SIERRA  AMATEUR  RADIO  CLUB  MEETINGS
Every     SARC Emergency Net
Monday    1930 hrs WA6YBN Ridgecrest translator
Night     146.64 MHz (-600 kHz)
	  Visitors welcome
Dec11  Board of Officers Meeting
       Second Wednesday Heritage Inn 1900 hrs
Dec 11 Membership Meeting
       Second Wednesday  Heritage Inn
       Ready Room  1930 hrs
       Program  On being an NCS
       By Jerry Brooks KK6PA
Jan 8  Board of Officers Meeting
       Nicth nix nada nyet not
Jan 8  Membership Meeting
       Second Wednesday
       Officer Installation Banquet
       Texas Cattle Company  6:00  pm
Feb 12 Board of Officers Meeting
       Second Wednesday  Heritage Inn  1900 hrs
Feb 12 Membership Meeting
       Second Wednesday  Heritage Inn
       Ready Room  1930 hrs

PUBLIC  SERVICE  OPPORTUNITIES 
Dec 8 High Desert Ultra 50k/Relay
      Over The Hill Track Club Race & Run
      Call Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV 375-7245
Jan 18 Fire Mountain Fifty
       Fifty mile horse endurance ride
       Call Dave Stone KC6UUR  375-1730
Feb 15 Twenty Mule Team  Twenty-four hour
       One hundred mile horse endurance ride
       Call Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV 375-7245

ACTIVITIES
Dec 14 Monthly Fox Hunts       See article
Jan 11 Heritage Inn parking lot  0900 hrs 
       Contact Mike Herr WA6ARA 375-5324
       E-mail herr@ridgenet.net 

AMATEUR  RADIO  LICENSE  EXAMS
Dec 14 Volunteer License Exam Sessions
Feb 14 Kern County Library  Ridgecrest Branch
Second   131 East Las Flores Ave   Meeting Room
Sat      Pre-reg by 11 Dec, 11 Feb  Walk-in?  Call
Even     All must register at 9 am  Code test 11 am
Months   Contact Elvy Hopkins 384-3589
	 E-mail ehopkins@ridgenet.net
Sun 15 Dec  Second seating of 14 Dec VE Session
	    Seventh Day Adventist Church  1400 hrs
	    Pre-register by noon Saturday 14 Dec
	    NO walk-ins     See article

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S SHACK
by Mike Herr WA6ARA

Here we are at the end of another year. We have an excellent team up for the 2003 election of officers. Four have been board members before and all have worked hard for SARC. I hope that all of you will support them.

There is a lot of Ham Radio out there to experiment with and enjoy. Almost every day there is something new. The new digital modes alone are mind boggling. With only a computer and a radio you can enjoy a wide variety such as PSK31, WSJT and slow scan TV just to name a few. It does not require a whiz-bang computer or expensive software either. A 200 MHz processor and low cost or free software does the trick. Yes, HF operation is great but you can also do it with two-meter FM. Who will be the first ones in the valley to trade pictures across town via computer generated slow scan?

Speaking of changes in the air, remember WARC 2003 is coming up. We will probably see the Morse code requirement dropped. Nationally we may gain a 60 meter allotment as well as one down in the 137 KHz region.

Remember, there are over seventy ways to enjoy our Ham Radio hobby. So if you are not having fun, just look around and try something else. 73 & vy gud DX

NOVEMBER MEETING PROGRAM

Jerry Brooks KK6PA will give an instructional talk on the dos and do nots of being a Net Control Station during a disaster communications operation.

Members are requested to bring cookies, brownies and seasonal munchables to accompany the hot spiced cider and coffee provided by Paula Gibeault N6OQQ.

PUBLIC SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

High Desert Ultra/50 KM Sun 8 Dec
Communications for this Over The Hill Track Club fifty kilometer relay will be headed up by Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV. Call him at 375-7245 to volunteer your services and get the schedule.

The Horsey Things Jan Feb 2003
Just around the calendar's corner and a short throw from the holiday season are two horse ride events that SARC supports with communications expertise. Their names and dates are Fire Mountain Fifty on 18 January and the Twenty Mule Team on15 February The organizers names and contact information are included in the AIRWAVES Calendar on the front page.

NOMINATION COMMITTEE RESULTS
Election of SARC officers for 2003 will be held at the December 2002 meeting.

The Nomination Committee, Phelps TerHuen N6PTH and Bill Burns WA6QYR, has provided the following slate of officer candidates.

President       Bill Burns WA6QYR
First VP        Phelps TerHuen W6PTH
Second VP       Dennis Farrell W6DWF
Secretary       Tom Ingram WB6EPD
Treasurer       Pam Evans KC6UUS

For more information ring or zap Bill Burns 375-8566 bburns@ridgenet.net, Phelps TerHeun 375-4905 terheun@iwvisp.com

RACES/ARES
by Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV

We have been working the RACES/ARES capabilities over this past month and have all of the VHF radios up and running. I wish I could say the same thing for the microphones. We need a couple of new ones but that will be taken care of soon. The new trailer will be moved to where we can work on it and it should be operational soon. The power supply seems to have taken on some odd behavior but we will get that fixed too.

We had a chance to try out some of our out-of-the-valley circuits and had no problems this time. In fact, we even had some solutions to problems in digital modes that we did not know we had. PSK31 worked fine giving us another route to Bakersfield and beyond. We may be slow but we seem to be steady.

Everybody began rounding up his war bag. The horse rides are coming soon. Be sure to check in on the Monday night nets for news.

VOLUNTEER EXAMINATION SESSION
Additional Volunteer Exam Seating Dec 15

John Denson AI6A, one of the local volunteer examiners and a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, has asked for volunteer exam sessions not held on their Saturday Sabbath. Bill Maraffio N6PR, the local VE coordinator, has scheduled a second sitting of the Saturday 14 December session for Sunday 15 December in the Seventh Day Adventist Church at 1400 hrs. Pre-registration is required before noon on 14 December. Walk-ins will NOT be seated. To register for all Ridgecrest VE sessions, call Elvy Hopkins NØLV at 384-3589 or ehopkins@ridgenet.net.

REPEATER HAPPENINGS
Bill Burns WA6QYR has breathed some new life into the 147.00 MHz repeater skeleton that has been languishing in Elvy Hopkins' garage since its last proposed installation site was kyboshed by leegel beegels. Bill has proposed an alternate installation site on the IWV floor that has line-of-site to the Randsburg 145.34 MHz machine and very good coverage for the IWV. Jerry Brooks KK6PA is overseeing the coverage and site survey. Elvy seriously wants the hardware out of his garage and off his patio.

One of the 450 MHz link radios needs circuitry and modifications installed. A power supply and smart battery charger need to be purchased and integrated. A 12 VDC power change-over switching circuit with proper hysteresis must be developed, installed and tested. Some sort of short, strong tower and base need to be installed. Numerous other things will come off the wall as things progress. But, the seven-thousand machine seems to be rising again.

MEMBERSHIPS EXPIRE 31 DECEMBER
All SARC memberships expire on 31 December. Please use the PDF Membership Application to renew. (please print, fill out and snail mail, no on-line application at this time) Year 2002 members will be given a three month grace period with applications also enclosed in the Jan, Feb and Mar issues of the AIRWAVES. If you do not receive an April AIRWAVES, gueswot you did not do?

RECENT SARC ACTIVITIES

Coso Junction Jam
by Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV

The Geo Bun Buster, under new management and schedule this year, was called the Coso Junction Jam. It was held on 9, 10 November but only during the daylight hours. The route for day one was the same as in the old one. The second day's was a modification of the other route.

When we set up on Saturday we found that the day one route was to muddy to use so we ran the day two route until the day one route dried out. Got that? Well neither did we for a while, but all went well and a good time was had by all.

Thanks to Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV and Hal Hazel KM6JM who shared net control. Thanks also to Eric Muschinske KA6AMD, Bruce Ornsten N8RXJ, Mark Slay KE6SMA, Greg Roush WA7IRW, Allen Patrick W6PEA, and Mike Pope KB6NIZ who kept it all straight and easy.

Sidewinder RACES/ARES Standby
By Bill Burns WA6QYR

November 1 and 2 were dates in the NAWS, Ridgecrest Sidewinder Fiftieth Anniversary event. Many activities were scheduled at NAWS and Ridgecrest according to publicity in the newspapers and mailings.

With a number of navy brass, former brass, civilian dignitaries and several visitors from foreign counties in attendance, the Ridgecrest Police Department put together an extensive plan for the security of the events in Ridgecrest. ARES/RACES was part of the plan. As announced at SARC meetings and during the Monday night nets, numbers of amateurs were going to be needed to help keep watch on the events and to be prepared to go into operation should something out of the ordinary happen.

RACES East Kern County Radio Officer, Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV, received a number of volunteers and set up a basic plan of operation. Mark Slay KE6SMA and Bill Burns WA6QYR were to share time in the Incident Command Center (Emergency Operations Center in the Ridgecrest Police Department as ARES members know it). Nathan Lloyd KG6DTB and Micah Lloyd KG6DTC were on watch positions at some of the City Hall and Kerr McGee parking entrances. Numbers of others were to stand by monitoring in case something happened and the group was needed. Each had a pre-assigned site to report to if the need arose. Those monitoring included Dennis Farrell W6DWF, Dave Stone KC6UUR, Pam Evans KC6UUS, Todd, Evans W6TOD, Mike Alamo KF6WSR, Bob Wagner W6WAG, Hal Hazel KM6JM and Eugene Chun KF6CMV.

From the briefings at City Hall it was learned that this was probably the largest eastern Kern County law enforcement effort ever staged. Included in the list of organizations in attendance were Ridgecrest Police, Ridgecrest PACT volunteers, Ridgecrest Police Explore Post 806, Kern County Sheriff's Department, Kern County Sheriff's Department volunteers, a bomb squad, FBI, a SWAT team (I believe from Los Angeles County), Mercy Air Medical helicopter people, BLM Rangers and an Armed Forces Security team. Friday night activities were monitoring about 400 people in attendance at a reception at Kerr McGee Center. This was a practice for the Saturday night dinner where upwards of 800 people were planned to be in attendance. With sharp shooters on the building roofs and law enforcement at all the entry points the place was quite secure.

Friday, there were some coordination problems which were corrected for the Saturday events. All in all it was a good practice event to be part of to see how things can go well. We should be proud of our local law enforcement people in the way they conducted themselves and planned for the protection of the attendees.

COMING SARC ACTIVITIES

Fox Hunt Sat 14 Dec
Transmitter hunts are held in the IWV on the Saturday following the SARC monthly meeting. We meet in the Heritage Inn parking lot at 0900 hrs. Usually the fox is out hiding by then and the 146.565 MHz transmitter comes on every four minutes thirty seconds with a thirty second message. Now that we are using an automatic transmitter, the fox may or may not be in the area. Typically it takes about forty-five minutes to locate the fox. Equipment is easy. A small beam with an attenuator is ideal but the fox has been found with just a hand held and a rubber duck.

For more information, contact Mike Herr WA6ARA at 375-5324 or herr@ridgenet.net.

IN THE MILL

Drawing Prizes for January Banquet
As has been the tradition in the past, members are asked to bring simply bagged or boxed amateur radio related items for the drawing conducted after the dinner. These items may be, but not limited to, unused but good small electronic items, electronic parts, wife-un-approved items, haz bins, cast-offs, freebees, pink elephants, clean out Lloyd's basement style stuff, or whatever tickles your Ham radio fancy. Thank you for contributing to the fun. Photos for SARC Web Site

Erik van Bronkhorst KC6UUT kc6uut@mailandnews.com who maintains this web site has made the following request:

Now that so many people have digital cameras I suspect that a few Hams may be taking snapshots at public service events and other Ham participant activities. If they could e-mail me shots that would go with stories in the AIRWAVES, I could include them. It would definitely spice things up a bit. Even unrelated anecdotal or humorous shots would be nice.
Just a thought.

OLD BUSINESS

Minutes, Board of Officers Meeting
by Tom Ingram WB6EPD

Nov 13, 2002 Those present: Pres. Mike Herr WA6ARA, 1st Vice Pres. Phelps TerHeun W6PTH, Treas. Pam Evans KC6UUS, Secy. Tom Ingram WB6EPD and AIRWAVES Editor Elvy Hopkins NØLV. The meeting was called to order at 1902 hrs. Maureen Wright (Ron Wright KE7M) donated three free boxes of parts to the club. Rick Fearns K6VE from HRO has volunteered to come to Ridgecrest to give a presentation on Packet Radio. Phelps will provide program for this meeting. Officer installation is 8 January, 2003 at the Texas Cattle Company. Mike will confirm the date with Texas Cattle Company. Items for the general meeting were discussed. The meeting was adjourned at 1920 hrs.

Minutes, Membership Meeting
by Tom Ingram WB6EPD

The 13 Nov 2002 meeting was called to order by the President Mike Herr WA6ARA at 1934 hrs at the Heritage Inn. Fifty-fifty tickets were available for the meeting. Sign-up sheet was started around.

Announcements: A $200.00 donation was received from the Valley Riders for Ham Radio support of the Coso Jam Horse Endurance Ride. Greg Roush WA7IRW announced that the Boy Scout Jamboree On The Air was held at Pearson Park on 19 October. The November AIRWAVES contained an article on the Jamboree. There are three free boxes of electronic parts on the table at the back of the room provided by Maureen Wright. Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV brought some items for the table from his infamous basement.

Bill Burns WA6QYR provided the Nominating Committee report. He has one candidate for president and one for 2nd vice-president. The existing officers for the other offices will run again. Officer Installation dinner will be 8 January at 6:00 PM at the Texas Cattle Company. Prizes will be given away. Greg Roush presented a certificate of appreciation from the Kiwanis Club for Walk-A-Thon support. There is an Over The Hill run on 8 December. There are horse rides in January and February. Bob Huckins W6UPI gave some of the highlights of Field Day. More information will be provided in the November AIRWAVES. Bill Burns brought in popcorn. Jerry Brooks KK6PA announced that Thursday, 14 November is the annual hospital drill. There will be a report on the Sidewinder anniversary events in the November AIRWAVES.

The program this month was on Shrinking RF generators and was presented by Phelps TerHeun W6PTH. Judith Rogow N7TTH won the 50-50 drawing. There were twenty-five amateurs at the meeting. David Jones KG6JZJ was a visitor. The meeting was adjourned at 2015 hr

TREASURERS REPORT

from Treasurer Pam Evans KC6UUS
As of 28 October 2002
Share account   $6,372.82
Draft account       42.22
Total           $6,415.04
Obligated funds 
Relocate 147.00 repeater        1374.86
Balance         $5,040.18

FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE
Astron RS-50M power supply, 13.8 VDC, 37 AMP continuous, 50 AMP peak, current and volt meters $125, OBO. Mark Ball KE6IFD 371-9095

WANTED WANTED WANTED
Tower 40-65 feet Good condition. Claude 377-5558

FREE FREE FREE
Ham AM transmitter hardware. Lots of parts and pieces to scrounge. Bushel basket full of various transformers and chokes. WW II Govt. RF units. Many small boxes of hardware etc. Going to dump soon. U see, U like, U haul, U wife no like, U dump. Elvy Hopkins 384-3589 ehopkins@ridgenet.net

See ya in da funny paperz. de NØLV