GrantAmateur Radio Club Issue 5 Newsle ter June 1997 IN TH IS ISSUE. SecretarialNotes Hams have field day Ham radio and more N.KY HamOrama Severe weather net Pa.A.R.Aw areness KD4W UJ wins again E lectron centennial Kenwood service stays New 610 Form Dayton H amfestrecap Flea marketswarms New hams in A.C. E lectronic vanity calls HARA picnic N8BSA on the air HamfestFlyer winner How to read an S-meter Birthdays Club Events Hamfests Contests Len Win kler s weekly ra dio show dealing with ama teur ra - dio is broad cast live on com mer - cial AM sta tions in the U.S., on short- wave at 5.070 MHz, every Sun day at 2300 UTC, and on the Inter net. AS JUNE AR RIVES HAMS HAVE FIELD DAY Dust off the gen er ator, iron the wrin kles out of your coax. It s time to pre pare for field day on June 28-29. Why do we have field day? It's a method to hone our oft-times rusty operating skills, learn the reliable and weak points of our equipment, and have lots of interaction with our fel low GARC member. What will happen this year? Come on out and see. There are five identifiable time periods relating to Field Day; these may be called Long Bef ore, Just Bef ore, The Event, Im me di ate ly Following and Af ter wards. Field Day, the per fect time to high tail it to - ward the great out doors, Ham Ra dio Style! In the Long Bef ore time pe ri od, the FD site must be re served, and keys and/or per mits ob tained. With a site lo ca tion known, press no tices can be sent to the me dia re sult ing in bo nus points. Crews are re cruited in this pe ri od, avail able equip ment surveyed, plans made for an tenna lo ca tions, and other simi lar ad min is tra tive stuff. Fill ing a stor age bat tery with cou lombs from a natu ral power source is an ap pro pri ate ac tiv ity dur ing this time pe ri od, re sult ing in ad di tional bonus points. Looks can change 16 hours into field day! In the Just Bef ore time pe ri od, an ten nas are erected, equip ment brought to the site and in stalled, tested and oth er wise made ready for The Event. This pe ri od can not be gin un til Fri day afternoon, af ter 1800z or 2 PM EDT. I like to set up the an ten nas on Fri day even ing, bring in the rigs and test them Saturday morn ing and then re lax a bit bef ore Field Day starts. This is also a good time to copy the W1AW FD mes sage. The Event be gins pre cisely at 1800z or 2 PM EDT on Sat - ur day afternoon. There are two chores to be per formed at this time: Op er at ing and Everything Else. Op er at ing is per formed by op era tors who should be left com pletely alone during The Event. They should have no dis trac tions placed bef ore them, no in ter rup tions; they should merely sit at their rigs during their tour of duty and make lots of con tacts. Let the op era tors ride into town at high noon, un - hol ster their Bencher, Vi broplex, As tatic or Heil, and go to work. They may or may not be as sisted by a per son keep - ing a log, their choice. If they are needed to set up an ten - It all comes down when it s over! nas, make sure there is plenty of time be tween when all that work is done and the start of the test so they can rest and men tally switch modes, from be ing work ers to be ing op era tors. How many hams to fill a gen er ator? Everything Else is taken care of by at least one per son who is re spon si ble for the gen er ator, food, and bonus point mat ters. This per son is in re al ity a gofer, but be nice and give him or her a ti tle; Chief of Op era tions would be nice. Of course, du ties can be shared among mem bers of the crew, but let's face it, it's best when one per son is re spon si ble for over see ing the en tire op era tion and doesn't have to worry about making con tacts at the same time. The Chief makes sure that all bo nus points are earned, docu mented and sub mit ted with the fi nal re port.
HAM FEST CALEN DAR June 8 Wa bash County ARC, Wa bash, IN Don Span gler, W9HNO 235 South wood Dr., Wa bash, IN 46992 219-563-5564 North ern Ken tucky ARC, Er lan ger, KY Rob ert Blocher, N8JMV 2061 State Route 125, #10, Ame lia, OH 45102 513-797-7252 E- mail: blue grass com@juno.com Goodyear ARC, Akron, OH Ken Phil lips, K8CHE 351 Hill man Rd., Akron, OH 44312 330-733-5795 June 14 De For est ARC Severe Weather Net St. Rt. 125 West Un ion, Oh West Un ion Com mu nity Build ing 937 544 3068 or 937 544 2585 paquette@bright.net aa8vv@bright.net www.bright.net/~paquette/deforest Paducah ARA, Padu cah, KY Craig Martin dale, WA4WBU 2509 Trim ble St., Paducah, KY 42001 502-444-6822 or 502-443-3860 E-mail: KC4ENA@APEX.Net June 15 Lake County ARC, Crown Point, IN Mal colm Lunsford, WN9L 6721 Har ri son Ct., Mer rill ville, IN 46410 219-769-3925 72202.230@compu serve.com www.jorsm.com/~dharney/lcarc.htm Cuyahoga ARS, Ma ce do nia, OH Rich James, N8FIL 7620 Crestwood Lane, Northfield Cen ter, OH 44067 216-468-2035 or 800-404-2282 E- mail: ham fest@cars.org http://www.cars.org/hamfest June 21 Mil ford ARC, Mil ford, OH Chris Re in felder, KB8SNH 3691 Char ter Oak, Ame lia, OH 45102 ELECTRON 100,TRANSISTOR 50 (W1FMR)Scientists recently marked the 100th anniversary of the 1897 presentation before the British Royal Academy of Sci ences of a paper by physi cist J. J. Thomp son that first rec og nized the ex is tence of the electron. In his pres en ta tion, Thomp son de scribed how he discovered, ex peri men tally, that cath ode rays were nega tively charged par ti cles which he dubbed elec trons. The tran sis tor turns 50 years old this year. It was in vented by Bell Labs (now Lu cent Tech nolo gies) in De - cem ber, 1947. It costs one mil lion times less to make a tran sis tor to day than it did 30 years ago. 2ND ANNUAL MEETING SOUTH CENTRALOHIO SEVERE WEATH ER NET (WB8IOW)June 14, 1997, 8:00AM-4:00PM West Un ion Community Building, Ad ams County, Ohio Spon sored by the De For est Ama teur Ra dio Club Pub li c In vited No Ad mis sion Charge Food Hourly Door Prizes Raf fle Weather Re lated Fo rums ARRL Test Ses sion - All Classes Walk- ins accepted - 11:30 AM Free indoor set- ups for Elec tronic, Computer & Ham Gear, Baked Goods, Crafts First Come, First served Talk in 146.52 & 147.00 - No PL. For more in fo: (937) 544-3068,(937) 544-2585, paquette@bright.net, aa8vv@bright.net or www.bright.net/~paquette/de for - est/skywarn NK Y HAM-O-RAMA (QCEN)Sun day June 8 1997, 8:00 Am - 3:00 PM @ Li ons Park I-75, Exit Ky. 236 E. 1 Mile, Turn Rt On Us 25/42 (Dixie Hwy..), Go 1 Mile Turn Rt. Onto Sunset Ave. And Go 3/4 Mile To The End Of Sunset Avenue. Robert Blocker N8JMV 513/797-7252 Come, Meet Your Friends At A Good Old Fashioned Hamfest. Talk-In K4CO 147.255+ And 147.375+ Ama teur serv ice. A ra dio com mu ni ca - tions serv ice for the pur pose of selftraining, in ter com mu ni ca tion and tech - ni cal in ves ti ga tions car ried out by ama - teurs, that is, duly author ized per sons in ter ested in ra dio tech nique solely with a per sonal aim and with out pe cu - niary in ter est BIRTH DAYS Jerry Paquette WB8IOW 6/4/97 Ruth (Polly) Hay den KC8CZB 6/5/97 Brian Schulz KC8CYY 6/5/97 Dorthy Sil man KB8TQU 6/6/97 James Grif fith KB8SEK 6/6/97 Larry Un ger WA8NWY 6/9/97 Luanne Neary KC8FBH 6/17/97 Carl Berz KB8VKY 6/18/97 Har old Pryor KB8SUM 6/21/97 KD4WUJ A REPEAT WIN NER (Webline)For the second year running, country music singer Patty Loveless, KD4WUJ, was named top female vocalist during the annual Academy of Country Music awards April 23. Patty also was Country Music Association's female vocalist of the year in 1996. PENNSYLVANIA AMATEUR RADIO AW ARENESS MONTH (W3BKF)By a unanimous vote, the General Assembly in Pennsylvania has declared the month of June 1997 as Ama teur Ra dio Aware ness Month. The reso lu tion, ap - proved April 15, cites the con tri bu tions of ham ra dio, including its "sig nifi cant serv - ices to the citizens of this Commonwealth during natural disasters."
KENWOOD SERVICE STILLIN BUSI NESS (Webline)Despite rumors and reports to the contrary, Kenwood Service Corporation is still very much in business on both coasts, according to Ken wood's Paul Mid dle ton, KD6NUH. Ken wood Serv ice Cen ter West held an open house April 25 at its new lo ca tion at 13030 Alon dra Blvd -- No. 104, Cer ri tos, CA 90703-2257; tel 562-483-8740. The serv ice cen ter moved from Long Beach, Cali for nia, ear lier this year. Mid dle ton said Kenwood Serv ice Cor po ra tion is sepa rate from Ken wood Com mu ni ca tions Cor po ra tion, and the two serv ice cen ters are "in de pend ently op er ated but char tered and regu lated by Ken wood." Mid dle ton, who's Ken wood's na tional sales man ager for ama teur and marine prod ucts, said the new West Coast cen ter em ploys the same staff that for merly worked for Kenwood at the Long Beach lo ca tion. No jobs were lost in the transition, he said. Kenwood Service Center East is at 829 Lynnhaven Pkwy -- Suite 130,Virginia Beach, VA 23452; tel 757-340-1702. SWARM GREETS FLEA MAR KETERS (Ham Ra dio On line)the Dayton Hamvention flea market almost became a "bee market" late Sunday morning when a swarm of sev eral th o u s a nd hon ey bees, ap par ently from a nearby hive, de scended onto a ven dor's ta ble. Dave Lind quist, N1YMK, a former apia rist who lives in New fane, Ver mont, hap pened upon the scene just as another man -- ob vi ously knowl edge able about bees and pos si bly a ham -- al ready had iso lated the queen bee in a card board box and was scoop ing the swarm off the ta ble's edge into the box. "There were lots of bees still in the air -- more than half -- but they had de tected the smell of the queen in the box, so were hap pily joining her," he said. Lind quist said he'd been told the fire de part ment al - ready had been called to "blow the swarm out of the air" by freezing it with car bon di ox ide, but that did n't ap pear nec es - sary, and no one re ported get ting stung. On look ing hams ap - peared un fazed, said Lind quist. "While swarm ing bees are nor mally doc ile due to the fact that they fill them selves up with honey re serves bef ore they leave the hive, they still have the abil ity to sting if agi tated." Lind quist's friend, Char - lie Geib, N4AV, of Fort Lau der dale, Florida didn't take any chances. "Dave was a few feet from the scene, but I backed off about 40 feet away and still got hit by flying bees," he said. A FLOOD OF NEW HAMS HITS ADAMS COUNTY (Wb8IOW)Maybe not a flood, but its sure a good start and it makes a great head line. Con gratu la tions go out to the fol low - ing new Ad ams County Hams... KC8HFV - George H. Lar ter KC8HFW - Char les E. Bai ley KC8HFY - Robin D. Ste phen son KC8HFZ - Jeff A. Phelps KC8HGA - Helen J. Paquette HARA PICNIC JUNE 8 (WB8IOW)The High land Ama teur Ra dio As so cia tion ex tends an in vi ta tion to all HAMS to at tend their picnic, in Hills boro, OH, on June 8, 1997. For more de tails lis ten to the De For est A.R.C. Thurs day night net on 147.00 MHz or the HARA Mon - day night net on 147.21 + MHz. For more information contact Paul, WA8KFB on the 147.21+ MHz repeater. DAY TON HAM FEST LEFT H AMS HIGH AND DRY. (Webline)It most definitely did not rain during the Dayton Hamvention! An upbeat crowd reveled in three days of beautiful spring weather May 16, 17 and 18 at the Ham ven tion--the world's larg est an nual ham ra dio gath er Eve ry one en joys the Ham fest in their own way. ing. Ham ven tion Chair man Dick Miller, es ti mated that be tween 27,000 and 28,000 peo ple at tended Day ton this year, and many ven dors re ported brisk sales (some even ran out of stock and had to have new units rushed to Day ton), re flect ing an over all brighter out look within the hobby. Tiny hand held VHF, UHF and dual- band H-Ts cap tured the imagi - na tion of the Day - ton crowd. Yaesu, Alinco and Standard debuted diminutive H-Ts. Flea mar ket traf fic was brisk Yaesu de scribes its new VX-1R as the world s small est dual band hand held with wide re ceiver coverage. It of fers 500 mw out put (or 1 W with ex ter nal power), a re charge able lith ium ion bat tery, and 290 memo ries, avail able July 1. Al inco de buted its DJ-S11T eco nomi cally priced, pocket- sized 2- meter H- T- -a com pan ion to its DJ-S41T for 440 MHz. Pending FCC ap prov als, Alinco also hopes to have its "revo lu tion ary" DJ-C1 2- meter "micro- transceiver" on the mar ket later this year. The super- thin trans ceiver is only slightly larger than a credit card and about as thick as a typi cal pocket cal cu la tor. Both the DJ S41T and the DJ-C1 put out about 300 mw. (A DJ-C4 for 70 cm also is in the offering.) Stan dard in tro duced its flexi ble and very com pact C510 dual-band hand-held that provides 1 W output by itself and up to 50-W output when coupled with an optional accessory unit. Ham manufacturers said they sensed greater optimism about the hobby, and an upswing of interest in HF trans ceiv ers. As KJ7A, of Yaesu put it: "Over all, it was a tre men dous week end which ex ceeded our most lav ish ex pec ta tions." KB6YZD, of Al inco, also was ec static. "We were very im pressed with the size of the crowd and the in ter est they showed in our prod ucts," he said. Day ton Hamvention 1998 is May 15-17.
FCC ISSUES NEW FORM 610; OLD VERSIONS STILLVALID (Ham Ra dio On line)the FCC has just re leased a new Form 610, dated March 1997, that -- among other minor changes -- now in cludes a space for your Inter net ad dress. The new form is avail able via the FCC's Inter net site (http://www.fcc.gov) and via the FCC's fax- on- demand serv ice (202-418-0177; to ob - tain Form 610, the form number to re quest is "000610;" Form 610A is "006101;" Form 610B is "006102;" and Form 610V is "006108." Form 159, of in ter est to some van ity fil ers, is "000159"). The form is much the same as the pre vious Form 610, dated March, 1995, ex cept that item 3A ask ing for the ap pli cant's "Inter net Ad dress" is in cluded on the same line as the street ad dress. The en vi ron mental im pact ques tion, for merly item 6, has in stead be come a state ment in the ap pli cant cer ti fi ca tion sec tion where the ap pli cant cer ti fies that "the con struc tion of the sta tion would not be an ac tion which is likely to have a sig - nifi cant en vi ron mental ef fect (see the Com mis sion's Rules 47 CFR Sec tions 1.1301-1.1319 and 97.13a)." The former item 7 has be come item 6 on the new Form 610. According to staff mem bers at the Gettysburg FCC of fice, the FCC will con tinue to ac cept any of the three Forms 610 (dated No vem ber 1993, March 1995 and March 1997) until further notice. REVISED VANITY CALLSIGN ELECTRONIC APPLICATION AVAILABLE (Webline)On May 19, 1997, a re vised ver - sion of the electronic Ama teur Sta tion Van - ity Call Sign Re quest form (FCC Form 610- V) was made avail able on the Inter net at http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/am radsrv.html. Un - der "Ama teur Sta tion Van ity Call Sign Sys - tem" choose "In ter ac tive Van ity Call Sign Ap pli ca tion." This ver sion al lows a user to file mul ti ple ap pli ca tions us ing one FCC Form 159 (Re mit tance Advice), thus per mit ting sev eral ap pli cants to file van ity ap pli ca tions at the same time and com bine their fee pay ments. The fee will cal cu late and pre print on the FCC Form 159, depending on the number of ap pli ca tions sub mit ted. De tailed in struc tions are avail able by click ing on the item number on the Inter net form. Pre vi ously, ap pli cants had to com plete a sepa rate FCC Form 159 for each ap pli ca tion sub mit ted elec troni cally. Elec tronic pay ment is not yet avail able, and ap pli cants must mail a com pleted FCC Form 159 with pay ment to FCC, Box 358994, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5994, im me di ate ly af ter sub mit ting any elec tronic ap pli ca tion(s). For tech ni cal as sis tance, con tact the FCC Tech ni cal Support Group, 202-414-1250. For gen eral ques tions regarding the ap pli ca tion or fee, call the Wire less Telecommunications Bureau Consumer Assistance staff, 800-322-1117 N8BSA,BOY SCOUTS ON TH E AIR (KK8N) Has any one heard this call sign lately? Well, maybe you have or maybe you haven't, but I'm sure you will, soon. That's be cause Ad ams County has a new ra dio club just for Boy Scouts, called B.S.A. Troop 266 Ama teur Ra dio Club, and it's call sign is N8BSA. Our goal is to pro mote Ama teur Ra dio and Scouting all year long and to pro vide ra dio com mu ni ca tions at many Scout ing events through out the year, in stead of, just the once a year, Jam bo ree on the Air. We were very for tu nate to have ob tained the N8BSA call sign, through the Van ity Call sign pro gram, and we are hop ing this will spark the boys in ter est and also make it a very hot con tact for the Jam bo ree on the Air. Our cur rent plans are to have a sta tion setup at sum mer camp at Chief Lo gan Scout Res er va tion, June 29 - July 5; the Na tional Scout Jam bo ree at Fort A.P. Hill, near Fre dricks burg, Va., July 25 - Aug. 6; our fall cam poree at Perry's Monu ment on South Bass Is land, Put- in- Bay, OH. in Sept.; and of course the Jam bo ree on the Air in Oct. Re cently our sta tion was on the air at the Te cum seh Dis trict -A dve nture Camporee held at Camp Oyo, near Friend ship, OH. and our con trol op era tor was Da mon Clark, KB8UFU. Da mon said the sta tion was a great suc cess and they were able to make con tacts as far away as Wash ing ton State and Cali for nia. We also setup a sta tion at our own Si mon Ken ton Dis trict Cam - poree, held at the G.E. Test Site near Pee bles and ran a 2- meter op era tion be tween the con ser va tion area and the camp site. Cur rently, our mem ber ship con sists of only six mem bers; Dale Bai ley, KK8N; Steve Moose Brown, KB8WCW; Da mon Clark KB8UFU; Von don Ap ple gate, KJ8I; Clay Beck ham, KC8BWK; and George McCoy, KB8SDH. But, we hope to see many new young hams on the air in the very near future, as in ter est is already beginning to build. Our only mem ber ship re quire ments are that you must be a past or pres ent scout or scou ter of Troop 266 and have a cur rent Ama teur Ra dio li cense No for mal meet - ings are held, since most o f our busi ness is dis cussed at the regu lar troop meet ings and cam pouts. Our long- range future plans are to maybe have a low- profile 2- meter re peater, setup at the Scout Cabin in Pee bles, for the boys to use in the Pee bles area. So, keep your ears alert for the sound of N8BSA and your eyes wide- open for the site of a young scout trying for his first ticket, and give a shout back or a word of encouragement, who knows, you just might make a dif fer ence.
G.A.R.C MEETING MINUTES 5/1/97 (KB8PVY)The meet ing was called to or der by Vice Presi - dent.roy Fos ter NL7FK, at 6:40 PM. All mem bers and guests stood and re cited the pledge of al le giance to our flag, All mem - bers iden ti fied them selves with name and call sign. A mo tion by John KC8CYV and sec onded by Lisa KF4JNX to ac cept the min utes of the April meeting. Mo tion car ried by the mem ber - ship. Treas ur ers re port by Dot KB8TQU. There is $ 2657.00 in the treas ury at this meeting date. Al WB8UJM re ported that the club has received $631.00 for the raf fle of the FT50R hand held ra dio at his meet ing date. Field day dis cus sion open. It was de cided to have the field day at Gordys WB8YGW lo ca tion and we will also have our June meet ing at this lo ca tion. De for est A.R.C. weather net dis cus sion by Jerry WB8IOW. Fly ers were dis trib uted at this meeting concerning this net on June 14,1997, 8:00 am to 4:00 PM in West Un ion Ohio. The club de cide to give Jeff N1DJS a big Atta Boy for the fine work on the news let ter. The mem bers con veyed their ap pre - cia tion for his ef forts. Dot KB8TQU dis cussed the Ham fest flyer con test. Their was one entry by Larry WD8LSN and Kathie Cobb KA8FCX. they will re ceive 10 free Ham fest tick ets. Their flyer will be the ac - cepted one. There will be two ra dios given for the first two prizes at Ham fest drawing. The first winner will se lect the prize of their choice and the other one will go to the sec ond prize winner. Other clubs will be in volved with the sale of the tick ets and will receive one half of the pro ceeds of the tick ets that they sell. Com mit tees were set up for the Ham fest. Roy KE4MZN re ported that the Mays ville Club will have a high volt age dem on stra tion. Date to be set. Dis cus sion on trans por ta tion to the Day ton Hamfest. It can be talked about on the ra dio. Who will ride with who, and/or go as a group. Meet ing break at 7:10 PM. Draw ing for the FT50R hand held ra dio was held at this time. John K8RJ, won the ra - dio.meeting back to or der at 7:30pm. A short dis cus sion on where to pur chase the prizes for the Ham fest. Will be de cided. A mo tion to adjourn the meet ing at 7:35pm by Lu cius KF8RC and sec onded by Roy KE4MZN.Mo tion car ried by mem ber - ship. Sub mit ted by Jerry, G.A.R.C. Secretary. HAMFEST FLYER CONTEST (KB8TQU)Con gratu la tions to Larry Cobb WD8LSN and Kathie Cobb KA8FCX. You will re ceive 10 Ham fest tick ets ( when we get them ). Thank you for your time and in ge nu ity. The flyer that you pre sented,is just what we were looking for.good luck with your tick ets. Dot HOW TO READ AN S-METER Some of the more ex pe ri enced hams may be thinking "This must be a joke." Af ter all the S- meter is so widely used that the sub ject seems al most triv ial. Ac tu ally, I think that it is a very im por tant topic to cover. Cer tainly, if you've been a ham for years, you have likely picked up the proper mean ing of the num bers on the me ter, but the fact re mains that if you've never been told how to read an S- meter, chances are you are go ing to do it wrong! I can't tell you how many times I've heard state ments on the air like "Your sig nal re port is S 10!", and this is sim ply wrong. One method of giv ing a sig nal re port over the air is to use the RST (Read abil ity, Sig nal Strength, and Tone) re port ing sys tem. Some use this method while oth ers sim ply give an S- meter reading. Still, oth ers com bine the Read abil ity (of the RST sys tem or RS sys tem on phone) with the ac tual S- meter read ing so that you'll hear things like "Your re port is 59 plus 10". If you do plan on using the S- meter in your re port ing, you need to first learn how to read the me ter. The S- meter con sists of num bers rang ing from S 1 to S 9. So the first im por tant point is that there is no such thing as an S 10. If you look closely at your ra dio's S- meter you'll see that the high est S number is ac tu ally S 9. Be yond the S 9 point, the mark ings are of ten a dif fer ent color and there are usu ally PLUS (+) SIGNS bef ore the num bers. What does this signify? It in di cates that the number rep re sents the number of db over the S 9 read ing. Time for a quick test! What is the above me ter in di cat ing? Since the read ing spans beyond the S 9 point, you al ready know that the read ing will be S 9 PLUS. And since the read ing stopped un der the +20 marker you know that the read ing is ac tu ally 20 db over S 9. The re port you would give over the air is ei ther S 9 Plus 20 or 20 db over S 9.