The Starved Rock Radio Club
March 2001
STATIC
Equipment Chairman Report
I have quite a few items to report on this month, including
some exciting
proposals regarding the SRRC packet station. First,
there has been no new
progress made on the antenna situation. Pat had
to return to California the
past few weeks, and I have yet to have any volunteers
either approach or
contact me regarding having another antenna party.
I suspect the project
will take no more than a few hours, with the able assistance
of 3-4 people.
The key people that need to be present at this antenna
party are someone who
has been present in the past, and therefore familiar
with exactly how to
properly lower the tower; we also need a climber, and
Pat said he could help
with some of that job. It would be greatly appreciated
if someone could also
bring or loan us a good quality soldering iron and of
course solder to go
along with that. Once the tower is lowered, we
will asses the current
condition of the HF beam and its feed line. The
beam is likely going to need
either new coax/end connector, or complete replacement,
although no one is
sure at this point exactly what the problem is.
If the beam just needs a new
run of coax, or a properly grounded PL-259 male connector
soldered on the
end, then we will not have quite as difficult of a task.
If the beam is
defective, it will be taken down and replaced with the
Mosley TA-33M HF beam
that the club purchased back last summer. We have
a brand new roll of coax
to work with, and if the Mosley antenna is not needed,
it can be stored in
the attic for future use. The two-meter beam will
also be taken down, as it
appears to be bent beyond any reasonable repair.
As I have previously
reported, the guy cable poles in at least two of the
three guy wire poles are
leaning way too far inward. We are going to need
to re-cement these cable
poles into the ground now that the weather is getting
warmer. Kurt (KB9RKU)
has proposed that we replace at least the pole on the
West Side of the tower
with a 20-30 foot new antenna tower. The tower
could be obtained used, for a
very reasonable price, if not for free. This way, the
tower could be used to
hold the guy wire cables, but also double as a tower
for the packet station.
We could even use the tower in the future to run some
type of new HF dipole
antenna. Kurt would like to install the two-meter
Ringo Ranger verticle and
70cm beam on the new tower, for exclusive use by the
clubs packer radio bb
station. We already have the coax to work with,
so the only costs likely to
be incurred would be cement, and a can of aluminum colored
spray paint. We
can probably find a few 10 foot tower sections to take
off of somebody's
hands for free, and we will need to purchase cement to
fix the guy poles at
any rate. Look for some type of discussion and/or
proposal on this issue at
the April meeting.In other packet news, I purchased the
needed 1.5 amp
battery charger/maintainer from Farm and Fleet last Monday,
at a sale price
of $19.95 plus tax ($10.00 less than originally asked
for). The battery
charger/maintainer is at the clubhouse, ready for use
on the packet station
so Kurt may take his unit home. As was discussed
at the February and March
meetings, the club needs to purchase a new VHF radio
for use by the packet
station bb. The Alinco radio we had been previously
using burned out over
the winter, so Kurt has loaned his Icom two-meter radio
in the meantime. He
will need his Icom back ASAP, so I have found an excellent
deal on a radio we
could utilize. http://www.packetradio.com
has an excellent deal on a GE
PHOENIX SX 16 channel VHF transceiver fully tuned and
modified for VHF packet
frequencies, ready to plug and play. The radio
comes fully programmed with
the following 16 channels listed below:
Channel 1 through 16
Ch Freq
1 144.390 APRS
2 145.010 National Call Freq., SRRC
packet bb
3 145.030 LAN
10 145.650 LAN
4 145.050 LAN
11 145.670 LAN
5 145.070 LAN
12 145.690 LAN
6 145.09! 0 DX Spotting
13 145.710 DX Spotting
7 145.570 LAN
14 145.730 ARES/RACES
8 145.610 LAN
15 145.750 LAN
9 145.630 LAN
16 145.770 SEDAN
When the PHOENIX is turned ON, it
defaults to channel 1.
When ordering, we have the option to specify which
frequency from the channel
list that the club prefers as the (default) frequency.
The transreceiver to TNC interface cable is already
installed, with a five (5) pin DIN ready to connect to
the TNC or NODE. The
total price for the radio, including shipping, is $135.00.
Each radio
carries a 30 day warranty, and we have the option of
having other frequencies
programmed besides what is listed, including any CTCSS
tones desired for
possible repeater access. The only other options
we have for replacing the
packet radio would be to purchase a brand new two-meter
transreceiver from an
electronics dealer, and the cheapest prices I have found
for brand new basic
two-meter radios are running near the $160.00-$170.00
mark. I will have a
recommended proposal on this radio as well at the April
meeting of the
SRRC.Kurt and I will be moving the entire packet station
out to the front
room, on the table behind the UHF remoter receiver.
The packet station will
then co-utilize the battery that the remote receiver
operates off of, so the
batterty charger/maintainer will serve to keep this battery
charged for both
uses. Look for this project to take place sometime
this spring, with no
definite date yet determined for the move.To comply with
applicable state
laws, I re-installed one of the handicapped traffic parking
signs at the
clubhouse in front of the deck. Please feel free
to drop me a line if you
have any questions, comments, complaints or suggestions
regarding the content
of this months report. My e-mail address is kb9tma@yahoo.comThat's
all for
this!
month,73 DEJesse L. Risley - KB9TMA
March Meeting Happenings
There is no news or communication from Tabor Grain.
Let's hope it is finally
dead! The Risley bro's have agreed to accept the
hamfest Chair (Co-Chair?)
for the 2002 hamfest. It was voted to purchase
the UHF receivers for three
remote sites the list of complimentary issues of "STATIC"
was agreed upon.
We had some delicious cake. The President directed
me to sign up all members
who have e-mail addresses for the reflector. Those
who really don't want it
can "unsubscribe' themselves. If you are reading
this little ditty for the
first time, you know why!
Amateur Radio operators assisted in a high seas rescue
operation after
pirates attacked a private sailing vessel March 20 off
Venezuela. The
as-yet-unidentified skipper reportedly was shot, and
his wife summoned help
via the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 20meters. The
victim was reported to
be recovering in a Trinidad hospital.
The incident in the Caribbean occurred some 3200-km east-southeast
of a
similar pirate attack nearly a year ago. In that incident-armed
marauders
shot young Willem van Tuijl from the Netherlands, who
was sailing with his
parents.
According to Coast Guard Lt. Jose Diaz, KP3J, of the Rescue
Coordination
Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the 44-foot ketch Lorna,
of Swedish
registry, was enroute to Trinidad and Tobago when pirates
attacked some three
nautical miles offshore. The husband was shot once in
the abdomen.
The pirates destroyed the VHF radio, so the woman activated
an emergency
locator transmitter (ELT). The San Juan Rescue Coordination
Center received
ELT ''hits'' from the Lorna and notified Venezuelan authorities.
Word arrived at Miami Coast Guard some 90 minutes later
from the Maritime
Mobile Service Net's Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, of a distress
call from the Lorna on
14.300 MHz. Miami Coast Guard forwarded the information
to the San Juan
rescue center. Diaz tuned to 14.300, where Bobby Graves,
KB5HAV, Dave
Dalziel, N4ICE, and Jim Hirschman, K4TCV--a physician
who had assisted in the
van Tuijl pirate attack last year--already had activated
an emergency net. An
amateur in Trinidad, Eric Mackie, 9Z4CP, also assisted
in communications.
Among those standing by on frequency were Ed Petzolt,
K1LNC, in Florida, and
Hector Godoy, HR3HGB, in Honduras, both of whom were
instrumental in the van
Tuijl rescue operation a year ago. The amateurs on 20
meters were able to
calm the woman aboard the sailboat and provide medical
counseling.
Diaz got permission from Venezuela to allow a vessel from
Trinidad to assist,
and a Venezuelan Navy vessel arrived on scene simultaneously
with a Trinidad
Coast Guard fast boat, with medical personnel. Trinidad
medical personnel and
crew took control of the sailboat from the shaken and
exhausted victim's wife.
High seas made it too risky to move the victim. Instead,
the Swedish sailboat
continued on to Trinidad escorted by the Venezuelan Navy
vessel and the
Trinidad CG cutter.
Diaz credited amateurs with doing ''a tremendous job''
in helping to keep the
injured man's wife calm and to relay information for
the US Coast Guard to
her and for maintaining order on frequency.
Back by popular demand: Starved Rock Radio Club
T-shirts
Colors: Yellow-Gold shirt with Navy Blue Lettering
or Navy Blue shirt with
Yellow-Gold Lettering
Sizes: Medium to 3XL
Lettering: Back--SRRC Logo
Front--your first name and call sign
Cost $10 for each shirt
Due date for orders: May 7, 2001
=======================================================
SRRC T-shirt Order Form (please use one form per
person)
Order forms and checks must by received by May
7, 2001.
Last Name_____________________________________________________
First Name_____________________________________________________
Call Sign_______________________________________________________
Circle one
Shirt Color: Yellow-
Gold Navy
Size:
M L XL
2XL 3XL
How many shirts? _____________
Check for $______ is enclosed
Mail order form and checks made out to Joe Tokarz
to:
Joe Tokarz, PO Box 102, Grand Ridge, IL 61325-0102