ELECTIONS NEXT MONTH

Barry Campbell, W2CGX, nominating committee

Ballots will be mailed to all members before the April meeting. The ballots received by the secretary before the meeting are brought to the April meeting, but members may also turn them in at the meeting, no later than five minutes after the official start. That is to say, the ballots brought to the meeting must be turned in by 7:35 p.m.

The four officers, President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer are up for election as well as three Member-at-Large positions. The 2001 nominations are:

For President – Rob France, N3QDC

For Vice President—Pete Russo, KD2EL

For Secretary— Pete Sneed, K2YSY

For Treasurer—Bill Greenhalgh, W2NCN

For Member-at-Large (3 to be elected)

Roberto Matos, K2PA

Derry Galbreath, W2XT

Tom Deegan, AB2DW

John Crovelli, W2GD

As always, additional nominations can be submitted in two ways. A member can nominate another member at either the February or March meeting (the person nominated must be present and agree to be nominated for the office), or a member can nominate him or herself to a specific position. The latter nomination must be made in writing and given to the secretary at either the February or March meeting.

Elections in the CRA II are always important, for it is the 9-member Board of Trustees (four officers, five members-at-large) who govern the affairs of the corporation. Be sure to vote when the ballot is mailed to you, but before you can vote, your dues must be paid.

PUBLIC SERVICE

de WB2NQV

Correction from last month; Tom, AA2DW operated the Klondike Derby.

The next event is the March of Dimes Walk America, Sunday April 29^th. We already have more than the minimum operators needed but if you wish to help see Marty, W2CG, W2CG@arrl.net.

The other confirmed dates for the year 2001 are:

Bucks County Horse Park May 19, WB2F Coordinator WB2F@amsat.org

Special Equestrian June 16, N2VWL Coordinator N2VWL@epix.net

Lebanon Parade July 4 WB2NQV Coordinator WB2NQV@arrl.net

Bucks County Horse Park August 12, October 7 and November 10 and 11, N2VWL Coordinator N2VWL@epix.net

If you can help with any of these events contact the event coordinator or myself at WB2NQV@arrl.net. For the latest Public Service dates log on the CRA web site http://www.qsl.net/w2cra

BOY SCOUT EVENT

de K2IQN

A new public service event is scheduled for the weekend of March 24 and 25. There will be an “advancement” campout at Echo Park in Stanton NJ located just off Route 31. The scouts will have a chance to earn merit badges in Radio, Electronics, Communications and Emergency Preparedness. VHF and HF stations are planned as part of the demonstrations and activities. The objectives are not only to give scouts a merit badge opportunity but to introduce them to amateur radio and encourage them to pursue a license. Harry Hochman, K2IQN is coordinating this event through the scouts. If you are interested in volunteering equipment and or time he can be reached at 908-534-3488.

CRA PROGRAM SCHEDULE

de Denis KA2YYB

MAR 9 “HAMFEST 2001”

Upcoming meeting programs include APRS, weather, safety, “The Future of Amateur Radio” ….

RACES NEWS

de KC2CMC

There will be a special training session for all RACES members on Wednesday, March 21^st at 19:30 hours. The subject is message handling with regards to Hunterdon County needs. The speaker will be Harry Shepherd, Hunterdon County Emergency Management Coordinator. The training will be held at the EOC located on Cherryville Road, Flemington, NJ.

The next training session will be held July 11^th at 17:30 hours.

There will be another drill held in September. Date to be announced. The theme will be weapons of mass destruction. If you would like to participate but are not yet a member of RACES, contact Mike Varas, K2CMC at 908-806-3998 or k2cmc@arrl.net or contact Roberto Matos, K2PA at 908-788-8253 or k2pa@arrl.net. There are 21 municipalities in Hunterdon County. Many more than last year will be participating in the drill so we could use your help.

Roberto and I have asked one of our newest members to look into adding ARES to the RACES effort and consider being the ARES liaison to The Cherryville Repeater Assn. His name is David Kanitra, WB2AZE. I’m sure he would welcome any help you can give him. The purpose of adding ARES is to augment our skills and experience and garner the support of the ARRL in the event of a wide area problem. Over the coming months there will be further discussion regarding this addition. If there is sufficient interest, an ARES training session will be scheduled for later this year.

Hamfest Calendar

de George N2VWL

Here is a list of ARRL sanctioned Hamfests in New Jersey, for the current year:

17 Mar. Cherryville Repeater Assn.
21 Apr. Roseland Radio Club West Orange
2 June     Bergen ARA Hackensack
16 June   Raritan Valley ARA Dunellen
12 Aug. Jersey Shore ARS Bayville
6 Oct.         Bergen ARA Hackensack

The following are those in nearby PA:

6 May    Warminster ARS Wrightstown
9 June     Colombia-Montour ARC Bloomsburg
1 July Murgas ARC Wilkes Barre (Dallas)
15 July    Mid-Atlantic ARC Kimberton
15 Sept. Del. Lehigh Schnecksville

FIELD DAY – 2001

Last Year for the Novice Tent

de W2GD

I inquired to Dan, N1ND, the Contest Manager at the ARRL regarding the status of the FD Novice Tent in light of the fact that the Novice Class license is no longer offered.

This year's FD will be the last year of the Novice Tent as we have known it. Several proposals are floating around but nothing has been decided as to what the replacement will be come 2002.

So this is it folks, come out and enjoy the Novice Tent for one last time.

FORGET DAYTON THIS YEAR?

de N5RA

Pacific Section to Hold First Ever Pacific Section Convention -Honolulu, Oct. 13, 2001

This is a long lead-time announcement, to be sure, but who wouldn't enjoy a family ham trip to Hawaii? Although there have been Hawaii state conventions in the late 60's, this will be the first ever ARRL sanctioned Pacific Section Convention. Details are as follows:

Date: Saturday October 13, 2001, 8AM to 4:30 PM - Gates open at 7:30AM.

Place: Pearl Harbor Community Park, Next to the Arizona Memorial visitor entrance.

Entrance fee: $2.00 each or Family $5.00. One drawing ticket is included in the price.

All Clubs will be given space for a display if they wish, although admission tickets will be required for exhibitors. Tables will not be supplied. Manufactures and suppliers are encouraged to put up displays. There will be a picnic area, vendors, flea market, displays, technical talks, VE exams, and lunch wagon(s). At least three technical talks will be given in the morning, plus at least three more in the afternoon. in the morning and three in the afternoon. Scheduled so far are VE exams, technical talks both morning and afternoon, a spectacular hot line display by Hawaiian Electric, an ARRL forum with Pacific Division Director Jim Maxwell, W6CF, and others. Also, Christian Vallet from Canada France Hawaii observatory has promised to come and a contingent from JARL may be present.

Drawings will take place all day long with the final drawing at 4:30 PM. Extra tickets may be purchased. Koolau ARC is the coordinator. See their website,

http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/karc/index.html , for updates and links.
–if the club is looking for a volunteer representative I will be happy to help -ed.

A GLIMMER OF GOOD NEWS FOR AO-40

AMSAT reports that the sun began triggering AO-40's sun sensor as the satellite emerged from Earth's shadow on orbit 147. The news has boosted ground controllers' optimism that they might be able to regain control over the satellite's spin rate and attitude sooner than had been predicted.

AMSAT-DL's Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, said this week that as soon as the sensor unit delivers good sun sensor data, controllers will be able to reduce AO-40's spin and make it easier to adjust attitude. "This also will lead to an improvement in reception of the S-Band telemetry," he said.

For the past few weeks, the AO-40 has remained in what AMSAT called "a semi-hibernation state," because the satellite's high angle has prevented the sensor from seeing the sun's light. Controllers had planned to work around the sun sensor issue by using a software routine.

Once ground controllers can get accurate AO-40 attitude data, they should be able to correctly aim AO-40's high-gain antennas for optimal reception on Earth. Ground controllers have been relying on telemetry from AO-40's S-band
(2.4 GHz) downlink--the only transmitter now operating--but they are holding out hope that at least some of the satellite's other transmitters still function. Since the satellite went silent for about two weeks in December, ground controllers have had no luck hearing the 2-meter, 70-cm or 1.2 GHz
transmitters using AO-40's omnidirectional antennas.

The next major step will be to bring AO-40 into an orientation where ground controllers can fire the onboard arc-jet thruster--using only gaseous ammonia and no electrical power. The test firing will allow checking out the guidance electronics and the arc-jet valves. Guelzow said the thrust of the test will be enough to lift the satellite's perigee by about 100 km. Guelzow said plans call for optimizing the current orbit with a live arc-jet firing. He said that several independent analyses--including one done by the French space agency, CNES--confirm that the current orbit will be stable for
many years--longer than the spacecraft's anticipated lifetime.

CLUB VOTING IS ALMOST HERE

MAKE SURE YOUR DUES ARE UP TO DATE

CRA II CLUB INFORMATION

The Cherryville Repeater Association II, Inc. is a non-profit New Jersey Corporation dedicated to Community Service Through Communication. Meetings are held on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Flemington Baptist Church unless otherwise announced. Visitors are always welcome! Also, everyone is welcome on the Thursday Night Traffic Net, at 8 PM every Thursday, followed at 9:30 by the Swap-Net, and the ARES-RACES net at 8:30 PM on the first Thursday each month (immediately following the traffic net), all on the 147.375 repeater.

UPLiNK

A CRA II Publication

Editors

Articles & Info:
WA2EPY, Bruce Cunningham – bcc@interpow.net

KA2YYB, Denis Albisser – KA2YYB@arrl.net

Interviews:
K2PA, Roberto Matos – K2PA@arrl.net

Roster & Mailing:
W2CG, Marty Grozinski ^__ W2CG@arrl.net

Many thanks to all those who have contributed articles or information for this publication, including: WB2NQV, K2IQN, W22GD, KC2CMC, N5RA, N2VWL, W2CGX, KA2YYB, ARRL Letter and all not mentioned for their help. This newsletter is an open forum for the Cherryville Repeater Association, II Inc. and its members, of general interest Club and ham radio related interest items. The opinions contained herein are those of the authors who have contributed their work. The officers and members of the CRA II Inc. are not liable for its contents.

Articles and information are always welcome, and may sometimes be edited for content, punctuation, grammar, and newsletter space.

Deadline for submission for all issues is two weeks prior to the Board meetings.

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." – Franklin Roosevelt

THE CHERRYVILLE REPEATER ASSOCIATION II

CLUB INFO:

Club Info Line	Website	Packet
(908) 788-4080	www.qsl.net/w2cra	W2CRA 145.51

EXECUTIVE BOARD:

Pres	N3QDC	Rob France	(215) 766-8066	n3qdc@att.net
VP	KB2DDM	Susan MacRae	(908) 475-5299	kb2ddm@fast.net
Sec	K2YSY	Pete Sneed	(908) 369-5095	k2ysy@arrl.net
Treas	W2NCN	Bill Greenhalgh	(908) 369-3191	greenhalgh@rcn.com

MEMBERS AT LARGE:

W2CGX	Barry Campbell	(908) 725-0478	Barryc@cnjnet.com
N2ZVY	Patrick Mauro	(908) 470-6346	n2zvy@att.net
W2GD	John Crovelli	(908) 996-3043	w2gd@hotmail.com
N3MSK	Ed Kita	(610) 252-6193	n3msk@amsat.org
K2PA	Roberto Matos	(908) 788-8253	k2pa@arrl.net

COMMITTEE CHAIRPEOPLE:

Public service	WB2NQV		Wb2nqv@arrl.net
Technical	N3MSK	(610) 252-6193	n3msk@amsat.org
Emergency Mgmt/ RACES	KC2CMC K2PA	(908) 806-3998 (908) 788-8253	varas@earthlink.net k2pa@arrl.net
Education	W2CGX	(908) 725-0478	Barryc@cnjnet.com
VE Testing	W2CG	(908) 788-2644	mjgrozi@postoffice.ptd.net
Field Day	N3QDC	(215) 766-8066	n2qdc@worldnet.att.net
Holiday Party	KB2RWY	(908) 253-8783
Merchandise	N2VWL	(908) 475-4716	n2vwl@juno.com
Traffic net	N2MIF	(908) 638-6172
Programs	KA2YYB	(908) 537-2501	ka2yyb@arrl.net
Refreshment	KB2YJX	(908) 725-0478
Roster	W2CG	(908) 788-2644	mjgrozi@postoffice.ptd.net
Scholarship	N2ZVY	(908) 479-6346	kc2boh@worldnet.att.net
SkyWarn	N2VWL	(908) 475-4716	n2vwl@juno.com

NET SCHEDULE:

Hunterdon County Traffic and Emergency Net	Thursday, 8:00 PM	147.375
Races Net	1st Thursday, 8:30 PM	147.375
SkyWarn Net	Thursday 9:00 PM	147.015
Swap Net	Thursday, 9:30 PM	147.375
Complex Repeater Net	Sunday, 7:30 PM	147.015

MAJOR EVENTS:

W2CRA Hamfest	March 17, 2001	Talk-in 147.375
W2CRA Field Day	June 23, 2001