Field Day is now only a memory but the enthusiasm for next year is already boiling.

This year the club went to Kelley’s Island State Park to participate in the annual ARRL event. Ten club members and 2 guests were in attendance with 262 contacts credited to us.

The park ranger allowed us to set-up near the sewage treatment plant on the south side of the park: this allowed the generators to run without disturbing the other campers during the quite hours of 11:30 PM to 7:00 A.M. The ranger reported no complaints from any of our neighbors.

The HF and VHF antennas were placed on a 35’ telescoping pole. Bob WB8KDL set up his van as the operation area and started promptly at 2:00 P.M. With a mid contest antenna change Bob and crew were on their way to many contacts on 20 and 80 meters.

Everyone in attendance agrees there is room for improvement, however it was a success and we would like to try again. Our special thanks to Denny KC8HAB. He, unfortunately, was unable to attend as much as he would have liked because of the tornado damage to his place of business. His hard work in securing the site and gaining permission for us to run the generators made the event the great success it was. If you get a chance, thank Denny in person for his hard work.

by Ken Hill N8WXD

Hopefully by the time you receive this information Erie County Emergency Management Agency will be moved to the basement of the Erie County Jail & Sheriff's Department. The move was acted upon by Bill Walker and the Erie County Commissioners. We will have a completely new and remodeled emergency operation center to operate from in case of an actual emergency or disaster.

A new 90 foot commercial tower has been installed in the jail area and is equipped with the following antennas:

• Gap Titan 80-10M HF vertical at 90’ with 9099 feedline.
• 22 Element 440 beam (packet) at 85’ with 1/2" hard-line aimed at Fremont.
• 11 Element 220 MHz beam (packet) at 80’ with 1/2" hard-line aimed at Elyria.
• 2 Meter Omni-directional at 70’ with 1/2" hard-line for voice communication.
• Hustler G6 2-Meter Omni-directional at 70’ with 9099 feedline for local packet communication.

The remaining antennas mounted on the tower are for public service bands. Some polyphaser lightning protection has been included in construction, but it leaves much to be desired. The "op" room has 3 power circuits (excluding lighting) that is backed up by a Kohler 300 KW autotransfer generator that is shared with the rest of the Erie County Jail facility. The EOC radio room is shared with public service departments, which is its only drawback. When the move is complete, we will schedule a tour of the new EMA emergency operations center.

We are going to hold a special event operation on Kelley’s Island on Sat. Nov. 7, 1998. The purpose of this event is to activate Kelley’s Island for Ham Radio island chasers who are seeking awards for contacting islands of the U.S.

Actually the above is the excuse, but the real purpose is to have a lot of fun. We will set up at the state park on Kelley’s Island on Saturday morning. Several club members are planning to camp over night and pack up the equipment on Sunday morning. W8LBZ will operate from noon till midnight on Nov 7. Operations will begin on 20M, 14.235 and go until dusk at which time operations will switch to 40M, 7.235 and go until midnight. Anyone who wants to help in any way is welcome to join in the fun. We can use help setting up, operating, and tearing down; or just come and watch if you like.

Information on the event has been submitted to QST and should appear in the "Special Events" section of the November issue. Information has also been posted on the USI Awards program INTERNET site at "www.eng.mu.edu/~usi.

If you want to camp at the park the charge is $15.00 per night. A second vehicle on a site is only $5.00. If you have a Golden Buckeye card you get a 10% discount on weekends and a 50% discount on weekdays. The phone number of the Kelley’s Island State Park is 746-2546. The address is 920 Division Street. Reservations are not required. It is first come first served. I would guess the camp will not be full this time of year.

There are two ferryboat lines that operate between Marblehead and Kelley’s Island. The Neuman Ferry Line (795-5800) and the Kelley’s Island Ferry Line (798-9763). Both of these ferry lines attempt to run all year round, but this late in the season could see cancellations depending on the weather.

The rates for both ferry lines are the same. $9.00 for a person, $16.00 for a vehicle + $9.00 per person, and $10.00 for a trailer under 18 feet. A substantial discount may be available at the time of the event. Call the number below for information on discounts.

If you want to come without a vehicle we will pick you up at the ferry dock. We will monitor the 146.655 and 444.375 repeaters. Give a call from the parking lot before you get on the ferry.

If you have any questions call Jim KI8BV at 419-621-2322 or 419-621-8096

Normally the club has a Christmas party the first Saturday in December, this year’s would be December 5th. However, in recent years attendance has been dwindling and we didn’t even have a Christmas party in 1997. We need to start now to decide if we want a Christmas party this year. This party is the best time to meet the wives and family of your fellow club members. It’s also just a chance to kick back and enjoy the holidays. Discuss the party with your family as we will be soon discussing this with the membership. Normally we host the party at the club in a pot luck style dinner. Also Santa Claus needs to be contacted to see if he can make a stop at the club during his busiest time of the year. The club provides the meat and refreshments. If you have a different idea, please bring it up at the meeting. If you haven’t been able to attend the meetings lately give another club member a call and tell him. Even if you can’t make it to the party please let your thoughts be known, being silent benefits no one and we want everyone to participate.

Is there a need for a Mobile Communications trailer? This is what I would like to know. Fortunately, there has never been a need to quickly provide communication in an emergency. The question is, "Could we provide reliable communications quickly?" With a trailer of this type we could provide dependable communications in a timely manner in addition to providing an emergency operations area. You may ask why a trailer and not some other vehicle similar to an old bus, ambulance or bread truck: the problem with those is the fact that you will have to maintain the engine and hope it will start when you need it. Most small pickups and mid-size cars can easily handle towing a small trailer eliminating the need for a self propelled system. All the equipment necessary for emergency communications could be housed in or on the trailer, requiring less preparation for an event.

The trailer could also be used for other functions other than emergency communications, i.e., field day, special events stations, public service, etc.

Many members have expressed interested in this trailer but agree that the price, at this time, is cost prohibitive. However, we may be able to raise the $2000.00 for a new one by fund raisers. We also do not have to buy a new one, used ones are available for a lot less. There are even trailers available in government surplus. The most important requirement should be the weight of the trailer--around 2000 to 3000 pounds fully loaded. This way most mid size cars and small trucks could tow it without any problems.

When this trailer was discussed at a previous meeting, there was a question on it’s insurance. Upon checking in to some policies, it was noted that many auto insurance companies will cover towing a trailer. When it is stored at the club it would be covered by the club’s property insurance.

The annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will be held October 3^rd. I will talk to Bill Walker, the EMA director, on a possible scenario during this exercise. To increase participation this year we will be able to have check-ins on 146.655 and 146.805 due to the newly installed outside 2 meter antenna at the Erie County Emergency Operations Center. We will also need someone to be a go-between on the different repeaters and report the check-ins to the ARES net control. I will have more on the exercise later, but it will be a table top or stay at home test, unless the ARRL changes things this year. Tentative time is 10:00 A.M.

It is very important to have many check-ins to this ARES net. The information on the quantity of the check-ins is sent to the ARRL. The ARRL then uses this information to fight off little LEO’s and other band treats based on the augment of little usage of the frequencies. Stay tuned, more information to follow.

The annual Fall fox hunt will be Sunday October 25, 1998. The hunt will start at 9:00 A.M. lasting until Noon. Stating point will be the club house. Lunch will be served for all that attend.

With the addition of a 80M-10M vertical at the ECEMA, Ken Hill N8WXD and myself, Dave Troike WD8CXB have been exploring the addition of a HF port to ECEMA. Tentatively we will be adding this port in November on 7.100.5 MHz. This frequency is very busy, with standard packet, sometimes too busy due to packet forwarding between distant BBS’s. The activity on HF packet is much like VHF packet with the exception of the baud rate lowered to 300 baud. This slow rate is a hindrance to forwarding but can be a blessing in disguise because many of the older TNC’s will do 300 baud HF operation. This allows a new HF packet operator to utilize this mode of operation without spending a lot of money on a new multi-mode TNC.

If you want to just listen to the activity on HF, connect your TNC’s audio input to your HF radio speaker output, and, using the manual, change the necessary parameters for HF packet. If you like what you see you will then have to make a cable for the transmit audio. This takes a little more time than just the audio from the speaker output but it will be worth it when ECEMA is on line and you are far from home.

Pat Johnson KA8VDW has just recently added battery backup to the club’s 6 meter repeater. Four 31 ampere hour batteries were donated to the club for use on the repeater. Pat Johnson KA8VDW with Dick Dodd KC8EKD helping, installed the system and programmed the repeater to indicate the battery operation by changing the courtesy beep to the letter "B". This is the same as the 146.655 repeater. The 2 meter repeater can now be linked to the 6 meter repeater from the 146.655 repeater using Touch-ToneÔ commands. See me, Dave WD8CXB for command numbers.

Currently the MSYS packet bulletin board system, operated by Bill Richie N8FIS, in Fremont is off the air due to a lighting strike. We currently are forwarding direct to W8HHF in Toledo with excellent results. Our new antenna system is pointed at Fremont to N8FIS’s QTH, however, we are still able to receive W8HHF full scale 90% of the time. This makes transmission of packet traffic quicker across the Northern Ohio area.

The Ottawa County Amateur Radio Club, K8VHX is currently planning on installing a full service packet bulletin board system. This system will be located in Port Clinton on a 120 foot tower. They will have forwarding ports on 223.48 and 441.050. The plan is to forward to K8VHX on 441.050 from W8LBZ and then to W8HHF on 223.48 to provide a more reliable connection. An added benefit to the addition of K8VHK will be evident if any of the packet bulletin board systems would fail. For example if K8VHK was to fail W8LBZ could reliably forward to W8HHF or if W8LBZ failed N8ITP could forward to K8VHK on 223.48. This would ensure that the packet links could be maintained even if one of the inter-linking systems failed.

A while ago, Bob Heim, K8HLH and Tom Troike, WA8VOE constructed and installed two dipoles for 40M and 17M. This was done in a snow storm and in a temporary fashion. We are in need of volunteers to move these antennas to a higher location before the snow flies (Again!). The coax also needs to be changed from RG-58 to RG-8.

If you want to volunteer for an antenna party please mention it at one of the meetings.