Ole Gossip Bulletin
  Volume 10 Issue 1

                                                                            From The Prez
Spring is in the air and I'm sure that you are already cleaning up your shacks. That old HF rigs, resistors, meters and such may have your shack crowded. Being the nice guy that I'm, you can always send anything that you have left over my way, your desires are say my command, Hi Hi. Hope that you are enjoying the spring, it's my favorite time of the year. On a serious note with spring in the air it should increase your desire for HF DXing contacts. Lots of radio time in the spring prepares us for the summer months. Speaking of preparing, Field Day is close at hand. And speaking of field day we are looking for a volunteer for our field day coordinator. I guess that it is not too early for me to start the search. Please let me know if you are interested. I'm still involved with Army MARS and having fun with it. I would like to see more involvement from the club of those that have an interest in doing this task. I know that we had several members that have participated before buy it appears they have given up those duties. If we can get more of you interested I could ask Gary Howell (WB4BMJ) to come to one of our meeting and do his Army MARS pitch, please let me know if you have any interest. . Well looks like that I better
 get back at the spring clean up. 
                                                                                        AG4KP

                                                                                 DUES DUE
March and time for another article titled Dues Due. Check the lists below to see where you stand on dues. Payment can be made to Stanly County ARC, PO Box 188, Stanfield, NC 28163 or see me at a breakfast, lunch or club meeting. The club lost members that did not renew last fall so the count now stands at 51. Of these there are 42 that are ARRL members. These are listed below the Paid Thru list. Please let me know if I have the correct information about your ARRL status. Also see the Worldradio article elsewhere in this issue.

The following are paid through June 2002.
AE4AH        W9ZM        KD4RFU         K4MGA         KA4CMC        KG4IFD        WA4CFQ        K4HTJ
KG4HJF      KD4RLH   K4VET            W4KMA         N4WIK            KE4KQQ       KC4TDC       KS4PG
KF4PEW     WB4RGS   WA4NLF         KG4LVZ         W4OXH          KG4CHX        KG4DWT     KF4ZZF
N4NMS       K4AHC      W4EAT           N4JAT             AG4KP           KF4UAZ         N4ZIT            KD4TRK KC4JLX      KD4TLG    WB8ZRP       W4ALZ

The following are paid through June 2003.
KF4HOP     N4DNC     KC4JAD         KE4TGX     KK4UH     KD4OZI     KF4CWZ 
K4WC         KD4VKG  KD4KPM       KE4IHZ

The following are paid through June and Feb 2004.
KA4ECD     WA4WSA     KA4KTU

The following is paid through June 2006.
KD4DVH

ARRL members are:     AE4AH         W9ZM         KD4RFU         K4MGA         KA4CMC         KG4IFD     WA4CFQ    KF4HOP    KG4HJF       KG4DVH    KD4RLH         K4VET           N4DNC            W4KMA     KC4JAD     KE4KQQ   KC4TDC      KS4PG        KF4PEF           KA4KTU        WA4NLF          KE4TGX     KK4UH       W4OXH    KG4CHX      KD4OZI      KF4CWZ         KF4ZZF           KA4ECD         N4NMS     K4AHC        K4WC      W4EAT         KD4KPM    N4JAT             AG4KP           WA4WSA        N4ZIT     KC4JLX     KD4TLG   WB8ZRP      W4ALZ

Have a nice spring and I hope to see you at a club meeting or club event soon. 

                                                                       73, Carl W4EAT
                                                                             Sec/Trea

                                                                              QST...
I read with interest the Letter to the Editor on page 28 of the March issue written by Mr. Gary Hollowell, KC5MLC. I would like to comment on several misconception in his letter. First, ARRL dues are $39, not the $40 he mentions. Second, on his web site he says that QST has 75 percent advertising and 25 percent editorial content. Most issues are around 55-60 percent content, which is similar to many other magazines. Our members expect QST to be a balanced publication and we run surveys from time to time to measure what our members like to see in QST. We know that most of our members enjoy reading the advertising as much as they do the articles.
Mr. Hollowell also mentions having a subscription to QST. We do not offer “subscriptions” to QST. The ARRL is a membership organization. In fact, it is the largest Amateur Radio membership organization in the world. A League membership is more than just receiving QST. In representing its members, ARRL provides numerous services to members and non-members alike. A good example is our study of, and subsequent filing for, an amateur allocation on the 60-meter band. Many hours of work, study and then the filing of a petition with the FCC were expended by League staff. This will not only benefit ARRL members, it will benefit all of Amateur Radio in the United States.
Our work in preparation for the WRC-2003 involves thousands of man-hours and a great deal of travel for various key staff members. It is imperative that Amateur Radio be represented at the World Radio Conference. One of our goals is to obtain 300 kHz worldwide for the 40-meter band.
And there is our work with PRB-1 and helping amateurs to secure permission to put up antennas. There was a story about a successful effort in New Hampshire on the back cover page of the same issue of Worldradio that carried Mr. Hollowell’s letter.
These efforts are not without cost. Part of your membership dues helps pay for these efforts.
No, thirty-nine dollars does not just get you QST. It gets many other services that promote and protect Amateur Radio in the United States. If Mr. Hollowell is just looking for reading material, Tom Clancy has written a number of books he might enjoy. On the other hand, if he is interested in protecting our Amateur Radio privileges, he might want to reconsider.

                                                                               Jim Haynie, W5JBP
                                                                                President, ARRL

                                                Reprint from Worldradio April 2002 by permission.



                                                                               New EC In Town
Ed (W4KMA), with a heavy workload has requested a replacement for the Stanly County ARES EC. I would like to thank Ed for his past efforts in guiding the Stanly County ARES organization. Ed's replacement will be AE4AH. Don has been active with Stanly County ARES, Christmas Parade, Field Day, Message handling at the mall and the Fun Run to name just a few ARES events over the last several years. Please join me in welcoming Don to the Stanly County ARES team. I'm Looking forward with working with Don in the future and will look upon Ed to continue to help with ARES in the future activities. Don is looking to add an extra Assistant EC for the county. If you are interested give Don a call (704-485-4336) or e-mail [email protected].
Add this as an edition: The Logistic staging facility in Albemarle is being looked at as an effort for Stanly County ARES. The State is looking at purchasing or securing HF and antenna's for the facility. Don (AE4AH) and John (KF4CWZ), Ed (W4KMA) and Carl (W4EAT) hopes to meet with ARRL ARES representative in the near future to discuss Stanly County's needs. Are you interested in being apart of help manning this station during emergencies in our state? E-mail me with your input or contact Don, Ed, Carl or John.

                                                                            KD4OZI - Paul

                                                          Repeaters News
                                                             KC4FWC
Hello: Several things have been added to our repeater status so read up. The way you look at communications may change forever (or maybe not).

First, several months ago a new 147.390 repeater was built and a new folded dipole array antenna was installed at 350 feet at the tower in Locust. It was noticed that the coverage was very poor. Further investigation revealed that the feedline had an abnormal amount of loss after nearly 20 years of being on the tower. For the time being, the 147.390 and 443.700 units were moved back to the QTH of W4DEX. We are waiting for a suitable day to change the feedline on the big tower and make the move back to Locust. With the new antenna and good feedline, coverage for the most part will be a good bit better in all directions for the two meter and 443.700.

The 146.985 link to 147.390 is currently out of operation as of March 5. The RCA link radio, which ties this repeater back into 443.700, has quit working. The reason is due to the unit being used for something it wasn't designed for. Probable cause is an audio line that isn't properly connected to the controller's output. As soon as time permits, the UHF link radio will be removed and more dependable means of linking the repeaters together will be added. The plan is to use a VHF remote base on the 147.390 controller. This will allow the turn on and turn off of the 146.985 link through either repeater (more convenient and easier to remember the link codes).

A success, however, has been proven -- the 147.390 and Friday night net is now being heard across the state
through the Boone to Bladenboro UHF system. In the near future, the repeater will be configured to
automatically link at 9:00 PM and drop at 12:00 AM. This will avoid confusion of remembering link codes.

The 146.985 autopatch is now working properly after lengthy research of the original problem. It was found that the EEPROM in the controller board would not accept dialing with only the area code first and then the number. The controller expected a "1" be dialed and treated the call as long distance. Ron Wright, N9EE, manufacturer of MCC controllers advised us of an updated software version which would allow the dialing to be completed. The club bought the new EEPROM for approximately $30.00 and the patch worked. It is open, meaning a (*) will bring it up and a (#) will bring it down. Remember, both two meter repeaters now need a 100.0 Hz tone to access. The 146.985 autopatch is restricted to the 704 area code.

The Boone to Bladenboro UHF system continues to work very well for the most part. There is still a path problem between Rockingham and Bladenboro which is about to be solved by the use of a different antenna pattern on each end. Hopefully before the end of the month, users in Bladenboro can get back to us solid any time of the day. An issue has been brought about by the use of tone on the system. Many times when using 443.200, one person will run tone and the other will not. This means that the person running tone is retransmitted by the other three, and users on those repeaters observes what sounds like a QSO with one's
self. A courtesy beep which indicates a tone being run is planned to be installed in 443.200 to avoid this confusion. Remember the PL is 77.0 to be linked to all four, or no tone at all to be repeated by the unit you are going in on.

The Locust 220 MHz repeater has a new antenna and was installed last week. The repeater has excellent coverage from atop the 100 foot tower at the QTH of W4DEX.

A new six meter repeater is on line in East Locust NC. The frequency is 53.55 MHz with a -1 MHz offset. The PL tone is 100.0 Hz. For those with six meter capability, give it a try. No lids please. For pictures and details visit:

http://www.qsl.net/kc4fwc/5355.htm

Miscellaneous information: Congratulations to Lloyd McKnight (KG4RRW) of Bladenboro on the recent issuance of radio license. Lloyd has a dual band HT and listens to the 444.725 repeater in Bladenboro. If you hear him on the UHF system, be sure to extend your welcome.

                                              Until more updates come about               
                                                    -- 73 from KC4FWC

                                                      ARES DEC Area-12
As the DEC for Area-12 I thought I would up date you. We currently have six counties in area-12. Each county provides a monthly status report of their activities each month. I roll up the reports to generate a single report. This report is e-mailed to Western Branch North Carolina, Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator (EC) Geoffrey Russell, KU4KM and our Section EC David O. Fleming, KE4JHJ. Well let me identify the Counties and some of their leadership in each of the counties Area-12. 

Cabarrus EC KA4ATT, Sam Roberts, Kannapolis Sam has two Assistant Emergency Coordinators (AEC) Chuck ( KD4TLG) and John ( N4JDC). 
Total ARES Membership 15
Gaston - EC KC4YOT, Milton Rice, Gastonia. Milton has several AEC that help in their County they are
Mike - KG4AWO, Steve - KD4ZOE , Gene - KG4IMC and George - KD4YTG. 
Total ARES Membership 56 
Lincoln - EC WD4PIC, Cliff Brommer, Denver. Cliff has the following AEC Operations -Kevin - KE4RCO
Liaison Marc -KB9ASA, Logistics - James - KG4AWP, ADMIN - Dwight - KE4CZF and PIO - Sheri Pitts
Total RACE Membership 41
Mecklenburg - EC W4OH, DARYL SAMPSON, Charlotte. Daryl has the following AEC Tim - KG4CHX , John - WB2NHQ, Bob - KD4IIN, Dave - KC4YPB, Randy - KA4WIM and PIO: Dave KD4ITI. 
Total ARES Membership 95
Stanly - EC AE4AH, Don Aldridge, Oakboro. Don has one AEC John - KF4CWZ and PIO: Ed - W4KMA.
Total ARES Membership 39
Union - EC WA3RTC, Steve Patterson, Monroe. Steve has 3 AEC JOHN - KF4OYT, Rick - KD4FXA and Johnny - WB4U
Total ARES Membership 16

The ARES team does the work and they help make each county safer during emergencies. They are a very active group, they need to make sure they have the capable of maintain their readiness status. The amount of work from Gaston, Lincoln and Mecklenburg counties is staggering. The special efforts that the EC put forth to build their membership numbers are a constant pace for Cabarrus, Lincoln and Stanly county. Each and all counties must be able to work together as a team in a crisis or emergency situation. The activities that are required by county are more detailed then I can provide for this article. I must say that I'm new to the DEC position and I'm really playing a lot of catch up in an attempt to learn what each county is doing. The thing that makes my job easier is the key people in each county. I'm please that in December of 2000 we had a total 177 ARES member in area-12. My last report for February shows 262 members and 50 ARES nets activate per month. My hat is off to the team and all of their dedicated members.
                                                                              KD4OZI

      From Yesterday Years

	The following are pictures taken by Kim Hinceman, WA4VKW, who was visiting his grandparents in Albemarle during the summer of 1967. Kim was 17 at the time and remembers meeting a couple of the club members, Lee Melton (W4WLE) and Clarence Blalock (K4EO). Later issues will include other pictures from the past.                              W4EAT

                                                           Energy Conservation
 With the rising price of the cost of our nations energy on the up swing. It is important that we take steps to conserve energy. The waste of our natural resources combined with the cost of energy should be considered by all of us. I'm sure that you would like to reduce the cost of your monthly electrical bill.... With the electronic age in full swing, we all have useless things that consume and waste energy. One of the items that the industry and all of us are using and is a real waste is the Light Emitting Diode (L.E.D.). You turn your radio on and the L.E.D. lights up, to tell you the radio is on, like the sound from the radio is not enough. How stupid do the electronic manufactures think we are? These little jewels do not use a lot of power but they are zillions, and zillions of them just in the United States. Wasted daily energy cost is probably in the plus million dollar range. Add in the cost of wasted resource to produce all the mega watts, I think the problem should be clear to you. The manufacture wants us to use L.E.D.'s because they make money off of every device they sell. I predict one day everyone will get wise and the demand for the L.E.D.'s will be reduce to zero. We are just a few years away from the L.E.D. being obsolete. The electronic industry will provide a direct replacement. They will produce a diodes that are the same color, same size as the one that you have in the remote controls, televisions and all that electronic equipment. The difference is these diode will be a Dark Emitting Diode's (D.E.D.'s). I'm predicting the D.E.D.'s will be half the cost with twice the profit for the manufacturer. The reduction of quality checks at the factory will also add to their profits. The demand at first will be so great the industry will not be able to keep up with supply and demand. This will cause a temporary cost increase to the consumer you and I as they start the implementation of the new required device. 

What can we the ham radio operator do to help with a faster manufacturing implementation? Get involved and do something now. I will admit this appears to be some what complex. If you remove the diode it leaves a hole that is visible to the user, unsightly to say the least. You could cut the lead but some idiot may solder it back up... I know by now you are asking yourself, what can I do? Well this may not be legal and could have implications of patent infringements but with a little electronic knowledge you can convert your L.E.D.'s to D.E.D's. I have experimented with a 12vdc, 10 amp current adjustable power supply. Here is what I have discovered. First step is make sure that you isolate the diode from all circuitry before continuing the procedures. Hook on to the L.E.D.'s leads (polarity should be observed) and start increase the current until the diode get to the what is called S.G.B. (She Gonna Blow) saturation. When you reach maximum saturation - 1, the L.E.D. will be real, real bright. Keep increasing current until you drive the L.E.D. into what is referred to, as dark osmosis. Once the L.E.D. goes dark ( greater then 100 milliseconds after S.G.B.) the conversion is completed . This procedure is non-reversible thus you have a permanent energy, cost savings. Like the bunny this will last and last. Well good experimenting and have a happy April fools day. Think of me: If you have convert any L.E.D.'s to D.E.D.'s you may want to think of yourself.
                                                           KD4OZI Reprint from past issue

                                                     HAMFEST 2002
April 14 - NC ARRL State Conv/HF, Computer fair, Raleigh, NC (162 MILES)
20 - Catawba Val, HF & Computer, Morganton, NC (107 MILES)
27 - 5th Sakehatchie Tailgate Party, Winsor SC (182 MILES)
May 4 - Upstate Hamfest, Spartanburg, SC (100 MILES)
17 - 19 - ARRL National Conv/Hamvention, Dayton, OH (471 MILES)
June 1 - Atlanta RC Hamfest, Atlanta, Ga (275 MILES)
7 - 8 Elc. Expo/HF, Knoxville, TN (260 MILES)
8 - Winston-Salem Hamfest, Dixie Fairgrounds, Winston-Salem, NC (79 MILES)
15 - Chester ARES Tailgate, Chester, SC (75 MILES)
July 6 - Firecracker Hamfest @ Civic Cente, Salisbury, NC (39 MILES) 
20 - Mid Summer Swapfest, Cary, NC (177 MILES)
27 - Hamfest, Haywood City Fairgrounds, Waynesville, NC (177 MILES)
August 3 - HF @ Salem Civic Center, ROANOKE VA. (178 MILES)
10 - Tara HF & Computer Show, Huntington, WV (328 MILES)
30 to 9/1/02 Shelby Hamfest, HF at Clev. City FG, Shelby, NC (76 MILES) 

Last issue WHO WAS?  The winner is -----   Dan Kirk  - WB4RGS

Newsletter 4th Quarter 2001

Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2001

Newsletter 2nd Quarter 2001

Please E-mail me with your comments.

       

 

 

 

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since 09/19/01