The Starved Rock Radio Club
November 2000
STATIC

Welcome

Please welcome SRRC's newest  members Laura KB9WJV and Robbie KB9WJY.

The Starved Rock Radio Club Wants You!

If you are an ARRL member whose membership expires in 2001 and you have
never been an SRRC member, then SRRC wants you!.  To thank you for your
support of our hobby through ARRL membership, SRRC will reduce the $15 dues
for new members to $10 if you join SRRC before February 2001.  An
application is attached.


SRRC Special Event

To commemorate the 58th anniversary of the launch of the first LST at Seneca
Prairie Shipyard, SRRC will hold a Special Event on Saturday December 9th
from 9am
to 9pm.  Please stop by the Leonore clubhouse to help work the pileups.

From the President-KB9JTL

Thanks to all the members who voted for me to be President of the club
during our November meeting. (I am keeping a small list of those who voted
for the other guy!) I hope we can all continue to work together to make
membership the Starved Rock Radio Club an enjoyable experience. I  intend to
put a small survey in the next issue of Static to make sure I understand
what the majority of members expect to get out of club membership.

We had a request from Jerry (N9ZJK) at the last meeting to appoint the
hamfest chairman a year and a half in advance. The reasoning for this is to
have some training time for the new chairman to learn the ropes rather than
just getting all the material dumped on them.  The January meeting is the
usual time for committee appointments. I will appoint a hamfest chairman for
the year 2002 at that time. Several other very important committee posts
will be available, including repeater maintenance and building and grounds.
We are currently looking for a Static editor to finish out this year as well
as one for next year. We have many more members than committees. Please take
your turn doing some of these very important jobs for the club.

Last Monday there was a repeater committee meeting. We had a good discussion
on lightning protection and reached some potential compromises to get decent
protection at a reasonable cost.

There are several more issues to discuss relating to the repeater. I will
install a remote receiver at my house for a while as an equipment de-bug
exercise. We need some permanent sites northwest and northeast after the
equipment trial period is over. The next purchase will be additional 440
receivers to hear the remote receive sites.

Enclosed in this issue of Static is a new membership application form.
Please fill it out and return it to Francis at the December or January
meeting. Renewals are just $10.00 and new memberships in the club are
$15.00. I am working on a new member booklet which has all kinds of
information about the club. We will give to all new members and any
interested old members. I hope to finish it in the next few months.

73 for now! This is KB9JTL and I will be listening.
[mgebhardt@tsf.net]


SRRC Nov 2000 meeting (Leonore)-KF9NZ

Congratulations to N9PIB on being elected to the LaSalle County Board!

N9ZJK has the sign-up sheet for next year's hamfest.  Sign up early and
often.

We talked about the antenna situation a lot.  We will buy a roll of coax to
replace any that has been damaged, and still hope to get something going
before the snow flies.

We bought N9PLJ's repeater and some other related equipment. The matter of
lightning protection for the repeater was tabled.

The election of officers went as follows:

President...............KB9JTL
Vice President.......KB9TMA
Secretary..............KF9NZ
Treasurer..............WB9VLW
Static Ed...............?
Directors ..............N9PLJ, N9OUW & KC6VVT

Meetings are the first Monday of the month in Leonore (next to Tabor Grain)
at 7pm.  Wednesday's net is at 7 PM on 147.12.


Repeater Happenings-KF9NZ
The maximum cost to repair the repeater may go as high as $350.00.  Our
insurance deductible is $250.00, so the most we can get is $100.00.   The
voter was returned to me  and it cost $37.00 to repair and ship it.
Lightning protection will cost around $430.00.  The repeater is completely
repaired, but needs  reasonable lightning protection prior to installation.
[kf9nz@arrl.net]

November Equipment Chairman Report-KB9TMA
I have received the necessary parts for the Mosley TA-33M HF beam the club
purchased back in July.  Pat (KC6VVT) has volunteered to work on the antenna
situation we outlined last  month, time permitting.  Fred (KB9UIU) had
previously volunteered to help as ground crew, but has since fallen ill.
Best wishes for Fred to get well soon, and in the meantime, if  anyone would
like to help out Pat with ground crew duties on your free time, please let
either him or I know.

At the present time, the only working HF antenna the club has is the 40-80
meter inverted "V" antenna, as the present HF beam is not operating
properly, and has not operated properly for quite some time.  It was voted
at the last meeting to obtain a new role of low loss coax in the amount of
approximately 250 feet, for Pat to use in completing the antenna project(s).
KF9NZ will be working on finding our best bargain for the coax.  This
spring, the target project will be to fix the guy pole masts for the tower,
as both are beginning to lean a bit too close for comfort in the wrong
direction.

One last note, it was brought to my attention at last nights repeater
meeting that the Alinco two meter transceiver for the club packet station
(W9MKS 145.01) was not operating properly.  I checked it  out, and the radio
its self is drawing power from the supplied battery, but the radio LED
display is not working properly.  I am not 100 percent sure what is causing
this, but obviously there is something internally wrong with the unit.  More
on this at the next meeting, but all other HF and VHF/UHF equipment was
working fine as of last night.

73 Jesse Risley (KB9TMA)
[kb9tma@yahoo.com]

Who is going to be the first SRRC member to contact the International Space
Station?

Be the first SRRC member with a ISS QSL and win an antique radio from
kb9ezz.


International Space Station Amateur Radio Call signs:

The ISS is keeping the international flair by hosting several amateur radio
call signs from around the world, and the list keeps growing.  So far the
ISS has 4 calls signs from three different countries, Russia, USA and
Germany. Also each of the crewmembers of expedition 1 has their own personal
Amateur Radio call sign.

William Shepherd, Expedition commander, KD5GSL
Yuri Gidzenko, Soyuz commander (pending)
Sergei Krikalev, flight engineer, U5MIR
Russian Module call sign:   RZ3DZR
Other club call signs ISS used: RS0ISS, NA1SS and DL0ISS ALPHA

The Amateur Radio frequencies are:
Downlink for voice and packet: 145.800
Uplink for packet: 145.990
Uplink for voice:   145.2 & 144.490

The channels listed will help you compensate for the speed of the space
station, called Doppler.  If the smallest channel step your radio supports
is 5k, then only program in channels 2, 5 and 8.  If your radio supports the
smaller 2.5k channel step, then program in all channels listed.  After you
have determined your smallest channel step supported by your radio, then
program in the channels.  You can either use the procedures for storing
ODD-Splits or you can reprogram your repeater off set for each of the
channels and then save the new combination in a new memory location. This
channel procedure has been successfully used on the Mir Amateur Radio
program for years. (you do not want to fiddle with VFO's during a 10-minute
pass).

Voice operations
Chan    Receive Transmit    Offset (Meg)
1   145.802.5   144.487.5   -1.315
2   145.800.0   144.490.0   -1.310
3   145.798.5   144.492.5   -1.306

Packet operations
Chan    Receive Transmit    Offset (Meg)
4   145.802.5   145.987.5   +0.185
5   145.800.0   145.990.0   +0.190
6   145.798.5   145.992.5   +0.194

Voice operations
Chan    Receive Transmit    Offset (Meg)
7   145.802.5   145.197.5   -0.605
8   145.800.0   145.200.0   -0.600
9   145.798.5   145.202.5   -0.596

Usage Example:
Lets assume ISS is approaching for a good 10 minute over head pass, running
Packet.  When it comes over the horizon the Doppler frequency error will
initially be 3.5k plus 145.990 = 145.993.5.  This means the frequency will
appear to be transmitting on is 145.993.5. Set your radio to channel #4 for
the first 3 minutes of the pass.  Then for the next 3 minutes use channel #5
and for the last three minutes use channel #6.  Follow the same procedure
for Voice operations.  Since we are using the Mode FM, we do not have to
have our Transmit and receive frequency exactly on frequency. We can be off
frequency 1-2khz and still get reliable Voice and Data.    Via AMSAT.ORG

How to locate the International Space Station?

Visit NASA's Liftoff to Space Exploration web site at
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/


For Sale- 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 $99
or best offer.   [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

Mail to: Francis Kmetz
Starved Rock Radio Club Application     Effective Date_______
1004 S.  Park

Streator, IL 61364
New Member  /  Previous Member  /  Renewal  /  Not  Licensed

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Please circle yes if we can send you STATIC via e-mail only?   Yes

List other ham Family Members living at the above address

Call & Name________________________________________________

SRRC MEMBERSHIP DUES AND FEES are due in January each year:  Initiation fee
for new members is $5.00 (waived for ARRL members until Feb 2001 (see Nov
2000 STATIC) Regular, Non-Licensed and Associate  member dues are $10.00.
Family Member dues are $15.00  Partial year dues are prorated by month.

Join/renew with two great ham organizations:  ARRL & SRRC.  ARRL membership
is:
$ 8.50 if the oldest ham in household is 12 or younger
$16.00 if the oldest ham in household is 13-21 years old     SRRC dues $____
$28.00 if 65 or older
$34 for all others      add $5 for ARRL family membership  ARRL dues $____

 Check_____/  Cash   Received by _______                  Amount Paid   $___

NOTICE: Dues for each member must be accompanied by this form. Funds
received without this form are considered donations. Complete rules are
printed in the Constitution and By-Laws (see www.qsl.net/w9mks) of the Club
and I agree to abide by them.
 

SIGNED ______________________________________  DATE___________