RADIOACTIVITIES Newsletter of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club
Volume XL, Number 12	December, 1999

The December club meeting will be the Holiday party being held on Sunday, December 12 at 1:15 p.m. at the Old Country Buffet. The restaurant is located in the Grove Shopping Center on the northwest corner of 75th St. and Lemont Road in Downers Grove. Santa Claus will visit us. Santa will conduct a grab bag gift distribution. To participate, please bring a wrapped gift under $5 in value. Completed membership applications for 2000 will also be accepted.

The Amateur Radio community has been awaiting license restructuring—known officially as the 1998 Biennial Regulatory Review of Part 97 (WT Docket 98-143)—for nearly one year now. While no one has mentioned a hard-and-fast date to wrap up the long-awaited proceeding, reports from several sources suggest that the RO draft is in its final stages and could be complete within a month or so.

During a recent a visit to top FCC officials in Washington, League officials pressed again for early action on the license restructuring rulemaking. They were assured that the issue was not stalled and that the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau was "working very actively" to move restructuring along.

There is no information on what the anticipated Report Order will contain. The restructuring debate generated more than 2200 comments to the FCC, many of them from individual amateurs. Once the FCC approves the Report Order, a Public Notice will be issued, and the actual R&O will be released probably within a few days.

Your new Editor will be Bruce Epperson, KA9JXU. I know that you will give him the same support and assistance that you have given me. Happy holidays, and 73!

The minutes of the last meeting and the treasurer's report were accepted as published in the newsletter.

We decided to go ahead with the Christmas Party as enough interest was expressed. It will be held at Old Country Buffet at 1:15 p.m. on December 12. Bill will reserve it and is handling getting a Santa Claus. Joe will give a non-denominational grace if he can attend.

Bruce volunteered to take over editing the newsletter come year 2000. Bruce will talk to Gary about transferring the materials, files and responsibilities. Starting in 2000, then, the process will be that articles and other items for the newsletter should be given to Bruce. Bruce will write the newsletter and give it to Stan. Stan will have it run off as usual. Bill and Dennis will handle the external mailings while Joe will do the internal distribution as they have been.

The October 20 cleanup in the room at Building 212 could not be done because the door was locked and there were questions about entry due to radon postings. We decided to reschedule the cleanup to Thursday November 11 at noon. Dennis will handle any related ES&H issues beforehand.

There has been no activity yet on the QSL cards. Fred is selling the hats and patches - a few were sold during the meeting.

A motion was made, seconded and approved unanimously to give Dick Fergus a club hat of his choice for his fine presentation on severe weather at the November 2 club meeting.

We have a nice piece of property, on the bank of the Rock River and wooded with 100 year-old oak trees. Unfortunately there is no good place for an antenna tower, but there is plenty of room for wire antennas. So I will be returning to the ham radio of my youth as well, using wire antennas in the trees. I also have installed a discone in the attic, so that I can get on vhf radio immediately. But no hf, for a while.

The biggest loss that I foresee is that of my cherished cable internet connection. Even if the local cable company could provide it (which they can't), our house is in an unincorporated area several miles from town—there simply is no cable out there, and there are no plans for it. Of course I don't yet know what my new e-mail address will be, but remember that I will always get mail sent to k9czb@arrl.net.

So I will be returning to a quieter, simpler, slower-paced lifestyle. There will be some sacrifices, but I'm confident that they will be overshadowed by the benefits. And I will get back on the air!

The reason for young amateurs being above average citizens can be attributed to what I call the Magnificent Seven Drug Fighters. These qualities also keep kids out of other trouble. Amateur Radio provides a source for all seven of these qualities. Here are the Magnificent Seven:

Self-esteem is the number one quality that keeps kids off drugs and out of trouble. Amateur Radio builds self-esteem by giving the kids a sense of worth and accomplishment.

Self-confidence gives kids the courage to say "no" to trouble and to believe in themselves. Studying for and passing the amateur exams is a great self-confidence builder.

Goals for the future keep kids out of trouble. When kids have goals they are interested in reaching, they don't want to take a chance of ruining their plans. Ham radio gives children the opportunity to learn about many worthwhile vocations and helps them decide what they want to do in life.

Values of fair play, correct operating procedures, respect for others, and many more are learned through hamming. These values are essential to building a well-balanced personality.

Education teaches people to think for themselves. Kids who can think independently of the group are more likely to stay away from harmful activities.

Family ties are very important to keeping kids out of trouble. Many parents of young hams also are hams and share the hobby with their kids. Sometimes it works the other way around: Patrick, KC0EDH, got his license first. Then his father became interested and also became a ham.

Varied interests keep kids busy, help them learn about their world, and help them decide what they want to do in life. Amateur Radio is certainly a varied-interest hobby. Kids with just a Technician license can talk through repeaters, talk to the space shuttle, work satellites, and more.

A way to lower the level of juvenile violence would be to make Amateur Radio an elective class in all schools. I am willing to bet that almost all of the kids taking the ham class, and passing the FCC exams, would turn out to be great citizens. If you don't believe that, try to find a Crips or Bloods special event station on the air.

Three hams on a DXpedition were blown off course and landed on an island ruled by a despot. Upon coming ashore, they were immediately arrested, tried for espionage, and sentenced to death.

As the first ham was being strapped into the primitive electric chair, he intoned, "As a graduate of the Yale School of Law, I can tell you that this is a travesty! You have not observed the most rudimentary rules of due process, and this conviction would not be upheld anywhere in the world." They threw the switch, but nothing happened. So they decided that maybe he was right, and set him free.

While being strapped in, the second ham pleaded, "As a graduate of the Furman University School of Theology, I can tell you that this goes counter to all of God's teachings. If you kill me for this, it will be a blot on your souls for eternity." They threw the switch, and again nothing happened, so they decided that maybe he, too, was right, and set him free.

As they were strapping in the third ham, he said matter-of-factly, "As a graduate of the Georgia Tech school of engineering, I can tell you that you guys are never gonna get this thing to work if you don't connect those two wires."

May God rest his soul.

Three hams were chewing the rag. When the conversation got around to their marriages, ham #1 said, "My wife doesn't understand ham radio. But she sort of puts up with it, and our fourth wedding anniversary is next month."

Ham #2 replied, "Same here. We'll be married fifteen years next week. But I have a nice gift for her and I'm hoping it will improve her humor the next time I spend a weekend working a contest."

"Well, my wife absolutely hates ham radio," said ham #3, "and we'll be married fifty years tomorrow."

"Fifty!" the others exclaimed. "And she hates ham radio! How have you managed to stay married?"

"Well, she always wanted to go to Niagara Falls, so for our twenty-fifth anniversary, I took her there."

"And that did the trick?"

"Yup. And for our fiftieth, maybe I'll go back and get her."

Here's Bill's Last Page of the newsletter. This may take a while to download.