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THE AIRWAVES CALENDAR
SIERRA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB MEETINGS Every SARC Emergency Net Monday 1930 hrs WA6YBN translator Night 146.64 MHz (_600 kHz) Visitors welcome Dec 8 Board of Officers Meeting Second Wednesday Heritage Inn 1845 hrs Dec 8 Membership Meeting Second Wednesday Heritage Inn Flight Deck Room 1930 hrs Election of 2000 SARC officers Program: Emergency Communications By Bruce Hagerty Ridgecrest Chief of Police Jan 12 Officer Installation Dinner Second Wednesday Where: TBA When: TBA AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE EXAMS Dec 11 Volunteer License Exam Session Second Kern County Library Ridgecrest Branch Sat Meeting Room 131 East Las Flores Ave Even All must register at 9 am Code test 11 am Months Walk in OK Call NØLV 384-3589 Feb 12 Volunteer License Exam Session Second Kern County Library Ridgecrest Branch Sat Meeting Room 131 East Las Flores Ave Even All must register at 9 am Code test 11 am Months Walk in OK Call NØLV 384-3589 |
PUBLIC SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES Dec 5 High Desert Ultra 50k/Relay Over The Hill Track Club Call Lloyd Brubaker 375-7245 See article Dec 11 Special Fund Raiser ARAB Club 50 mile horse ride Call Dave Stone 375-1730 See article Dec 31 Y2K Watch Ridgecrest EOC Monitor Y2K on HF and report Call Lloyd Brubaker 375-7245 See article Jan 22 Fire Mountain Fifty Fifty mile horse endurance ride Call Dave Stone KC6UUR 375-1730 Feb 19 Twenty Mule Team One hundred mile horse endurance ride Call Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV 375-7245 Feb 19 Geo Bun Buster Fifty mile horse endurance ride Call Hal Hazel KM6JM 371-3208 |
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VOLUNTEER TO BE SARC OFFICER FOR Y2K CALL BILL BURNS WA6QYR 375-8566
FROM THE PRESIDENT'S SHACK SARC is in trouble. There. I said it. Those of you who attended the November general meeting or read the November Airwaves likely know what I am talking about. Despite heroic efforts by Bill Burns WA6QYR and Charlie Hawthorn KE6WQR we have been, so far, unable to come up with anyone willing to volunteer to run for the SARC board of officers. Both Bill Burns and the Airwaves editor hit this theme pretty hard last month, so I thought that maybe I would not have to comment in this month's column. However, it became clear to me from the discussion at the November General Meeting that it was, in fact, important to address the issue here. Let me start from the beginning. I believe that the existence of SARC is important to both local radio amateurs and to the community as a whole. SARC provides for the construction, maintenance and repair of the valley's repeater systems which would be vitally important in the case of a major disaster. It provides, in the form of the Airwaves, an excellent means of communicating important news about local amateur radio activities and in keeping us all informed about upcoming events. It sponsors Volunteer License Examination Sessions to expand the horizons of Hams who upgrade and to open our hobby to new members. It also serves as a focus, uniting Hams with common interests in a monthly forum and providing a point of contact for those in the community who require support for public service events. The accomplishment of all of these tasks would be very difficult, if not impossible, without the existence of SARC. Given the importance and existence of SARC, it both legally and logically follows that a board of officers is required. The books need to be kept, bills paid, programs organized, newsletters written, general meetings chaired and much more. The SARC Board of Officers sees to all these things with help (often lots of help) from many willing and able members. None of these tasks is onerous. None of these tasks take days or weeks of time. But, all of these tasks need to be done. If not, the club will soon cease to exist. Here we are back at the beginning. The club must have volunteers willing to take on the responsibilities of board membership if it is to continue to exist. At present, there is clearly a serious lack of Hams willing to assume those responsibilities. The situation must change or the very existence of SARC will clearly be in jeopardy.
MEETING PROGRAM Wed 8 Dec
ELECTION OF SARC 2000 OFFICERS
PUBLIC SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Fund Raiser Horse Ride Sat 11 Dec
Y2K watch Sat 31 Dec The Police Chief will open the Ridgecrest EOC and the City of Ridgecrest has asked RACES members to stand by. If you can spare a few hours call Lloyd WA6KZV and get on the schedule for a watch assignment. Instructions will be passed on as they are received. We will probably close down around 0300 hrs, 1 January 2000. RACES badges will be required at the EOC.
RECENT SARC ACTIVITIES Chuck was ushered into the twentieth century as he attempted to program a synthesized, two meter rig for the Victorville repeater while Ralph drove and Elvy read instructions with a flashlight from the back seat. Chuck's last use of two meters was with a home made AM rig over twenty-five years ago.
RACES RAMBLINGS From the Radio Officer
Action is being taken to add the message center to the emergency power circuits as well as the plugs in both rooms. It is nice to find the problems before they become real. We found that the antennas work and we can get in and out of the message center with handhelds but there may be some desensing from by the dispatcher's transmitter. We also found that the 911 system needs a bit of firming up when the power changes over. The second drill was a Packet Drill using the new portable stations. A report from that activity is given elsewhere in this newsletter. Thanks to KM6JM and KK6PA for conducting it.
A Bit Of Net Training. It is hard to make iron clad rules regarding when to transmit and when not to. The best rule is simply not to transmit until asked to by the net control. If you feel that what you have to report is important simply say your call quickly and wait for net control to acknowledge you and ask for your report. Net control may ask you to "wait" or "stand by". Remain quiet and listen until called. Do not come on and explain why you think what you have to say is important. It is an NCS responsibility to get all the information quickly and correctly but also not to tie up the net. The NCS has to sort through the information and get what is the most important first and the member stations cannot evaluate this as easily as the NCS.
Eastern Kern County RACES Drill The drill started at 1003 hrs with a general call out for all Kern County RACES members. Within minutes, Hal Hazel KM6JM, the coordinator for this drill, had fifteen members checked in with eight members being available for immediate assignment. Those eight were requested to grab their gear and report to the Kerr-McGee Center parking lot for station assignment. Bill Seif W6WGS and Mark Slay KE6SMA were the first two RACES members to arrive. Mark brought one of the RACES Portable Packet Stations with him and Bill and Mark were promptly assigned the Leroy Jackson Park shelter. Monty Shinn W6PFR, Tom Ingram WB6EPD and Jerry Brooks KK6PA arrived next. Monty was assigned packet data entry duties from a list that shelter personnel had already filled out and would also be taking voice reports from shelters that did not have a packet station on site. Jerry reminded the drill coordinator of the availability of the Ridgecrest Multi-Use (communications) Van and was promptly assigned voice and packet duties in that van. This proved to be useful while trouble shooting packet connection difficulties later in the morning. Roger Sellinger KF6PLD arrived about 1040 with another RACES Portable Packet station and along with Tom Ingram, departed for Inyokern Park to set up the equipment. Connecting to the ARESDATA application via packet from Inyokern proved to be challenging. Due to the contour of the land, a direct link could not be established to the ARESDATA station nor to the WA6YBN-4 node. To solve this problem, RACES has a portable packet node that is capable of operating unattended approximately 72 hours. This node was set up at a site that would provide a good relay point between Inyokern and Ridgecrest. Unfortunately, a short developed in the onboard battery on the node radio and the node quickly became unavailable. Fortunately, the radio itself survived the melt down. As part of the drill, the 146.640 MHz translator suffered a simulated failure thirty minutes into the exercise. Net Control quickly spotted this problem and instructed all participants to use 146.64 MHz simplex. A quick radio check with all drill participants found that each had made the shift. Shortly after 1100 hrs, while coordinating with Jerry in the Communications Van, it was determined that the 146.640 MHz translator was repaired and available for use again. Net Control made the announcement and again without losing anyone all drill participants hastily made the shift back to the translator. When traffic on the primary frequency posed the possibility of delaying or preventing higher priority traffic from being passed, Net Control moved Jerry KK6PA and Mark KE6SMA to the Medical Net frequency to continue coordination on getting the portable packet station to work. This turned out to be a good move. Towards the end of the drill, Net Control passed emergency drill traffic to Lloyd WA6KZV concerning a diabetic seizure victim. Lloyd rapidly took the message and simulated calling 911 for advanced medical help. Shortly after that, WB6EPD called Net Control with emergency drill traffic concerning a heart attack victim at the Inyokern City Park. After scrambling for paper and a pen, Net Control took the message for further relay. Voice announcements were made throughout the drill reminding all who were listening that a RACES drill was in progress and requested that the frequency remain clear for drill and emergency traffic. I, as the drill coordinator, was very happy with the cooperation that all valley Hams showed during the drill. And to tell you the truth, I expected nothing less from the IWV hams. While discussing the drill with several participants later in the day, I said that I was very pleased with the quick response to the call out on a day that many people are out of town. At least fifteen RACES members would have been immediately available had this been a real call out. Although this is not enough to staff a long-term requirement, it is more than enough to get things started. Was I happy with the results of the drill? Yes and no. During the drill, there were more areas that did not work as planned than there were areas that went smoothly. I would like to have another drill in a month or so after we have a chance to fix the problems. I am not disappointed that we found the problems. I would have been worried if everything worked right. The purpose of having drills is to test our procedures and to see where we can improve. It sure is easier to fix things now rather than in the middle of a real disaster. Are you interested in being a part of RACES? It is easier than you might think. All you need is a genuine desire to help and to spend a few minutes to register with Lloyd Brubaker WA6KZV, the Eastern Kern County Radio Officer.
IN THE MILL
Show and Tell Program
Amateur Radio License Class
If you know of someone who would attend a license class, please contact
Bill, 375-8566 or e-mail
REPEATER HAPPENINGS Work is progressing very slowly on the electronic and programming reconfiguration. The mechanical components still need to be mated to the new nineteen inch rack. Two 150 foot lengths of semi-rigid, five-eights or three-quarter inch coax and connectors are still needed. The one day, 26 November , window for installing the antenna on the tower was missed because primary personnel were out of town.
New Packet Repeater Site
Little Lake Repeater
SARC Needs ARRL VE Liaison
SARC Needs Volunteer Examiners
SARC Net Needs Control Stations TREASURERS REPORT from Ralph Frasier KQ6UU As of 29 November Share account $3,374.31 Draft account $2,025.13 Total $5,400.44 Obligated funds $1,200.00 Relocate 147.00 repeater Balance $4,200.44
OLD BUSINESS Finding a rent free SARC meeting location was discussed. Elvy volunteered to contact Carroll Evans of the Maturango Museum for more information. Several means to establish a Roger Meng KA6CIE memorial were presented. Books for the Kern County library seemed to be a good one. Ralph still has a badge for Chris Stewart KC6UTB. The BoO voted to donate Roger Meng's Astron RS-12A power supply to Erich Muschinski KA6AMD for use in the new packet installation. Nomination Committee report: Bill Burns WA6KYZ, reported only one volunteer, for secretary, for Y2K. There was a discussion on methods and means to improve SARC meeting attendance. The meeting was adjourned at 1925 hrs. HF propagation is great Minutes, Membership Meetingby Elvy Hopkins NØLV The 10 November meeting was called to order at 1934 hrs. A Roger Meng KA6CIE memorial was discussed. Questions about the operation of the 147.21 MHz, Little Lake repeater were heard. The autopatch seems to be inoperable. Nomination Committee report: Bill Burns WA6QYR and Charlie Hawthorne KE6WQR report that after canvassing the entire SARC membership by phone, only one volunteer for Y2K officer was found. Skip Robertson KC5UJX volunteered and, he can serve for only ten months before being transferred from the IWV. Nominations and volunteers from the floor were called for. There were none. It was moved and seconded to accept the current 1999 board of officers as part of the Y2K slate. A 12 December Ridgecrest City Hall open house was added to the sign up sheet. A Monday, 15 November electrical power outage drill at the Ridgecrest City Hall was announced. Lloyd Brubaker called for volunteers for the 31 December Y2K disaster watch at various locations in Ridgecrest. The RACES membership list was circulated for updates. Ralph Frasier KQ6UU described the trip to Victorville with Chuck Pierce WA6QFD and Elvy Hopkins NØLV. Chuck presented his program on radio controlled model aircraft and boats to the Victorville ARC. Dave Stone described his attendance to a Kiwanis and a mountain bicycle race luncheon. Kiwanis presented SARC with a certificate of appreciation and the Tenth Annual Ridgecrest Classic donated $500 to SARC. The program was an ARRL video on spark gap communications. The 50-50 drawing netted $9 for Bob Wagner K6WAG. The meeting was adjourned at 2051 hrs.
FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE
FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE Philmore 3 amp, 12 volt, regulated power supply $15. Pace P5403A HF, SWR/Power Meter $20. Lafayette SP-25 Headset $10. Archer universal, cigarette lighter power supply, 3-9 V, 300 MA. Ameco Morse Code course on two LP records transferred to cassettes. $Fr.ee.
FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE
WANTED RACES WANTED Equipment required:
WANTED WANTED WANTED Free standing tower, 50-80 ft., for tri-band beam and rotator. Will haul 200 miles to Ridgecrest CA. Bob Wagner K6WAG 371-1337 wagcons@aol.com. Bill Maraffio N6PR wants two 300-400pF, 500 volt, variable capacitors like the ones used for tuning in old-fashioned, tube, superhet radios. A Hammarlund MC325M will also work. Contact him at 446-4165, or kcm_wrm@ridgecrest.ca.us. Bob Huckins W6UPI wants type 6267 tubes. Contact him at w6upi@arrl.net.
Contacting THE AIRWAVES Editor See ya in da funny paperz. de NØLV Ther otta be sumthin here? |