Monthly Newsletter Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio April, 1999

THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB Jim Duncan was unable to join us for last month's meeting because of the threat of bad weather. He was going to talk about APRS. He's very active in Kansas City APRS activities. Our March meeting consisted of a mini-auction of some items from Doris Grosh, AAØDU. She has also loaned us several items for the club station, KS0MAN. Jon Held, NØRYQ, was our entertaining auctioneer. After that Norm, NØJCC, gave us an update on the KSU Solar Car and then several people went to the campus to see the car. It will be on display in front of Durland Hall at the KSU open house April 10. Our next meeting will be April 9 at 7:30 PM. Jim Duncan is scheduled again to talk about what's going on with APRS. We'll have a video from Collins Radio to show in the near future. The meeting will be at the Riley County Red Cross Building at 1410 Poyntz in Manhattan. We will meet at the Sirloin Stockade for dinner about 5:15 PM before the meeting. The XYL's went to dinner this month. Nine of us enjoyed dinner at the El Cazador. Our next outing will be May 27. We had a great time.

NORM'S NOTES Norm Dillman, NØJCC HELP WANTED #1 Once again it's time for the BOY SCOUT MERIT BADGE JAMBOREE and once again we need volunteers on Saturday, April 24 at KSU to help with the RADIO badge. Phyllis and I are having out-of-state guests that weekend but Tim Sobering, KCØBGB has agreed to run the two sessions (AM and PM). I'll help him get it set up but he'll need a lot of help to make it happen. Many of you have helped in the past and know how rewarding (and sometimes tiring) it can be. The requirements have changed recently and are more reasonable. Let Tim or me know if you can help for part or all of the day. We've typically had about eight people helping and the more we have the easier it will be. HELP WANTED #2 The 1999 Solar BikeRayce USA will be held at Forbes Field in Topeka again this summer. Events start on Friday, May 28 but most of the action is on Sunday, May 30. Several Hams from MAARS and a few from Topeka helped count laps and with communications last year. I recently got an email message from the officials asking if we could help again. The Hams and KSU students got many compliments from the officials last year. If you have any questions just let me know. If you can help just let Phyllis or me know. It's a fun event. We also plan to drive the KSU Solar Car to the race. APRIL 9 MEETING Once again we've scheduled Jim Duncan to talk about APRS and once again there is a chance that he won't be able to make it. If Jim Duncan can't make it for the April meeting we will have a video from Rod Blocksome from Rockwell-Collins in Cedar Rapids. It's called "The Early Years - A Look at Pre-War Collins". It runs about 1/2 hour and is produced by a collector of Collins gear in California. The next time Rod is in Manhattan I've asked him to talk about a project he is working on. Here are his comments: "In the middle of all this, I have gotten involved in another very interesting extra project. Five engineers here at Collins are working with a Company called Nauticos that is going to search for Amelia Earhart's plane. We are supplying a study and analysis of radio propagation and navigation aspects. During the trips I read 8 books on her and all the different "theories" about what happened to her and her navigator - Fred Noonan. In spite of all this analysis, it is going to be a very expensive search. The Pacific ocean around Howland Island is very deep!" Some engineers from Garmin, the GPS folks, will be on campus that weekend so I'm trying to get them to talk about global positioning systems, GPS. We'll keep you informed on the Tuesday night net about what is going on. As usual, the meeting will be at the Riley County Red Cross Building in Manhattan on Poyntz near 14th street. The meeting is at 7:30 PM following the "eating meeting" at the Sirloin Stockade on the east side of Manhattan. The following are some excerpts from the March 26 weekly "ARRL LETTER" that is distributed by email to ARRL members. ARRL members can get this newsletter each week. GO TO: http://www.arrl.org/members. There are usually several interesting items each week. SPUTNIK 99 TO LAUNCH IN APRIL Sputnik 99, which likely also will be known as RS-19 and possibly as Sputnik 42, will be launched by hand from Mir sometime in April during a space walk by ESA astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere, FXØSTB, of France. The newest "baby Sputnik" was a cooperative effort of Gerard Auvray, F6FAO, of AMSAT-France; Viktor Kourilov, of the Astronautical Federation of Russia; and Sergei Sambourov, RV3DR, of Energia and AMSAT-Russia. Technical details of the latest Sputnik are not yet available. NASA PROVIDES SPACE QUALIFICATION FUNDING TO SAREX/ARISS NASA has given a $90,000 boost to the cause of giving Amateur Radio a permanent place in space. The money, recently transferred to the US-based Space Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) team from NASA's Education Office will support the space qualification of Amateur Radio hardware bound for the International Space Station as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. FCC INVESTIGATING TEXAS AMATEUR The FCC is investigating information indicating that Technician licensee Leonard Martin, KC5WHN, of Houston, Texas, operated outside of the amateur bands without a proper license. Field Office personnel in Houston reportedly monitored Martin and located him using direction-finding equipment on two occasions. On February 27, he was said to be operating on 27.535 MHz and 545 MHz. On March 15, he was said to be operating on 27.370 MHz, a frequency between CB channels. In other actions, the FCC sent Warning Notices to an Illinois ham alleging broadcasting and on-air harassment as well as transmission of profane and indecent language. The FCC also warned a Texas ham about causing deliberate interference on 40 meters, an Illinois ham who holds a Technician ticket about operating on 20 and 40 meters, and a North Carolina Novice who's allegedly showed up on 2 meters. RESIDUAL NOISE POLLUTION IN MODERN PHASE-LOCKED LOOP RECEIVERS THE PROBLEM Do you feel that the bands are much noisier than they used to be? Do you often turn on your rig and call a station time and time again only to get no reply? Well, the problem may be residual noise pollution. When you turn your rig off, some of the signals you have been copying become trapped inside the phase-locked loop of your receiver and are unable to escape. One sure sign that you are suffering from RNP is when you turn your rig on after a few days and hear the same station that you heard calling CQ immediately before you last switched off. These rogue signals accumulate and will remain inside the rig unless steps are taken to flush them out. THE CURE The cure for RNP is fairly basic but the author can obviously take no responsibility for clean-ups that go wrong. Remember, there is no compulsion to try this. This system works very well for an IC-706 and also an IC-735 but some problems may occur when flushing out stubborn signals from older, tube type rigs. STAGE ONE Remove all external appendages from the rig. This means all knobs, buttons, connectors etc. Don't forget to disconnect from the power supply first! STAGE TWO Peer inside the case. If any obvious blockages can be spotted, remove them with a bent paper-clip or with a piece of gum stuck to the end of a pencil. Quite often no problem will be obvious. This is because the rogue signals are, to use a technical term, skulking. STAGE THREE Place rig carefully into a washing machine (a clothes washer). Experience has shown that the best results are obtained with a short biological pre-wash, a synthetics wash, a warm rinse and a fairly long spin. Do not use fabric conditioner. If in any doubt at all refer to the washing instructions at the back of the manual for your rig. If you have no washing instructions play safe and wash on a delicate fabric setting. You may find that the rig will dent the inside of the wash-drum during the spin but don't let the noise deter you. The end result will be worth it. STAGE FOUR Obviously when dealing with electrical appliances it is essential that they are absolutely dry before switch on, so it is now time to tumble-dry the rig. A warm dry for about an hour should do the trick. Remove the rig and carefully check underneath any surface-mounted devices to make sure there is no residual moisture. To be absolutely sure shake the rig vigorously for a few seconds and listen for sounds of water slopping around. If some minor discoloration of the outside casing can be tolerated, the rig may be dried out on top of a slow barbecue. NOW - THE RESULTS! Replace all knobs, buttons and connectors. Reconnect to power supply. Switch on. You will be amazed at the difference! No noise! You have cured Residual Noise Pollution. Your DX-ing will never be the same again!!

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK Chuck Carter, AAØRI The secretary's minutes will be e-mailed to everyone on the e-mail list and Lenore will print several copies to hand out at Friday's meeting for anyone who wants it. Lenore has been very busy the past couple of months and wasn't quite ready for the deadline. I understand that as I almost forgot to do this News Letter myself. You may think that the article by Al Cake sounds a little fishy, but remember this IS April. Speaking of April, I also have some humor sent to me by Bev, NØRKO. Please don't take these personally! I know I'm guilty of a few of these myself. ...-.- de AAØRI Note: This "Rusty Bumpers" column is from the May 1993 issue of "Solid Copy", the Richmond, VA Amateur Telecommunications Society's monthly newsletter. Most of the examples used by "Rusty" have happened on the local repeaters exactly as written, although some of the items are exaggerated slightly for humor. (step 35 was written before the 1993 "no business" rule change.) HOW TO SOUND LIKE A LID by Rusty Bumpers, N4LID On two meters lately, I have noticed a tendency of people making a concerted effort to sound like a Lid (i.e. poor operator). Since this appears to be the new style in amateur radio, I thought I would present this handy guide to radio nerd-dom. The following is what I call: "How to sound like a Lid in one easy lesson." 1) Use as many Q signals as possible. Yes, I know they were invented solely for CW and are totally inappropriate for two-meter FM, but they're fun and entertaining. They keep people guessing as to what you really meant. i.e. "I'm going to QSY to the kitchen." Can you really change frequency to the kitchen? QSL used to mean "I am acknowledging receipt," but now it appears to mean "yes" or "OK." I guess I missed it when the ARRL changed the meaning. 2) Never laugh, when you can say "hi hi." No one will ever know you aren't a long time CW ragchewer if you don't tell them. They'll think you've been on since the days of Marconi. 3) Utilize an alternative vocabulary. Use words like "destinated" and "negatory." It's OK to make up your own words here. "Yeah Bill, I pheelbart zaphonix occasionally myself." 4) Always say "XX4XXX (insert your own call) for I.D." Anything that creates redundancy is always strongly encouraged. That's why we have the Department of Redundancy Department. (Please note that you can follow your call with "for identification purposes" instead of "for I.D." While taking longer to say, it is worth more lid-points.) 5) The better the copy on two-meter FM, the more you should phonetically spell your name, especially if it is a short and/or common one. i.e. "My name is Al...Alpha Lima" or "Jack...Juliett Alpha Charlie Kilo." If at all possible, make up unintelligible phonetics. "My name is Bob...Billibong Oregano Bumperpool." 6) Always give the calls of yourself and everyone who is (or has been) in the group, whether they are still there or not. While this has been unnecessary for years, it is still a wonderful memory test. To be continued in a future issue.

TREASURER'S REPORT Nadine Stueve, KØUHF March, 1999 Cash on Hand, 3/31/99 20.00 Checking account balance, 3/31/99 164.93 Savings account balance, 3/31/99 2,490.28 Total on Hand, 3/31/99   $ 2,695.21   Receipts:    Flowers 24.00    Bumper Sticker 1.00    ARRL Dues 34.00    Dues 20.00    Savings Account Interest 17.19 Total Receipts      96.19 Total Money Available   $ 2,771.40   Expenditures:    Newsletter - printing 8.59    Newsletter - postage 33.00    ARRL Dues 32.00    Field Day 50.00    Telephone 25.90    Flowers 26.73 Total Expenditures      176.22   Cash on Hand, 4/30/99 20.00   Checking account balance, 4/30/99 467.71   Savings account balance, 4/30/99 2,107.47     Total on Hand, 4/30/99   $ 2,595.18 ARRL DUES If you would like to become a member of the American Radio Relay League and receive the monthly issue of QST, your treasurer has a form you may use to apply. The club keeps $5 of each new member's dues and $2 of each renewing member, so even if you are renewing, do so through the club. The main thing to remember is that if you join through the club, your check must be made out to MAARS. When the form is sent in, the treasurer writes a new check deducting the amount which the club is permitted to keep. They will not reimburse the club. If you are renewing, bring your notice for renewal along to the meeting or send it to the Treasurer at the MAARS address. HAMFESTS May 14 - 16 - Dayton Hamvention - Dayton, Ohio June 4 - 5 - Iowa State Convention - So. Sioux City, Neb.