Squelch Burst Newsletter

Stamford Amateur Radio Association

July 2004               Issue Number Seven

__________________________________________________________________

SARA Web Site: www.qsl.net/w1ee/.  Best viewed at:600x800.

Repeaters: W1EE 146.655 Out 146.055 In PL-100Hz. W1EE 447.125 Out 442.125 In PL-114.8Hz.

Unless noted, meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month in the Mural room of the Senior Center, at the Stamford Government Center, Tresser & Washington B'lvds., Stamford, CT. Meeting starts at 8:00 P.M.

Next SARA Meeting: AUGUST 5TH. 2004 – NO JULY MEETING. 

President: Fred Cunningham K1FC, 322-8274. Vice President: Bill Librandi KB1IFY, 353-8131. Secretary: John Sabini WB1GRB, 353-8422. Treasurer: Dick Finn WA1VUU, 323-0982. and           Trustee of the Repeater; James Marcus N1ZFS.

Dues are $20.00 for regular members and families, $15.00 for retirees and $10.00 for students and those living 100 miles or more from the repeater. Get them in now! Stamford Amateur Radio Association ~ Post Office Box 112833 ~ Stamford, CT. 06911-2833.

SARA SUNDAY NIGHT NET We encourage all of the SARA members to join in the informal net on the Stamford Repeater every Sunday night at 8 PM. After about a half hour of friendly discussion, we play the “Amateur Radio Newsline” with the latest happenings in amateur radio. Make yourself heard, join the net.

FIELD DAY- June 26th. And 27th. Stamford Museum and Nature Center - Observatory. CW operators needed. We will be in same category as last year-QRP.

Field Day will be held on Saturday and Sunday June 26 and 27, 2003. The location for SARA's Field Day site is the Stamford Museum Observatory grounds. The observatory grounds entrance is on Scofieldtown Road in Stamford. To get there from downtown Stamford, travel North on High Ridge Road past the Merritt Parkway until you reach a fork in the road with a traffic light. Take the left fork (Scofieldtown Road) for a distance of about 1/2 mile. The entrance to the site will be an open gate on your right with a sign indicating SARA Field Day. For those using the Merritt Parkway, exit at High Ridge Road (Exit 35) and head North to Scofieldtown Road. As above, take the left fork and proceed to the observatory entrance. Please note that the main entrance to the museum is at the junction of High Ridge and Scofieldtown roads, but do not use it. It will not lead you to the Field Day site. This Field Day we will be operating QRP using alternate power sources.. Solar, etc. We will be operating some of the newer digital modes as well as CW and SSB. Mark your calendar join us and have a great time operating. Hope to see you there.
Stamford Museum web site: www.stamfordmuseum.org/astronomy.html 

Send your Field Day Photos to:   Will be edited and reprinted on the SARA web site.

Squelch Burst: “We need new articles. This is your newsletter so why not write an article related to Amateur Radio. Try to write an article that you feel other members would be interested in. We need someone to continue ”Ask Elmer Column” .” Any articles or correspondence contact Dick WA1VUU.
E-Mail Squelch Burst: We are asking SARA members to give their E-mail addresses to Dick, WA1VUU so that the club newsletter can be sent by E-mail thus saving postage!.

Your address will not be published and will be kept confidential. Please make sure Dicks e-mail address is not blocked. Postal rates are going up next year.

We need your ideas and input. What activities would you like the club to participate in? We also need your help in organizing these activities as well as participating in them. How would you increase club membership? Communicate your ideas and comments to any of the board members or to the editors of the Squelch Burst. Your input is very important to the continuing health of the club.

Emergency Response Team 2004 Telephone Tree has arrived in the mail. Make sure your information is correct. If you want to be added to the list contact Dick. 323-0982. Make sure you keep this list in a safe place and where you can find it!

Minutes of the Meeting 6/3/04
 

Fred K1FC started the meeting at 8:00 pm.

Marv N1AWJ reminded members that we still looking for someone to volunteer as a VE. After some discussion we found that Mike KB1DXC may have volunteered. Dick WA1VUU will confirm Mikes appointment when he gets back from his vacation. Mike has been helping in the past.

Date and Time Period: Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, beginning at 1800 UTC Saturday and ending at 2100 UTC Sunday. Field Day 2004 will be held June 26-27, 2004.

Place: Stamford Museum and Nature Center - Observatory.

Fred discussed with members some of the VIP’s that will be at Field. Betsey Doane, K1EIC SM CT. William Barrett, W1WJB CT-ARES Area One DEC. We also have some City Officials that will be present.. We get extra points for media publicity .

Media Publicity: 100 bonus points may be earned for attempting to obtain publicity from the local media. A copy of the press release, or a copy of the actual media publicity received (newspaper article, etc) must be submitted to claim the points.

The food will be taken care of by Mike Cordelli.

Tent’s: Fred has one tent. Marv N1AWJ mentioned that Ernest KA1NNG has the other tent. Mike Cordelli also has a tent. We might need a fourth tent. We will be operating 3A. The only reason for a fourth tent is that we succeeded in getting a VHF station.

We will have a GOTA station may be operated by Novice, Technicians or generally inactive hams under their existing operating privileges, or under the direction of a Control Operator with appropriate privileges, as necessary. Non-licensed persons may participate under the direct supervision of an appropriate control operator. A list of operators and participants must be included on the required summary sheet to ARRL HQ.

We are hoping to operate Field Day using Solar Power like last year. We will be operating QRP equipment on both digital and analog modes. We will be operating CW, PSK31 and SSB. We are going to be on battery power like last year. We will be using 5 watts.

Alternate Power: 100 bonus points for Field Day groups making a minimum of five QSOs without using power from commercial mains or a petroleum driven generator. This means an "alternate" energy source of power, such as solar, wind, methane or water. This includes batteries charged by natural means (not dry cells). The natural power transmitter counts as an additional transmitter. If you do not wish to it to increase your operating category, you should take one of your other transmitters off the air while the natural power transmitter is in operation. A separate list of natural power QSOs should be submitted with your entry.

If you have any questions on Field Day: Contact Fred K1FC. 322-8274.

We desperately need member and non – member participation during this event.

Field Day 2004 Rules: www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2004/rules-fd-2004.html 

LICENSE EXAMINATION SCHEDULE  for 2004 Check-in at 9:30 AM and the exam will start at 10 AM. Pre-registration is NOT required. Walk-ins are encouraged. The fee for the test session $12.00.. Saturdays at 10:00 AM . August 14, 2004.

Get with the Penguin !   Part 1

The installation of LINUX

Penguin Part 2,                                           Mandrake 9.2 Installation

The first thing that I have to mention about installation. Not all Cd's work on all computers. I say this because the first set of Mandrake 9.2 disks just did not work. I contacted the folks where I purchased the disks and they did send me another set. This did delay installation quite a while.

If you desire to maintain your current operating system it will be necessary to do a defrag on your hard disk and partition it or another option would be to have a second hard drive just for Linux. The price has come down considerably on hard drives lately. Either way will work, but the second hard drive is the easiest and safest way for the dual boot system.

If you are going to maintain a dual boot system, I would recommend that you set your computer to boot off of the floppy drive and install LILO (gives you boot choices) on the floppy. This way you may be able to maintain instant booting into Window by removing he floppy. At least I think this is how it works. I have LILO on the floppy even though I do not have dual boot.

The second most important thing to realize is that installing a full install on Mandrake and some other Linux versions is quite a bit more than just an operating system and requires considerable disk space. Originally I had partitioned a 6 gig drive with 4 gigs for Windoz and 2 gigs for Linux. My installation is on a very old computer. Well, all I had room to install was a very minimal installation that did nothing for me. I threw destiny to the wind and cleared Windoz and all of my files. They were useless anyway because Windoz never worked very well and I never turned on the computer . So, I would recommend at least 5 gigs just for the install, but 6 or more would be much better. If the installation is on a modern computer I would allow half
of the disk, in many cases this would be 40 or more gigs.

Next, you do need to know just about everything there is to know about your hardware. Gather every bit of information on your disk drives, CD drive, sound card, modem, graphic card, mouse, keyboard, and all of your add-ons like the printer, scanner, web cam, DVD drive or anything else that you will want to use with Linux. The install requests information about these things (Mandrake does, I don't know about other installations. There may be issues with some hardware and it may not be compatible. I did have to get an
external modem before I could get on line (Thank You Fred, and Thank You Bob) I have not got the sound working yet and the printer and web cam that I have are apparently not compatible. So some research would be warranted before you go all out and clean off your current system as I did. You may prefer to wait until you know that everything will be compatible and work right away after the install. Compatibility information is available on the WWW.

BTW, because I was unprepared without all of the information I did have to go through the installation several times before I got the monitor and the GUI (Graphical Users Interface) to function properly. Having a local Linux expert would have certainly helped me, but I did have the on line support from the
WFTL_Lug email reflector ( http://www.salmar.com/mailman/listinfo/wftl-lug  ). Those guys are top-notch. Without their help I would have been in deep trouble.

Attention modem users only. Mandrake 9.2 assumes that you will have a broadband connection so the part of the installation necessary for connecting with a modem is not in the installation and has to be added after the fact. It is on the disk though. It is "kppp". This did cause me some grief until someone else actually downloaded the same version and found out why I had a problem. I can help some with this if necessary. Folks with broadband should not have a problem getting connected.
 

I do now have Linux in my PC and it is fully functional except that some of my hardware is not compatible and that will be corrected over time. If you are into instant gratification I would suggest your interest in Linux would be better satisfied by purchasing a computer with Linux already installed. This option is becoming more available rapidly.

Coming Next: What programs are installed along with the Mandrake operating system.

Mike
KB1DXC

Field Day addendum: Usual early breakfast (Dutch treat) at the Bulls Head Diner at 8:30am. Setup at the Observatory at 10:00am. People definitely needed!

Not a lot of muscle, just manpower! The more the merrier– if you work you get lunch! Operate and you get dinner!
 

****************************************************************

TREASURER’S REPORT AS OF 20 JUNE 20, 2004


INCOME EXPENSE
 

Surplus                   81.08    Phone         24.87
   Int.                           2.14    Postage     37.00
   Rptr  100.00
                           ___________           __________
Totals:                  $ 83.22                  $161.87

Balances: Checking - $1,626.07 Savings - $2,589.76
de WA1VUU

****************************************************************

YE OLDE JONQUE BOXXX
You can also check Ham Radio Classified Ads Service...

 ICOM IC-2AT 2m HT w/Charger, Batty., & SS-32MP micro-min. CTCSS Encoder kit, VGC, $100; Simpson 260 VOM, VGC, $50. Call Geoff, N1CAT, (203) 966-7444 evenings.

HALLICRAFTER SX-28A RECEIVER, recapped, $275. Works good. Call Joe, N1GWO, (203) 322-4061 Evenings.

PARTS GALORE- Xerox 3000 Word Processor (antique) w/transformer, p/s, etc., connection to Diablo printer. FOR FREE!!! Take it away! Call Mike, KA1VWP, (203) 838-8089.
AOR 1000 XLT, 1000 Channel HH Scanner, 5KHz to 1.3 GHz cont. coverage. Exc. cond. $ 275. Call Rick, N1LYK, (203) 531-1756.

YAESU FT-757 GXII, HF Rig, FP 757 HD Power Supply, FC 757 AT Tuner and MD 1B8 Desk Mike. Call George, N1HIX, (203) 357-1879.

Mac LaserWriter printer, best offer. Call Jeanine, KY1Q, (203) 324-6865.

FOR PARTS..Olevetti Accounting Machine. FREE!!!!! Take it away!!! Call Marv, N1AWJ, (203) 438-7889.

HD-73 ROTOR w/CONTROL & CABLE, $50; Cushcraft 10-40M Vert. Ant., $15; Heathkit Station Monitor Mod. 614, $50. 2 South Bend 7.5 HP Go-Cart Engines. Call for Info. Call Irv, N1ATS, 348-3425.
 

 2M 30W AMPLIFIER, $25; 6M Amplifier, 10W in 150W out, $175: AM6155 2M SSB Amplifier, 8930 Tube based, Cavity Tuned, 400 W Out (not cont. duty) $325. Call Andy, KA1SLG, (203) 531-9493.

MFJ ANTENNA TUNER A-1 Cond. $100; Cushcraft R4 Ant , New, $25; ¼ ? Mag. Mt. Ant., $12; ? ? Mag. Mt. Ant, $15, ? ? Trunk Mt. Ant., $10; Measurements Grid Dip Meter, $25; HP Signal Gen.; $15; Code Pract. Mach., $15 Call Milt, K1DLT, (203) 324-2723.

 HYGAIN CD 45-II Rotator Control w/cable and manual. Call Frank, KA1NTG at (203) 655-7378
ICOM T8A HT w/slow charger & 2 extra Batt's., $119; Radio Shack HTX 242 2m 10/45W Mobile w/o mounting bkt., $60 Call Chris, N1YNO at (203) 359-0570 evenings.

ESTATE SALE (N1CML) Yaesu FT 726R 2M all mode Xcvr $325; Yaesu YS-60 SWR-Pwr Mtr, $50; Tram Reflect meter, $15; HP5301 10 MHz Freq Ctr. $25; Eldorado 1615 30 MHz Freq Ctr., $25; AEA PK-88 Packet TNC, $35 Call Marv, N1AWJ, (203) 438-7889.

Send all your ad's for YE OLDE JONQUE BOXXX to: Dick Finn, WA1VUU, 27 Ivy St., Stamford, CT 06902 . Ad's must be in by the meeting night of the month prior to the publication. (December meeting for January publication)

J/S WB1GRB / Dick WA1VUU   June 25, 2004

_______________________________________________________________