BANDBITS PAARC EVENTS

Transcription

1 BANDBITS The official publication of the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club An ARRL Special Services Club Volume 28, Number 8 August 2013 President s Message Hi all, first off I want to say I'm sorry build night didn't go quite as well as we planned due to circumstances beyond our control, hopefully those who participated still enjoyed themselves. Did you participate in the 13 colonies special event? I know several of us did, I managed to get a clean sweep (yeah me!) along with the bonus station and the W1G special event station. I made my first rag chew contact that week-end also, talked to a guy on the South Carolina coast, which was interesting. Mark and I have received our reciprocal operating licenses for our trip to Bermuda, Aug 25-27, hopefully we'll be able to make some contacts back here. We are taking our Yaesu FT-897 and a portable antenna, hoping to find a spot on the beach and have some fun, listen for us. Remember Superfest is fast approaching and any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thanks & 73! Deb, KA4DEB WAKE ATOLL Commenorative DXpedition Did you know that Craig Thompson, K9CT is a member of a team of hams preparing to go on a DXpedition to Wake Is. in October of this year The Wake Atoll Commemorative team's operation is progressing nicely. Most of the equipment needed for this operation has been received and is being pre-tested prior to shipment to the staging areas. As mentioned in the previous release, the equipment will be prestaged in California and Hawaii prior to transport to Wake. Staging, pre-testing, packing are essential to assure equipment arriving on-time and safely on Wake. The two week "on air" dates are anticipated to start the last week of September or first week of October. This is entirely dependent on the military flight schedule into and out of Wake Atoll and this has yet to be determined. As soon as this is established, we will issue another press release and post it on our website. Continued on page 5 INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 President s Message, PAARC Events, ARES, Wake Is DXpedition 2 Club Information, Officers, Net Control Report July 7 3 Net Reports July 7th, 14 th, 21 st 4 Board Meeting Minutes and Club Meeting, Silent Key 5 Hamfests, Net Report July 28 th, Wake Is DXpedition 6 Buy, Sell or Trade: PAARC EVENTS PAARC MEETS AT RED CROSS The Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club meets at the American Red Cross Chapter House, 311 West John Gwynn Jr. Avenue between Hightower and Kumpf Blvd. in Peoria, Illinois. The meetings are held on the second Friday of each month. Aug. 2: PAARC Board Meeting 7:00pm Red Cross Chapter House. Aug. 9: PAARC Club Meeting 7:00pm Program: High Speed Multi-media/ MESH: An introduction. By: Fritz Bock, WD9FMB REFRESHMENT SCHEDULE Aug. 9: Tom Jefford, KC9QVV Sept. 13: De Wayne Barton, KB9ATO Oct. 11: CENTRAL ILLIINOIS ARES MEETING SCHEDULE ARES PROGRAMS (Subject to revision) The August 22 ARES meeting is at 6:30 pm with a potluck (from July) bring a dish to pass. Table service and drinks provided. Also Tom Planer, KJ9P the new EC from McClean County will present a program and Kurt K9UQF will have slides from field Day. James F Williams SUPERFEST TICKETS Superfest tickets and money can be turned into me on Friday August 9 th at the club meeting. I will come to your house to pick up the money or to deliver more tickets. We need everyone's help in selling tickets this year. Even if you are working at Superfest, you still need a ticket to get in! Call me at or me at wd9fmb@gmail.com. Fritz Bock Peoria County ARES Peoria County ARES Net on the first and third Wednesdays of each month on the.075 repeater. August 14, 7:00PM Red Cross Building Great American Shake Out December- Hospital Communication Drill Deployment Discussion Update on Red Cross Radios/AuxComm Class Examples Setting up Winlink during a drill Equipment inventory for drills Testing Direction Finding Equipment Fritz, WD9FMB, Peoria County ARES EC

2 BANDBITS August 2013 page 2 President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Directors Trustee Repeater Ch. Superfest Ch. The Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club The club was originally chartered as the Peoria Radio Club on May 2, Please address all correspondences to: The Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club P.O. Box 3508 Peoria, IL Voice Mail at (309) Web Page E mail w9uvi@arrl.net Membership Information Membership in the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club is available to any licensed amateur and is administered as follows: Full Membership: $25 per calendar year. Ages 18 and under, or 65 and older are $20 per calendar year. Family Membership: Full membership for first member and $10 for each additional member in same household. Associate Membership: $15 per calendar year for out of area amateurs who are interested only in occasional participation. Honorary Life Memberships: are free and are awarded by a vote of the general membership after recommendations from the Board of Directors. Club Officers Deb Suhs, KA4DEB Craig Worrick, K9CEW Tom Jefford, KC9QVV Ron Morgan, KB9NW Rick Weber, KC9SIP (1 year) Jon Dainty, NM0O (2 years) Bob Bush, W9WTF Fritz Bock, WD9FMB Merle Joiner, KB9VQH Dues are payable by February 1 ST of each year. BANDBITS Policy BANDBITS is the official publication of the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club and is distributed to all members in good standing, and to other interested parties. Permission is granted to reprint from BANDBITS provided that credit is given to the original author, if listed, and that BANDBITS is identified as the source of the material. Opinions expressed in articles and letters are those of the author and may or may not reflect those of BANDBITS or the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club. BANDBITS reserves the right to edit any copy, and to print or refuse to print any contribution. Articles are welcome and can be sent to: BANDBITS Editor Cliff Shoemaker- W9OI P.O. Box 3508 Peoria, IL or via at w9oi@arrl.net Articles for BANDBITS must be received by the Monday following the club meeting for inclusion in the next issue. Club Net/Newsline The club holds a weekly net on Sunday Evening at 8:30 PM Local Time on the repeater. All Amateurs with 2 meter privileges are invited to check in. Amateur Radio Newsline will be heard after the Net. Repeaters The PAARC operates three 2 meter repeaters, which are open for all amateurs with 2 meter privileges. The (input)/ (output) repeater is located in East Peoria on Washington Rd. The repeater uses a Hz output tone for CTCSS squelch control. The (input)/ (output) repeater is located on the Rock- 106 tower in East Peoria. This repeater is used for the Sunday night net. This repeater uses a Hz input tone for CTCSS squelch control. The W9PIA D-Star (input)/ (output) repeater is located on the Rock-106 tower. July 7 July 14 July 21 July 28 Total Club Net Report By Various Club Members The Sunday Night W9UVI Net check-in results for the month are shown in the table below, Highlights from the check-ins. July 7: (W9WTF (Bob) Good evening to everyone on the net. I had some fun working the 13 colonies special event. I was able to work all 13 plus the bonus station for a Clean Sweep the third year in a row. I started on Monday and had all by Tuesday. The new band bits is out and has info and pictures from Field day. I hope to see everyone at the club meeting Friday. It will be a build night so if you bought a kit we will be working on it. Hope everyone has a great night. N9WFT (Daniel) Good job Bob. I also worked the 13 colonies. I was able to work all 13 and WM3PEN. I worked the contest in 2012 but didn t get the bonus station. Most contacts were on 20 meters and 40 meters. I got all stations on Friday and Saturday. Sometimes it was a bear but it was worth it. I also worked AA1KC, Rick on Mouse Island, Maine at the US Air force observe corp. which was an Air Force operation watching for Russian air craft and protecting the US. He also activates light houses, and many special events. I also worked W8TNO Oakland County, Michigan 4h fair. KB9VQH (Merle) I just wanted to remind every that Rick KC9SIP has a work day scheduled for next Saturday and we are looking for volunteers. AD9Z(Dave)This is Dave in West Jersey and Six meters has been wide open this evening if anyone is interested. Hope everyone has a great week. KB9KBC (Dave) I don t get six meters unfortunately. The world s weather satellites are getting old. There are about 20 and they are having problems with them. It takes a while to build them so it may be hard for the weather spotters. Continued Nest Page

3 BANDBITS August 2013 page 3 July 7: Cont d KC0TOT (Seth) Good evening everyone. As it was mentioned earlier, six meters has been good. I made my first couple of contacts. I worked Florida and Maine on a ten meter wire with a tuner. I worked 12 of the 13colony stations I didn t get K2B,Virginia. We worked him up on DX Summit spotting network.and even ed the guy. It seemed like he just wasn t that interested. In my off time I rebuilt one of my power supplies that the smoke escaped from. I ended up replacing three capacitors. Also checking into the net with no traffic were N9NEW, N9SJZ, N9FLS, N9HHU, W9DAY, K9HJZ, NM0O, K9TNT, KC9PH, KG9PH, W9KCB, K9QXF, KC9FWR, WD9HZK, KD0EKA, and KC9QHQ. Thanks to all who joined us. knc9qvv, tom 73 July 14: KZ9DRW (Andrew) I was able to play radio a little bit this week. I was able to work St. Marten and Bon Air Island on 20 meters. I had a lot of fun. KB9NW (Ron) Greetings from the dark side. K9W is the Wake Island Atoll event. They re website is The locals are going to fly out to Wake Island. Go to the website for more information on the sponsors and to support it. The other event the locals are going to go to is Amsterdam Island. I worked the IARAU CW contest. I made 161 contacts. Clyde came over today and we worked on his mobile antenna and we got his standing wave down some, that was fun.9 RTTY contest this weekend. K9DRF (Darhal) I m back from a two week trip to Estes Park, Colorado. It wasn t a vacation, I went out to see my cousin and we painted their new house. There are two local repeaters and I didn t hear a peep out of either of them. I had fun and would like to go back but a one room shack will cost you $500,000. KC9YTT (Robert) I wanted to let everyone know I just got back from Newington, School of wireless technology in I attended the ARRL Teachers In Connecticut where I attended the ARRL Teachers Institute of wireless technology. I learned some robotics that I am going to share with my students back at Sandberg College in Galesburg. I m trying to get some of them interested in not only the hobby but also the robotics. N9WFT (Daniel) I worked N2B. They were commemorating 10th annual Shakespeare festival. I love collection special event stations. I also worked WE7GV, commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the Titan missile activation. Also W7W commemorating the rebuilding of Whiskey Row in Arizona. I also worked the IARU contest and made 59 contacts, W1AW/4 on 10 and 40 meters, Hawaii two times and K4US for the 281st birthday of George Washington. KB9KBC (Dave) I just wanted to comment on Zimmerman being found not guilty. I think that was the right verdict. At least there were no racial riots afterwards, thank God. July 14: Cont d KC0TOT (Seth) I also worked the IARU championship. Just had 100 watts off the wire. We had 9700 points and 84 QSOs. One on 160 m, 2 on 75m, 45 on 20m, 15 on 15m, and 12 on 10m. I worked NU1AW on m and W1AW/4 on 10m,15m and 40m. KB9TNZ (John) I was thinking that Andrew may have had his tone off. I was hearing him full scale from here. That might have been doing it. Also checking into the net with no traffic were KC9SIP, KA9YSE,N9FLS, K9CEW, WD9HZK, K9QXF, N9HHU, KG9PH, K9HJZ, NM0O, KB9ATO, W9KCB, W9FYR, K9TNT, and KD0EKA. Thanks to all who participated tonight. 73 kc9qvv tom July 21: W9WTF (Bob) Good evening everyone, The build night didn t go as we planned. Our regular room was being used so we were in the garage and the light wasn t very good. If anyone is having trouble with their kits, bring them to the next meeting and we will go over a few tricks. There were some parts that didn t come with the kits but are available through Radio Shack or AllElectronics.com very cheap. KB9NW (Ron) Build night was fun. I was hoping to hear a little more CW on here. I m listening to Nicaragua station try to catch the stations calling him to improve my skills. By the way you need to read the rules, I operated the NAVV RTTY contest which is a low power 100 watts or less, so using an Alpha amp is considered to be illegal so my entire score went into the trash. You still get credit at LOTW but the contest you don t. Go ahead Tom, I will be looking for you on the CW bands as well. N9HHU (Jim) Thursday will be the annual ARES picnic. Everyone is welcome. Bring a dish to pass. We will provide the drinks and the table service. So come and enjoy the food and I hope to see you there. KZ9DRW (Andrew) I was able to do a little HF and made a contact with K2BSA, the Boy Scouts Jamboree and will be getting a real nice QSL card. N9WFT (Daniel) Congratulations to Andrew on working K2BSA,. I looked for them but didn t find them. Saturday I worked three stateside special event stations, W6G the Golden Gate Bridge. I also worked W0VFW at the VFW in Wichita, Kansas, and W7G, the 78th Glacier Waterton Ham fest. KC0TOT (Seth) We worked Australia VK2 on 10 meters at about 10:30 to 11pm. We didn t do as good as we hoped on the CQ worldwide VHF contest. I made 6 QSO s in an hour. I worked Florida on 6 meters QRP 5 watts on the Icom 746. When the band is open, it doesn t take much power. KB9KBC (Dave) On HF I was able to talk to the Czech Republic and I believe India. He was awfully hard to read, there was a lot of QRNancy. I contacted Australia years ago. I don t think I am on the radio at the right time or I d be able to work more stations. Also checking into the net with no traffic were KC9SIP, KC9FWR, N9SJZ, KB9ATO, N9FLS, KG9PH, NM0O, KC9YTT, KB9RVJ, K9QXF, K9TNT, K9CEW, W9GHO, K9HJZ, W9KCB, KD0EKA, and W9DAY. Thanks to all who joined us. Kc9qvv, tom

4 BANDBITS August 2013 page 4 Board Meeting Minutes for July 5, 2013 Members present: Deb Suhs, Jon Dainty, Craig Worwick, Merle Joiner, John Coker, John Torset, Fritz Bock, Bob Simms, and Cliff Shoemaker Meeting was called to order at 7:03pm by President Deb Suhs. Minutes of the June Board Meeting as published in Bandbits had motion to accept by Fritz and second by Jon. Minutes were approved. The Treasurer s report was reviewed and had motion to accept by Fritz and second by Merle. The report was approved. Deb reported the following items from the Field Day: 37 hams signed the log with 30 of those PAARC members. 21 persons signed the guest log. Preliminary results were 621 total contacts with 371 cw and 250 phone. Preliminary point count was 2686 plus GOTA and some additional bonus points for extra items need to be added. Fritz reported on the condition and potential restoration of the D-Star antenna system. A new 400 ft. 7/8 in. diameter feedline was purchased and installed on the tower. The old cable had a bad spot about the middle of the length. A new connector was replaced on the harness to the antenna. Testing still showed a very high standing wave ratio of 26:1 Initial thoughts are that either the harness or the antenna have a short somewhere. Additionally, ASD provided updates to the D-Star software. Communications are still achievable through the repeater server. Discussion at this point turned to possible replacement of the antenna. There were three potential CELWAVE alternatives from Wadsworth Sales Inc. CELWAVE Model DV 224 E which is the same as the existing one. CELWAVE Model 220-2N which is a fiberglass antenna with enclosed harness COMPROD Model 874F-70 which is a commercial grade antenna. Action: Fritz will get complete system pricing on these options in the next week and get to the board for review. Fritz also reported that the review made on the club s equipment for insurance purposes was $20,000. He also suggested that the trailer home be put on a plan that allowed for insurance during use and storage times upon request. Merle reported that plans for Superfest were proceeding. John Coker asked Merle to look into ham s equipment estate sale. No details were known. Meeting adjourned at 8:27pm. Submitted by: Cliff W9OI for Tom Jefford, KC9QVV and Secretary PAARC Club Minutes For July 12, 2013 Meeting called to order by Deb, KA4DEB at 7:02pm. 19 members were in attendance. Ron Morgan, KB9NW gave the treasurer s report. Motion by Dion, KC9UCJ and seconded by Craig K9CEW to approve the report was made. The motion passed. The June club minutes as published in Bandbits had a motion by Larry, KC9QYA and seconded by Bob, AB9B to approve. The Mtion passed. A thank you letter from EP!C for the club donation of $25.00 was read to the members by Deb. Deb reported Field Day contacts were 620 on the club call and 67 on the GOTA station. Merle reported that Superfest plans are on track. Fritz, WD9FMB reported the D-Star unit is down. The board is considering options for equipment replacement. Meeting adjourned at 7:12pm Pizza was served at 7:15pm to all and building projects for receivers and keyers were passed oout to member who ordered the units. Submitted by: Cliff W9OI for Tom Jefford, KC9QVV and Secretary SILENT KEY James R. Teel, K9EAR 87, of Eureka, IL passed away on Saturday, July 6, 2013at The Washington Christian Village Care Center in Washington, IL. James served in World War II as a radar tech for the U.S. Army. He worked as a broadcast engineer for WEEK-TV, retiring in James was a member of the Eureka Presbyterian Church. He was also a 32 nd degree member of the Scottish Rite Masons, the American Legion and the Lions Club. He is survived by his wife Marilyn and his son Jeffrey (Tahdra) Teel of Morton; three daughters, Linda (Mark) Cordes of Eureka, Laura (William) Robinson of Springfield, MO and Jennifer Dennis of Eureka. We express our sincere condolences to Marilyn and her extended family. Obit submitted by Allan Lurie, W9KCB Quotes for the Month For disappearing acts, it s hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work. --Doug Larson Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together. --George Lichtenberg

5 BANDBITS August 2013 page 5 HAMFESTS Here's what the ARRL website presently has for hamfests within 250 miles of Peoria. Not all fests are posted, or posted in a timely manner on this website, so it may be an incomplete list. 08/1-3/2013 ARCI Radiofest Location: Intersection of I-55 and Rt 83 in Willowbrook. Sponsor: Antique Radio Club of Illinois Website: 08/03/2013 Angola Hamfest Sponsor: Land of Lakes Amateur Radio Club Website: 08/03/ West Central Illinois Old Fashioned Hamfest Location: Carlinville, IL Sponsor: Macoupin County ARC & Montgomery County Amateur Radio Emergency Corp. Website: 08/03/2013 Lakes Area ARC s 3 rd Annual Freefest Location: Lyons, WI Type ASRRL Hamfest Sponsor: Lakes Area Amateur Radio Club Website: 08/10/2013 Western Illinois Swapfest Location: Quincy, IL Sponsor: Western Illinois ARC Website: 08/18/2013 TechFest Location: Ingleside, IL Sponsor: Western Lake County Amateur Radio Society (WeLCARS) Website:: 08/24/2013 Circus City Swapfest Location: Baraboo, WI Sponsor: Yellow Thunder Amateur Radio Club Website: 09/07/2013 Hamfest & Swapmeet Location: South Bend, IN Type ARRL Hamfest Sponsor: Michiana Amateur Radio Club (MARC) Website: 09/20/2013 W9DXCC Convention Location: Elk Grove Village, IL Type: ARRL Convention Sponsor: Northern Illinois DX Association Website: 09/21/2013 Peoria Superfest 2013 Location: Peoria, IL Sponsor: Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club Website: Net Report July 28: W9WTF (Bob)Good evening, I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather because summer will be coming back and it will be hot. With Deb s permission I built one of the extra keyers that the vender sent for parts at the club build night. We will probably give it away as a door prize at the next meeting. I hope everything went well with the Whitney Walk. Have a great week and I ll see you at the next meeting. KB9ATO (DeWayne) With the nice cool weather I have done some work in the yard. I hope everyone has a nice week and back to the net. N9WFT (Daniel) I wanted to say hello to all of the W9UVI people, I really enjoy checking into the net. Yesterday I worked three special events. First was the W9IMS for the Brickyard 400 special event station. I then worked N8M the fourth Detroit Makers Fair. That was fun. I also worked the K8L the 10th anniversary of the line of duty death of Kelly Lambert. All of the QSL cards collected will go to her family. I called CQ on 15 meters last night and 6Y1X, Robert from Montego Bay, Jamaica. Today I worked special event station VE7TUB for the International bath tub race in British Columbia, Canada. The operator said I will be getting a special QSL card. I also worked W6RO, the Queen Mary, and W1AW from Connecticut. KB9KBC (Dave) Like Bob said Summer is far from over. It sure has been nice though. What s weird, we have not had any severe weather. We haven t been weather spotting all year. My yard is parched because of shortage of rain. Also checking into the net with no traffic were KC9SIP, KC9QYA, KG9PH, N9FLS, K9CEW, KC9YTT, WD9HZK, K9QXF, N9HHU, K9HJZ, K9TNT, KA9YSE, N9WYV, W9SNG, KB9UXH, KB9TNZ, and KB9RBJ I d like to thank all the operators who checked in this evening. 73 kc9qvv, tom Wake DXpedition, Cont d Several good options are being considered for our two operating sites which will be announced soon. Please note! There are a few other DXpeditions which will be on air during the Wake Operation. Our band plan, established in early March and documented on our website will be used during our operation. To avoid the dreaded "Not in the Log", please be sure which DXpedition you are working! Our operators will announce the K9W often to help identify your contact. The Team wants to thank the DX Community, including generous worldwide Foundations and Clubs, equipment manufacturers and outlets for their outstanding support of the Wake Commemorative efforts. These DXpeditions are extremely expensive and could not be accomplished without the support of the entire DX Community. Visit the Wake2013.org website to view our Sponsors and make your personal donation. Please check our website often for updates.

6 BANDBITS August 2013 page 6 AREA FCC EXAMS Morton: FCC Amateur Radio Exams are held at the Morton Public Library, 315 West Pershing at 12:00 noon the third Saturday of even numbered months or as noted: Aug. 17, Sept. Superfest, Oct. 19, and Dec If no one is there at that time the examiners will leave as they are all volunteers. Walk-ins are welcome. Please bring your original Radio License (if any) and a copy, and the original and a copy of any of any Certificate of Completion (CSCE) not already acted upon by the FCC. Copies are needed to send with your license application. Fee for 2012 is $ You will also need identification such as a Driver s License, and a Social Security Number. Contact Bob Bush W9WTF at tigrbob@gmail.com for more information. Buy/Sell/Trade Non-Commercial Ads from Club members pertaining to Amateur Radio will be printed free of charge. Each ad will run for one issue and can be continued by contacting the Editor. Material may be sent to: Bandbits Editor P.O. Box 3508 Peoria, IL Or via w9oi@arrl.net Bloomington: Note Location Change FCC Amateur Radio Exams will be given on at the Normal Fire Department 1300 East College Ave Exam date for 2013 Nov.9. Testing begins at 1:00pm. Bring two forms of identification. Contact Keith Hanson AC9S at ac9s@hotmail.com (preferred) or (309) for more information. Note on testing A Social Security number is now required for all FCC exams. BANDBITS``` Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club P.O. Box 3508 Peoria, IL Place Stamp Here FORWARD AND ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED