RADIOACTIVITIES Newsletter of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club
Volume XLIV, Number 2	February, 2003

“We wanted to have something for people to take to nonhams and civic clubs,” said ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP. Haynie also anticipates that the CD-ROM production will come in handy during his visits to Capitol Hill. Haynie recently wowed those attending the January ARRL Board meeting by playing - and distributing - draft copies of the disk. A slightly revised, final version is expected to be ready for distribution in early February.

The presentation focuses on Amateur Radio’s role in emergency communications. Copyrighted by ARRL, the presentation is intended for personal, noncommercial use as a tool to showcase Amateur Radio in a manner that nonhams can relate to.

“Dozens of radio amateurs helped the police and fire departments and other emergency services maintain communications in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC,” narrator Cronkite intones in reference to ham radio’s response on September 11, 2001. “Their country asked, and they responded without reservation.” Amateur Radio Today also highlights ham radio’ part in helping various agencies respond to wildfires in the Western US during 2002 and mentions ham radio in space. Haynie said he and Bell discussed the project, and Bell agreed to take it on. Alan Kaul, W6RCL, authored the script, and Keith Glispie, WA6TFD, edited the production. Haynie said Bell, Kaul and Glispie donated a lot of their own time and effort in making the the video presentation a reality.

Amateur Radio “really is the best back-up communications system in the world,” Cronkite says in his concluding remarks, adding, “and that’s the way it is.” That phrase was the one Cronkite always used to close out his nightly newscasts during his tenure with CBS.

Individuals may order a copy of the Amateur Radio Today CD-ROM (approximately 70 MB) from the ARRL on-line catalog https://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=8861.

Plans are under way to also make Amateur Radio Today available in other video formats if there is sufficient demand. ARRL will make the presentation available for downloading from its Web site as soon as the final version is available.

All that’s needed to show the presentation to a group is a laptop computer with a CD drive plus a large monitor or a video projector and screen.

Bell, a Hollywood TV producer, is a past chairman of the ARRL Public Relations Committee. Kaul is an NBC Television producer. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, of Amateur Radio Newsline also assisted in the presentation’s production.

Because of copyright restrictions, Amateur Radio Today may not be broadcast, multicast or cablecast in any manner. Those seeking to distribute copies of Amateur Radio Today must contact ARRL for permission.

To request permission, send your name and contact information and a brief description of the intended use to ARRL Editorial and Production Manager, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; permission@arrl.org.

Let’s get those applications in to Dale just as soon you can. Keeps him busy on these cold winter days filling out membership cards and such.

Time to do that all important work around the shack. Building, fixing, and tinkering when it’s cold outside.

53% of the full members and 68% of the associate members have signed up for 2003. There should be another 2003 membership application form included with this newsletter if you have not already signed up. If there is an X in the lower right corner of the mailing label, you have not paid for 2003 according to my records. For those who have not signed up for 2003 by the publication time of the March newsletter, this will be your last newsletter. The March newsletter will contain a rerun of the access codes for the repeater and membership lists. The membership lists will consist of three lists: 1) full list sorted by last name, 2) e-mail list sorted by call suffix, and 3) full list sorted by call suffix with addresses and phone numbers. These lists will contain the names of the members who have signed up for 2003 at the time that I print the list, which will be about February 20.

For the ANL retired members, if you want to continue to receive the newsletter, you must either return an application or e-mail me. If I do not hear from a retired member by March 2003, I will remove your name from the mailing list.

In accordance with the constitution, Jim Specht (W9GBL) and Dick Konecny (K9IB) as license custodian and repeater chairman are automatically board members. The four officers then needed to elect two more directors. Loren Thompson was elected by the officers. The officers identified three possible candidates for the other director position. They will be approached in the near future and a willing candidate will then be elected.

Jim reminded us that he will be retiring this summer and we will need to start planning accordingly.

Bruce has been in contact with the Weather Service Office and a meteorologist will lead a SkyWarn presentation. The date will be finalized and then publicized soon.

Dale provided copies of comments that appeared on the registration forms for our information and discussion.

We discussed the 2 meter FM repeater situation. The current proposal is to move the repeater from its current location to the packet repeater’s location and it will be connected to the packet repeater’s antenna. The packet repeater would then of course have to be disconnected. Since the FM repeater is being moved anyway, it seemed reasonable to discuss the possibility of just purchasing a new repeater. Bruce and Chuck will investigate this possibility.

Bruce reported that regarding the 440 MHz repeater, we are currently awaiting the assignment of a frequency pair.

The deadline to submit items to Bruce to be printed in the February newsletter is January 23.

“This claim should be the very first VUCC for that band, and it took two years of hard work to make it happen,” said Justin. Both stations exchanged contact information using FSK-CW. All participants are members of the Lynchburg Amateur Radio Club (K4CQ), of which Justin is president. The group already has earned the first-issued VUCC awards on the 47 and 76 GHz bands.

Justin, who designed and built all of the equipment, set up his station in grid square EM96wx in Southwest Virginia. On the other end of the circuit was the W2SZ/4 station, with Howell, Lascell and De Vuyst. W2SZ/4 was at approximately 4000 feet above sea level in Virginia’s Bedford County in grid square FM07fm. Lascell said while the team was setting up, he was able to snag a 20-meter contact with KM1CC, the Marconi special event station on Cape Cod. “A neat way to tie the bottom of the spectrum and the beginning of radio to a new frontier 100 years later,” he said.

Weather conditions were just right for the QSO to take place with little wind and an extremely low dew point and no haze. Both stations ran about 4 mW of power and used one-foot dish antennas, which must be precisely aimed.

Additional information is available on the Mt Greylock Expeditionary Force Web site http://www.mgef.org.

“Since the repeater bears your call sign, it is important for you to understand that you are responsible for its proper operation,” Hollingsworth told Wachtell, whose residence is in Carson City, Nevada. “The decision to operate a repeater is a totally voluntary one. Repeaters are a convenience in the Amateur Radio Service, not a necessity.”

Hollingsworth said repeater control operators “must ensure immediate proper operation” of the system, regardless of the type of station control. If Wachtell cannot regain control of his repeater, then he must shut it down, Hollingsworth concluded.

Violations cited included failure of users to identify--or to identify correctly, intentional interference from “certain users,” use of the repeater by unlicensed operators and “lengthy carriers and key-ups.”

Hollingsworth told Wachtell that it’s his responsibility to prevent recurring and deliberate violations. “If you are unwilling or unable to prevent violations on your K7IJ repeater, then your operator and station licenses will be subject to enforcement action by the Commission,” warned Hollingsworth, who raised the specter of fines, suspension and license revocation.

In an unrelated repeater case, Hollingsworth sent a Warning Notice December 4 to Wayne Curley, WA6NRB, who operates a repeater in the Los Angeles area. Hollingsworth cited monitoring information that the repeater has been used by an unlicensed individual, Richard Burton, ex-WB6JAC.

Burton spent three months in a federal jail last year after being convicted of unlicensed operation. Hollingsworth also reminded Curley that a repeater licensee is responsible for recurring violations and that enforcement action--fines, suspension or revocation--could result if he is unable to prevent violations on his repeater.

Accompanying the nine-year-old on her upgrade journey were her parents, Anthony, NO2M, and Sondra Harper, KA4EIC. There was a lot of excitement as the volunteer examiners from the Montgomery CAVEC group graded her Element 4 answer sheet, then rechecked it twice more. A General licensee at the time of the session, Elizabeth also might hold the distinction of being the only youngster her age now working on her third ham radio call sign.

When she sat for the Extra, she was KG4NAU. The FCC issued her a new sequential call sign, AG4WP, which she held for about three weeks until the FCC granted her vanity application. Elizabeth now is AK3H. - Steve Padgett, K4NM

I invite you all to come check out the site at: http://www.antennasup.org. More important, though, is that when you check out the site, be thorough and pay particular attention to the intent I have (had?) to create an organization to help hams deal with antenna issues as well as to lobby for legislative change. So far with a couple thousand hits on the site, I have NO organization. It makes me wonder if everyone is more than happy to complain about the antenna issue but nobody is willing to do anything about it. I can’t do it myself! If we want to get some action, we have to TAKE some action, and that’s what “Antennas UP!” is supposed to be about. At the National level, State level and Local level there is work to be done. None of it is either too small or too big if people will get off their duffs and come together to do it.

So drop by again and check out my newest editorial as well as the “Non-governmental links” for info. on yet another organization that shares our interests.

73’s to all, good DX and ANTENNAS UP!

Duane Mantick
WB9OMC

09		KB9QCS		Bruce		Joliet, IL
10		N9QGU		Bob		Willowbrook, IL
10		K9GF		George		Berwyn, IL
25		K9AGY		Charles		Chicago Ridge, IL
26		W9MVP		John		Park Ridge, IL
27		KA9CRU		Henry		Joliet, IL

PLEASE NOTE THE LOCATION:

• If You Can Read This, I’ve Lost My Trailer.
• I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha
• This Would Be Really Funny If It Weren’t Happening To Me
• Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult
• If We Quit Voting Will They All Go Away?
• The Face Is Familiar But I Can’t Quite Remember My Name
• Honk If Anything Falls Off
• He Who Hesitates Is Not Only Lost But Miles From The Next Exit
• I Do Whatever My Rice Krispies Tell Me To
• It’s Been Lovely But I Have To Scream Now
• I Haven’t Lost My Mind, It’s Backed Up On Disk..... Somewhere
• If You Can Read This, Please Flip Me Back Over.. [Seen Upside Down, On A Jeep]
• Boldly Going Nowhere
• Honk If You’ve Never Seen An Uzi Fired From A Car Window