Jay NE2Q President started the GNARC meeting at 8:00 pm. He then quickly introduced the club officers. Vice President: Ned KA1CVV, Secretary: John WB1GRB, Treasurer: Bill Hart KC1TX was not felling well and was not at the meeting. We will have new club nominations later in the meeting.

Jay then introduced our speaker which has been a member of our club for many years. Bill Whitbeck, W1AXB.  Unfortunately Bill doesn’t drive, and this is his first meeting that he has attended. Bill got into radio back in the '30s. Bill is active every evening on 160 meters. He'll talk about his early days in radio and even brought some of his old homebuilt equipment.

When Bill was finished, Jay thanked Bill for his presentation and gave him a “GNARC Certificate of Apparition.”

Jay then spoke. After 3 years as president of GNARC I want to thank those that have helped GNARC to grow into the great organization it is today. I won’t repeat all the names of those individuals as I recognized them at the Holiday Party. Their names were printed in the last GNARC Bulletin. I want to leave you with one important word. “Cooperation”

 I received plenty of cooperation from many of our members. That is why we had such a wonderful turnout at Field Day. That is why our score was number one in Connecticut. This is why our repeater is working better than in many years. This is why our club continues to grow and flourish.

Keeping a club healthy is dependent on the cooperation and close communication ties between officers and members. We all have our own idiosyncrasies and methods of dealing with people. Don’t fall into a trap of operating in a vacuum. Let others know what you are doing. You may even get offers of help. To all of the new officers, I suggest you continue in that spirit.

I have enjoyed serving you and look forward to an even stronger and faster growing GNARC under new and capable leadership.

Jay then turned the meeting over to Tom KK2C (Right) which is on the nominating committee. Tom then read the names of members that agreed to run for 2004. President “Ned” Bassick KA1CVV. Vice President Allan Valeo NN1H. Treasurer “Zig” Fekete N1ICL   and continuing as Secretary John Sabini WB1GRB.

Toy Alladin KA1WYQ (Left) the dually elected retuning officer then took over the process of the democratic election. Without going into great detail no one opposed the nomination of officers. The members voted and all of the new officers were nominated for the year 2004.

Ned then presented Jay with a "Greater Norwalk Amateur Radio Certificate of Apparition and leadership as  president  for the year 2001 threw 2003." Jay then received some gifts. More  photos are on the GNARC web site.

Guest: Perry Engle N1GTS. He has been a ham for 12 years and lives in Southport Ct.

Gary K3OS then talked about members with the capability of running PSK-31 on 2 meter FM.                   

Break 8:50: Ned announced we were going to take a break. He reminded every one that club dues were due and John WB1GRB will collect the club dues tonight. Toy collected money for the club raffle. He reminded every one that the money helps pay for refreshments.     (Photo)  Rich K1OF

9:05 meeting continued.

ARES: Allen NN1H, I would like to thank every one that participated in last month’s GNARC net on 147.390. Their will be an AREA’s update each month on the web site and GNARC Bulletin. ARES application form in Word format and in Adobe PDF format on the GNARC web site. This form can be given to  Allan NN1H.   This can be done directly at:  www.arrl.org/sections/CT.html

This form most be filled out each year.  Questions contact Fred K1FC or Allan, NN1H.

Ned wanted to thank every one that helped with the 139.390 repeater between Christmas & New Year. Allan NN1H, Toy KA1WYQ, Zig N1ICL, Tim W1GIG, Curt W1FSM, Steve NA1SV, Bill WA2TQI, a former club member and  Mark, KB1JGL.

9:30 meeting ended early because of snow and dropping temperatures.    

AREA's News

The January net had 19 Check-ins. Thanks to all who participated and thanks to Tim Walker, W1GIG for calling the tree and running the net. This was a good start for 2004.There was also an unannounced drill held on HF early in the month. An alert was issued on the Norwalk Repeater and several of our members responded. The drill was termed a success even though conditions were extremely poor. Thanks to the stations that responded from the Norwalk Group. (Photo) Allan NN1H at the GNARC 2003 Holiday Party.
 

ARES Registration Forms are due again for this year. Registrations are for one year and have to be renewed every year. If you haven’t already gotten your form in you can download the form from the ARES page of the GNARC web site. Please mail them in to me signed and dated. The address to mail the forms is Allan Valeo,18 Chessor Lane, Wilton, CT 06897. Forms will be available at the February GNARC meeting as well and can be turned in to me in person.

Three activities are being planned for the Norwalk ARES group. Since they’re outdoor activities they’ll happen during the summer and fall months. These activities will be considered Training and will count toward the training requirement for Active Status for next year’s registration. At the same time they should be fun, so watch for announcements early this spring.

The February Net is scheduled for Monday, the 2nd at 8:00 pm on 147.39R. N1RRF will be the NCS. All Amateur Radio Operators are welcome to check in.

Allan Valeo, NN1H, EC Norwalk ARES Group 

Internet Linking

Rich, K1OF and Gary, K3OS gave a presentation on Internet voice linking at a GNARC meeting in May, 2002.  As you're probably already aware, plenty has happened in the world of Internet linking since that time.

A new system called EchoLink was introduced later that month, and there are now more than 113,000 registered users of EchoLink in 147 countries worldwide.  More than 150 new stations are coming on line every day -- a figure that, remarkably, has been nearly constant for 18 consecutive months.  Other linking systems, such as IRLP, eQSO, and WIRES-II have also grown substantially during that time.

There has been a theory that Internet linking has not only brought inactive hams back into the hobby, but has also been one of the incentives for new hams to become licensed.  One of the interesting statistics from the database is that more than 1,300 U.S. hams have registered for EchoLink the very same week they were granted their first ticket -- nearly 450 signing up on the very same day.

Here are some other EchoLink statistics:

U.S. Validations by License Class

Technician: 33.0%      General: 22.6%      Advanced: 11.4%      Extra: 29.7%

Validated Callsigns by Country Prefix

United States: 52.3%      United Kingdom: 6.6%      Canada: 6.6%      Germany: 5.5%      Brazil: 4.4%      France: 2.3%      Italy: 2.0%      Spain: 1.7%      Australia: 1.9%      Japan: 1.8%
 

About 32% percent of the active users are licensed in a country where English is not the official language.
 

73, Jonathan K1RFD

_____________________________________________________________

President's Column

As your new elected President I would like to thank all for your vote and coming out too the meeting in the snowstorm. There are some members in the club that may not know me. So I would like to tell you about myself.
  "Ned" KA1CVV
I was licensed in 1977 as a Novice and remained a Novice for way too long. High School came along and then some College and radio was not in the picture. My Dad did get me into Radio with his Crystal Radio and short-wave receiver before I was licensed. I can remember at night listening with Dad to the 75 meter AM Guys each night. Then one of my Birthdays I got my own Short wave and public service receiver all in one radio that aloud me to receive Two-meter. Hearing the talk on Two meter was so filling. The best part was that so many of the Ham’s I heard were talking about computers and machine they built from parts from Hamfest. My early days on CW were fun. I used a Heathkit DX-60 TX and matching BFO and receiver with T/R switch but I never did it enough to catch the bug and I was just getting into Radio Controlled airplanes at the same time. I can remember my first contact was into Four land on Fifteen meters. I found that my friends that I got my license with were upgrading to General and had Two meters and HF phone privilege. I was left behind and never did get into CW very much more as they were on phone without me. So RC became my number one hobby over Ham Radio. In the early 80’s I got my first Computer it was the Radio Shack Color Computer we all called them COCO’s. I found with this computer that there was lots of free Ham Radio software for it. The best program was a RTTY program written by Marty Goodman. Then he wrote a great WEFAX program that would display Weather maps on my screen and printer. The process was very easy as you ran the receive audio into the mic jack which was used for the cassette recorder hook-up. I had very many great nights receiving RTTY with my Color Computer without an interface. Thank goodness to the 1987 FCC rule change that gave Novice operator Ten Meters HF voice and 220 VHF privilege. That got me back into Ham Radio and I fell in love with a long lost friend. “Radio” Ten meters was great because many of the old CB rigs were very easy to modify. I drove to Colorado working Ten Meter all the way there running 15 watts. Each day I was able to work into Connecticut and work many of my friend’s back home. In 1988 I upgraded to a Technician and now I had my Two Meter privilege and Packet Radio was big time mode on the two-meter band at 1200 baud. Believe it or not at the time my dial up modem was only 300 baud so packet was much faster. My Radio Shack Color Computer worked very easy with the Packet TNC I had and got me on the air. The messages I sent via packet was very much like the e-mail’s we use today. I would meet many Hams from around the world that were into the same kind of computer I had. We would exchange software and information about Ham Radio and the color computer via packet. The next upgrade for me was the General class ticket in 2000. And that’s my present license class. I am working on the Extra class ticket now and believe I will have that ticket soon.

As many of you know I work at West Mountain Radio and work in the Ham Radio Business. I travel to so many Hamfest a year I lose count. I believe with my job I can keep all of you up to date on our Hobby and what I see new coming down the road with our hobby. I feel that this year we as a club can do some things we have never did before as a club. In the March meeting I will present a talk on Telpak a Packet Radio application that uses packet to retrieve emails from the Internet. So if you’re out in your boat or RV you can log in and retrieve your mail. I see that this will be good for us to have running for all of our other function we will be doing during the year. I also plan on giving and over view on some ideas I have for the club and what we need to do for the public eye. So if you have anything you would like to see the club do please come to the March meeting and voice your option. Remember that our club newsletter needs items each month so if you have a new Radio or a great idea please share with us what you have been doing. 73's "Ned" KA1CVV.

___________________________________________________________

Attention All Amateurs...

ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access (Jan 19, 2004) -- The ARRL will ask the FCC to create a new entry-level Amateur Radio license that would include HF phone privileges without requiring a Morse code test. The League also will propose consolidating all current licensees into three classes, retaining the Element 1 Morse requirement--now 5 WPM--only for the highest class. The ARRL Board of Directors overwhelmingly approved the plan January 16 during its Annual Meeting in Windsor, Connecticut. The proposals--developed by the ARRL Executive Committee following a Board instruction last July--are in response to changes made in Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations at World Radio communication Conference 2003 (WRC-03). They would continue a process of streamlining the amateur licensing structure that the FCC began more than five years ago but left unfinished in the Amateur Service license restructuring Report and Order (WT 98-143) that went into effect April 15, 2000.

More Information at:  ARRLWeb: ARRL Home Page

Proposed Phone/Image HF Subbands (Includes Novice Refarming Proposal)

80 Meters

Extra: 3.725-4.000 MHz (gain of 25 kHz)                                                                                                        General: 3.800-4.000 MHz (gain of 50 kHz)
Novice: 3.900-4.000 MHz (new)

40 meters
Extra: 7.125-7.300 MHz (gain of 25 kHz)
General: 7.175-7.300 MHz (gain of 50 kHz)
Novice: 7.200-7.300 MHz (new)

15 meters
Extra: 21.200-21.450 MHz (no change)
General: 21.275-21.450 MHz (gain of 25 kHz)
Novice: 21.350-21.450 MHz (new)

10 meters
Extra and General: 28.300-29.700 MHz (no change)
Novice: 28.300-28.500 MHz (no change)
Proposed CW/Data-Exclusive HF Subbands (Includes Novice Reframing Proposal)

80 meters
Extra: 3.500-3.725 MHz
General: 3.525-3.725 MHz
Novice: 3.550-3.700 MHz

40 meters
Extra: 7.000-7.125 MHz
General: 7.025-7.125 MHz
Novice: 7.050-7.125 MHz

15 meters
Extra: 21.000-21.200 MHz
General: 21.025-21.200 MHz
Novice: 21.050-21.200 MHz

Extra/General: 28.000-28.300 MHz
Novice: 28.050-28.300 MHz

GNARC & CTSARA  Message Board

73 ROTOR w/CONTROL & CABLE, $50; Cushcraft 10-40M Vert. Ant., $15; Heathkit Station Monitor Mod. 614, $50. 2 South Bend 7.5 HP Go-Cart Engines. Call for Info. Call Irv, N1ATS, 348-3425. Posted by: WB1GRB

ESTATE SALE (N1CML) Yaesu FT-980 HF Xcvr, $475; Yaesu FT 726R 2M all mode Xcvr $325; Yaesu YS-60 SWR-Pwr Mtr, $50; MFJ Versatuner II (300W), $100; Tram Reflectometer, $15; Azden PCS3000 2M Mobile w/o Mic, $25; HP5301 10 MHz Freq Ctr. $25; Eldorado 1615 30 MHz Freq Ctr., $25; AEA PK-88 Packet TNC, $35; Leader LAC 897 2M Transmatch, $20. Call Marv, N1AWJ, e-mail  Posted by: WB1GRB

For Sale digi traveler personal navigation system. For laptop includes delorme street atlas use 2003 software will work with tiny trac 3 $55.00. Call Bill kb1ify. @ 203-353-8131 after 5pm.

55 Ft. Heavy Duty Crank Up Tower with tilt over base in very good cond. About 10 years old. $700.00. Phone, 203-353-8422. Leave message. Pictures: www.qsl.net/w1ee/tower

Icom 706mkIIG, no box, in excellent condition, have all the small connectors it came with, asking 650$ or Best offer. 203 748 7143.

MFJ ANTENNA TUNER A-1 Cond. $100; New, $25; ¼ ? Mag. Mt. Ant., $12; ? ? Mag. Mt. Ant, $15, ? ? Trunk Mt. Ant., $10; Measurements Grid Dip Meter, $25; HP Signal Gen.; $15; Code Pract. Mach., $15. K1DLT (203) 324-2723.

FT-8100B 2M/70cm Tranceiver with factory CTCSS encode/decode, separation kit, and includes all schematics and manual. Recent o/haul at Yaesu - Installed new style transmitter board and complete alignment. Works and looks as new. $200.00 plus shipping - 203-975-8014 eves.

SB-102, POWER SUPPLY/ SPEAKER, & HAND MIKE IN VERY CLEAN COND. 80-10M. $150 KA1SLG     531-9493.

More Items Listed On The Message Board Located At: www.gnarc.org/  & www.qsl.net/w1ee/  If above items are sold contact me. For Questions. John  WB1GRB (203) 353 - 8422.

 

The Greater Norwalk Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 115
304 Main Street
Norwalk, Connecticut 06851
Club Web Site: www.gnarc.org/ 
A non-profit service oriented organization


 

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

Articles must be in by the 20th of the month to be published in this newsletter & web site. Updates & Breaking News can be made anytime and will be published at: www.qsl.net/w1ee/breaking.htm  
Please I desperately need articles from our GNARC club members!
 

01/22/2004  JS/ WB1GRB