>From the President-KB9JTL
We had the opportunity to participate in several different
activities during
the past weeks. It always amazes me how many things can
go wrong with unused
equipment. The tear down, transport, and setup procedure
also takes its
toll. Practicing by participating in these kinds of activities
is an
important step in preparing for a communication emergency.
The nuclear drill
is a higher profile activity that will help preserve
our portion of the
spectrum. Our repeater, being partially operational,
and lack of personnel,
both had a negative impact on how well we did. Not having
outside antennas
at the sites we were trying to serve was also a factor
this year.
It is hard to immediately measure the impact we may have
by participating in
the scouting events. Some of the kids don't seem interested
and others are
totally fascinated. Exposing them to amateur radio and
answering questions
they have may spark interest that they will act upon
years from now. This
Saturday is Jamboree On The Air from 2 till 8 at the
clubhouse. See Joe
(KB9EZZ) to see how you can help.
If we have a door prize to give away at a meeting I will
have the drawing
after break. This will give everyone the chance to get
their name in either
before the meeting or during break. The winner must be
present in order to
claim the prize. If not, we will pick another name.
During the November meeting we will be nominating and
electing officers.
Serving as an Officer or committee chairman is the most
important thing you
can do to help the club. Be at the meeting and participate
in this important
process.
73 for now. This is KB9JTL trying to hear you through
the QRM.
SRRC 01OCT00 meeting (Leonore)-KF9NZ
N9PLJ offered the club the parts from a suspended ceiling
he has to remove
from the former business in Peru. It was
voted to donate $100.00 to the
Red Covered Bridge Club for their help at the hamfest.
There was some
discussion about the antenna system, and a meeting was
set for Saturday, the
7th to make some decisions. KB9TMA will preside
N9ZJK announced that there will be a drawing for a prize
to the seller of
the winning 50/50 ticket - so put your call on the back
of all tickets you
sell. Members were reminded that next month's meeting
will be election of
Officers time.
REPEATER HAPPENINGS-KF9NZ
The repeater was hit by lightning on Sept 22. It
came via the power line,
and I had to break the AC power plug loose from the outlet.
The ground pin
was welded to the socket. I have repaired
the power supply and the
transmitter, which had minor damage. The receiver
is OK. The voter is
repairable. The power amp has to go back
to the Manufacturer's repair
facility in Texas. The preamp is a write-off I
am sure. I haven't looked
at the remote receiver at all. The controller is
a big question right now.
It does a few things, but it is certainly damaged.
It will not talk -
either voice or CW, and will not accept programming.
I have not been able
to contact the maker - S-Com Industries in Loveland Co.
Their web site is
down, and so far no answer to my e-mails. Their
phone number is changed. I
hope they have not gone belly-up. They were still
operating in August.
SO - "How come..." you may ask " the repeater is
working???" Good
question! Thank Buck for the loan of the club's
old repeater, which he has
so generously loaned back to us. I have fixed
a couple of small problems
it had, and fired it up. It is only putting
out 25 watts, and about 10 of
those are eaten up by the cavity filters, so we are putting
about 15 watts
up the coax. I have heard comments
about how good it sounds. It is more
of a "hi-fi" rig. Our regular computer uses
Midland equipment, and the
audio is tailored for communication quality.
If I had not had the service monitor we bought recently,
I would not have
been able to tune up this equipment to work anywhere
near as well as it is
now.
I called our insurance agent and reported the damage.
I will follow up and
make a claim when we have a better idea of the costs.
We still need the
second remote receive site! Keep looking.
Equipment Committee Meeting-KB9TMA
After a several hour discussion/meeting for the equipment
committee, the
final decisions on the looming antenna project for the
SRRC have been made.
Lower the tower, and remove the existing HF beam that
is not working
properly. If completely unrepairable, this beam will
be used for parts and
such. In it's place, the Mosley TA-33M antenna the club
purchased in July
will be erected. The two meter beam will be fixed, and
will continue to be
operating off of the tower. Pat (KC6VVT), with Fred (KB9UIU)
as ground
safety supervisor, will work on getting these projects
accomplished before
the weather turns for the worst. We hope to have everything
done by November
1st. In addition, Pat will be working on getting the
2m Ringo Ranger
verticle mounted either on the roof or off of the eaves,
so that the packet
station can utilize its very own seperate antenna system.
There were only two minor "roadblocks" to completion of
this project. There
are several parts missing to the new Mosley TA-33M, in
which I will be in
contact with the company to seek those replacement parts
(this was a used
antenna). Once we have these parts, the HF beam will
be good to go. In
addition, the 2m meter beam and new Mosley HF beam will
require new runs of
coax cable. Does anyone know if the club has any reserve
cable left in
another location?? If not, we are going to need to purchase
some cable,
preferably RG-214 or Belden 9913 low loss runs. If you
know of anyone who
has any extra type of coax such as this lying around,
in good condition, let
me know ASAP.
Otherwise, the club will have to purchase a new spool.
It has been suggested
to purchase, if needed, a 500 foot reserve spool. What
is left over after
the antenna project can be used for future projects,
or sold in increments a
s such. The only problem is that this will set the club
back about $200.00!!
Matt (KB9VZH) will be picking up a few needed "odds and
ends" supplies for
the project from Farm and Fleet, expected to run less
than $10.00 total.
These will help Pat out when he's working on the tower.
Due to these two inconsistencies, there is no formal "antenna
party" date
scheduled for this project. Pat has stated that he can
handle the bulk of
the project himself, with assistance of Fred (KB9UIU)
as a ground safety
supervisor. They will be working on all of this, time
permitting, over the
next several weeks. That being said, it does not look
like we will need a
large scale antenna party for this project!! However,
anyone is welcome to
go out and lend a hand with the projects when they are
working, stay tuned
for possible work session days.
Also, does anyone know the status of the MFJ antenna analyzer??
If so,
please let me know.
A big thanks goes out to Pat (KC6VVT) and Fred (KB9UIU)
for volunteering
free time during the weeks this month to finish the antenna
project. Their
assistance is greatly appreciated!!!
Nuclear Drill -KB9EZZ
LaSalle County met all the objectives of the Nuclear Drill.
Communications
was again mentioned as a strong point! Thanks to
these hams who provided
stand-by communications at these Emergency Operations
Centers:
LaSalle County: KF9NZ, N9JNK, KC6VVT Brookfield:
N9ZAP, KB9VFX
Manlius: KB9JTL Seneca: KB9UPR, KB9EZZ Grand Ridge: K9PHW
VE Session-KB9EZZ
Two new hams emerged from the October VE session in Ottawa.
Thanks to the
Volunteer Examiners: K9EWU, N9MRG, WB9CWH, K9PHW
and KC9NL and to the
helpers: N9OUW, KB9TMA, KC6VVT and KB9WPT.
Legion donates texts for Illinois Veteran's Home ham class KB9EZZ
The Ottawa American Legion donated copies of the ham texts
Alpha-Zulu and
Now You're Talking to the Illinois Veteran's Home.
These texts will be used
during the January 2001
ham class.
For Sale-KB9EZZ
87 x 52 Library Carrel...four positions--perfect for the
shack! Each
position is 42" x 22" deep with a 9" ledge 15" above
the desk. Asking
$150...or best offer. Please call kb9ezz
at 433-2347 or at kb9ezz@arrl.net
For Sale-N9HON
Alinco DJ 500 dual bander includes: Ni-Cad battery
charger, Rapid charger,
Cigar lighter cord, Speaker mike, Extra battery.
All for only $225
SRRC Donates Now You're Talking to local libraries-KB9EZZ
What happened to those 10 copies of Now You're Talking
SRRC bought a few
months ago? The 4th edition of Now You're Talking
has been delivered to the
Seneca, Marseilles, Ottawa, LaSalle, Peru, IVCC and Princeton
libraries.
KB9TMA was kind enough to drop off a copy at the library
in Streator. I
still have copies for the Sheridan and Somanauk
libraries.
Starved Rock Radio Club
STATIC
October 2000