The Illuminator
The monthly newsletter of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club
Elections at
August Meeting!
August Meeting
The next regular
meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club will be held on Thursday, August 16, at
the EOC in Nesquehoning. This
is our annual election meeting, so it is very important that YOU
attend and help shape the future of CARC.
A Memorial Gift
By Larry, N3CR
As you may know, KF4TAA
Nancy Marsh, wife of David Marsh W3AMC of Cherryville, has suddenly became a
Silent Key on July 8th, 2001. At the
last meeting it had been voted on to place a hard cover version of the ARRL
Handbook in the Slatington Library in memory of Nancy KF4TAA by the Carbon ARC. The book should arrive soon and be donated
after the next meeting. Nancy and David
were regular users of our repeater.
Please keep them in your prayers.
Nancy Marsh KF4TAA...SK
From the President’s Desk
By Larry, N3CR
Greetings one and
all! Where has our summer gone? August is here and the last rush of vacations
is taking place. But look where we have
been. Three months the Carbon ARC was
on the road. In June, after a last
minute change of QTHs, we had a very successful FIELD DAY.
Needless to say, I am
still drooling over the "Field Day Chili!" That is some good stuff.
Lisa and Bill I know the next business interest you should invest
in! Jar that stuff. PLEASE!
In June, the Carbon ARC
went on the road, this time with a "Supper Club" meeting at the
Boulevard Diner in Lehighton. Again,
another good turnout and enjoyable meeting.
Nice to see the XYLs out there with our members. This kind of meeting could become habit
forming and the
Harlemans appreciated
our business. July was our annual
Carbon ARC Pizza Meeting at Caruso's Restaurant, also in Lehighton. We had 18 members and guests attend. As usual, the group kept the waitresses
running for pizza and refreshments. I
guess we really made their Thursday night a good one! We will have to look at having one again in December or January
to get all the members out.
Don't forget! August is also election month. This very important meeting will determine
who your officers will be for the following year. All line officers and one director-at-large spot held currently
by Bruce Appleton, N3RXJ. All offices
are up for grabs, especially Secretary who requests to be replaced. Bob, K3PH has served us well but finds
future meetings may become a problem. I
am sure he will still serve on the newsletter team and help get the word of the
Carbon ARC around.
Nominations were made at
the Pizza Meeting and will be taken before elections at the August meeting to
be held at the EOC/Comm Center in Nesquehoning, PA, just off Route 93, two
miles north of route 209. Look for the
Carbon County K-9 sign. The meeting will
start promptly at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, August 16, 2001. What a popular date.
I want to thank everyone
for making the Field Day, Supper Club Meeting, Pizza Meeting and elections a
popular time for the club. This is your
club. If you have an interesting idea,
present it at the next meeting. Stay
tuned for the next time the Carbon ARC goes "on the road" with it's
meeting. It has been fun for all. Make your voice heard. Attend the next meeting for the election of
officers! Your president would appreciate
it! 73s de Larry N3CR....
Propagation
By Larry, N3CR
It has been a while
since my last report but little has changed.
For a while enhanced solar activity was making a mess of things,
especially the 10m and 12m bands. Along
with the usually summer noise, the A Index spent most of the month above Ai of
10. Many days were spent at the Ai 20
level leaving all but the big antenna/high power stations on 10 meters. Signals on 15m and 20m were down as well
with mostly stateside stations being heard with the noise-free signals. DX was being worked but a beam was needed to
work the good ones. At the same time,
signals were propagating on the 80m and 160m bands with more activity being
heard. 40m is still the best band for
hearing activity at most parts of the day.
Evening DX had its moments of activity before 10 pm local time. VHF had been showing regular periods of
enhancement between 6 am and 8 am local time and again between 9 pm and 10:30
pm evenings. One evening I heard a
South Carolina station into one area mountaintop UHF repeater. (Must have been a trough.) He report hearing 3 or 4 other repeater
tails each transmission. This lasted
almost a half hour.
With the autumn equinox
approaching September 22nd, we should see the return of signals on 10m and 12m
along with a lower summer noise factor.
Morning and afternoon sessions of DX should be heard on those bands once
again. F Layer propagation should
return and increased signals found on all the DX bands. Sunspots and solar flux average about 20
points lower than conditions found in May.
Sunspots should hold at about 160 level and solar flux at about the 150
level. This should give us fair
propagation to any one area on a regular basis, especially on the 20m, 17m, 15m
bands. Activity on 10m should be down
until the hours of darkness increase when signals will come up but the band
will close earlier.
Six meter operators got
use of their radios over the summer.
Although the openings are usually of short duration, signals were being
heard coast to coast with the east coast reaching some of the newer stations
being heard on six meters. Generally,
the openings have been occurring between 9 am and 10:30 am and evening openings
from 6 pm to 8 pm local time. One
opening the end of June lasted four hours for some stations filling the band
from 50.110 MHz to 50.250 MHz. With
more six meter capable radios out there, more stations are being worked, most
with simple antennas or small 3 to 5 element beams. Six meter FM activity on 52.525 MHz is a telltale indicator that
things are pretty warm on 6m SSB.
As always, thanks for
your report. I read them all. I was always told, put up an antenna as big
and high as you are able, buy the hottest radio you can, and turn up the wick if
you want to work the good ones. Then I
hear stations running verticals at 15 feet and wonder why I am not hearing
them. Often it helps to disconnect the
dummy load! Until next time, 73s de
N3CR Larry...
Carbon Amateur
Radio Club
Regular
Meeting Minutes
July 19, 2001
President,
Larry Lilly, N3CR, called a regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club to
order at 7:53 p.m. on Thursday, July 19, 2001 at the Caruso’s Restaurant in
Lehighton. Fourteen people attended.
The
minutes were read by Bob, K3PH, and approved by the members in attendance.
John,
W3MF, read the treasurer’s report. At
the last meeting, we had a balance of $980.38.
We had receipts of $30.00 and disbursements of $5.44 for mailing the
newsletter plus $200 in Field Day expenses, leaving a total of $804.94. The members in attendance approved the
Treasurer’s report.
The
club expressed its thanks to Goody, N3CR, for organizing the CARC Field Day
effort this year. It also expressed its
thanks to Bill and Lisa Kelley for hosting Field Day.
It
was noted that Nancy Marsh, KF4TAA, recently passed away. Bert, W3OWP, moved that we donate an ARRL
Handbook to the Slatington library in her memory. The motion passed unanimously.
Bob, K3PH, will order the Handbook.
Nominations
were taken for officers for the coming year.
Goody, K3NG was nominated for President, Bruce, N3RXJ, was nominated for
Secretary, John, W3MF, was nominated for treasurer, and Bob, K3PH, was
nominated for At-large Director.
Larry,
N3CR, mentioned a new cell tower was erected in Jim Thorpe, which could become
an issue that could affect amateurs because it is being called a
“telecommunications” tower rather than a “cell phone” tower. So, any new regulations with respect to
telecommunications towers could affect amateur radio towers. Larry will file comments to try to educate
the town fathers regarding PRB-1.
The
meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m.
DX Bulletin 31 ARLD031
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT August 2, 2001
To all radio amateurs
This week's bulletin was
made possible with information provided by Tedd, KB8NW, the OPDX Bulletin,
PS7AB, The Daily DX, QRZ DX, 425DXnews, DXNL and Contest Corral from QST. Thanks to all.
TUNISIA, 3V. New station 3V8MED has
been QRV on 20 and 15 meters using SSB.
QSL via DL1BDF.
NIGERIA, 5N. Paulo, 5N3NDP/6, has been
QRV on 14241 kHz from 0100 to 0300z.
QSL via IK5JAN.
KUWAIT, 9K. Special event callsign
9K11POW is active until August 5. QSL
via 9K2RA.
EAST MALAYSIA, 9M6. Irwin, KD3TB, is QRV as
9M6TBT from Kota Kinabalu until August 5.
QSL to home call. Meanwhile,
Phil, G4JMB, will be QRV as 9M6CT from August 4 to September 16.
COLOMBIA, HK. Dave, W5WP, is QRV as
HK5/W5WP until August 10, and is active using mostly SSB, with some CW and
PSK31 on 40 to 10 meters, including the newer bands. QSL to home call.
SOUTH KOREA, HL. Operators from the
Hanyang University Wave Research Club are QRV as HL0C/4 from Wi Island, IOTA
AS-148, until August 8. Activity is on
40, 20 and 15 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY.
QSL via operators' instructions.
MIDWAY ISLAND, KH4. Ted, NH6YK, is QRV as
NH4/NH6YK until August 5 as time permits.
Activity is on all HF bands and 6 meters using SSB. QSL to home call.
MARKET REEF, OJ0. Look for LA3IKA, LA5UKA,
LA6YEA and LA9VDA to be QRV as OJ0/homecalls from August 5 to 8. Activity will be on 160 to 2 meters using
CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via homecalls,
except OJ0/LA6YEA via LA9VDA.
TRINDADE AND MARTIM VAZ
ISLANDS, PY0T. Look for ZX0T and PT0T, and possibly
PY1LVF/PY0T and PY1VOY/PY0T, to be QRV from Trindade from August 7 to 10. Activity will be on 40 to 10 meters, on the
usual DX and IOTA frequencies, using CW and SSB. QSL via PY1LVF.
BANGLADESH, S2. Junji, JA7KXD, is QRV as
S21YT until August 8. QSL to home call.
COSTA RICA, TI. TE8AT is active from
Chira Island, IOTA NA-116, until August 5.
QSL via TI3MCY.
EUROPEAN RUSSIA, UA. Special event station
R3DAS is active until August 19 from Zhukovsky near Moscow. QSL via UA3DJ.
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLAND,
VP5. Dick, K9APW, is vacationing on North Caicos
Island, IOTA NA-002, until August 12 and will be QRV as VP5/K9APW on 6 meters,
as much as he can. QSL to home call.
CAMBODIA, XU. Frank is QRV as XU7ABR
and has been found on 30 meters on 10125 kHz after 1800z. QSL via DL4KQ.
THIS WEEKEND ON THE
RADIO. The ARRL UHF Contest, North American CW QSO
Party, Ten-Ten Summer QSO Party, QRP ARCI Summer Daze SSB Sprint and the YO-DX
Contest will keep contesters busy this weekend. Please see August QST, page 111
for details.
Check out
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/n0ujr for other cartoons and to purchase N0UJR’s
book, “N0UJR and His Friends.”
Comparison Chart Between
Drug Dealers
And Software
Developers
Drug Dealers |
Software Developers |
Refer to
their clients as “users.” |
Refer to
their clients as “users.” |
“The
first one’s free!” |
“Download
a free trial version…” |
Have
important Southeast Asian connections (to help move the stuff). |
Have
important Southeast Asian connections (to help debug the code). |
Strange
jargon: “stick,” “rock,” “dime bag,” “E.” |
Strange
jargon: “SCSI,” “RTFM,” “Java,” “ISDN.” |
Realize
that there’s tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market. |
Realize
that there’s tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market. |
Job is
assisted by the industry’s producing newer, more potent mixes. |
Job is
assisted by industry’s producing newer, faster machines. |
Often
seen in the company of pimps and hustlers. |
Often
seen in the company of marketing people and venture capitalists. |
Their
product causes unhealthy addictions. |
Doom. Quake.
SimCity. |
Do your
job well and you can sleep with sexy movie stars who depend on you. |
Damn. Damn!
DAMN! |
The club needs an EC/RO for the ARES and RACES
activities. Contact Larry, N3CR, for
details.
Carbon Amateur Radio Club – 2000-2001 Officers
President:
Larry Lilly, N3CR [email protected]
Vice
President: Glenn O’Donnell, K3PP
Secretary: Bob
Schreibmaier, K3PH
Treasurer:
John Schreibmaier, W3MF
W3HA Callsign
Trustee: Bill Dale, WY3K
W3HA Repeater
Trustee: John Bednar, K3CT
Public
Information Officer: Bill Kelley, KA3UKL
Directors
John Bednar, K3CT, Bruce Appleton, N3RXJ,
Bert Rex, W3OWP
Illuminator Staff
Editor: Bob,
K3PH [email protected]
DX: Bob, K3PH
Foxhunting:
open
Propagation
and Commentary: Larry, N3CR [email protected]
Newsletter
Printing, Folding, and Mailing: Bob, K3PH
Services
W3HA Repeater:
147.255 Mhz + PL 131.8
CARC Website: http://www.cpals.com/~elitehom/carc/
Webmaster:
Rob, KB3BYT [email protected]
CARC Email
Reflector: see www.qth.net CarbonARC list for
details
CARC Membership Information
Regular
Membership is $15.00, which includes autopatch privileges.
All amateur radio operators are invited to join the CARC
ARES / RACES net held 21:00 local time every Wednesday on the W3HA repeater at
147.255 MHz + offset, PL 131.8. Any
amateur radio operator or anyone with an interest in ham radio is welcome to
attend our monthly meetings which occur the third Thursday of each month at
7:30 PM at the Carbon County EMA Center on Route 93 in Nesquehoning.