSHIP: New membership applications were submitted and approved by the membership for: Sue Carr, KI4DGI, Pete Axson WD4LST, and Paul Freidberg, W1PEF.

MARS: Bill Britt, KQ4UJ, asked Johnny Williams to report on MARS, and Johnny reported that a few phone patches are being run.

PROJECT: A firm date of February 28, 2004, at 2:00 p.m. was set for the antenna project on the "Tiny 2" antenna. Project will take place at Green Clover Hall.

WALK-AMERICA: President Bill Britt, KQ4UJ, inquired if anyone had any information concerning the Walk-America. Jim Richardson, N4HGJ, responded that he had heard nothing and a note was made to contact the organizers to volunteer communications assistance.

NEW BUSINESS:

A report was presented by Richard Cardinali relative to the current budgetary constraints, and a motion was made to put the question on the floor for discussion. Three alternative proposals were submitted:

• Increase dues by $5.00 in every membership category;
• Increase dues by $8.00 in every membership category;
• Increase dues by $5.00 in every membership category, PLUS $3.00 additional if The Oracle is mailed to the member by U. S. Mail.

The proposed budget was discussed and adopted by the membership. There being no further business to come before the meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA, Secretary

MINUTES OF MEETING OF

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF

SILVER SPRINGS RADIO CLUB, INC.

March 1, 2004

The meeting was called to order by President, Bill Britt, KQ4UJ, at 7:30 p.m.

Present at the meeting were President Bill Britt, KQ4UJ, Vice President Tony Blalock, K4OCF, Secretary Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA, Treasurer, Johnny Williams K4ANJ, and Board Members Bill Miller, N6WGM, and Ernie O'Berry, K4OSM. Board Member Richard Cardinali, KG4TLE, was not present. Also present at the meeting were members Ken Frantz, KF4QID and Phillip Frantz, KF4QIC. A quorum was present.

The minutes of the February 2003 General Membership Meeting were approved as distributed to the Board.

The Treasurer's report was approved as distributed to the Board.

The Board discussed the various proposals for a dues increase presented to the Membership at the February Meeting. The Board unanimously agreed to recommend an $8.00 across-the-board increase for all membership categories.

Vice President Tony Blalock, K4OCF, and Board Member Bill Miller, N6WGM, reported on the Tiny 2 Antenna-building project held February 28, 2004, at First United Methodist Church.

There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA, Secretary

NOTICE that your Membership Roster is included as a separate package in this issue of The Oracle.

March 2004

Compiled by Bill Britton KB4VOL/AAM4AFL

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

Andy Anderson, N4JAQ

(352) 629-5450

11 Element 2 meter Beam, $30.00

CDR Antenna Rotor & Control, $115.00

Complete Mobile Antenna and Radio, High

Sierra Screw Driver Antenna and T5430S

Kenwood Radio, $650.00.

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

Bill Clayton, N4QYQ

(352) 694-7869

Yaesu 150 HT, NEW in box, Charger, extra cord for car-powered, Cost $175.00, Sacrifice - $75.00.

If you weren't there, you missed out! On February 28, 2004, at 2:00 p.m. many members of Silver Springs Radio Club gathered in Room 18 of First United Methodist Church for a two-meter antenna building party!

A total of 16 "Tiny 2" two-meter antennas were built, including one by new member Susan Carr, KI4DGI, who was the first one to finish the project.

Everyone in attendance enjoyed the session and all gained experience in the art of building their own antennas.

The Associated Press: Morse code is entering the 21st century -- or at least the late 20^th. The 160-year-old communication system now has a new character to denote the "@" symbol used in e-mail addresses.

In December, the International Telecommunications Union, which oversees the entire frequency spectrum, from amateur radio to satellites, voted to add the new character. The new sign, which will be known as a "commat," consists of the signals for "A" (dot-dash) and "C" (dash-dot-dash-dot), with no space between them.

The new sign is the first in at least several decades, and possibly much longer. Among ITU officials and Morse code aficionados, no one could remember any other addition. "It's a pretty big deal," said Paul Rinaldo, chief technical officer for the American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio operators. "There certainly hasn't been any change since before World War II." The change will allow ham radio operators to exchange e-mails more easily. That is because -- in an irony of the digital age -- they often use Morse to initiate conversations over the Internet. "People trade their e-mail addresses a lot," said Nick Yocanovich, a  Morse code enthusiast who lives in Arnold, Maryland.Morse code uses two audible electrical signals -- short "dots" and slightly longer "dashes" -- to form letters, numbers and punctuation marks. Created in the 1830s by Samuel F.B. Morse, who invented the telegraph, the electronic signaling system spread across the world, and until the past few decades, it was used widely by the public, industry and government. "It was the beginning of the Information Age," said Gary Fowlie, Chief of Media Relations and Public Information for the ITU, which has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. When Morse died in 1872, more than 650,000 miles of telegraph wire circled the globe. By the early 20th century, Morse messages were being sent wirelessly, via radio. Perhaps the most famous Morse communication is the international distress signal S-O-S. It consists of three dots, three dashes, and three more dots. But with the proliferation of digital communications technologies such as cell phones, satellites and the Internet, Morse code has lost its pre-eminent place in global communications. "There's really no reason to use it anymore," said Robert Colburn, research coordinator for the History Center of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Today it's largely the province of ham radio operators, including 700,000 in the United States. While not all of them communicate regularly in Morse, almost all are familiar with it.

Some ham operators wouldn't mind more changes to spice up the language. While Morse code has a period, a question mark, and even a semicolon, it offers no simple way to articulate excitement. "I was hoping they'd add a character for the exclamation point," said Yocanovich, who is active in the International Morse Preservation Society. "It expresses an emotion that's difficult to get across any other way."

Norm Gertz, Ham-Radio-History. The Ham Radio History Forum, February 14, 2004.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ham-Radio-History/message/8003

BOGUS ARRL.NET MESSAGES

circulating via e-mail (Mar 3, 2004) -- Several members have notified ARRL that they have received e-mail messages alleging to be from the ARRL E-Mail Forwarding Service, "The ARRL.net team" or some variation. The messages, which often carry a subject line along the lines of "Warning about your e-mail account," indicate that the recipient's ARRL E-Mail Forwarding Service <call sign>@arrl.net address will be closed within three days because of an alleged violation of acceptable practices. These messages are false and did not come from The ARRL Forwarding Service. They are the result of one of the variants on a number of viruses now permeating the Internet. A file usually is attached to these messages. As always, do not open any attachments that you cannot identify. Opening the file could result in your computer being infected by a virus. This is only one of the several virus-laden messages currently propagating across the Internet

. The ARRL advises its members to be cautious in opening any message and/or attachment, even if it appears to be from someone you know. All of these viruses use e-mail addresses from the address book of an infected computer to falsify the "From:" address in the header to make it appear that the message is from someone the recipient knows.

Retrieved from the ARRL Website!

ARRL Responds to

Wall Street Journal

Article on BPL

NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 3, 2004--The ARRL has responded to a March 2 Wall Street Journal article, "The Web's New Outlet," that presented a one-sided, rosy picture of Broadband over Power Line while avoiding any mention of its interference potential. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, has faxed a letter to the editor of the New York-based business and financial publication to point out some of BPL's shortcomings, which were largely missing from the WSJ report.

"Any listing of the pros and cons of using power lines to deliver broadband services must mention its major disadvantage: it pollutes the radio spectrum, interfering with nearby radio receivers," Sumner said. "The only known exception is a microwave system being developed by Corridor Systems of Santa Rosa, California."

Sumner pointed out that BPL involves sending wideband RF "over unshielded wires that were not designed for the purpose." Owing to the laws of physics, Sumner continued, these power lines function much like antennas, and BPL signals passing through wires in the vicinity can interfere with radio reception.

"The frequencies in question are used by public safety agencies, the military, aeronautical and maritime services, broadcasters, radio astronomers, radio amateurs, and others," Sumner noted. He said BPL system designers have had only limited success in resolving the interference issue by notching certain frequencies.

"Yet BPL implementation cannot go forward without solving it, because for very good and obvious reasons it is a violation of FCC regulations for a BPL system to cause radio interference," he went on. "If BPL causes interference--and it does--the BPL system must be shut down." Sumner included references to the ARRL's BPL Web page, which documents HF interference the League monitored at four BPL field test sites last fall.

"In his letter, Sumner suggested that there are better choices than BPL, even from the standpoint of business and economics." [Read the entire letter, 246,644 bytes, PDF file]

The WSJ article, in the paper's "Marketplace" section, focuses on the announcement this week of what's said to be the largest rollout to date of BPL by Cincinnati-based utility Cinergy Corp and its BPL partner Current Communications. Cinergy and Current Communications hope to be offering the service to between 60,000 and 1.5 million Cincinnati-area customers by year's end and eventually to some 24 million potential customers elsewhere who are served by smaller utilities.

While the article concedes that BPL "is unproven in wide use," it also cites FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Ed Thomas, who called the technology "ready for prime time." Thomas stopped short of saying that the same was true for the BPL industry, however. It also quotes Cinergy Executive Vice President Bill Grealis, who called BPL "the last-mile solution" and said the service--at between $30 and $40 a month--would be "cheaper and faster than DSL or cable."

In his letter, Sumner suggested that there are better choices than BPL, even from the standpoint of business and economics. "Potential investors in broadband delivery alternatives to DSL and cable would be far better off considering the various methods of delivering fiber-to-the-home in densely populated areas," he concluded. "For rural areas, adaptations of wireless LAN technology are generally recognized as offering far more promise than BPL."

Retrieved from the ARRL Website

A new amateur radio contest sponsored by the Anne Arundel Radio Club, Jr. (AARC Jr), an amateur radio club just for kids (Call sign: KI3DS) has just been announced.

This contest has a slight twist in that it's designed primarily for kids (with or without a license - similar to "ARRL Kids Day") although adults are also encouraged to participate. Various features from several operating events and contests, along with the old ARRL "Novice Roundup" have been combined into this event.

A logging program has been developed for this specific contest and is available, free of charge. Learn more about the contest at this site" www.qsl.net/ki3ds.

Ray Forrester, W4YTC
Chairman 2004 Hamfest

2004 Poorman's Hamfest & Computer Show. TWO BIG DAYS - Saturday & Sunday April 24 - 25. Fun, Food, Prizes, Tailgating, Camping, Testing & More!

GARS 2004 Hamfest Info Ray Forrester, W4YTC. Email responses: w4ytc@arrl.net or (352) 371-0654.

SHOW SITE: Alachua County Fair Grounds
SR222 (3400 NE 39th AVE), 1/2 mile East of SR-24 (Waldo RD) Talk in 146.820 (Tone 123.0)

For map, vendor and visitor requirements. Tax information, or more information: http://www.gars.net/hamfest.

Silver Springs Radio Club, Inc.

CLUB MEETINGS are the third Monday of each month 7:30 PM at Green Clover Hall in the Marion County Government Complex on Southeast 25th Avenue. Coffee & Doughnuts are available.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS meetings are the first Monday of each month, 7:30 PM at Marion County Facilities Management Office.

K4GSO, club station, Green Clover Hall, is available to all members. Phone number is 620-7210. Contact Ken, KF4QID at 489-0571.

MARS, club station located at 161 Oak Circle, Silver Springs Shores. Phone number is 680-1528. Contact Bill KQ4UJ, at 694-1605.

LICENSE TESTING, on the second Monday of each odd number month, except July, 7:30 PM at Green Clover Hall. Call Jack Scott at 622-4447.

RADIO NETS are conducted over the club repeater, K4GSO, on 146.610 MHz (-600).

LADIES AUXILIARY. Sunshine - Provides flowers and get-well cards for members or members' family. Also orders SSRC logo shirts and caps, Barbara Million, KE4ZTW, 694-5744.

NOTE: For change of address or corrections (with SSRC) contact the Membership Chairman.

SSRC NET, every Tuesday at 7:30 (local time). Contact Jeanette at (352) 489-0571.

MERT (Marion County Emergency Radio Communications Team) NET, every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. LOCAL time. Contact Charlie Lord, NR2F at (352) 489-9185.

Repeater Trustee,(146.610)Bill KQ4UJ, at 694-1605;

President Bill Britt, KQ4UJ 694-1605

V. President Tony Blalock, K4OCF 685-2028

Secretary Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA 489-0571

Treasurer John O. Williams, K4ANJ 685-2028

Trustee Bill Britt, KQ4UJ 694-1605

Board Members:

Richard Cardinali, KG4TLE 690-7500

William Miller, N6WGM 873-2017

Ernie O'Berry, K4OSM 732-0374

Oracle Editor: Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA 489-0571

Oracleeditor@prodigy.net

Membership Ken Frantz, KF4QID 489-0571

Ladies'

Auxiliary Barbara Million, KE4ZTW 694-5744

Email: funyet2@earthlink.net

Silver Springs Radio Club Website:

Silver Springs WebSite

Ocala Radio Amateur's Candid Letter of Enlightenment

SILVER SPRINGS RADIO CLUB

P.O. BOX 787

SILVER SPRINGS, FL 34489

March 2004