Monthly Newsletter Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio April, 1998

THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB Thank you John, NØPVT for our program on 6-meters. See Norm's notes about our next program. It will be on Robots. The next meeting will be on April 10, Friday at 7:30 P.M. It will be held on the KSU campus in room 152 Rathbone Hall. We will gather at the Sirloin Stockade at about 5:15 before the meeting. I hope you can join us. Gary Johnson will give a talk about "Free" Energy at our May meeting. Several of you are reading his book on the topic. Norm still has some more copies. It should be interesting. His earlier talks on Tesla and Magnetic Related Health Effects sure were. Gary is organizing a meeting on Tesla Coils with demonstrations. It will last a couple of days in early October. Several Hams have already volunteered to help him. It will be at his lab south of Manhattan, where Lloyd's balloons are launched. People from other states have already agreed to bring their "Coils" to the gathering. Gary will be writing about it in a later newsletter. We are having another XYL dinner on April 23. We don't know where or what time so give me any ideas you have. Listen to the repeater nets for more information.

NORM'S NOTES Norm Dillman, NØJCC The meeting this month on Friday, April 10, will be on Robotics. Professor Jim DeVault will tells us about what is happening with Robots these days and then several students will demonstrate their computer-controller mobile robot creations and explain how they work. They are all different and you'll see some clever implementations. Perhaps Lloyd will bring his latest robot rover, too. The 1999 KSU solar-powered car actually has a shape, and the students are making good progress. We have a computer generated model that we'll try to have at the next meeting. We've been really excited about the possibility ofusing Nickel Metal Hydride batteries for the first time in the race. We're not so excited now that we've learned that the eight required batteries will cost $40,000 and are only big enough to meeting 90% of the maximum energy allowance. We also learned that these "super" batteries do not work so well at temperatures above about 70 F. At 1OO F you lose about 10% of the charge and at 120 F you loose about 20%. The advantage is that these batteries weigh less than half as much as Lead Acid batteries with the same "nominal" energy level. There are some minor changes to the rules for Field Day 1998; mostly dealing with points for packet and VHF/UHF contacts. The basic plans are in place and many people have volunteered equipment and expertise and operating time to make this annual event a lot of fun, and to score a lot of points. We'll be at the scenic overlook south of Manhattan K-177. We'll set up the stations Saturday morning and operate from mid-day until mid-day Sunday, June 27 and 28. The June meeting will be devoted to final plans and going over the rules and logging requirements. Let me know if you have any ideas or questions or suggestions or need a copy of the rules. The following is a tentative list ofwhat's going on. Help fill in the gaps.

AMATEUR RADIO CLUES Francis Sable, WØEVJ The simplest radio filter could consist of a capacitor and resistor. A capacitor connected in shunt across the output of an alternating or fluctuating voltage source, together with the internal series resistance of the source, make up a type of low pass filter. The value of the capacitor would be determined by the value of the source internal resistance and the frequencies of the amount of attenuation needed. Some practical examples of this type filter are shown in diagrams 2A and 2B. 2A is the circuit diagram of a basic crystal dectector (rectifier) radio receiver. As shown, the demodulation process is accomplished by both the rectifying action of the crystal diode and the filtering (smoothing) action of the capacitor C2 to smooth out the RF ripple after rectification to reproduce the modulation envelope of the RF carrier. 2B is the partial circuit diagram of a typical 60 cycle A.C. power source to 12.8 V DC filtered and regulated power supply. In this case the voltage source to the filter capacitor consists of the relatively very low impedance for the secondary winding in series with the low conducting resistance of the rectifier diodes. This low source impedance of the secondary winding in series with the low conducting resistance of the rectifier diodes. This low source impedance, together with the low frequency of 120 Hz (following full-wave rectification) as compared with the much higher impedance and much higher frequenceis of the circuit of 2A, requires a much higher value of capacitor for effective ripple filtering than does the circuit of 2A.

SECRETARY'S MINUTES Lenore Layman, NØTSN The guest speaker for the evening was John Skare, NØPVT, who presented to the club "everything you always wanted to know about six meters, propagation and antennas". Nadine, club treasurer, presented a review of the annual treasurer's report - total on hand as of October 31, 1998: in checking $48.28, and in savings $2628.98. Membership dues were addressed to the club by Norm, NØJCC: for a family dues are $30.00, single $20.00, and a student is $10.00. A suggestion of reducing the dues might increase the membership. The club's normal expenses for one year are about $1,000.00. In evaluating our expenses and reducing the dues, we came to the conclusion this would not be feasible. A vote was taken and all were in favor of keeping the dues as they were, with no changes. Membership was down as of this date and a few suggestions were made that might remind members to keep their dues current. 1. The September or October newsletter would have a renewal form for membership at the end of the treasurer's report. 2. A free newsletter would be sent out to previous members who have not renewed. Also, when there is a special activity, for example: field day, auctions and the picnic. 3. The possibility of giving new members (new to the club, not a previous member) reduced rates. 4. Include the name and address of who and where to send dues. Coupon - a coupon would be given out to the VE's at their testing locations to people who have passed their exams for $10.00 off our club membership. This would apply for anyone upgrading their license, providing they are not already members. A vote was taken and all were in favor of this. Insurance - a letter was sent to our insurance company, Albert H. Wohlers & Co. regarding balloon launches and the club's liability. Nadine read the response from Jeanette Evans, the Senior Account Analyst stating that our current liability policy does not specifically exclude liability coverage for the launching of the helium balloon, however this exposure is excluded within our underwriting guidelines authority for this insurance program by the CIGNA Insurance Company. In other words, if we had informed our insurance company that we would be involved in balloon launches, they would have declined to issue a policy for our club and our policy would be cancelled or non renewed. This issue was discussed in great length and it was decided and voted on that the "Manhattan Area Amateur Radio Society (MAARS) does not sponsor people participating in balloon launch/es". A motion was passed and seconded. A copy of the club's minutes would be sent to Albert H. Wohlers & Co. Correction to the February minutes as stated Nadine will check with Pete Silas regarding his concerns about balloon launches. Change should say Nadine has already checked with Pete Silas regarding his concerns about balloon launches. March 30th there is a weather spotters awareness class at the Fire Department on Denison and Kimball. Next hamfest is March 14th at the Ararat Shrine in Kansas City, MO. April 18th in Joplin, MO. Check the newsletter for more details. The next meeting will be on April 10th.

TREASURER'S REPORT Nadine Stueve, KØUHF March, 1998 Cash on Hand, 3/1/98   20.00 Checking account balance, 3/1/98 147.46 Savings account balance, 3/1/98 2,498.94    Total on Hand, 3/1/98   $ 2,666.40   Receipts:    Dues   40.00 Total Cash Available   $ 2,706.40     Expenditures:    PO Box Rent 20.00    Telephone 17.35       Emergency call .15       Reimbursed Long Distance   .54 Total Expenditures     38.04   Cash on Hand, 3/31/98 20.00 Checking account balance, 3/31/98 149.42 Savings account balance, 3/31/98 2,498.94 Total on Hand, 3/31/98   $ 2,668.36 If anyone has any questions about the treasurer's report or anything on the report, please ask the treasurer, Nadine Stueve, KØUHF. Also, she has forms for anyone desiring to join the American Radio Relay League. For new members, MAARS may keep $5 of the fee so it helps our club if you join through MAARS. Renewals through the club allow MAARS to retain $2 of the ARRL dues. If doing so, you must make out the check to MAARS and then MAARS writes a check for the amount to be remitted. In other words, we retain the amount allotted to the club as they do not send the amount back to us. A question was asked about someone who does not have a license joining ARRL - the answer: yes, that is permitted.