Indiana County Amateur Radio Newsletter for the Month

November 2008 News Letter

Prepared - October 15, 2008
By: Darrell R. Norris - WA3AJQ

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The following excerpts were taken from recent ARRL news letters.

SB QST ARL ARLB013

ARLB013 Pennsylvania Becomes 27th State with PRB-1 Law on Books

On Wednesday, October 8, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell (D) signed into law a bill that guarantees radio amateurs the right to erect antenna support structures up to 65 feet without the need for a Special Use Permit.

The bill passed in the House with a vote of 196-1; it passed in the Senate with a vote of 49-1. The new law is scheduled to go into effect December 8, 60 days after signing.

Senate Bill 884 (now Act 88), An Act amending Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Restricting Municipalities from Regulating Amateur Radio Service Communications, was first introduced on June 1, 2007 by Pennsylvania Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf (R) who represents portions of Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

The bill requires local municipalities to "reasonably accommodate amateur radio service communications, and to impose only the minimum regulations necessary to accomplish the legitimate purpose of the municipality" and says that "no ordinance, regulation, plan or any other action shall restrict amateur radio antenna height to less than 65 feet above ground level, but a municipality may impose necessary regulations to ensure the safety of amateur radio antenna structures, but must reasonably accommodate amateur service communications."

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ARRL PRESENTS NEW MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT

With just a mouse click or two, ARRL members can now access the online QST magazine archive www.arrl.org/members-only/qqnsearch.htmll. This new benefit -- a service of the ARRL Technical Information Service (TIS) www.arrl.org/tis/ -- provides PDF copies of all QST articles from December 1915 through December 2004, enabling members to view and print their favorite article, project and more. For many years, the TIS has provided members with assistance researching ARRL periodicals and publications, as well as providing members and non-members with article reprints for a small fee. Access to the new online digital QST archive is free for ARRL members, and is for their personal use only -- material in the archive may not be freely distributed or copied.

"Having access to every issue of QST through 2004 is absolutely incredible!" said ARRL Lab Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI. "The best of the best of QST from every era is now at the fingertips of every ARRL member with a keyboard and an Internet connection. Members can research articles on any subject that interests them, or just browse the past issues. This will be a popular membership benefit that will be of special value to new and long-time hams alike. This valuable content will help radio amateurs who use QST as a technical resource -- for projects, equipment 'hints and kinks' -- and for other research contributing to the advancement of the radio art. We know many hams will simply enjoy perusing these pages of history, too."

The ARRL Periodicals Archive and Search lists every article for QST from 1915 to the present, QEX from 1981 to the present, Ham Radio from 1968 to 1990 and NCJ from 1973 to the present (please note that beginning in 1998, each issue of QEX covers two months). Only ARRL members will be able to download and print copies of the QST articles.

QST magazine is the official journal of ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio. An interest in Amateur Radio is the only essential qualification of membership. ARRL membership is $39 per year in the US. For a complete list of membership benefits and dues, please visit the ARRL Membership Web pagewww.arrl.org/join .

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Club Activities

Amateur Radio Open Breakfast, October 11^th 2008 - Eat-N-Park,

We had fourteen (14) amateurs participate, eight from Indiana, two from Butler, two from Cambria, one from Westmoreland and one from Cumberland (IUP)

I want to thank all who participated !

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Nominations for the 2009 club offices take place during the November meeting.

Election of officers will be at our December 2nd meeting.

We appreciate paying your dues at this meeting also.

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Our club Christmas party is scheduled for December 14^th , 6:00PM at Hoss's in Indiana. If you haven't signed up yet please contact Roger & Kathy Lute at:rklute@verizon.net

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Birthdays

Dennis Whitson, KB3LBQ, Darrell Norris, WA3AJQ and Eric Hvozda, N3YMY.
Happy Birthday to all !!

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Thanks and 73's,
Darrell R. Norris - WA3AJQ
President

Meeting Minutes October 7, 2008

Nominations ! Nominations ! Nominations !

President Darrell Norris, WA3AJQ, called the meeting to order at _7:29_PM local time.

Are there any additions or corrections to the September 2, 2008 minutes.

Motion to accept: Richard Stinson, KB3KBC Second by: Fred Maize, KM3M

Financial Report: Rusty O'Donnell, WB3EUQ

Financial report ______ Rusty reported all expenditures from field day and the picnic were paid.

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From: Carl Hvozda, N3PIE

Hoss's Community Night's program is an easy, free way for non-profit groups to make money! This program literally gives away THOUSANDS of dollars a year, just from the Indiana location alone. The program is efficient, the rules are simple and the payout is BIG! Basically, you schedule a day, your group members come in and eat and you get a check for 20% of your groups sales! IT'S THAT SIMPLE! Call now and ask for Kathy or Corey and we'll be happy to give you all the details, answer your questions and book your Community Night today!

Indiana
1198 Wayne Ave
Indiana, PA 15701
(724) 349-5750

Carl Hvozda, N3PIE contacted Hoss's after the meeting and called me at home. He got clarification to some of our questions. Carl will attempt to have Corey to explain the program to our club at the November meeting.

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Old Business:

ARES: E.C. Robert Zugates, KB3JOF

Robert wants to start some training for traffic handling. He requested the use of both our 2 meter and 440 repeaters for this training, there were no objections.

ARES Simulated Emergency Test

October 4^th & 5^th Christine Bartlebaugh, KB3QJZ served as net control.
All went well with some fifteen (15) check in's. Christine was present and was applauded for her S.E.T. performance as net control.

Net Coordinator: Jerry Kiehl, WB3DUD

Net control operators are always needed and appreciated.
Jerry will be net control for November and Christine, KB3QJZ volunteered for December. Christine's Email address is: blackwolf91@verizon.net

RACES: Rusty O'Donnell, WB3EUQ

ECHOLINK: Rusty O'Donnell, WB3EUQ

Rusty indicated earlier, someone recently had EchoLink locked up for a couple hours.

Repeater Operation - Elmer Sorisio, KB3WG (Not at meeting)

Consideration to name an assistant Trustee is pending.

Field Day (2009)

Club's covered dish picnic - Sunday September 28^th 1:00 PM

At: Richard and Anne Stinson's, KB3KBC at about 1:00 PM. You might want to bring a lawn chair.

Had poor turnout, suggested next year we establish a list of those planning to attend. We buy lots of food in anticipation and need I say more !!

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The 50 /50 drawing:

Won by: __Darrell Norris, WA3AJQ__ Darrell donated it to the club.

New Business:

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THE HAM FEST IS NO LONGER AN ITEM FOR DISCUSSION THIS YEAR

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The next several items will be discussed at the time there scheduled

Nominations & Membership ID's Darrell Norris, WA3AJQ

Darrell, WA3AJQ, reminded everyone he removed Kim's name and address from the membership applications. Rusty O'Donnell, WB3EUQ's name was added

Everyone present filled out a 2009 nomination request form.

We discussed the removal of the year from our ID cards, there were some good arguments brought up as to keeping the year ie, the ID card servers as our paid receipt etc.

VE Test - Bill McMillen, N3QM - October -

Dave Dzelsky, N3DZ, indicated there were no requests for testing.

Torrance Walk - May - Jerry Kiehl, WB3DUD

Jerry Kiehl, WB3DUD checked with Torrance and was told there will not be a walk again this year. (2nd Year)

OPEN (Multi County) Breakfast - October 11^th

Darrell, WA3AJQ, had it put on several amateur websites in various counties and he announced it on ours and the Johnstown nets. We'll keep an HT on our 146.910 repeater for directions if needed.

Christmas Party - December 14^th at Hoss's

Social time is scheduled for 6:00 PM, Dinner at 6:30 PM.

DVD - Video presentation on amateur radio: Cliff Miller, KB3AGT

Darrell requested we preplan this so he can arrange to have Eat'N Parks equipment available.

Show and Tell (Anybody / Anything)

Marcia Malcolm, KD4ITP, was not able to bring the antenna she had discussed earlier.

Notes or comments?

Cliff Miller, KB3AGT, noted the success of the 33^rd WMC event last Sunday in Johnstown, they had some ten (10) amateurs participate in providing communications. Cliff noted it was pretty successful.

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Leave a generous tip for our meeting server. They put a lot of effort into setting up our meeting room and attending to our needs.

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BIRTHDAYS

Chaney Woodring - "HAPPY BIRTHDAY Chaney"

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Motion to adjourn by: Richard Stinson, KB3KBC

Second by: Fred Maize, KM3M

The meeting adjourned at: 8:27 PM. (Local time)

-- ICARC Meeting Attendance --

October 7, 2008

Darrell Norris, WA3AJQ
President 05, 06, 07, 08

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