Chris gave us a very interesting program on QRP kit building for the August meeting. He set up his 20-meter QRP receiver for a demonstration to club members. Scott will be giving the program for the September meeting.
The HPARC will be setting up an AM special event station at YesterYear In Motion. Please plan to attend this event and lend your support.
Our numbers were off at the last club meeting due to so many being sick. Hope everyone is doing better and we can see you at the September meeting.

The HPARC will again this year be participating in YesterYear In Motion. This will be the 27th annual YesterYear In Motion. The date will be September 25th.
YesterYear In Motion is held on Dillon Road (the same location as our Field Day site). The event is sponsored by the Jamestown Lions Club.
The HPARC will have a special event station set up at YesterYear In Motion. As announced in QST, we will be operating on 7.285 and 14.285. We will also be operating on the club’s repeater, 147.165. We are planning on bringing out some old equipment and operating AM.
There will be a certificate that will be awarded to those who contact our special event station. Club members are eligible for this certificate as well (and can avoid having to send in a 9x12 SASE). Just come to the meeting to pick up your certificate at the October meeting. That’s one way to get you to a meeting!
We will be needing your help with this event. Contact us on the radio for your certificate, and then come out to help. You can operate the radio or help field the many questions we get at an event like this. Plus you get the added benefit to see some interesting antique engines from years gone by. Hope to see you there!

Hopefully you have noticed in the last month how the repeater has not been “down“ as much as it has in the past. A new controller has been put on the repeater which requires a code to turn the repeater on or off. The previous controller used a ring counter which turned the repeater off after a number of rings. While this number was not public, telemarketers were inadvertently turning off the repeater. This is no longer the case. This new controller also gives us the option of turning off the 2-meter and 440 repeaters independently of each other.
Plans are to replace the coax on the 2-meter repeater with hardline in the coming months. This should improve the performance significantly.

In absence of the President and Vice-president, the meeting was opened by Secretary Chris at 7:30 PM. There were 11 members and 3 visitors in attendance.
Several members have been sick or in the Hospital. The club was asked to remember the following in prayer: Mike, Warren (pancreas problems), Clyde and Tommy (surgery).
The minutes were read by the secretary and approved as read. The treasurer reported an ending balance of $1179.65 for the month of July 1999.
Rogers presented a Tech Minute on testing your computer for Y2K compatibility. Rogers explained how to how to use regional settings in your control panel to check the date format.
Under new business, a motion was passed for the club to purchase new coaxial cable for both the 2 meter repeater and for Field Day and Yesteryear in Motion. An inspection of the 2 meter repeater coax revealed extremely worn outer jacket and possibly corroded connectors.
August 7-8 was noted as NC Home Furnishing Festival and there was discussion about the club participating in YesterYear In Motion on September 25.
Chris presented a program on “QRP Kit Building.“ The program featured an actual QRP kit setup in the restaurant using a battery and short piece of wire. Several members listened to the 20 meter CW transceiver built by Chris and available from Small Wonders Labs. If anyone is interested in QRP, please call or e-mail Chris.

We have had a lot of members sick and in the hospital in the last month. I would like to encourage you to keep these in your thoughts and prayers. Charlotte reports Myron is about the same. Tommy was in the hospital for surgery. Mike and Judy both have had surgeries, albeit at different ends (hi hi). Warren was in the hospital for pancreatitis and is doing fine now. Please forgive me if I omitted anyone. Remember these in your prayers.

“This is W4UA at the second annual North Carolina Home Furnishings Festival coming to you from downtown High Point on the lawn of the Radisson Hotel. W4UA calling QR Zed. . .“
If you were one of the few to hear that the weekend of August 7 and 8, count yourself lucky. Although we were set up in a great location for publicity, our operating had to be scheduled around the stage that sat less than one-half block away. Thanks to our off-site operators, Sam, Mike, and Judy, we were able to make about 100 contacts. Sam operated 40 meters while Mike and Judy operated on our club repeater, 147.165. Between the bands and the loud music, Rogers, Scott , Chris and myself tried to perate from downtown on 20 meterrs and the club repeater. We have had about 40 requests for certificates to date.
All in all, the event went well. As usual, we handled many questions about the club and Ham Radio. This was a good PR event for the HPARC and Ham Radio.

For those of you running Windows, this is a fix for a small Y2K problem almost everyone should do.
After running this quick little test, much to my surprise, I learned that both of my computers would have failed on 01-01-2000 due to a computer clock glitch. Fortunately, a quick fix is provided, should your computer fail the test.
I submit the following for your consideration:
TEST
Double click on “My Computer.“
Double click on “Control Panel.”
Double click on “Regional Setting” icon.
Click on the “Date” tab at the top of the page.
Where it says, “Short Date Sample,” look and see if it shows a “two digit” year. Of course it does. That’s the default setting for Windows 95, Windows 98 and NT. The date RIGHT HERE is the date that feeds application software and WILL NOT rollover in the year 2000. It will roll over to 00.
Click on the button across from “Short Date Style” and select the option that shows, mm/dd/yyyy. (Be sure your selection has four Y’s showing, not two.)
Then click on “Apply”
and then click on “OK” at the bottom.
Easy enough to fix. However, every single installation of Windows worldwide is defaulted to fail Y2K rollover
How many people know about it? How many people know to change that? What will be the effect? Who knows. But this is another example of the pervasiveness and systematic nature of the problem.

The Hurricane Watch Net activated August 26 at 1100 UTC as Hurricane Dennis made its way across the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center reports the storm is moving west-northwest but was expected to turn northwestward.
The Hurricane Watch Net meets on 14.325 MHz. It coordinates weather observations from Amateur Radio operators to forecasters via the National Hurricane Center’s W4EHW in Miami.

Within the first hour of the devastating earthquake August 17 in Turkey, members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service organized by TRAC, the Turkish Amateur Radio Society, began providing emergency communication. “The first three days following the quake all communication needs were met by radio amateurs,“ TRAC Secretary Yuksel Hak, TA1BY, reported. Hak said telephone and other communication networks had collapsed, either due to power failures or from too much traffic.
The quake in Western Turkey lasted 48 seconds and measured 7.4 on the Richter scale. The death toll to date is 13,000, but it’s expected to rise much higher.
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told CNN “Telecommunications were completely cut off for at least two days in the three provinces which are badly hit.“
Hak said the common frequencies used by Ham Radio helped to tie together the incompatible radio systems used by various governmental organizations. “TV networks, daily newspapers and magazines all appreciated the support given by the Hams,“ he said. “This proved the important role of Amateur Radio service in case of disasters.“
In the US, the Salvation Army’s SATERN is continuing its Amateur Radio efforts to assist in the wake of the earthquake disaster, despite poor propagation to that part of the world and a lack of Turkish stations. The Salvation Army says the SATERN net will continue daily at 1400 UTC on 14.265 MHz in conjunction with various efforts via the Internet.