Newsletter

The Society newsletter, usually carrying the previous meeting’s minutes inside it.

Published

1 February 2000

Last touched

Newsletter, February 2000

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio February, 2000

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Brian Carter, KCØDWX

Thank you to Tracy Tipping NØOEY for giving us his demonstration on lightning and lightning safety. It was shocking.

Our next MAARS meeting will be held at 7:30 PM Feb. 11 in the Red Cross Building at 2601 West Anderson Manhattan, KS 66502. Feel free to join us around 5:15 at the Sirloin Stockade for a bite to eat before the meeting.

For the meeting Chuck AAØRI will try to answer any question you may have over the license restructuring and how it will affect you and upgrading for you.

Francis Sable will give us a talk on transistors with special attention paid to questions on the license exams. This will be a great chance for anyone who feels they are going to take advantage of the license restructuring to learn some valuable information for the tests.

For those of you who signed up for the Field Day Committee thank you, now it is probably time to start thinking about location and making plans for field day. If you haven’t signed up for a Committee please consider doing so; it can be an educational experience.

If anyone comes across interesting pieces of information they feel would fit into the newsletter, please contact myself, KCØDWX, brianc@kansas.net or Chuck, AAØRI, aa0ri@kansas.net. Hope to see you all on the 11th.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Francis Sable, WØEVJ

January 14,2000 meeting was called to order by Brian, KCØDWX, President. Tracy, NØOEY, starts the meeting with a program on lightning hazards and safety, and a demonstration of high voltage static effects using a small Van de Graaff generator.

The November 13, 1999 meeting minutes were read and approved. ANNOUNCEMENTS: A YL dinner meeting is scheduled for January 20. There is discussion of the ownership of an antenna that MAARS had borrowed for field day use and when and to whom it should be returned. Bob Bartholic will check to determine proper ownership. A Red Cross Mass Care Class will be on February 3 from 6 to 10 PM. Those interested in attending should call Red Cross at 537-2180. Chuck Carter, AAØRI, announced that control operators for the MAARS repeater will be Donna Rose, NØZKX, and Henry, KAØSWM. Henry and Chuck discussed the possibility of getting a new repeater controller. It is decided to wait until more information on controllers is available to the group. A 2 meter or dual band transceiver is needed for the Red Cross building. Henry made a motion to buy 100 FT. of 9913 coax for the Red Cross building installation. Motion was seconded by Jon, NØRYQ. Motion is approved. Chuck and Fred, KØTCS, agree to make the purchase for MAARS.

The generator for the MAARS Club was tested with a test run. There is discussion about where to store the generator and fuel supply. Mike Moore and Jon volunteer to procure a portable gas tank for the generator.

Ideas for future meeting programs were called for by Brian. A state congressional bill PRB-1, advocated by KØCDY was announced by Bruce Frahm, KØBJ.

Cindy Carter is winner of a weather calendar by drawing her own name from the lottery box. Meeting adjourned.

CALHOUN’S CORNER

Myron Calhoun, WØPBV

The following is a copy of the Lease agreement that I’ve sent to KSDB to be signed. There may be some minor changes made before signing.

L E A S E A G R E E M E N T

===============================

This agreement is established between Radio Station KSDB (hereinafter called KSDB) of the A. Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University and the Manhattan Area Amateur Radio Society (hereinafter called MAARS), which is affiliated with the Amateur Radio Relay League of Newington, CT.

* This agreement is for a period of one (1) year and is renewable yearly by mutual consent of both parties. At the beginning of each year, MAARS shall pay to KSDB a yearly leasing fee of $36, and this fee may be renegotiated at the end of each year.

* With its yearly payment, MAARS shall file with KSDB a list of MAARS officers and their telephone numbers and addresses, said information to become a part of KSDB’s public access file.

* Neither party to this agreement shall hold the other liable for acts of God, such as lightning strikes, high winds, etc.

* KSDB agrees to permit MAARS to place antennas on the KSDB tower at about the 65- and 100-foot levels, to provide room and electrical power for MAARS equipment, and to issue a maximum of two keys to the KSDB tower site, preferably to KSU faculty or staff who are also members of MAARS. If no such person exists, then one key shall be issued to the Trustee of the MAARS FCC amateur radio license(s).

* MAARS shall only use the KSDB tower site for the operation of unattended VHF and UHF voice repeater(s) and digital communications node(s).

* MAARS may remove any of its equipment at any time, but must notify the KSDB Station Manager in writing if the club is abandoning the tower site and must return any key(s) to the proper authorities. Any lease fee already paid shall not be refunded.

* Each party shall each provide for its own separate telephone line(s) as needed, and each shall use the appropriate telephone interfacing equipment.

* Each party shall be financially responsible for its own equipment and must supply its own parts and tools needed to maintain said equipment.

* The personnel of each party shall repair/adjust only the equipment belonging to that party. This agreement can be terminated immediately if there is reasonable evidence that a representative of one party has adjusted or tampered with the other party’s equipment.

* Except in emergency situations, MAARS shall notify the KSDB Station Manager or Technician in advance before entering the KSDB tower site. Furthermore, immediately after entering and before exiting the building, the MAARS representative shall call the KSDB Studio and inform the person answering of the circumstances for the entry or exit.

* Each party agrees to comply with all FCC Rules and Regulations. If the equipment of either party fails to meet FCC operating standards, the proper adjustments or repairs shall be made within 30 days or this agreement can be terminated by the other party.

* MAARS shall work in good faith with the KSDB Station Manager and Technician and with any other entities which may hold leases with KSDB to resolve any conflict(s) which may arise.

* MAARS shall work in good faith to resolve interference problems with any other entities leasing space at the KSDB tower site. A new entity interfering with an entity already in place shall be responsible for eliminating any interference problem(s).

(Signature lines omitted for Newsletter)

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF January, 2000

Cash on Hand, 1/01/00	20.00
Checking account balance, 1/01/00	169.64
Savings account balance, 1/01/00	2,158.64
Total on Hand, 1/01/00		$ 2,348.28
Receipts:
Dues	60.00
Bumper Stickers	3.00
Total Receipts		63.00
Total Money Available		$ 2,411.28
Expenditures:
Newsletter – postage	33.00
Telephone	39.14
Annual Tower Rent	36.00
Total Expenditures		108.14
Cash on Hand, 1/31/00	20.00
Checking account balance, 1/31/00	124.50
Savings account balance, 1/31/00	2,158.64
Total on Hand, 1/31/00		$ 2,303.14

Dues will be due by Oct. 31 and are: regular membership $20, full-time student $10, family $30. Please complete the following when renewing your membership, even if you did so last year. Return to the Treasurer, at a meeting or to MAARS, P. O. Box 613, Manhattan, KS 66505-0613.

ARRL DUES

If you would like to become a member of or renew your membership in the American Radio Relay League and receive the monthly issue of QST, your treasurer has a form you may use to apply. If renewing, just bring along your notice of renewal to the club meeting. The club is allowed to retain $5 of each new member’s dues and $2 of each full member who is renewing. Since the club retains the dues, it is necessary for you to write your check to MAARS, and then the treasurer writes a check to ARRL for the amount minus the $5 or $2.

MAARS DUES

NAME _______________________________________ CALLSIGN ____________

MAILING ADDRESS____________________________________ DATE _____________

CITY _______________________________ STATE _____ ZIP CODE _____________

TELEPHONE # (____)_______________ E-MAIL ADDRESS _______________________

FOR FAMILY MEMBERSHIP:

NAME _______________________________________ CALLSIGN ____________

CHECK THE FOLLOWING WHICH APPLY:

____ ARRL member ____ It is alright to list my e-mail address on the homepage.

It is alright to list my address and telephone number for distribution only to our members. ____

How do you prefer to receive your newsletter?

____ e-mail ____ U.S. mail ____ both

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Published

1 January 2000

Last touched

Newsletter, January 2000

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio January, 2000

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Brian Carter, KCØDWX

I would like to thank Fred, KØTCS and Nadine KØUHF for allowing MAARS to use their house for the annual Christmas party on Saturday, December 11. The food was good, the company was good and the gift exchange was again very entertaining. I think everyone had a great deal of fun stealing nachos, peanuts and candies. We missed those of you who were unable to attend.

I would also like to thank last years officer who left office with a suspicious smile on their faces. They have spent a great deal of their time seeing to it that things have gone relatively well. Nadine, I hope you don’t mind terribly serving another year as treasurer but it is nice to have someone in one of the officer positions who has served for the last few years.

Our January 14 meeting will feature Tracy Tipping NØOEY giving us a demonstration on lightning and lightning safety. Some of you may have seen this in WARN a couple of months back but it is certainly a program worth seeing again. The meeting will be at 7:30 PM at the Red Cross Building 2601 Anderson Manhattan, KS. As usual you are welcome to attend the eating meeting at 5:15 or so at the Sirloin Stockade near K-mart.

It is time to start forming our various commitees for this year’s events, most importantly, field day. Even if you don’t think you will be able to attend an event you can be a great deal of help in planning and preparing. Too many times we like to watch things happen around us rather then participate in them. I’m not asking anyone to do something they aren’t capable of, participation is not always physical but can be mental. If you have questions or ideas be sure to speak up. I have learned many times that if you question something you will either save others a great deal of time because you did know more on the subject, or you could be wrong but will learn more on the subject yourself.

I look forward to ‘participating’ with all of you over the next year. Thank you to Nadine, KØUHF, Francis, WØEVJ and Bob,KBØZWK for taking on officers positions.

Thank you to Chuck, AAØRI, as well who has been our newsletter editor for the last couple of years, and is at least termporarily the repeater trustee. I’m sure it will be a fun, exciting and even educational year.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Francis Sable, WØEVJ

Manhattan Area Amateur Radio Society
December 12, 1999

The meeting was called to order at the club Christmas party by President Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB, and the books and torch were passed on to the new officers. New officers are President Brian Carter, KCØDWX, Vice President Bob Bartholic, KBØZWK, Secretary Francis Sable, WØEVJ and Treasurer Nadine Stueve, KØUHF. The meeting was adjourned by Brian.

In late December, the upcoming Y2K alert brought concern about local repeater controllers and if they would be Y2K compliant or if there was the possibility that the more sophisticated repeaters might be date sensitive and maybe malfunction during the Y2K call out. It was found out that the date would have to be juggled on the MAARS controller and that the PAWS repeater wasn’t date sensitive. Chuck, AAØRI, set the MAARS repeater date to 1972 as suggested by Myron and it seems to be operating correctly.

Formal MAARS and ARES agreement A document of cooperative understanding has been written between MAARS and ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service). It was signed by Phyllis, NØMJB, MAARS President, and Myron WØPBV, ARES Emergency Coordinator.

Effective November 16, 1999. This document gives formal approval for ARES to use the MAARS repeater as a means of communication for ARES operations. MAARS agrees that ARES shall be given priority use of MAARS repeaters when ARES has been activated by the appropriate authority.

New Emergency Coordinator

Kenny Grant, KBØRPV, has been appointed official ARRL Emergency Coordinator (EC) for Pottawatomie and Jackson counties. Kenny solicits the support and participation of ham radio operators in any future simulated or real emergency operations, to help with back-up communications for the public. He would like to hear from those hams who are able and inclined to participate in this activity. He asks that you contact him in person, or by mail or phone to let him know that you would be able to help. Membership in ARES or RACES is not necessary to participate. His mail address is: 104 E. Hwy 16, Olsburg, KS 66520. Phone No. is: (785) 468-3639.

Pott. County Y2K radio standby operation Kenny Grant, KBØRPV, recently appointed ARRL EC for Pott and Jackson counties, organized and was net control for a Y2K alert operation on Dec. 31 in Pott. County. He also helped with a similar operation is Jackson county. Check-ins and radio monitoring began at 11:00 PM and continued until past 1:00 AM on Jan. 1. The net operation was on the 444.325 MHz NØUZN (PAWS) repeater and also the MAARS 2 meter repeater. Simplex back-up frequencies were also designated.

Volunteer participants were: Charlie, NØWIG; Stacy, N¯KMC; Fred, KØTCS; Nadine, KØUHF; Francis, WØEVJ; Chuck, AAØRI; Beverly, NØRKO; Nina, KCØBBH; Kermit, KBØEEF; Kenny, KBØRPV, Net control at Pott. County SO, Westmoreland. AAØRI and KØTCS also monitored KS emergency HF frequencies and checked into that net.

Silent Key

Clarence Stephen Schultz, WØCHJ, age 88, died November 14, 1999. He was a life long resident of Junction City except for time in Military service. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He was a radio CW operator in the navy. After returning to Junction City, He worked at a Ft. Riley print shop and also as a photographer. Fred Stueve, KØTCS, recalls that during the late 1930s he was able to hear WØCHJ operating his amateur station on a home made crystal detector receiver. Steve and Fred were long time friends.

This seems to be an appropriate time to once again acknowledge the tremendous contributions made to our country during WWII by the radio amateurs of that time as both radio technicians and operators. Clarence Stephen Schultz was one of those radio operators.

CALHOUN’S CORNER

Myron Calhoun, WØPBV

I want to thank the following amateur radio operators for their unstinting service in appearing for duty at midnight on Friday, 31 December, 1999, at 22 sites in Manhattan and around Riley County:

Arnold Levenson (WAØEHA)
Bob Bartholic   (KBØZWK)
Brian Carter   (KCØDWX)
Chad Carter   (NØZMG)
Chuck Carter   (AAØRI)
Cleve Humbert   (KCØFWQ)
Dan Martin    (WAØBUD)
Dan Wright   (KBØTXK)
Daniel Soldan   (KBØOTV)
Dave Threewit   (NØIVG)
Doris Grosh   (AAØDU)
Fred Hackerott   (WBØSUD)
Gene Stepp   (KBØATX)
Henry Bachman   (KAØSWM)
Johnathan Linder   (NØVEC)
Ken Randall   (KBØCX)
Lila Wrigley   (KAØDAT)
Pete Garfinkel   (KD7GBG)
Ray Kurtz   (KØIDH)
Spencer Smith   (KCØEZW)
Tracy Tipping   (NØOEY)

Throughout Kansas, other “hams” also responded to help their communities in case the Y2K bug struck, but the above are those who richly deserve our thanks.

Myron A. Calhoun (WØPBV)
RACES Emergency Coordinator

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Chuck Carter, AAØRI

The FCC has finally come out with their Report and Order regarding Amateur license restructuring. I’ll just report briefly on the subject. You can get the complete report, a summary of the report and FAQs at the ARRL’s web site. Their address is www.arrl.org.

There will be 3 classes of license: Tech, General and Extra. The top code speed is 5 wpm. If you are a Novice, Tech plus or Advanced class license holder, you may renew that license indefinitely; there will just not be any new licenses issued.

If you were licensed Tech before March, 1987 you can upgrade to General by producing proof at any VE test session after April 15. If you are a Tech plus you may upgrade by taking the general exam at any time. If you are a Tech, you must still take the 5 wpm code test and the general test to upgrade. Advanced class hams can take the written Extra exam now to upgrade. General and Advanced class can take the Extra exam after April 15 to upgrade.

There is much more to this restructuring and I hope you will take the time to get a copy of the complete report.

(Webmaster’s note: The exact URL for info on restructuring is this).

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF November – December, 1999

Cash on Hand, 10/31/99	130.00
Checking account balance, 10/31/99	288.58
Savings account balance, 10/31/99	1,737.08
Total on Hand, 10/31/99		$ 2,151.66
Receipts:
Dues	280.00
Christmas Party	5.00
Auction	123.10
Interest – Savings Account	13.46
Total Receipts		421.56
Total Money Available		$ 2,577.22
Expenditures:
Newsletter – printing	8.96
Newsletter – postage	33.00
Telephone	19.96
Auction – Doris Grosh	58.00
Cabinet	89.02
Christmas Party	20.00
Total Expenditures		228.94
Cash on Hand, 12/31/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 12/31/99	169.64
Savings account balance, 12/31/99	2,158.64
Total on Hand, 12/31/99		$ 2,348.28

Dues will be due by Oct. 31 and are: regular membership $20, full-time student $10, family $30. Please complete the following when renewing your membership, even if you did so last year. Return to the Treasurer, at a meeting or to MAARS, P. O. Box 613, Manhattan, KS 66505-0613.

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.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – (Cut here). – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

NAME _______________________________________ CALLSIGN ____________

MAILING ADDRESS____________________________________ DATE _____________

CITY _______________________________ STATE _____ ZIP CODE _____________

TELEPHONE # (____)_______________ E-MAIL ADDRESS _______________________

FOR FAMILY MEMBERSHIP:

NAME _______________________________________ CALLSIGN ____________

CHECK THE FOLLOWING WHICH APPLY:

____ ARRL member ____ It is alright to list my e-mail address on the homepage.

It is alright to list my address and telephone number for distribution only to our members. ____

How do you prefer to receive your newsletter?

____ e-mail ____ U.S. mail ____ both

Print a PDF file copy of the above form. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view and print)
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Published

1 November 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, November 1999

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio November, 1999

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB

I want to thank Chris Farmer, KBØYYL and John Blessing, NØYRL for telling us how the KSU Solar Car Team used Ham Radio on the Sunrayce last summer. They also showed some of the race telemetry data from their 9600 baud, 440 MHz packet radio system. All of the team members are required to have ham licenses to go on the race. Their next race will be in Heartland Park (Topeka) next May and they are planning on a 10-day race next November in Egypt.

Our next meeting will be on Friday, November 12th at the Red Cross Building at 2601 West Anderson in Manhattan. The meeting is at 7:30 pm. We will have election of officers for next year and a business meeting. Then there will be an auction of donated items. Don’t forget dinner at the Manhattan Sirloin Stockade at 5:15 pm.

The XYL’s will go to dinner at Applebee’s on November 18th at 7:00 pm. Women with or without licenses are welcome. The Christmas Party will be at Fred and Nadine Stueve’s again. It’s on Saturday December 11 at 6:30 pm at 4280 Salzer Road just west of Wamego. It will be a potluck. Watch for more information.

Happy Thanksgiving and Good Luck to the new officers.

NORM’S NOTES

Norm Dillman, NØJCC

November Auction

It’s time for another auction. In addition to the annual election of officers, we’ll have an auction of computer and ham items at the November 12 meeting. Most of the stuff is surplus items from KSU but everyone is welcome to donate items for sale to help support the MAARS club The KSU Club voted to donate all of their part of the proceeds to the KSØMAN club station. Bring plenty of money and bid high. Jon Held will be the ever-exciting, fast-talking auctioneer.

Tools for KSU

The KSU club is putting together a tool kit for WØQQQ. If you have doubles or triples of wrenches, screw drivers, sockets, etc. bring your extras to the November meeting. KSUARC has an APRS station running. Ask John Blessing, NØYRL or Daniel Soldan, KBØOTV for more details.

KSØMAN Station

Once the auction items are cleared out of the station we can get the station organized. The dual band antenna that Lila donated is installed and the coax connectors should be installed in the window by meeting time. We still need some coax and many other items to get on the air. The lightning protection for the repeater coax is here and should be installed by meeting time.

This is the last issue of Norm’s Notes. It’s time for some new blood. Let’s have some articles about your projects, experiments or interesting ham stories or anything else you want to write about. Good luck to the new officers. Let’s all work hard for the club.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Lenore Layman, NØTSN

Manhattan Area Amateur Radio Society
October 8, 1999

John Blessing and Chris Farmer from the solar car team were our guest speakers for the evening, sharing their experiences and journey of the race with us.

Dues – in order to vote at the November meeting dues must be paid, $10.00 for a student, $20.00 for a single member and $30.00 for a family (2 or more people).

WARN – meeting will be held Thursday, October 14th.

XYL – dinner at Applebee’s on Thursday, November 18th.

Brian Carter informed us on the cabinet and prices for the club station. They are 2 1/2 ft wide, 6 ft tall and 14″ deep the cost is $80.00. A motion was made and second to purchase this cabinet. Brian would be picking up the cabinet for us.

Nominating committee will consist of Jon Held (NØRYQ), Mike Moore, (NØPVU), and Francis Sable, (WØEVJ). If you are interested in running for an office or would like to nominate someone, please contact one of the committee members.

Christmas party will be held on Saturday, December 11th at Nadine and Fred’s house. Pot luck dinner and a $5.00 optional gift exchange. More at the November meeting.

A poly phaser box has been ordered with gas cartridge for $45.00.

A mention on the status of purchasing a 5KW generator for the club was brought up and discussed. Kermit Fairbanks knows of a Coleman brand generator with an electric start for $499.00 plus tax. A motion was made and second to purchase a generator up to $500.00 plus tax. Fred Stueve and Kermit Fairbanks would look into this and check back at the next meeting. It was asked that the minutes be reviewed going back several years and noted when the club voted to purchase a generator.

The annual club meeting and the election of officers will be held on Friday, November 12.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

The Nominating Committee, consisting of Jon Held, NØRYQ; Mike Moore, NØPVU; and Francis Sable, WØEVJ, presents the following current nominations for your consideration:
PRESIDENT:  Brian Carter, KCØDWX
VICE PRESIDENT:  Bob Bartholic, KBØZWK
SECRETARY:  Francis Sable, WØEVJ
TREASURER:  Nadine Stueve, KØUHF

Additional candidates may be nominated from the floor at the meeting. Self nominations are accepted.

Any member who cannot attend the meeting, but wishes to participate in a vote, may give a written and signed proxy document to another member who will be present at the meeting. This proxy statement must contain explicit instructions on how the proxy holder is to act on behalf of the absent member.

MONTHLY MEETING:
November 12, 1999 at 7:30 PM at the Red Cross Building, 2601 West Anderson, Manhattan, KS.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF October, 1999

ARRL DUES

Dues will be due by Oct. 31 and are: regular membership $20, full-time student $10, family $30. Please complete the following when renewing your membership, even if you did so last year. Return to the Treasurer, at a meeting or to MAARS, P. O. Box 613, Manhattan, KS 66505-0613.

NAME _______________________________________ CALLSIGN ____________

MAILING ADDRESS____________________________________ DATE _____________

CITY _______________________________ STATE _____ ZIP CODE _____________

TELEPHONE # (____)_______________ E-MAIL ADDRESS _______________________

FOR FAMILY MEMBERSHIP:

NAME _______________________________________ CALLSIGN ____________

CHECK THE FOLLOWING WHICH APPLY:

____ ARRL member ____ It is alright to list my e-mail address on the homepage.

It is alright to list my address and telephone number for distribution only to our members. ____

How do you prefer to receive your newsletter?

____ e-mail ____ U.S. mail ____ both

Print a PDF file copy of the above form. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view and print)
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Cash on Hand, 9/30/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 9/30/99	259.83
Savings account balance, 9/30/99	1,737.08
Total on Hand, 9/30/99		$ 2,016.91
Receipts:
Dues	380.00
Total Receipts		380.00
Total Money Available		$ 2,396.91
Expenditures:
Newsletter – printing	9.06
Telephone	37.89
Antenna	89.13
Lightning Arrestor	46.95
Keys	8.22
Manuals	50.00
Total Expenditures		241.25
Cash on Hand, 10/31/99	130.00
Checking account balance, 10/31/99	288.58
Savings account balance, 10/31/99	1,737.08
Total on Hand, 10/31/99		$ 2,155.66

Published

1 October 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, October 1999

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio October, 1999

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB

Everyone had a good time and a lot of good food at the annual club picnic in September. We voted to buy a dual band (2m/70cm) antenna for the club station. Lila Wrigley, KAØDAT, donated $100 to pay for it. THANKS from the whole club, Lila. The antenna is here but not installed yet. Our radio room is filling up with stuff for the November auction. We have a lot of work to get our club station running again but we’re making progress.

Our next meeting will be at held at the NEW Red Cross Building at 2601 West Anderson in Manhattan. This is a new meeting location. We’ll have a lot more room for the station and our meetings. The Red Cross is in the upstairs of the building on the left as you go down to Radio Shack. Enter on the north side of the building. We’ll start of 7:30. The meeting will be about all the ways that the KSU Solar Car Team uses Amateur Radio and they’ll tell about their experiences in the 1999 Sunrayce from Washington, DC to Orlando, Florida last June. Don’t forget to join us for dinner at the Manhattan Sirloin Stockade about 5:15 p.m. before the meeting.

The November meeting will be the annual election of officers and an auction of computer and ham equipment. Most of the items we have so far are surplus items from KSU but you’re welcome to bring items to donated to the club. We’ll have a list of things for sale in the next news letter.

We need a nominating committee this month so consider helping with that or running for an office. We’d like to have at least two people running for each office.

The XYL’s went to dinner in September at Java and had a wonderful time. We’ll go to dinner at Applebee’s in Manhattan on November 18. All XYL’s (licensed or not) are welcome.

NORM’S NOTES

Norm Dillman, NØJCC

We need to make some plans for the antennas at the new club station. Here are some ideas to consider for starters.

Install the new dual band vertical that Lila (KAØDAT) bought on a 28 foot steel pipe that I’ve donated and Mike ‘PVU hauled to the Red Cross. (I’m a little concern about the high voltage line that runs next to the building. I hope we can get “permission” to put the antenna that close to it and I hope we don’t get noise. We shouldn’t on FM.)

We also have a copper, 2m J-pole that we can use as a backup 2m antenna or APRS.

We also have a surplus “70 cm” beam donated by KSU as soon as Jon ‘RYQ figures how to trim it to the ham band. I think all the above antennas will go on or near the pipe next to the window to the shack.

For 40m and 80m (and maybe other HF bands) I propose a Windom or similar wire antenna with the feed point supported by an insulating pipe near the center of the building and the short end supported by another pipe on the north east corner of the building. We should be able to get permission to connect the long end to Radio Shack. (Dan Weir owns the building that the Red Cross is in and the Radio Shack building. He’s really been supportive of our station.)

Eventually, I think it would be good to have something like a vertical for 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. We have several offers of sections of towers but I’m not convinced that a tower is a good idea in this location. What do you think? Check it out and share your thoughts with everyone. See you at the next meeting.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Lenore Layman, NØTSN

Manhattan Area Amateur Radio Society
September 10, 1999

The September meeting was the club’s annual picnic held at Tuttle Creek. A short business meeting was held.

Antenna – 2 meter 440 antenna can be put up at the new Red Cross and club location. Radio Shack has an antenna on sale for $90.00, Dan Weir owns both buildings and we could extend wire to the Radio Shack building. The current antenna belongs to Norm, NØJCC – a motion was made to purchase the antenna and all were in favor. Lila Wrigley, KAØDAT has donated $100 to the club to purchase the antenna.

Repeater – the club agreed to leave the power supply at batteries, and to get the charger up to the repeater location. Walmart carries a poly phase 1 1/2 amp for $15.00 this would protect the repeater from the antenna if there would be a lightning strike. A motion was made and second to purchase this protection for the repeater.

A motion was made and second to put the club call sign KSØMAN on the repeater.

All Kansas frequencies are listed wrong in the directory, especially listen for people passing through.

A notebook would be purchased and left at the repeater site for updates, repeater parts and numbers.

Brian, KCØDWX will be checking on prices for a lockable cabinet for the radio room at the Red Cross building and will let us know more at the next meeting.

Don’t forget dues must be paid in order to vote at the November election.

We will be needing people for the nominating committee and/or if you are interested in running for an office.

Next meeting will be Friday, October 8th at our new location.

CALHOUN’S CORNER

Myron A. Calhoun, WØPBV ARES Emergency Coordinator & RACES Radio Officer

From item six of THE AMATEUR’S CODE (written in 1928):

“The Amateur is Patriotic… His/her knowledge and station are always ready for the service of community and country.”

As ‘most anyone can easily imagine, a failure of the telephone system, whether caused by a tornado, the Y2K bug, or something else, creates a great potential for loss of life of residents of our communities. In anticipation of such a failure (“anticipation” in the dictionary sense of “foreseeing and dealing with in advance”), Riley County authorities want to position AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS, with battery-powered white strobe lights flashing atop their vehicles, at up to 25 key sites throughout the County to assist in dispatching emergency responders, and they have asked me (Myron, WØPBV) to coordinate this positioning.

Furthermore, because of the finite possibility of a Y2k-bug-induced failure at midnight on 31 December, 1999, they want us to BE IN POSITION beginning at 11:45 PM on 31 December, 1999, and ending (if no failure has occurred!) at 1:00 AM on 1 January, 2000.

Yes, I know that most people probably have other plans for welcoming in the new year (I, for example, will have to drag my wife away from a New Years Dance!), but I hope that the call of duty and patriotism is strong enough that you will volunteer (and thereby uphold the honor and good name of amateur radio operators everywhere).

If you are willing to help, please contact me (WØPBV, mcalhoun@ksu.edu, 785-539-4448, or “Calhoun’s Corner” starting 19 October or thereafter).

Incidentally, the posts are (in this order; the list is subject to change):

1. RCPD EOC (6th & Colorado)
2. Mercy Hospital on College
3. MFD/City Hall (11th & Poyntz)
4. County Courthouse (Poyntz)
5. Mercy Hospital on Sunset
6. MFD West (3300 Anderson)
7. County Shops (2711 Anderson)
8. Ogden Fire Station/Substation
9. Aggieville Substation
10. Riley Fire Station
11. Leonardville Fire Station
12. Randolph Fire Station
13. Manhattan Regional Airport
14. Keats Park
15. Bluemont Elementary School
16. Amanda Arnold Elementary School
17. Northview Elementary School
18. Farm Bureau Bldg. (new)
19. Candlewood (Dara’s Fast Lane)
20. Holidome (Shop Quik)
21. Hampton Inn (Dara’s FastLane)
22. Briggs Auto (Dara’s Fast Lane)
23. 17th & Anderson (Wildcat Amoco)
24. 17th & Ft. Riley Blvd. (Dara’s Fast Lane)
25. I-70 & 177 (Dee Dee’s 66)

(You will be assigned a post as near your place of residence as possible.)

Thanks.

-Myron.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Chuck Carter, AAØRI

Sorry I missed the picnic, it sounds like it was fun as usual.

Thanks for the good information Myron, I hope you have a good turn out. Sorry I had to remove your “cut here” lines, but they just didn’t work with this layout. The columns won’t line up without bad spacing either. Maybe we need an editor who knows how to do this stuff!

Grace Ann has just returned from California where she picked up 68 telegraph and radio keys. I had bought them from an estate with the provision that they wouldn’t ship them. If anyone wants to start a key collection, I have several duplicates now, especially J-37, J-38 and J-5-A military keys. Several are made by Lionel, the electric train people including a J-36, the WWII version of the Vibroplex “Lightning Bug”. Lionel and several other companies made radio telegraph keys, guns, etc. for the war effort and I think they make for an interesting addition to anyone’s gun or key collection.

I won’t be here for the meeting, but Norm’s antenna suggestions sound good to me. If the club is interested in putting up a tower, Billy Dickenson, AAØYA, has just taken down a Rhon 25 tower thats 30 or 40 foot with a 5 foot top section. He is interested in selling it.

73, Chuck …_._

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF September, 1999

ARRL DUES

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Cash on Hand, 8/31/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 8/31/99	23.51
Savings account balance, 8/31/99	2,023.00
Total on Hand, 8/31/99		$ 2,066.51
Receipts:
Interest – Savings Account	14.08
Donation – Antenna	100.00
ARRL Dues	20.00
Total Receipts		134.08
Total Money Available		$ 2,200.59
Expenditures:
Newsletter – printing	8.59
Telephone	19.99
Picnic	10.00
Repeater Repair	145.10
Total Expenditures		183.68
Cash on Hand, 9/30/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 9/30/99	259.83
Savings account balance, 9/30/99	1,737.08
Total on Hand, 9/30/99		$ 2,016.91

Published

1 September 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, September 1999

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio September, 1999

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB

FLASH

Kermit Fairbanks, KBØEEF has undergone quadruple bypass surgery today, September 3, 1999 and is presently at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka. We all wish Kermit a speedy recovery.

Thanks to Chuck, AAØRI for talking to us about RFI regulations at our August meeting. It looks like most hams don’t have to worry about filling out the forms. Thanks, that’s good news.

Our next meeting will be our annual picnic on Sunday, September 12 at 4 P.M. Bring your own meat or main dish and something else to share. The club will have coffee and hot water available. We’ll be at the park below the Tuttle Creek Dam north of Manhattan at shelter #2.

The RED CROSS has moved to a new location at 2601 Anderson on the west side of Manhattan. Our October meeting will be there. We have a big radio room under separate key and a nice meeting room that’s much bigger than the old one. We need to start planning for antennas and other station details.

The October meeting will be a program about Sunrayce 99 or a video on the history of radar. If you are interested in serving as a club officer or on the nominating committee, see one of the present officers. The elections will be at the November meeting along with an auction of some instruments, computers and ham gear.

XYL dinner Sept. 23th. It will be at Java, 1219 Moro, at 7:00 P.M.

NORM’S NOTES

Norm Dillman, NØJCC

Emergency Power for the MAARS Repeater.

A lot has happened with the planning for the emergency power backup since the last newsletter. There is still significant disagreement about what we should do so I’ll try to give the facts as I know them and we can vote at the picnic about how to proceed. Four ideas have been proposed by club members:

a permanent motor/generator set with automatic startup. Battery backup with portable generator available for long power outages. Battery backup with photovoltaic assist. Battery backup with no assist except for major, major emergency.

This first thing everyone needs to realize is that a “12 volt” supply is all we need to operate the repeater and the controller. The repeater has an internal AC power supply that runs both boxes and keeps an external battery charged. The battery automatically switches ON to power the system when the power goes off. The power requirement (for battery operation) is 4 Watts on receive and 33 Watts on transmit. This corresponds to 0.34 Amp and 2.75 Amps. (This is one reason why I don’t favor a 3000 to 5000 Watt motor generator and I don’t want to be responsible for one that would operate all the equipment there).

The key to determine how much energy we need is to estimate how much time we’ll be transmitting during an emergency. For normal repeater operation I estimate that we transmit less than 10% of the time. The Colorado Repeater Association actually monitors their hourly usage per week and they have found that the hours of use is significantly less during real emergencies. People are trained to keep transmissions short. To be very conservative, I suggest we use 30% for our average use over several days of emergency. It’s certainly less than that during storm watches and during the flood of ’93. That figures out to an average of 1 Amp average or 24 amp-hours per day.

We have some free, slightly-used electric vehicle, valve-regulated, mat, Delphi (#19010704) lead acid batteries. These have been professionally tested and are at their full capacity which is greater than 60 amp hours at low current loads. If we use three in parallel (they’re matched so we can do that) we should get a little over a week of operation. I have not checked the price of large deep-cycle, replacement batteries for comparison. It’s almost impossible to get these mat-type, sealed batteries to outgas but if they are overcharged at high currents they can give off small amounts of hydrogen so we will vent them through the hole where our ground goes outside. These batteries never need to have water added but should be turned upside-down once a year. (It’s recommended that they stand on one end or the other).

Our home is on the same power system as the repeater and our longest outage in the past nine years has been about 3 days. A week would be a major emergency.

My concerns with a permanent motor/generator set are

it’s 100 times more power than we need, fuel storage is a safety, liability issue, switching into the grid is a safety, liability issue, installation will be expensive and not easy and to have reasonable reliability we’d need to do frequent preventative maintenance.

A more popular proposal is to use a photovoltaic array (solar cells) to extend the battery life. The cost for a nice system (module and controller) that would extend the battery life forever during the summer and give us 3 to 5 more days during a cloudy winter month is about $500 plus the cost of mounting. In my opinion this would be reliable, low maintenance and a fun, educational project for the club. But it’s hard to justify economically since it is VERY unlikely that we would ever really need it at our present location. I think I can arrange for the loan of a good module for a year or two we elect to try this.

Irregardless of the plan we use, we should have a have battery back up. The three batteries have been installed so we have a one week backup supply already. We do not need any permission from the radio station to do this. We also have circuits designed and John, NØTOK, has some of the controller already programmed for the following features:

The repeater would immediately and automatically operate with a different courtesy tone after each transmission AND announce “emergency power” after each ID when the AC power is OFF. When the power returns, the repeater will automatically return to normal operation. We could turn the AC power ON and OFF remotely for periodic testing. The battery status would be announced with proper codes to indicate the state of charge by measuring the voltage range of the batteries; ex. “battery warning” would be less than about 11 volts, “battery low” would be from 11 v to 11.5 v , “battery OK” would be from 11.5 v to 13 v, “battery charged” could be above 13 volts.

With these features we could periodically test the system without ever going up the hill. The parts for this custom-built system will cost just a few dollars and will be provided free of charge by Tim and Norm. Anyone interested in learning how it works can help build it.

The estimated repeater operating time on battery is based on the battery capacity. Typically, DC electronic equipment will operate at reduced voltages similar to the battery minimum voltage. We do not know at what voltage the repeater quits working. It’s not in the manual. If it’s greater than the “dead battery” voltage the operating time will be reduced. We can determine this experimentally sometime soon.

I hope this information will allow everyone to make a more informed decision. and let you know what is going on.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Lenore Layman, NØTSN

Manhattan Area Amateur Radio Society
August 13, 1999

Chuck Carter, AAØRI was our speaker for the evening on a discussion of radio safety frequencies.

Starting in October the new meeting location for our club will be 2601 Anderson Avenue, Manhattan – the upper part of the building as you enter the street level floor turn left and go down the hall. Dan Weir stated that there would be no problem with our antennas, the room consists of one window, and a lockable door.

Our club will need to renew the KSDB lease as our ten year lease is over. Normally our club has been paying $12.00 a year. A motion was made and discussed and all were in favor of paying up to $50.00 a year possibly $36.00.

Emergency preparedness – Myron approached the club with a concern regarding midnight on December 31st, he would like to have 20 hams think about helping emergency preparedness “just in case”, a strobe light will be provide for the top of your car. If you think you might be interested, contact Myron WØPBV.

A 3 KW diesel generator with an automatic start has been offered to the club at no cost – it will be used help run KSDB or to be used at the Red Cross Building. This generator was originally purchased for the new com-van only it does not fit. The club would have to run the generator at every club meeting, if for some reason we might be unable to get this generator the club might consider purchasing a 5KW generator – more at the picnic or the October meeting.

One of the members of the solar car club works for a company that makes batteries and he was able to get us a battery. The battery is an electric vehicle battery that puts out 11 watts it would be able to run the repeater for at least 3 days we could add a few circuits so the repeater can announce when it is going down. The life span of the battery is 2-3 years and has the same characteristics as a gel cell. A motion was made and all were in favor to buy a smart charger for the battery and spend up to $50.00.

Chuck discussed the new forms. Form 610 has been replace by the 605 ULS (Universal license system) it requires your social security number or tax payer number, also vanity call changes can be made, on the form when it tells you to sign your name you just need to type in your name.

Picnic – Lenore will see if we can change the picnic from Saturday, September 11 to Sunday, September 12 if that date is unavailable we will change to picnic to Sunday, September 19th – or if these dates are not available then we will change the location of the shelter. Any changes to the reservation will cost $10.00. Listen to the Tuesday night net for the new date of the clubs picnic. Bring your own meat and a pot luck dish to share, starts at 4:00 p.m. Included in this newsletter is a map of Tuttle Creek State Lake shelter #2 the location of our picnic – this will be the same location as our past picnics.

A mini auction may be held at the October meeting.

Dues need to be paid in October in order to vote at the next election.

September 11 – hamfest in Columbia, MO

There is a test session in Salina on the second Monday of the month at the Salina police station, you do not need to register first.

There is no regular scheduled meeting in September, see you on October 8th at our new location.

For a map of the Tuttle Outlet Park (site of the picnic), click here.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Chuck Carter, AAØRI

There will be a short business meeting at the club picnic to discuss the repeater power backup plans. Also we will discuss purchasing antennas for the club station. We don’t have any radios at the station but if a power supply and antennas were already installed we could be open for business is a matter of minutes.

Bev, NØRKO, sent me the following URLs and information for those interested:

http://www.radiofinder.com/forsale/oddsends.html and
http://www.cameraweb.com/hr/Welcome.html.

There will be a Morse code class in Lawrence, KS starting September 13th. The class will run for 8 Mondays and will be concluded with an exam session. Classes are free. For more information contact Bob Drake, NØTFU, (785) 842-5961 or e-mail bobd@falcon.cc.ukans.edu, or Jim Canaday, N6YR, (785) 841-1903, or e-mail n6yr@idir.net. The classes are sponsored by the Douglas County ARC and will be held at the basement of the Lawrence Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th at 7:00 P.M.

Thanks for submitting this information Bev, I hadn’t seen anything of it.

MONTHLY MEETING
September 12,1999
4:00 P.M.
annual picnic at shelter house #2
below the dam at Tuttle Creek

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF August, 1999

ARRL DUES

Cash on Hand, 8/01/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 8/01/99	82.47
Savings account balance, 8/01/99	2,023.00
Total on Hand, 8/01/99		$ 2,125.47
Receipts:
no receipts	0.00
Total Receipts		0.00
Total Money Available		$ 2,125.47
Expenditures:
Newsletter – printing	5.97
Newsletter – postage	33.00
Telephone	19.99
Total Expenditures		58.96
Cash on Hand, 8/31/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 8/31/99	23.51
Savings account balance, 8/31/99	2,023.00
Total on Hand, 8/31/99		$ 2,066.51

Published

1 August 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, August 1999

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio August, 1999

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB

Hello from Sunny California.

Since our brief return home from the Solar Rayce, we have been visiting friends and relatives in Colorado and California.

We may return in time for the August meeting but will get home that weekend for sure. It’s been lots of fun, but we’re looking forward to getting home.

NORM’S NOTES

Norm Dillman, NØJCC

Taking Down Towers

Every time I work on a tower or when someone else is going to work on a tower I think back to a story I read years ago about someone who took the guys off of a tower and then proceeded to take it down. The bottom of the tower is always the weak link and it’s where it’s most likely to get rusty. In the story the tower fell and the guy rode it to the ground. He survived but had many broken bones.

I always assumed that it would be better to ride the tower down and then push away from the tower at the last second instead of just jumping off the top as it starts to fall. I finally got around to “put a pencil to the problem”. I have not had anyone check my calculations yet so there might be a mistake. The answer I got was the opposite of what I expected. It’s better to jump and let the tower fall by itself.

The answer depends on the relative weight of the tower compared to the person on the top. If the tower is very light compared to the person it won’t make any difference. If the tower weighs the same as the person then you will be going 6% faster if you ride the tower down. If the tower is much, much heavier than the person you’d be going 22.5% faster if you ride the tower down. To me the important conclusion is clear: attach temporary guys to the tower just in case.

If anyone wants to check the answer here is the equation I got. X is the ratio of the tower weight to the weight of the person and Y is the ratio of the velocity when you stay with the tower to the velocity if you jump.

Y = sqrt(1.5*(2+X)/(3+X))

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Chuck Carter, AAØRI

Not too much news this month, everyone has been hanging around indoors trying to keep cool. The PHD hamfest in Kansas City was attended by a few of our members, I saw Myron, WØPBV; Henry, WAØSWM; Cleve, KCØFWQ; Francis, WØEVJ; and Kenny, KBØRPV. I’m sure there were more, but memory fails me. It seems like that fest gets smaller every year, there were rows and rows of empty tables.

Henry, KAØSWM, our illustrious VP tells me that the Red Cross has found their new building and we’ll have space for a station and meeting room there also. The building is just east of Radio Shack on Anderson. I’ll have more details in next month’s newsletter. It looks like our next meeting will be at the new digs. The September picknic is still up in the air, the chosen date Sept. 11 is also the date of KSU’s first football game and several members will be at the game. We’ll discuss it and make a decision at this month’s meeting.

Our meeting this month is still scheduled to be at the usual Red Cross location, but we may need to move it outdoors to the pavilion in the park. We’ll have that information available at the “Eating Meeting” and will also put it out on the repeater.

The program this month will be on RF safety and the new FCC program for licensing amateurs.

Effective August 16, we will no longer use the form 610. We will be using the new Universal Licensing Systems (ULS) form 605. We will be able to re-new via the internet with the ULS, more details should be available by meeting time. ARRL will supply their VE’s with the new forms as soon as they are available. If you need to renew your license before the new forms are available you can still use the old form 610.

In the interest of reducing paperwork, the government has issued 9 pages of instructions for the new simple form 605!!

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF July, 1999

ARRL DUES

HAMFESTS

August 7 – SMARC Hamfest – Springfield, Mo.

August 22 – Kansas State Convention, SVARC Hamfest – Salina, Ks.

August 28 – Chanute Hamfest, Chanute, Ks.

October 2 – Warrensburg Hamfest, Warrensburg, Mo.

Cash on Hand, 7/01/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 7/01/99	38.65
Savings account balance, 7/01/99	2,107.47
Total on Hand, 7/01/99		$ 2,166.12
Receipts:
Interest – Savings Account	15.53
ARRL Dues	39.00
Total Receipts		54.53
Total Money Available		$ 2,220.65
Expenditures:
Newsletter – printing	7.09
Telephone	26.09
Picnic	25.00
ARRL Dues	37.00
Total Expenditures		95.18
Cash on Hand, 7/31/99	20.00
Checking account balance, 7/31/99	82.47
Savings account balance, 7/31/99	2,023.00
Total on Hand, 7/31/99		$ 2,125.47

Published

1 July 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, July 1999

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio July, 1999

FIELD DAY REPORT

Francis Sable, WØEVJ

MAARS members participated locally in the annual ARRL sponsored Field Day event. The group gathered at the shelter in Manhattan City Park shortly after 8:00 A.M. Saturday, June 26. The setup of radio equipment and antennas was begun. We put up a 20-ft. tower section supplied by Mike, NØPVU. It was secured to the north end of the shelter with clamps and guy lines. We put together a 4-element 10 M beam antenna supplied by Norm, NØJCC, and mounted it on the 20-ft tower. Another was a multiband center fed wire supplied by Kenny, KBØRPV. Some difficulty was experienced in getting a line over a high branch of a nearby tree, which was used to pull up the antenna center and feed line. The ends of the wire were supported several feet above ground by a power pole on the east end and another tree for the west end, in an inverted V. A 2-meter J-pole antenna was also erected for local communication. The equipment setup was completed by about 11:30 A.M. in time for a lunch break before the official start of operation at 1:00 P.M. CDT.

We operated as a class 1-A FD station, one transceiver on the Novice portion of 10 M SSB and the other mostly on the 40 M band SSB. The 10 M band was open with good propagation Saturday afternoon. We used computer logging, using a logging program supplied by Chuck, AAØRI, and computers supplied by Mike, NØPVU and Brian, KCØDWX.

We composed a short message in formal message form advising of MAARS participation in Field Day. Kenny sent this to the Side Band Net on 3920 Khz at 6:30 P.M. This message transmission allowed us to add 100 points to the FD total.

During the night, Myron, WØPBV, and Henry, KAØSWM, and others worked inside the city-owned former school bus. They planned and put up in temporary form, by means of card board and tape, a replica of possible interior partitions and other furnishings that would convert it into a mobile communications center.

About 4:00 A.M. Sunday morning a thunder storm moved in and convinced Henry and Myron to cover the radio equipment in the open sided shelter with canvas which Mike had brought in his camper trailer for this purpose. A good decision, since there was enough wind to blow rain on to all the tables in the shelter.

The number of Field Day contacts made was approximately 160. The exact number was not yet determined at the time of this writing. There was some operation Sunday morning after the thunder storm cleared, on the 10-meter band. Band conditions were not as good as on Saturday. At about 11:00 A.M. we began the take down of antennas and equipment.

Big contributors to this FD operation were: Henry, Chairman of the FD event, who was responsible for most of the pre-planning, making sure the park shelter was reserved, ordering the FD instruction and scoring info, and many other chores. Mike was also on the scene supplying the antenna tower section, a computer, the use of his camper-trailer with air conditioning and cold drinks and other equipment. He also prepared hamburgers for the evening lunch. Lenore, NØTSN, assisted with pre-planning and delivering the MAARS banner to the field day site. Other equipment suppliers were, Kenny, KBØRPV, Brian, KCØDWX, Francis, WØEVJ, and Myron, WØPBV.

NORM’S NOTES

Norm Dillman, NØJCC

How to use Ham Radio in a really noisy place.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter you know that all of the Solar Car Team is licensed and that we use Ham Radio (KSØLAR) for many different things including voice communication and 9600 baud telemetry via 440 MHz. We used APRS with mapping software on the race but it tended to interfere with the communication with the driver. And we had trouble getting SSTV to work right.

Another problem we solved for the race was hearing the driver when the car was accelerating because of the motor noise. The driver had trouble hearing us too. Some padded ears phones and an HT with good audio solved the drivers problem but we had to use a special noise cancelling mike to hear him. Bob Heil, the world famous audio guru, built us a special boom mike with two of his cartridges connected out of phase and pointing in opposite directions. The noise was greatly reduced but the driver’s voice level was also noticeably lower than the other radios. We built a little audio amplifier with a dual CMOS op amp that gave a gain to FOUR to balance the audio level. The amplifier used two AA cells and only drew 32 microamps. We figure the amplifier will run for months so we didn’t even put a power switch on it. It really worked great. If you ever need to use your radio in a noisy place I’ll give you the little circuit. It’s easy to build if I tell you all of my mistakes.

I listened for you all on Sunday morning of Field Day but didn’t hear anyone. I only made one contact but was thinking about you. I hope you had a great time.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Lenore Layman, NØTSN

June 11, 1999

In Phyllis Dillman’s (President) absence the meeting was presided by Henry Bachman, Vice President.

This was a short meeting to finalize plans for field day. Henry gave a report on Field Day they would have two stations: novice and HF. Generators would come from the EOC van and antennas were needed. Mike would be preparing breakfast on Sunday morning. Lenore would bring the banner. In spite of possible bad weather and the Country Stampede that weekend I am sure that field day will turn out successful.Set-up time will be at 8:00 a.m. and we will start at 1:00 p.m. The club’s call sign KSØMAN will be used for the HF station and Mike’s call sign NØPVU will be used for the novice station. The club will be using Norm’s beam for 10 meters. A logging program will be used to work on 3.1.

Lloyd passed around pictures of past balloon launches. The next scheduled balloon launch will be on Saturday, June 19th. The winner for the Kansas Amateur Of The Year will be decided at the Salina hamfest in August. We will keep you posted.

The next club meeting will be on Friday, July 9th at the Red Cross building on Poyntz.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Chuck Carter, AAØRI

Sunrayce99 … Washington, D.C. to Epcot, Orlando, FL

Day one of the race began at the Mall in front of the Capitol Building in the rain. Fred, KØTCS; Nadine, KØUHF; Phyllis, NØMJB; Linda, NØOYE; Connor; and Grace Ann were at the start line to cheer KSU as they started the rayce. The finish of the day was at the University of Virginia. Kansas State finished in 6th position and had used up 1/2 of their battery capacity.

Day two began with rain forecast for the entire day. The route took us to Raleigh, NC. Kansas State decided that with 1/2 of their power used up and no sun in the forecast to trailer all day to the finish line at North Carolina State University. They figured that they might be able to get some charging in at the finish line while the competitors were depleting their energy racing. We all thought that this was a good strategy at the time and I am still sure that it was. We would have had to trailer some part of the day anyway as we had to travel about 200 miles and only had 1/2 a charge in our batteries. The penalty for trailering is 8 hours plus 1.5 minutes a mile. The 8 hours was a forgone conclusion, the 1.5 min/mile was the gamble in strategy. As a result of the all day trailer ride we finished the day tied with 4 other schools at 25th place with an overall finish of 18th place. We were able to do some charging that evening to help our situation.

Day three began with overcast and the prospect of more rain. The route took us to Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C. Although it was cloudy it was bright and our team finished in 1st place for the day. This was even after a Kamakazi grandmother turned into our solar car. We lost a full hour waiting for the Sunrayce officials and police report. The first place finish showed everyone we were for real. We were able to charge that evening and in the hours before the start at 10:00 A.M. on day 4. Charlotte was an interesting stop, there were Winston Cup cars testing on the track as well as a celebrity race in the evening. We moved back up to 7th place overall and thought we had a chance of finishing in the top 3 as we were only 4 hours out of 1st place at that time. We knew we had one of the fastest cars in the competition, it just needed sun!

Day 4 began with SUN, we weren’t sure what it was by then! The route took us to Clemson University at Clemson, SC. We arrived in 2nd place for the day and moved up to 6th overall. It was overcast again so we couldn’t get much charge that evening. You wouldn’t believe the size of Clemson’s football stadium … it must hold 100K people.

Day 5 began in the rain, the teams were calling it the no sunrayce by then. Spirits were really low even on the teams doing well. Two minutes out of the starting line, Ohio State’s trailer was involved in an injury accident that stopped the entire race for about 1 1/2 hours. The race was re-started after the accident was cleaned up and KSU ran well for several hours. Eventually the clouds/rain slowed us up until we had one of our batteries voltage drop to the danger point. We had to back track with our trailer and pick up the car for the rest of the day’s trip. Another 8 hours plus in penalties. We finished in 14th position for the day and dropped to 7th overall. Lots of teams had to trailer which helped us hold our position. We had a dual destination that evening, supper at Mercer University with the cars to be sealed in the trailer and transported to Georgia Tech on the other side of Atlanta for the completion of day 5.

The next day was a rest day at GA Tech parking lot. There was lots of sun in the afternoon and everyone got a good battery charge as well as a few sun burns running around.

Day 6 began in Atlanta traffic and went northeast to Athens, Ga., then turned south to Mercer University, Macon, Ga. for the evening. With a full charge, KSU was able to finish in 3rd for the day but still 7th overall. We were back to about 1/2 charge again, but able to pick up a little sun between the clouds that evening.

Day 7 began with (guess what) more rain. We started out on time and passed a few cars. The rain got so bad that there was flash flooding and the drivers couldn’t see a thing. There are no wind shield wipers of course. We had one battery give out again, so trailered about 1/2 of the distance for the day finishing in 7th place and still in 7th overall. Needless to say almost everyone trailered some part of that day. We got no charging that evening as it rained until dark.

Day 8 began with bright overcast and our batteries were in bad need of a charge. The team decided to charge as long as the skies stayed bright then trailer in to the finish line. The plan was to have a great sprint to the finish line at the end of the race the next day. Unfortunately the two cars that could catch us did so putting us into 9th position overall at the end of the day.

Day 9 began with dark skies, but it wasn’t raining. KSU started in 23 position (cars start in 1 minute intervals according to their finish the day before). They passed the 22 cars in front of them and finished 1st for the last day of the race. After passing 22 cars, they finished 16 minutes ahead of the second place car from Messiah College. KSU finished 9th overall but without the hour lost waiting for the officials during our 3rd day accident we would have been in 7th place.

The race was one in which strategy played a very important part. With more sunlight the outcome could have been very different. Most of the better cars were designed to be efficient at 50 mph with sunlight, the winners were the most efficient averaging 25 mph. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, KSU, MU and others should have been at the top of the heap.

Fifty schools built cars for the race, 40 went to the qualifiers and only 29 qualified. Everyone who raced was a winner!

The top 15 finishers were on display at Epcot for two days after the race. We had a nice banquet and award ceremony at the U.S.A. Building on the International Lake as well as having a front row view of the fireworks/light display.

Dave Soldan, NØIN, Daniel Soldan, KBØOTV and I took turns at driving the truck with the trailer. It was an experience in itself – no muffler, no air conditioner/defrosters and bad wiper blades. We replaced the wiper blades and had the A/C repaired on the rest day in Atlanta. The A/C worked 1/2 day after spending $100 on it! Also there was no anti sway bar for the trailer hitch.

Phyllis, NØMJB, Linda, NØOYE, and Grace Ann did the laundry and lunches for the team. We all had a fun time in spite of the lack of sunshine.

There’s lots of info and pictures on the web at: www.sunrayce.com/sunrayce

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF June, 1999

In June we paid $7.09 for having the newsletter printed and $20.54 for the telephone bill, leaving a balance of $20.00 cash on hand, $38.65 in the checking account and $2,107.47 in the savings account.

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

July 10 – PHD Midwest Division Hamfest – Kansas City, Mo.

August 7 – SMARC Hamfest – Springfield, Mo.

August 22 – Kansas State Convention, SVARC Hamfest – Salina, Ks.

August 28 – Chanute Hamfest, Chanute, Ks.

October 2 – Warrensburg Hamfest, Warrensburg, Mo.

Published

1 June 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, June 1999

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio June, 1999

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB

Thank you, John Blessing, NØYRL, for talking to us about your plans to link repeaters in northeast Kansas. Good luck with your proposal and keep us informed.

Our next meeting will be planning for Field Day. Our meeting starts at 7:30 PM. It is held at the Riley County Red Cross Building which is at 1410 Poyntz in Manhattan. There is also an informal “eating meeting” at the Manhattan Sirloin Stockade at about 5:15 PM.

Field Day is June 26 and 27. It will be held at the shelter in the Manhattan City Park on Poyntz just east of the Red Cross Building. Henry Bachman, KAØSWM, is the chairman. Contact him for more information and to help with the activities.

The next XYL dinner will be held on July 22. The location will be announced later. Remember all women are welcome whether they are licensed or not. We always have a good time.

NORM’S NOTES

Norm Dillman, NØJCC

Listen for us on the east coast for Field Day. We’ll be with the KSU Solar Car on the Sunrayce. Listen for KSØLAR, NØJCC, AAØRI and NØIN. We’ll be listening for you. We’ll be checking in on the nets on 14.300 or 14.313 MHz occasionally from June 13 to June 30. We’ll also be sending slow scan TV pictures around 14.230 MHz now and then. You should also be able to check our progress by logging into APRS on the Internet. The APRS and SSTV is the work of Daniel, KBØOTV. We’ll have about 17 hams altogether on the KSU race team. If all else fails link to the Sunrayce on the Internet at http://www.sunrayce.com and find out what’s happening.

Phyllis and I will continue to be on the air during July and early August traveling from Florida to California and back to Kansas. It’s always great to contact someone back home. We’ll be checking e-mail also if you use dillman@ksu.edu or n.dillman@juno.com.

Did you know……a Class A amplifier runs cooler at full signal than with no signal…….

A feedback amplifier with a gain of 1 is more likely to have oscillation problems than one with a gain of 100…….

Field Effect Transistors were invented many years before “regular” bipolar transistors but were not commercially developed until many years after the BJT…..

Most computer circuits today are made with Field Effect Transistors ……

Larger diameter coax generally has lower loss because the resistance of the conductors is less (bigger area)…..from the moon, the position of the earth in the sky never changes…….

There are two high tides on the earth at any time because the moon pulls the water closest to it away from the earth and pulls the earth away from the water on the back side…….

You never have all the right tools when you climb a tower and you always drop at least one nut…..most people don’t really care about the above observations.

Have a good summer.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Lenore Layman, NØTSN

May 14, 1999

The president of QQQ, John Blessing, was the club’s guest speaker for the evening.

Field Day – Henry would have a meeting for the field day committee shortly to finalize plans for field day and they would be discussed at the next meeting.

If anyone is interested in getting information on the callbook on CD ROM, contact Nadine.

XYL – the XYL’s will hold their dinner at the Little Apple Brewing Company on Thursday, May 27th at 7:00 p.m. If you would like to car pool or need a ride, please contact one of the officers.

Mass Care Training will be held at the Red Cross Building on Poyntz on Monday, May 24th at 7:00 p.m.

The next club meeting will be on Friday, June 11th at the Red Cross Building on Poyntz.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Chuck Carter, AAØRI

Norm wishes to thank all that helped with the solar bike race in Topeka. The races were fun to watch, the average speeds were up a little from last year and the “S” class cars were lots faster. The designs/ingenuity were interesting to see.

The “Newsletter” is lighter this month as I didn’t find any interesting filler and we have no other contributions from the members. Remember, this is YOUR “Newsletter”. Please contribute to its content whenever you can.

Henry and crew have been working hard to get Field Day off and running. I hope you all have a good time and lots of success this year. I’m sorry that I won’t be there but will be out of town attending the Solar Car race. GO KSU.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF May, 1999

ARRL DUES

HAMFESTS

June 12 – Macon ARC Hamfest – Macon, Mo.

July 10 – PHD Midwest Division Hamfest – Kansas City, Mo.

August 7 – SMARC Hamfest – Springfield, Mo.

August 22 – Kansas State Convention, SVARC Hamfest – Salina, Ks.

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
Receipts:
Flowers	3.00
Dues	30.00
Total Receipts		33.00
Total Money Available		$ 2,628.18
Expenditures:
Newsletter – printing	7.20
Telephone	20.14
Refreshments	5.23
Insurance – Equipment	69.00
Insurance – Liability	325.00
Speaker’s Meal	7.86
Total Expenditures		434.43
Cash on Hand, 5/31/99	53.00
Checking account balance, 5/31/99	33.28
Savings account balance, 5/31/99	2,107.47
Total on Hand, 5/31/99		$ 2,193.75

Published

1 May 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, May 1999

Monthly Newsletter

Dedicated to the Advancement of Amateur Radio May, 1999

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Phyllis Dillman, NØMJB

I want to thank Steve Robbins from Garmin for stepping in at the last minute to provide our program at the April meeting. His informal talk about Global Positioning System fundamentals and new products was informative and interesting. Steve is a recent KSU engineering graduate.

Our next meeting will be on Friday, May 14th at 7:30 PM at the Riley County Red Cross Building on 1410 Poyntz in Manhattan. We have a short video from Collins Radio about pre-world war II transmitters. John Blessing, NØYRL will also give an introduction to a proposal he is working on to create a repeater linking network in North East Kansas. He is in the early stage of this project but would like keep us informed and get some feedback.

The XYL dinner will be held on May 27 at 7PM. We’ll go to the Little Apple Brewing Company.

The Red Cross is offering a Mass Care Class on May 24th at 7 PM at the Riley County Red Cross Building. Call the Red Cross if you are interested in this class.

NORM’S NOTES

Norm Dillman, NØJCC

Most of you have already heard that the KSU Solar Car qualified for the 1999 Sunrayce. The first qualifying event was held at the GM Proving Grounds west of Detroit, Michigan. The car passed one full day of tests of electrical and mechanical systems, handling, safety, etc on Saturday May 1 and then drove 260 miles on the 2.18 mile track in less than 8 hours. To qualify we needed to go 125 miles with an average of more than 25 miles per hour. We averaged about 35 miles per hour. The final standings were not known at the time that this was written because there is still another qualification event on May 8 and 9 but we were in 4th position at the end of the first event. The race is from Washington D.C. to Orlando, Florida at the end of June. All the KSU team members have ham licenses and our 440 MHz , 9600 baud packet telemetry far outperformed commercial systems costing ten times as much. We’ll be driving the car around several times each week between now and the race. Check out the neat display if you get a chance. We’ll also be using APRS and SSTV so you’ll be able to follow us from here. Tune into 145.41- to hear what’s happening.

We have three sources of free or low cost batteries for the emergency backup power for the club repeater. Two offers of Delphi electric car batteries will require some shipping and some very low cost Exide cosmetic-reject, deep-cycle batteries are also available. We’ll need some more information to make a decision. The committee has not been able to get to the repeater to check out the current and space requirements because KSU has changed all of the locks but we are making some progress.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

Lenore Layman, NØTSN

April 9, 1999

Our regular scheduled guest for the evening was unable to attend, and Norm Dillman invited one of the people from Garmin, Steve Robbins, who was representing Garmin at K-State open house to speak to our club.

Field Day – City park has been reserved for field day, scheduled for June 25th and 26th.

The fee for the park will be $50.00. Henry, committee chairperson, will inquire as to whether they might leave the restroom open Saturday for our group. June will be devoted to field day with all the final preparations.

A discussion was made about purchasing Chuck’s (AAØRI) radio for the club station for $600.00. Filters have been added and the radio has just been serviced.

A suggestion was made that before the club considered purchasing the radio, we need to look into back-up power for the repeater. Replacing 2 new batteries was mentioned by Francis. A committee was formed to look into this: Jon Held, Frances Sable, Norm Dillman, John Best and Chuck Carter. They would report back to the club.

It’s time again to nominate KANSAS AMATEUR OF THE YEAR. This would consist of a amateur who has distinguished his/herself in the community, and our club nominated Norm Dillman, NØJCC. Our club would write a letter, and the solar car club, along with QQQ. These letters would be submitted to Wendell Wilson before June first. The officers will let you know of the results.

Picnic – The club’s annual picnic will be on Saturday, September 11th in place of the regular scheduled meeting in September. More information to come.

XYL dinner will be on Thursday, May 27th at 7:00 p.m. – Little Apple Brewing Company in Manhattan.

Next club meeting will be on May 14 in the Red Cross building on Poyntz Avenue.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Chuck Carter, AAØRI

It’s interesting to note that the FCC has been cracking down on amateur radio scoff-laws recently. The following is a reprint from the ARRL newsletter.

OPERATOR WARNED IN K7IJ SHUTDOWN CALLED FOR RETESTING

The FCC has notified one of the figures in the K7IJ repeater shutdown case–Timmy O. Sheen Jr, N6MZA, of San Diego–that he must re-take his Technician Plus amateur examination under the supervision of FCC personnel. Sheen must complete the retesting by June 30. If he fails to appear for retesting his license will be canceled.

Sheen was notified of the retesting call in a May 3 letter from the FCC’s Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH. Earlier this year, the FCC issued a Warning Notice to Sheen about alleged jamming and rebroadcasts of cordless phones on the K7IJ Grizzly Peak repeater in the San Francisco Bay area. Citing what it called “an alarming and unacceptable lack of control over the operations of these repeaters,” the FCC shut down the K7IJ system March 2. Hollingsworth reports that he’s still mulling over the response of licensee Bruce Wachtell to FCC allegations that the repeater system was not under the proper control of the licensee or the designated control operator.

In an unrelated case, the FCC on May 6 set aside the Technician class grant to Jeffrey C. Dressler of Cypress, California. Dressler had been issued KF6VOT on April 5. A letter from Hollingsworth said the FCC erred in granting the ticket. The FCC is currently looking into allegations of unlicensed operation by Dressler on the W6NUT repeater in the Los Angeles area.

I also have some more of the humor sent to me by Bev, NØRKO. Please don’t take these personally! I know I’m guilty of some of these my self.

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.

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.”

9) Always ask involved questions of the person who is trying to sign out. Never let him get by with a yes or no answer. Make it a question that will take a long time to answer.

10) The less you know about a subject, the more you should speculate about it on the air. The amount of time spent on your speculations should be inversely proportional to your knowledge of the subject.

11) If someone on the repeater is causing interference, you should talk about that person at great length, making sure to comment on at least four out of six of the following: (1) His mental state; (2) His family; (3) His intelligence, or lack of same; (4) His sexual preference; (5) His relationship to small animals; (6) His other methods of self entertainment.

12) If you hear two amateurs start a conversation on the repeater, wait until they are 20 seconds into their contact, and then break-in to use the patch. Make sure that it’s only a simple routine phone call. It’s also very important that you run the autopatch for the full three minutes. This way, once the two re-establish contact, they won’t even remember what they were talking about.

13) You hear someone on the repeater giving directions to a visiting amateur. Even if the directions are good, make sure you break-in with your own “alternate route but better way to get there” version. This is most effective if several other lid trainees join in, each with a different route. By the time the amateur wanting directions unscrambles all the street names whizzing around in his head, he should have mobiled out of range of the repeater. This keeps you from having to stick around and help the guy get back out of town later.

14) Use the repeater for an hour or two at a time, preventing others from using it. Better yet, do it on a daily basis. Your quest is to make people so sick of hearing your voice every time they turn on their radio, they’ll move to another frequency. This way you’ll lighten the load on the repeater, leaving even more time for you to talk on it.

15) See just how much mobile flutter you can generate by operating at handheld power levels too far from the repeater. Engage people in conversations when you know they won’t be able to copy half of what you’re saying. Even when they say you are uncopyable, continue to string them along by making further transmissions. See just how frustrated you can make the other amateur before he finally signs off in disgust.

16) Give out wacky radio advice. When a newcomer’s signal is weak into the repeater, tell him he can correct the problem by adjusting the volume and squelch knobs on his radio. Or tell people they’re full quieting except for the white noise on their signal. Or….well, you get the idea.

17) Use lots of radio jargon. After all, it makes you feel important using words average people don’t say. Who cares if it makes you sound like you just fell off of Channel 19 on the Citizen’s Band? Use phases such as “Roger on that,” “10-4,” “I’m on the side,” “You’re making the trip,” and “Negatory on that.”

18) Use excessive microphone gain. See just how loud you can make your audio. Make sure the audio gain is so high that other amateurs can hear any bugs crawling on your floor. If mobile, make sure the wind noise is loud enough that others have to strain to pick your words out from all the racket.

19) Be as verbose as possible. Never say “yes” when you can say “He acquiesced in the affirmative by saying ‘yes’.” (No kidding, I actually heard that one.)

20) Start every transmission with the word “Roger” or “QSL.” Sure, you don’t need to acknowledge that you received the other transmission in full. After all, you would simply ask for a repeat if you missed something. But consider it your gift to the other amateur to give him solace every few seconds that his transmissions are being received.

21) When looking for a contact on a repeater, always say you’re “listening” or “monitoring” multiple times. I’ve always found that at least a half dozen times or so is good. Repeating your multiple “listening” IDs every 10 to 15 seconds is even better. Those people who didn’t want to talk to you will eventually call you, hoping you’ll go away after you have finally made a contact.

22) Give out repeater FM signal reports using the HF SSB R-S system (“You’re 5 by 9 here”). Sure it’s considered improper for FM operation and you may even confuse some people, but don’t let that spoil your fun!

23) Always use a repeater, even if you can work the other station easily on simplex — especially if you can make the contact on simplex. The coverage of the repeater you use should be inversely proportional to your distance from the other station.

24) If you and the other station are both within a mile or two of the repeater you are using, you should always give a signal report. (“I’m sitting under the repeater and I know you can see it from there, but you’re full quieting into the repeater. How about me?”)

25) In the same vein as the previous step, when monitoring a repeater, you should always give signal reports as if the repeater didn’t exist. (“Yep, I’m right under the repeater. You’ve got a whopping signal. You’re S-9 plus 60. That must be a great rig.”)

26) On repeaters with courtesy tones, you should always say “over.” Courtesy tones are designed to let everyone know when you have unkeyed, but don’t let that stop you. Say “over,” “back to you,” or “go ahead.” It serves no useful purpose, but don’t worry — it’s still fun.

27) Think up interesting and bizarre things to do to tie-up the repeater. The goal here is not to facilitate communications, but to entertain all the scanner listeners out there. Do something original. Try to hum CTCSS (PL) tones. Sing pager tones. You’re getting the idea.

28) Use the repeater’s autopatch for frivolous routine calls. While pulling into the neighborhood, call home to let them know you’ll be there in two minutes. Or call your spouse to complain about the bad day you had at work. After all, the club has “measured rate” service on their phone line, so they get charged for each autopatch call. Your endeavor is to make so many patches in a year that you cost the club at least $20 in phone bills. That way you’ll feel you got your money’s worth for your dues.

29) Never say “My name is….”. It makes you sound human. If at all possible, use one of the following phrases:

A) “The personal here is….”

B) “The handle here is….”

Normally, handles are for suitcases, but it’s OK to use them anyway. Don’t forget, this has worked just fine for CBers for years.

30) Use 73 and 88 incorrectly. Both are already considered plural, but add an “‘s” to the end anyway. Say “73’s” or “88’s.” Who cares if it means “best regardses” and “love and kisseses.” Better yet, say “seventy thirds.” (By the way, 70 thirds equals about 23.3.)

31) Make people think you have a split personality by referring to yourself in the plural sense. When you’re in conversation and are alone at your radio, always say “We’re” or “We’ve” instead of “I’m” or “I’ve” (i.e. “we’ve been doing this…”, “we’re doing that…”, “we’re clear”). Everyone knows you’re by yourself, but when they ask you who is with you, make up somebody important like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bill Clinton.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Nadine Stueve, KØUHF April, 1999

ARRL DUES

HAMFESTS

May 14 – 16 – Dayton Hamvention – Dayton, Ohio

June 4 – 5 – Iowa State Convention – So. Sioux City, Neb.

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		$ 2,675.21
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

Published

1 April 1999

Last touched

Newsletter, April 1999

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

ARRL DUES

HAMFESTS

May 14 – 16 – Dayton Hamvention – Dayton, Ohio

June 4 – 5 – Iowa State Convention – So. Sioux City, Neb.

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

Monthly Newsletter

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

CALHOUN’S CORNER

TREASURER’S REPORT

Dues will be due by Oct. 31 and are: regular membership $20, full-time student $10, family $30. Please complete the following when renewing your membership, even if you did so last year. Return to the Treasurer, at a meeting or to MAARS, P. O. Box 613, Manhattan, KS 66505-0613.

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Dues will be due by Oct. 31 and are: regular membership $20, full-time student $10, family $30. Please complete the following when renewing your membership, even if you did so last year. Return to the Treasurer, at a meeting or to MAARS, P. O. Box 613, Manhattan, KS 66505-0613.

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