The March meeting of the Tar River Amateur Radio Club will be held Monday, March 6^th at RYAN'S FAMILY STEAK HOUSE located at 1968 Stone Rose Drive in Rocky Mount. The supper meeting will start at 6:30 p.m.

6    Tar River ARC Meeting

11-12    Charlotte, NC hamfest

16    RMARS Meeting

25    VE Session, Rocky Mount

2 Kinston, NC Hamfest

3 Tar River ARC Meeting

 9 Raleigh, NC RARSfest2000

20 RMARS Meeting

Bill, N2BT

The next VE exam session will be held on Saturday, March 25^th at 9 a.m.

Exams will be held at J.C. Penney conference room, Golden East Crossing Mall, NC Hwy 43 and U.S. 301, Rocky Mount, NC. Please use the catalog pick-up entrance.

Please bring the following items when attending a testing session.

• Photo identification (drivers license)
• Social Security Number
• Original amateur radio license
• Copy of amateur radio license
• Original certificate(s) of successful completion
• Copy of certificate(s) of successful completion
• Test fee of $ 6.65 payable to ARRL/VEC (checks preferred)

This is the last exam session to be held in Rocky Mount under the current license structure. Beginning April 15th, there will only be 3 classes of amateur radio licensing. Those holding Novice, Technician Plus or Advanced class licenses will continue with same privileges. No new Novice, Technician Plus or Advanced

The new license and exam structure is as follows:

• Element 1 5 wpm code
• Element 2 Technician written (No Code) 35 questions
• Element 3 General written 35 questions
• Element 4 Extra written 50 questions

Bill, N2BT

March 11/12     Charlotte, NC hamfest

March 25/26     Timonium, MD hamfest

April 2     Down East, Kinston

April 9     Raleigh, NC RARSfest2000

April 15     Morganton, NC

Kinston Hamfest April 2, 2000

Lenior County Fairgrounds

Highway 11 and 55 South of Kinston

Admission tickets $ 4 in advance, $ 5 at the door

Talk-in on 146.685 MHz

  Raleigh, NC RARSfest2000 April 9, 2000

NC State Fairgrounds, Jim Graham Building

Admission tickets $ 5 in advance, $ 6 at the door

Talk-in on 146.64 MHz

Internet www.rars.org

If your ARRL membership is about to run our, please renewal via the Tar River Amateur Radio Club. It is easy, just complete the ARRL renewal form and send that form and the renewal fee payable to TRARC to me and I will do the rest

Mail to:     TRARC

                   C/O Lonnie Pridgen

                    P.O. Box 267

                    Sharpsburg, NC 27878-0267

Ballots have been counted in contested section manager races in North Carolina and South Dakota. In North Carolina, John Covington, W4CC, outpolled G. Roger Allen, KD4MYE, 951 to 891 votes. Covington, an Extra class licensee from Charlotte, will succeed outgoing SM Reed Whitten, AB4W. Covington's term begins April 1, 2000.

• ARRL DX Contest Phone March 4 -5
• CQWW WPX Phone Contest March 25 -26

Fred, K4FMD and Wicky, W4WWT will operate as K4UP/KP2 from St. John (NA-106), U.S Virgin Islands from February 28 through March 5 including activity in the ARRL DX Phone contest. Equipment will be a Yaesu FT-900 transceiver and a G5RV antenna. Activity will be on all bands.

QSL to K4UP, Castalia Island DX Association, P.O. Box 3, Castalia, NC 27816 (SASE please)

Check the latest issue of QST Magazine for further information.

O-14 is proving that you can teach an old bird new tricks. The venerable British satellite recently was switched to FM repeater mode, and reports already are coming in from hams who've worked it using pretty modest equipment.

The satellite's controller Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, says UO-14 was launched in January 1990 and spent its first 18 months in orbit operating as an amateur store-and-forward satellite, prior to the launch of UO-22. It was then switched for use by Volunteers In Technical Assistance, who used it for messaging into Africa.

"Since the computer which is used for store-and-forward communications is no longer able to perform that task, UO-14 is no longer usable in this mode," Jackson says. "It is, however, possible to use the satellite as a single-channel FM voice repeater, and I have just configured the satellite to do this."

The satellite works as an "FM bent pipe repeater satellite" in full duplex. Operators with full-duplex transceivers will be able to hear their downlink signal as they transmit. Half-duplex operation also will work satisfactorily.

The uplink is 145.975 MHz, and the downlink is 435.070 MHz. Jackson says he plans to leave the satellite in FM mode for the next few weeks. "If it is useful, then I will probably leave it running," he said. "If it isn't used, it will be switched to transmitting telemetry."

Houston AMSAT Coordinator Bruce Paige, KK5DO, says no more than 5 W is required to make a contact with UO-14, and some have made it with as little as 1.5 W. "It should be a very suitable bird for those with an H-T and a rubber duck," he said.

"Cool satellite!" was the reaction of W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, who worked 11 stations during a "very short" near-horizon pass this week.

"Some of the stations sounded like they were next door!"

The first International Space Station expedition crew and its backup crew have received some initial training on the use of the initial US-provided Amateur Radio gear to be installed as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, effort. The session was conducted at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Centre.

As part of the ARISS training effort, NASA's Matt Bordelon, KC5BTL, is preparing a consolidated schedule for training in the US and in Russia that will include familiarization with equipment, packet theory and hands-on training, using a hardware mockup, and simulation. Training will focus on general principles of ham radio as well as preparations to use ham radio, equipment types and operating modes, and general packet module information and software.

Bordelon has held an initial training session with astronauts and cosmonauts that provided exposure to the actual hardware. Other training has included the information required to obtain an US Amateur Radio license. The first ISS crew includes US astronaut Bill Shepherd, KD5GSL, and Russian Cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, and the recently licensed Yuri Gaidzenko, whose call sign was not available.--Carolynn Conley, NASA

Our deepest sympathy for Ann Griffin and her family for the loss of her father Frank Taylor, of Ernul, NC.

• Aston RS-20A 12 volt 20 amp power supply Like new - $ 75
• SBE 12 volt 4 amp power supply - $ 15
• Heathkit HD-15 Phone Patch - $ 20
• Kenwood LF-30A Low Pass TVI Filter - $ 30

Contact Bill, N2BT at 442-6131

February 2000 Newsletter

January 2000 Newsletter

December 1999 Newsletter

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Tar River Amateur Radio Club
P. O. Box 267
Sharpsburg, NC 27878
E-mail to WB4BZZ

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