NEWS & VIEWS
- Program will be "The Rice Fire" presented by James Beebe, KI6GZE
James was manning a Rainbow engine during the early stages of the fire and has a interesting account of the fire. He will also touch on ways to prepare your house for a fire.- "Avenue of the Oaks" Bicycle Ride
Fallbrook 75 meter net meets every Thursday 8pm on 3.924 MHz ± 5kc.
Join us if you can for ragchew, intellectual conversation (lots of wind) technical talk or anything you might want to bring up.
73,
Stephen, kc6mie
The Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club, will be helping with communications for "Avenue of the Oaks" bicycle ride on April 5th, 2008 in Fallbrook. The ride has a choice of three distances, metric century , metric half century & 15 mile ride. All three rides start and finishing at historic Live Oak Park in Fallbrook. Proceeds benefit P.E.D.A.L for Kids.
www.avenueoftheoaks.com
Club members Ken-W6MF, Sam-KB6MB, Bigs-KG6GIU, Randy-KD6UAK, Ron-KG6HSQ step in on short notice to provide VE testing for the two day amateur radio technician license class that was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There were also none class members that used the opportunity of local testing.
Congratulations to club member Todd Smith-KG6WVY Upgraded.
And club member/pending member's XYL's Linda Brooks, and Cathy Beebe, new technicians.
2008 Club Officers, Fallbrook Christmas Parade 2006 & 2007, Updated Weather Links
The presentation will feature Kerry N6IZW on "Fun with Optics", optical (laser) communications systems.
Kerry has previously used and demonstrated voice communications using a laser pen between Boucher peak on Palomar mountain and Valley Center. www.earthsignals.com/Collins/0036/index.htm
The meeting will be held on February 6, 2008 (the first Wednesday of each month). Arrive at 7:00pm for set-up and chat; the meeting starts at 7:30pm. Talk-in on 146.730 MHz repeater. Directions to the Safety Center.
Carlsbad Safety Center
2560 Orion Way
Carlsbad
Dear Fellow Ham,
This is a reminder that the Yuma Amateur Radio Hamfest Organization (YARHO) will again be sponsoring a hamfest in Yuma next month. The Fourth Annual Yuma Hamfest and Electronics Expo will be held in Yuma on February 15 and 16, 2008 at the Yuma County Fairgrounds.
This year we are featuring the "Country Store", a consignment sales area. If you only have a few items to sell and do not want to pay the tailgating fee or stand around all day trying to sell what you have, put your gear in the Country Store and our staff will sell your items for a nominal 10% fee.
We also have an expanded seminar list this year which includes such subjects as ARES Database, D-Star Systems, Software Defined Radios, and Ham Radio and Lasers. The full schedule is available at www.yumahamexpo.com/seminars.html
For more information on the Yuma Hamfest and Electronics Expo, please check out our website at www.yumahamexpo.com.
73,
George Scott 3rd K7YMA
Publicity Chairman, YARHO
| ARRL Club Newsletter January 18, 2008 Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, Editor |
|
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ It Was Always There + Field Day Tidbits + First Contact Award + Customizable Awards It Was Always There By Eric P. Nichols, KL7AJ President, Arctic ARC kl7aj@arrl.net At a recent Arctic Amateur Radio Club board meeting, during a rare lull in the oft-heated discussions about how best to increase our membership, I threw out a simple question. "How did you get into ham radio?" The responses were revealing, to say the least. One by one, our board members, some young, some old, told the story of how they got into this hobby of all hobbies. One gentleman had a father who was a ham, and more or less forced him into the hobby, for which he was unspeakably grateful...years later, of course. One XYL saw a shortwave radio at a friend's house, started twiddling knobs, and got frustrated that she could only listen. For her, the rest was history. A couple of others were exposed to amateur radio in high school, one in Boy Scouts. Another credited me with getting him into ham radio, much to my gratification. One other confessed that he didn't really know; it just seemed to him that ham radio was "always around." Interestingly enough, not one of the hams entered the hobby because of a concentrated recruitment program. Although occasional public relations "Blitzkriegs" have their place in Amateur Radio, I'm not sure they produce lasting hams. Like many other clubs, we manage to get a lot of hams licensed, but the dropout rate is appalling. The vast majority of our newly licensed hams never get on the air. I don't think our message is flawed; I think it's our delivery. Of all the board members I mentioned above, I believe the last fellow, the one who said ham radio was "always around" had the key. We need to get back to the place where amateur radio is a continual, if quiet, presence. People who get lured into the hobby, stick with the hobby. People who get coerced and cajoled into the hobby leave as soon as we aren't looking. The fact is, most new hams never see a working ham shack, about all they see is a handheld, which isn't all that fascinating. When a young person sees a ham shack equipped to cover everything from DC to daylight, they take notice...it doesn't matter whether they're a geek or not. I've never seen anyone who wasn't impressed by a Moon bounce (Earth-Moon-Earth contact) array swinging around on its rotators...whether they had a clue what it was or not! People don't know about ham radio because they don't see ham radio...except, perhaps at Field Day. The best place to cultivate that "always around" feeling is in the schools. We need to infiltrate the middle and high schools again. Notice, I said, again. There was a time, not too long ago, when it was difficult to find a high school without a club station. Field Day should be a three hundred and sixty five day a year event, and that is easier to achieve in the schools than anywhere else. There is no better way to teach science than with ham radio. We need to remind our public (and private) school teachers and administrators of that. We need to let our students get their hands grubby making things happen, rather than merely watching things happen. We need to get some real hardware into the schools. We have wonderful new allocations now, and the technology to use them is cheaper and easier than ever. When I was in high school in the late 60s, it was everything one could do, and then some, to do Moon bounce. It was only because we had a lunatic (no pun intended) electronics teacher, that we were able to pull off such a stunt. Now, Moon bounce is practically within reach of any determined high school club station. Wouldn't it be great if Moon bounce stations proliferated at our high schools the way H.F. stations once did? Of course, I only use Moon bounce as one radical example. We have exciting things happening down at 500 kHz, as well. What better way to learn weak signal, digital signal processing techniques than with our newly allocated MF experimental spectrum? This all may be rocket science, but it doesn't take rocket science to get it into the schools! Our teachers want to see us excel in the sciences. Let's give them the tools to do so. Fifty years from now, someone may be asked how they got into ham radio. It would be nice if they could answer, "I don't know...I guess it was always there." ****** Eric P. Nichols was born in 1954 in what is now Silicon Valley. As Eric describes it, his exposure to physics research came at an early age, having grown up "down the barrel of the Stanford Linear Accelerator." In 1976 he felt the call of the wild and abandoned a fledgling engineering career to move to Alaska and live life "with the bark still on." As it turned his call to the wild kept him in engineering as he spent a twenty year career as Chief Engineer for KJNP, a 50,000 watt radio station in North Pole, Alaska. Afterwards, Eric became a development engineer for HIPAS observatory, an aurora research facility near Fairbanks operated by UCLA. The experience set the stage for his first novel, Plasma Dreams, published in 2004. ISBN 9781413748260 Bon Appétit sur Field Day! You may recall the Field Day Cookbook that appeared in the June 2007 issue of QST. Well, we're doing it again in 2008. In addition to the technical tips, readers greatly enjoyed the Field Day recipes. Send us your culinary concoction and you'll have a shot at QST stardom. Keep in mind that it has to be something that can be prepared at a "normal" Field Day site (one without access to stainless steel ovens, etc). The shorter the recipe, the better; we'd like to fit several onto one page. If you have a digital photo of your masterpiece, send it along too. E-mail your recipe to Steve Ford, WB8IMY, QST Editor at sford@arrl.org by no later than February 29. Any Day Can Be Field Day Paul Milward, AB4PM tells us that the Daytona Beach ARA uses a mini filed day type operation to attract people to Amateur Radio. Paul says that the club visits various parks on alternating weekends and sets up a HF station and starts calling CQ. Curious parkgoers are treated to an infromative demonstration on ham radio and recieve some club information and how to get their own Amateur Radio license. Do you want to recognize someone who just made their first two-way radio communications by Amateur radio? Perhaps you just made your first CW contact or first HF contact and want to have a certificate to remember that exciting time. Whether you are presenting the award to someone or creating a landmark of your own Amateur Radio journey, use the on-line form to fill in the QSO information and the operator who is being presented with this certificate and ARRL will mail a beautiful First Contact Award. The award can be mailed directly to the recipient or it can be presented in person or at a club meeting. The ARRL now offers custom awards for clubs, groups and individuals for recognition and achievement, offering a wide range of styles and price levels. Each award is customized with your text and the ARRL logo. Products offered include a tan leather rectangular key fob with a call sign on one side and the ARRL diamond on the other; a rosewood pen and pencil set with personalization available on the pen and pencil, as well as the presentation box; an 8x10 inch wood plaque with blue plate engraved with up to 14 lines of gold text; a swiveling wood desk clock that holds a photo or an insert, personalize this with up to 25 characters on two lines, and a beautiful crystal 3-inch etched globe on a crystal base, presented in a velvet-lined gift box. Do you have that one ham in your group who comes out every Field Day, rain or shine, who stays from beginning to end, helping out in any way possible? Acknowledge their involvement with a beautiful gift that shows how much you value their service? What about the ham in your club that has been a member for 25 years and has yet to miss a meeting? Show them how much you appreciate their contribution with a small personalized token. Do you have an Elmer you would like to thank with more than words? A personalized gift with their name and call sign on it would remind them of you every time they used it. Each item features the ARRL diamond logo. Award orders will be processed and delivered within 20 working days. View the entire award product line, as well as ARRL clothing items, at the Barker Specialties Web site www.barkerstores.com/arrl 60 yr Orange Amateur Radio Club, Inc W5ND The ARRL CLUB NEWS is published on the first Wednesday of each month by the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259; www.arrl.org. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President. The ARRL CLUB NEWS is an e-mail digest of news and information of interest to active members of ARRL Affiliated Clubs. Editorial questions or comments: Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, clubs@arrl.org Past issues of The ARRL CLUB NEWS are available at |
| ARRL Southwestern Division Newsletter January 5, 2008 Richard Norton, N6AA |
|
New Southwestern Division Vice Director As of January first, Marty Woll, N6VI, is the ARRL Southwestern Division Vice Director. Marty is a retired partner of a Big-8 accounting firm, with a broad background in Amateur Radio. He is already significantly involved in division activities. Marty can be reached at n6vi@arrl.org . Previous Vice Director, Ned Stearns, AA7A, is the chief-engineer of a very large communications project that left him with inadequate time to handle the Vice Director role, and consequently did not run for a second term. We thank Ned for his many contributions to the division. Arizona Section Manager - K7DF After 32 years as WB7NXH, Arizona Section Manager, Tom Fagan, has a new callsign, K7DF. Division Legislative Action Help Needed The Southwestern Division has need for a Legislative Action Chair to coordinate efforts at getting our message through to legislators. We also need others who would be willing to assist the chair. If you would be willing to help, please advise me. California Hands-free Cellphone Law California has a new law banning use of hand-held cellphones while driving vehicles that becomes effective starting on July 1, 2008. ARRL General Counsel, Chris Imlay, W3KD, reports that that he has concluded that this does not apply to Amateur Radio operation because Amateur Radio transceivers are not wireless telephones. California Radio Amateur License Plates The California Department of Motor Vehicles has started putting spaces between the prefix and suffix of callsigns on Radio Amateur license plates. This was apparently something that they did in the past. An effort is underway to educate the DMV and get the plates issued with the actual callsigns assigned by the FCC. ARRL Board Meeting The ARRL Board meets on January 17, 18, and 19. If any members have suggestions regarding League policies or operations, this would be an appropriate time to bring them to my attention. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Southwestern Division Director: Richard Norton, N6AA n6aa@arrl.org January 23, 2008 update on major items of interest to us in the ARRL Southwestern Division... California License Plate Progress We have several efforts under way attempting to resolve the DMV problem of inserting spaces in callsigns on license plates. We've had a few positive interchanges with DMV and other state government staff. When either more letters to state legislators appear required, or there is something concrete to report, I will let you know. Stay tuned. Palmdale Antenna Case The Palmdale, California, city council, has voted to affirm a decision of the Palmdale planning commission ordering Alec Zubaru, WB6X, to remove a tower they previously permitted and approved. The council followed the idiosyncratic legal advice of an Assistant City Attorney, who believes the city has the right to regulate radio interference, even when none has actually been shown to exist. You can watch the entire hearing at http://palmdale.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2. The agenda item you want to get to is 8.2. You have to start with agenda category 8 and then skip ahead to 8.2. Attorney Len Shaffer, WA6QHD, assisted with the case. The outcome appears to clearly violate PRB-1, California Government Code Section 65850.3, and federal preemption of regulation of radio interference. We will soon decide whether to take the case to court or again attempt to resolve it otherwise. CC&R Prohibitions Against Antennas The last e-Communicator's request for items to be brought up at the just concluded ARRL Board of Director's meeting resulted in requests for action to try to overturn CC&R prohibitions against antennas. Note that the ARRL already has a program attempting to do this. See www.arrl.org/arrlletter/02/0628/ for a description of the bill introduced into the House of Representatives last year. It is not at all clear that such a bill is likely to ever become law, but the League is trying. A similar bill made it through one house of the Arizona state legislature in 2007, but was unable to get through the state senate. Amateur Radio relies on volunteers to assist with this and other legislative initiatives. If you can help, please contact me. Southern California CW Net Revival Santa Barbara Section Manager, Rob Griffin, K6YR, is attempting to revive the Southern California Net, a CW traffic net that met on 80 meters nightly for many years. Contact Rob at k6yr@arrl.org for more information. W6TRW Swapmeet - Traffic Camera Warning The W6TRW Swapmeet, held the last Saturday morning of every month since the 1960s is the largest Hamfest-like activity in the division. Directions and information are given at http://w6trw.com/swapmeet/w6trw_arc_swapmeet.htm One of our members reports that a traffic camera has been installed at the southbound 405 freeway off-ramp to Rosecrans Boulevard, where there is a "no right turn on red light" sign. Whereas the right turns may seem perfectly safe, particularly at 7 AM on Saturday morning, be aware that the city of Manhattan Beach's cash registers may disagree. An alternative is to continue past Rosecrans to Inglewood Avenue, the next exit, where the swapmeet can be reached with a series of minimally congested right turns. Arizona Hamfests Arizona Hamfests are held approximately monthly, and move between a number of locations. See www.arca-az.org/arca/ for more information. The upcoming Yuma Hamfest, held on February 15 and 16, is close to the California border. More information is at www.yumahamexpo.com Salvation Army Emcomm Training in San Bernardino The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network, a group often found assisting with disasters, has its annual seminar this Saturday, January 26, from 0830 to 1400. Three talks and a complimentary luncheon are among the features. See www.satern.net Vice Director Marty Woll, N6VI, and I welcome your comments and suggestions regarding ARRL policies. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Southwestern Division Director: Richard Norton, N6AA n6aa@arrl.org |
| Checking Balance November 30, 2007 |
$1963.82 |
| Petty Cash Balance November 30, 2007 | $27.94 |
| Total |
$1991.76 |
|
DECEMBER INCOME |
|
| FARC Membership Dues | $40.00 |
| ARRL Dues | $39.00 |
|
Total |
$79.00 |
| DECEMBER EXPENSES |
|
| ARRL Dues | $37.00 |
|
Total |
$37.00 |
|
|
|
| Checking Balance December 31, 2007 | $2005.82 |
| Petty Cash Balance December 31, 2007 | $27.94 |
| Total |
$2033.76 |
Dewey ECC Committee
Bigs-KG6GIU, Ron-KG6HSQ, Ken-W6MF, Randy-KD6UAK, Bob-W6VR, Hayden-KG6YVD
Technical Committee
Bob-W6VR, AA4CD-Chris, Bob-WB6DIJ, Paul-W6SJL, Daryl-WA5QMV, Ron-KG6HSQ
| News Items from CGC Communicator Newsletter Robert Gonsett - W6VR Editor |
|
DTV-TO-NTSC CONVERTER BOX COUPONS AVAILABLE NOW A fast and easy way to apply for one or two government- issued coupons worth $40 each to purchase DTV=to-NTSC converter boxes (assuming you qualify) is to call this automated government hotline number: (888) 388-2009 (388 stands for DTV). The voice recognition software worked flawlessly when we requested two coupons earlier this week. A CGC Communicator reader indicates that he had equally good success in using the Web-based sign-up method described in the first URL below. By the way, people have been flooding the government with requests for DTV converter-box coupons. More than 500,000 people requested more than 1 million $40 coupons in the first 40 or so hours of the program, according to NTIA spokesman Todd Sedmak (second URL). If the pace continues, all currently funded coupons will be gone by late February. CELL PHONES DOMINATE Wireless telephones are outstripping wired phones by a large margin. The latest FCC report suggests that there were approximately 168 million wired phone circuits on December 31, 2006 vs. 230 million wireless phones. That means 58% of the phones were wireless as of Dec. '06. Audio samples of PSK31, AMTOR, DRM, Pactor and many more are available at: www.bartg.org.uk/Sound%20Files/soundlibrary.htm
ANALOG CELLULAR SERVICE COULD END SOON Beginning February 18, 2008, cellular telephone companies are no longer required to provide analog service. While most wireless telephone users will not be affected by this transition because they already have digital phones, some cell phones, alarm systems and OnStar in-vehicle communications gear will be impacted. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-279722A1.doc
Plasma antennas have been around for some time but mostly as curiosities. This is a recent report: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071112135910.htm
Here is an audio recording of a 6.79 MHz CW signal received first from the HAARP array (presumably running a lot of power), followed by the moonbounced echo after the HAARP array was shut off. Then the cycle repeats many times: first the direct HAARP signal is heard, then the moonbounced reflected signal. There is a Gonset Communicator Yahoo group called "Gonsetarium," the place where old gooney birds go to rest, be revitalized and then return to glorious vigorous life: Defeating remote-activated bombs: www.bombjammer.com/c-1-government.aspx Seller of GPS jammer in trouble with the FCC: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-155A1.doc |
| Duane, AA6EE is offering FARC members discount prices on ARRL items: |
||
|
|
||
|
||
|
|