SARC Committees
THE AIRWAVES CALENDAR
From the President's Shack Thanks to Mike, WA6ARA for providing us with an update on the Broadband over Power Lines issue. I am glad SARC provided some funds to ARRL spectrum defense some months back to help combat this threat to our ability to operate on the bands. This terrible noise source will becoming upon us if we don't get busy and write letters to our representatives encouraging them to vote against this "commercial technology wonderful" thing that will backfire on everyone using the radio spectrum. If you didn't get a copy of the sample letter to send off, check with Mike. Again thanks to Mike. Our June meeting will launch us off into Field Day and into the summer mode where in we have a BBQ and ice cream social functions during the cooler parts of the day. Please be checking the calendar of events else where in the "Airwaves" so as you don't miss out. Usually there are some tailgate swapping sessions along with the event, so another chance to move your "junk" to "treasures" at someone else's house.
Make sure you are "RADIO ACTIVE" during the summer.
Board of Officers Meeting Minutes
The May 12, 2004 board meeting was called to order at 1905 hrs.
Elvy Hopkins ordered books from ARRL for the library. ARRL made a mistake in the order and will send the current manuals later. Field Day was discussed and will be addressed at the general meeting. Bill announced that he had turned on the cooler in the repeater shack, Dennis is working upcoming programs. He had several lined up, but the presenters had last minute commitments and had to cancel. We need to talk with Ron Ogren about the usual picnic in July. The Ice Cream Social is in August. Last year it was held at John's Pizza and the seating was poor. Other possible locations were discussed including a tailgate party at Baskin Robins. The insurance company has been contacted about providing us with a Certificate of Insurance that is required by Kern County for Field Day park usage. A discussion was held on having a class for new people interested in getting their tickets. Need a location and a time and someone to lead the effort. The meeting was adjourned at 1930 hrs.
Minutes of the General Meeting
The May 2004 meeting was called to order by the President, Bill Burns (WA6QYR) at 1935 hrs at the Heritage Inn. The Sign-in sheet was started around
Announcements:
Mike Herr provided the program on BPL. Tom Ingram (WB6EPD) won the 50/50. The attendance for the meeting was 14. The meeting was adjourned at 2040 hrs. TREASURER'S REPORT Treasurer's Report As of June 02, 2004: Draft Account $ 1,408.83 Share Account $ 5,462.52 BALANCE: $ 6,871.35 Submitted by Pam Evans, KC6UUSField Day Operation June 26 - 27 SARC and the High Desert DX Association (HIDEXA) will be conducting a joint Field Day operation June 26 - 27. We have done this before very successfully. We will be 3A QRP (low power) along with a Get On The Air (GOTA) station for newcomers. [an HF station in operation for visitors, Novices, Technicians, and inactive hams] Expect SSB, CW and PSK-31 stations along with who knows what else. At press time the plan is to do Field Day at Leroy Jackson Park. We do not have all the permissions in place for this as of yet so listen in to the IWV Emergency Net on Monday evenings for details. For info you can contact myself as the SARC Field Day coordinator or John Denson for the HIDEXA, john.denson@mchsi.com
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SARC BBQ Come join us for the Annual SARC BBQ. As always, it is being held at Ron Ogren's (WA6PEV) home. The date is 14 July, starting at 6pm. Ron will have a couple BBQs cooking away. Bring your own meat, utensils, and a dish to share with others. Ron's address is 243 Brady. CU there. SARC Ice Cream Social The August SARC Ice Cream Social will be held 11 August at Baskin Robbins. The festivities start at 6pm. Hope to see you there! Last Airwaves Till September Just a reminder, this will be the last Airwaves till September. June is also the last regular SARC meeting till September as well. July meeting will be the SARC BBQ and August meeting will be the Ice Cream Social IWV Emergency Net I wish to thank all who have participated as Net Control over the last year. You guys have been a great help. I am still looking for net operators for the month of June and beyond. You don't have to sign up for a whole month, just a week here and there is fine! ...Mike WA6ARA Repeater News Some time back we had a report that there was some difficulty communicating with a person on the 145.34 machine while he was driving on highway 14 between Red Rock Canyon and highway 178. I drove this route on my way to Mojave while listening to others using the machine. The repeater is blocked by the El Paso Mountains to some degree and the mountains tend to interfere with the signals so much sometimes making them unintelligible. The machine works great to the south of the Government hills, but once you become east or west and north of the Governments it really is hit or miss trying to make that machine. That is why the 147.00 machine was to be on the north side of the El Paso's. ... Bill, WA6QYR
Crystal Sets to Sideband
In my never-ending quest of amateur radio books, I bring you something a little different. Yes, it is about ham radio, and in fact one of the best I've seen on homebrewing your own rigs. What is unique is this one is totally free! It is available on the internet at: www.qsl.net/k3pd/book.html The book is in PDF format and is downloaded in a total of 16 Chapters. Each one is a fair size so if you are on a dial up modem be prepared to wait a while. K0IYE literally does take you from crystal set to sideband, including repeating some of the original Hertz and Marconi experiments. The writer gets down into what is really happening in the circuits, building them up one step at a time with experimentation and comments. This is not a "build it this way and it will work" type of book or a deep math / theory one either. Instead it is enjoyable reading and will get you in the mood for homebrewing. Here is a sample of the chapters inside: 1 - THE FASCINATION OF RADIO 2 - HOMEBUILDING AMATEUR RADIO EQUIPMENT 3 - SETTING UP AN ELECTRONICS WORKSHOP 4 - HERTZIAN WAVES IN THE BASEMENT 5 - GETTING ON THE AIR - DECIDING WHAT TO DO FIRST 6 - BUILDING A QRP HOMEBREW 7 - BUILDING A CODE PRACTICE RECEIVER 8 - POWER SUPPLIES 9 - ACCESSORIES FOR THE TRANSMITTER 10 - VARIABLE FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS 11 - BUILDING A VFO FOR THE HIGHER BANDS (PMOs) 12 - FINAL AMPLIFIERS 13 - BUILDING A HOMEBREW HF RECEIVER 14 - OLD-TECH VACUUM TUBE RADIO 15 - THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR SIDEBAND 16 - ANCIENT MODULATIONThis is homebrewing at it's finest. I won't go into a lot of detail on the text as you can easily download it and take a look for zip, nada, nothing! I think the best words to some it all up are from the writer, Frank Harris, K0IYE: "Homebrew ham radio is never complete - when it works perfectly and does all the latest stuff, the hobby is over. Not likely. Long live homebuilding!" Net Control Duties Hal/KM6JM Last month I talked about the Operating Signals ZKA and ZKB. ZKA (I AM NET CONTROL) is very important in a stressed situation. In this type of situation, it is essential that the Net Control station maintains control of their net. Chapter 5 of the NTS Methods and Practices Guidelines (NTS MPG), discusses duties and responsibilities of the Net Control. Paragraph 5.1.1 starts off with the following. "The NCS makes the net "happen", directing all activities and managing the sequence of traffic dispatching to achieve an efficient and orderly net to accomplish the mission." And "The NCS is a manager, supervisor, tutor and mentor, and facilitator. The NCS becomes the individual the net stations expect to take care of the business of controlling what they do... a task respected and understood."WOW! That sounds like a very intense, overwhelming, demanding job. Well, it is and it isn't. Sure it's going to be tough if you're assigned Net Control during the first 12 hours following a local major earthquake. For that type of event, it doesn't matter if you have little to no experience or many years of experience. But you can make is easier on yourself and the net members by preparing yourself BEFORE the earthquake or other major disaster. A great way to gain this experience is to volunteer: Volunteer to coordinate communications support for the many events that SARC helps with (or assist the coordinator); volunteer to help Jerry/KK6PA with the various ARES/RACES functions; volunteer to be the IWV Emergency Net Control Station; or if you're really looking for punishment, volunteer to coordinate SARC Field Day 2004 activities. The Amateur Radio Relay League has a tremendous amount of information available. You can enroll in various ARRL Communications courses that are conducted online. There is also the above- mentioned NTS Methods and Practices Guidelines. Although these guidelines refer to the National Traffic System, the information provided in many of the chapters are easily applied to our local Monday night nets, community support events, and that ever-pending, major earthquake. Browse on over to www.arrl.org and do some surfing. ZKA. I AM NET CONTROL. In other words, I am the person responsible for the proper operation of this net. Here are a few suggestions from chapter 5.3 of the NTS MPG that might help you maintain control of your net. A. Word your requests clearly. Rather than saying "HAS ANYONE SEEN RUNNER 345?" and then getting 10 responses of YUP or NOPE. How about taking an educated guess as to which check point the runner should have made it through and ask just that check point? Then, depending on whether the answer you receive is YES or NO, you know which direction to go. B. Avoid thinking out loud as NCS. It is usually boring and if you're listening to me, probably confusing..... C. Let go of the PTT switch when the temptation to make idle chatter creeps upon you. Long periods of silence also make stations uncomfortable. If you need a moment to think, make a call for check-ins, or call for returning stations. The listening pause is then expected, giving you time to plan the next move. This is just the tip of the iceberg. So, get on the web and read some of the NTS MPGs. Sign up for one of the communications courses offered by the ARRL. And absolutely, sign up to be NCS for one of the many events SARC is involved with. ZKJ (CLOSING DOWN) 73.....de Hal/KM6JMBPL SOAPBOX Ok, have you written to your congressman, Senators and the President on BPL? Now is the time to do it. We need to get our voices heard on this. Remember, anyone can write in and be heard on this matter. You do not need to have a license with HF privileges or even have a license at all. I've done it, have you?
For additional information, visit the ARRL's "Broadband Over Power Line
(BPL) and Amateur Radio" page.
Looking for News! I'm always looking for local news for and about the IWV amateur radio community. Also, if you have something for sale or are looking for something else, drop me a line and I'll put it in the Airwaves. Ok, let's say you have some news for the Airwaves. How do you get it in. Well, the best way is if you can send it to me electronically, i.e. email. The text can be in Word or Works, but the most universal is as text body of the email, no HTML, PLEASE! However, if you don't have email, I can take paper copy. You can send it to me at 613 Rebel Road, Ridgecrest. ...Editor, Mike, WA6ARA, herr@ridgenet.net SARC Newsletter via Email The SARC newsletter is now available via email in TWO formats, Adobe Acrobat PDF and in plain text. The PDF version is complete, and in color, but you will need Acrobat Reader to view it. Most have it and it is available free to both PC and Mac users. The plain text version can be read by just about anything! ...but you lose the graphics. If you want the newsletter via Email make sure you check the proper box on the membership form, add your email address and the version you want. If you have already renewed and want to convert to email, or have changed your email address, drop the secretary, Tom Ingram, WB6EPD , (375-7950) a note, as he is keeping the email address lists. ...Editor, Mike, WA6ARA, herr@ridgenet.net
Updated Sun Jun 6 19:18:32 PDT 2004 |