The Starved Rock Radio Club
June 2001
STATIC

>From the Presidents desk:

At the last club meeting we changed both the door and phone patch access codes. If you were
unable to attend and your dues are paid contact a club officer to get the codes.

I made my first ever trip to Dayton this year. I checked out many of the logistic details to see how
they measured up to the Starved Rock Radio Club’s hamfest in Princeton. We don’t do too bad. I
saw very few other SRRC members out there. If any of you are interested in attending next year
let me know and we can either caravan or ride together. It is a great time!

We had a great Hamfest this year and revenues were up. We tried new things including a 50/50
drawing and canned soda both which I thought were a success. Our revenues and attendance
were up. There were very few problems. The Hamfest Chairman next year will have to work hard
to top this year.

We had a very busy field day this year. From a PR standpoint we did better than last year but we
did not earn as many points due to poor band conditions. During the evening and through the
night the 80m band was hot but very few other bands cooperated. We had about 369 ssb contacts
on mixed bands but the big performers were not on our usual bands of 6m, 10m, and 15m. There
were several scouts attending earning both radio and astronomy merit badges. The scouts did a
great job cooking and learning about radio. I learned a lot about antennas, tuners, and HF
operating in general. We had computer logging for the first time on laptop computers thanks to
Dirk, we hope to have them networked next year. We had the Little Rock Township Supervisor,
(Pam Coates) several club members, some IVRA club members, and new hams in the area visit
us. Our batteries were charged with solar panels and we demonstrated two kinds of pedal power.
We used PSK-31 for the first time and demonstrated both APRS and packet. The weather was
perfect setting the stage for a very successful field day event for our club. A big THANK YOU to
all those who attended!

I have also changed my callsign through the vanity callsign program. My new callsign is K9ZQ.
Why did I pick that you ask? Two reasons really, one is the 1x2 calls are very picked over and
the obvious calls with my initials and things like that are gone, The second is to honor the
miracle of my wife getting her call (KB9ZQQ) which I thought would never happen. One more
kid to go to be a 100% Ham family.

73 for now. This is K9ZQ and I will be listening!


    The SRRC Field Day outing will be held June 23 and 24 at LaSalle County
Shabbona Park north of Harding.     We will start setting up early Saturday -
about 9:00 AM.   All members and friends are welcome.  We will have a cookout
with the Club providing dogs and burgers and pop.   Bring a side dish.  Bring
portable antennae, and whatever you think might come in handy.   Be prepared
to operate the HF bands al day and all night into Sunday afternoon.   We will
have the assistance of two troops of Boy Scouts, which should be lots of fun.
 
The location is just a short distance north of Harding.  Stay on the Harding
Blacktop - North 1553rd Rd - and you can't miss it.


ANTENNA PARTY SCHEDULED

    The dates of June 30/July 1 have been set as the club antenna party.  We
hope to take down the old tri-band beam, put up the new one, Fix the coax,
remove the bent-up 2 Meter beam, put up the new tower at the corner of the
club house, straighten the guy poles, and whatever else needs to be done.

MEETING HAPPENINGS

    The preliminary figure on the hamfest is $5789.00 - up about $1100.00
from last year.  N9ZJK, KA9WRZ and KB9VZH won worker prizes in the drawing.
The 50/50 drawing raised $173.00.
    The club was offered a repeater site - 140 feet up on a water tower in
Naperville. We'll have to talk about that.

    There are four locking cabinets at the club house free for the taking
.Well three are.  Leave us one at least.  These are Motorola cabinets with
rack mountings inside, removable doors on both sides.  These are donated by
Dirk, WB9MDM.


Starved Rock Radio Club Equipment Chairman Report

First, I will be unable to attend the June meeting on Monday (6/11), contrary
to what I had planned on.  Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, I am
being confined to the Huntsville, Alabama area until at least June 13th.

However, Matt (KB9VZH) will be opening up the floor for discussion at the
meeting, as we need to get an equipment party scheduled ASAP.  Please e-mail
me with any suggestions, and it is my hope that a date can be set at the
meeting on Monday.

Also, the new packet radio arrived at my home last weekend while I was away
at the hamfest.  I will bring it to the next meeting, so that it can be
installed ASAP.

In addition, I will be bringing a box of 2002 hamfest flyers to the
clubhouse, upon return from my adventures down south here.  Please take some
flyers if you will be attending any area hamfests this upcoming year!

There will also be discussion at the meeting about the fairboards desire to
raise our rates for the 2002 hamfest, up an additional $250.00 from this
year.  Reasons cited were as follows:

1) Increased utility costs imposed on the fairboard over the last year(gas,
water, electric, etc.) combined with an increase in campers at our hamfest
over the past few years = increased electricity consumption.

2) Also, the past few years (1998-2000) the fair board has had to pay a
special fee to have certain electronic waste (computers, monitors,
oscilloscopes, old TV's, etc.) disposed of, as these items were left for
trash at the fairgrounds following hamfest cleanup.  I am not certain what
the impact of this year will be, since our security force made a greater
effort to curb this activity this past hamfest.

At any rate, the secretary/treasurer of the fair board and I met prior to the
hamfest, and he asked that this be opened up for discussion at the next club
meeting.  They are not officially imposing an increase, but would like the
club to debate as to whether or not we would be willing to except some kind
of monetary rate increase due to these circumstances.  Matt (KB9VZH) will
discuss this in further detail at the meeting, so please plan on attending.

Again, I apologize for any inconveniences my absence at the meeting may
cause, please feel free to contact me with any questions.  I expect to return
to the area by mid-week.

The only new news that I have to report on is that we have received the VHF
packet radio for the clubs bbs station, and Kurt (KB9RKU) has the station up
and running.


REMINDER - A date of June 30th and July 1st (this coming weekend!) has been
set for the equipment party, and everyone will meet at the clubhouse at
8:00am. 2 Days have been scheduled due to the amount of work to be done. We
will be installing the new tower that the club acquired in April, as well as
replacing/repairing the HF and VHF beams on the existing tower, or possibly
even just replacing the coax if that is all that is necessary.
 
 

           The Equipment Party sign-up list is as Follows-
 
        KB9TMA, KB9VZH, N9PLM, KB9RKU?, KC9NL, N0STX,
 N9OUW, KB9WPT?, KC6VVT?, KB9UIU, KF9NZ?,KB9JTL?,
 
If anyone else would be available for assistance, please come out and help us
for how ever much time you can spare.  We expect to work into the afternoon
on both days.

73's
Jesse L. Risley - KB9TMA