BANDBITS PAARC EVENTS

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1 BANDBITS The official publication of the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club An ARRL Special Services Club Volume 26, Number 9 September 2011 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE Superfest is here again and many jobs are still to be filled. We need all the workers we can get. Ticket sales, set up, parking, and many other jobs are still to be filled. If you can help with any of these contact John Coker or Darhal Wolf. Merle KB9VQH PAARC Superfest /Club Benefits By Rick, KC9SIP After last nights Superfest meeting, it s apparent not many people have taken interest in Superfest 2011! Proceeds from this event go to help the Club. This is sad, as We enjoy all the use of the Clubs Repeaters, D-Star, It helps pay bills and maintenance costs on all the radio equipment, It helps cover costs for Summer & Winter Field Days, along with the Clubs Drive-In so Everyone has a chance to show Their mobile equipment; not mention the chance to visit and enjoy catching up with friends We do not see near often enough! Trust Me membership dues does not even begin to even cover half of these things!! If You're not a member, come & join us! We would be thrilled to have You!!! We also have new equipment, that We're extremely lucky to have. We now own a Emergency Response Vehicle! This will give us the ability to respond to an emergency & be functional no matter the conditions or how long We need to provide Our services. So please, sell the advanced Tickets, turn your money!! You can turn in money & obtain more tickets by contacting Darhal K9DRF! Continued on page 4 INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 Presidents Message, PAARC Events, ARES, Article 2 Club Information, Officers, Net Control Report 3 Minutes of Board and Club Meetings 4 Net Control Reports, Article 5 Hamfests, PAARC Constitution, and ALS Letter 6 Buy, Sell or Trade 7 8 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. September 9 - Superfest Plans and Update - John Coker N9FAM October 14 - Nominations for officers of PAARC and Superfest update November 11- Election of Officers and possible program December 9 - Christmas Party or Open House (To be determined) Refreshment Schedule Sept. 9 Tom Jefford, KC9QVV Oct. 14 John Coker, N9FAM Nov. 11 Mark Suhs, W9WGN Dec. 9 Open House ARES MEETING SCHEDULE Mark your calendars. The Peoria County ARES team will meet on Wednesday, September 14 at 7:00PM in the Red Cross Building, 311 John Gwynn Jr. Ave, in downtown Peoria. Send any agenda topics to WD9FMB@gmail.com ARES PROGRAMS (Subject to revision) Germantown HILLS FD 7PM September 22 - "Ashley Bauer - American Red Cross" October 27 7PM Winlink system by KC9GQR November 17 7 PM to be announced December 15 6PM Christmas Party Superfest is upon us. We still need lots of help, mainly in selling advance tickets, and at the gate on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Please sell your mailed tickets and return the proceeds to Darhal Wolf at either the Board Meeting (Sept 2), or the regular PAARC Meeting (Sept 9). You can also get more tickets from him, and/or sign up for gate duty. Call him at We also still need lots of general help, especially on Saturday morning. Watching doors, helping with parking, and with the Flea Market. Contact me for more info on these jobs. My cell is John, N9FAM

2 BANDBITS September 2011 page 2 President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Directors Trustee Club Officers Merle Joiner, KB9VQH James Williams, N9HHU Mark Riggio, K9MPR Ron Morgan, KB9NW Fritz Bock, WD9FMB Mark Suhs, W9WGN Bob Bush, W9WTF 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 Voice Mail at (309) E mail w9uvi@arrl.net Web Page 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. Dues are payable by March 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 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 at the Peoria City EOC on Grandview Drive. 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. Club Net Report By Various Club Members The Sunday Night Net check-in results for the month are shown in the table below, Aug. 7 Aug 14 Aug 21 Aug 28 Total Highlights from the check-ins. Aug. 7: W9WTF (Bob) Bob said that he was enjoying the break from the heat and a drop in the humidity. He has been playing on the antennas he put up. All working well. Bob was able to copy STOR from South Sudan, however when he tried to work them, the big gun stations piled up and walked on him. KA9YSE(Dave)Apologized to those he talked to last weeks about radio equipment from his ill friend. He found out that his friend wasn t wanting any money for his equipment, just wanted David to find good homes for his station. Dave waited to talk to any one interested after the net. K9CT(Craig) Invited any one interested to join him this Wednesday At 9:00. He has a crane coming to his antenna project to install 14 yagi antennas. Thirteen are assembled on the ground and the 14th is a 3 element beam for 80 meter Will be done by 5:00. KA9JHL(Alan)Checked in and said hello and wished everyone a cooler week. KC9QYB(Paul)Paul said he was looking forward to the club meeting and said it was a Red Cross program this month. Paul reported that he was feeling good and appears to be healin fast. He is already out of the sling and has been doing some driving. N9WFT(Daniel)Said he worked part of the contest this weekend and had fun on the Century Club net. Now he is going to work on getting his worked all counties award next. Cook count (Chicago) is the first county he has worked. He will be working HF simplex. K9DRF(Darhal) said today was nice but hot this afternoon. Darhal had a good Verizon experience today. He found out that since he is a veteran he is entitled to an 11% discount on his service and a 21% discount on accessories. Continued on page 4

3 BANDBITS September 2011 page 3 Minutes of the Board Meeting 8/5/2011 Meeting called to order by President Merle Joiner at 7:05 PM. Members present: Merle Joiner, Rick Weber, Cliff Shoemaker, Mark Riggio, Ron Morgan, Jim Williams, John Coker, Darhal Wolf, Mark Suhs, Bob Bush, Fritz Bock. Merle announced that per earlier BOD discussions, one member has been granted a dues waiver because of exceptional financial hardship. He also gave tonight s agenda, which will be to conduct usual business and then propose constitutional changes to present to the membership next week. Bob Bush briefed discussions with Troy Urbantrout of St. Francis, the director of their EMS. They will be acquiring amateur equipment to set up a station and wish to enter into a Memo of Understanding with PAARC. John Coker advised coordinating with Fritz in his new capacity as head of ARES for Peoria, suggesting a 3 way MOU to include ARES. Merle generally approved of further discussions to partially fulfill public service requirements of Part 95. Darhal reported that he will be hospitalized from Tuesday through Friday next week and anticipates about two week convalescence afterwards. He has been picking up the mail daily; John Coker will cover this in his absence. He also advised that about 4500 Superfest reminder cards have been sent out. John Coker advised that he s about 95% sure we will need to open the Opera House for Superfest and that he s working with Jim Williams on some new CAD software to better plan building usage. He s ready to pay the first half of the rental contract, approximately $2200 shortly. Indoor vendors appear to be on track, flea market not so much. The next Superfest meeting will likely be on the 22 nd. Jim Williams noted that we needed to approve last month s minutes. Bob Bush offered a correction to the minutes: that the ECRT reports to the Fire Chief, not the EMS as was previously reported. With that correction, the minutes were approved as published in Bandbits. Ron Morgan gave the Treasurer s Report, noting that we re in generally good shape on cash flow, but he s afraid to check on the Scottrade account, given the market events of the week. Cliff Shoemaker solicited volunteers to provide refreshments for the December meeting until it was decided that we ll be doing an Open House that night. Mark Suhs reported on research he s conducted regarding a preamplifier for the DSTAR transceiver. Fritz suggested we begin with the 2 meter rig, and if successful, move on to the 440. A motion was approved to spend $100 on a 2 meter preamp. Fritz reported the DSTAR was doing OK, with some long distance contacts into the repeater. Also, he s working on securing a LOA for the 85 repeater via Steve Lehman and Duane Deppholder, which will put in writing the existence of PAARC property at the EOC. It s awaiting signatures now. Also, using Kill-a-Watt devices, it seems that the 75 repeater including the DSTAR repeater is using about $25.00 per month in electricity. Fritz is considering approaching ClearTalk with a rental offer of $50/month, for power and our share of the air conditioning at the site. A recommendation for a contract will be forthcoming. Additionally, a new mower has been bought for site maintenance, as Fritz s finally gave up the ghost. Fritz s informational ARES meeting for Peoria will be held at the ARC on Monday the 15 th. There followed a lengthy discussion to nail down the language for the proposed changes to the constitution to be presented to the membership. The finalized wording is still circulating, but should be in place for next week s regular meeting. In a nutshell, we will be proposing a change to officer eligibility, from one year of membership down to six months and adding the Repeater and Superfest Chairs to the Board of Directors. The meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM. Respectfully submitted, Mark Riggio, Secretary Minutes of the Regular Club Meeting 8/12/11 Meeting called to order by President Merle Joiner at 7:02 PM. Approximately 25 members in attendance. Introductions were made. Merle advised that the program would start this meeting to be followed by the business session. Ashley, the ARC Education Coordinator presented the program outlining the various emergency services offered by the ARC and how amateur radio fits into the picture. She presented an interesting PowerPoint showing the typical emergencies the Red Cross responds to, how the various teams are set up using volunteers and how the local chapter responds to tornados, fires, hostage situations, floods, winter storms, extreme heat conditions and the possibility of earthquakes. She also briefed on Henry s Kitchen, offering tours to club members when the equipment returns to this area. Ashley s presentation was followed by a refreshment break, with the business session resuming at 8:10 PM. Ron Morgan began with the treasurer s report, advising that the bulk of the savings account funds have been temporarily transferred to checking to support Superfest and that the Scottrade account took a hit during the recent market correction. Fritz Bock briefed on the upcoming Peoria County ARES organizational meeting this Monday at the ARC at 7:00 PM. All interested hams are invited to attend. Fritz also advised progress on the Youth Forums for Superfest and the balloon launch which is scheduled for 11:30 sharp on Saturday morning of Superfest weekend. With a heavier balloon than last time, we re hoping for even more altitude. The launch will be tracked with APRS and contain several beacons; it will be shown on a wide-screen TV for the benefit of the local Superfest audience. Appropriate press releases have been arranged, as has the Scout Council. APRS.FI has data cached from the last launch. John Coker advised that he has a lot of fliers for Superfest for those who can distribute them and that he s filling in for Darhal Wolf as ticket chairman as Darhal recuperates from surgery. Members can turn in ticket sales money to John. He also emphasized that help is needed for gate ticket sales and probably also for running the flea market. Merle reported that the tickets have been printed for the 2 raffles which will be for a 92AD DSTAR transceiver and a TS2000 transceiver; price is $10.00 for the 92AD and $20.00 for the TS2000, with 150 maximum tickets to be sold for each raffle. Tickets will be available for members to purchase next meeting. Mark Riggio read the 5 proposed changes and/or additions to the constitution as proposed by the Board of Directors. The language changes are printed elsewhere in this issue of Bandbits. The changes will be read again at the September meeting and then voted on. Those that pass will go into effect on October 1, There followed a short question and answer session regarding these proposed changes; the general consensus was of approval. Then next Superfest meeting will be at the ARC at 7:00 PM August 22. John asked if anyone was heading to the O Fallon Hamfest this weekend as he d like to ride along or send some fliers. Fritz answered a question regarding the prospective General upgrade class, saying that about 5 people have expressed interest to date. The meeting adjourned at 8:37 PM. Respectfully submitted, Mark Riggio, Secretary

4 BANDBITS September 2011 page 4 Net Control Reports, Continued Aug 7: KB9TNZ(John) John was able to work the Slovic Republic and Aruba on HF as well as N8SUB at the docks. Didn t get any sub mobile though. He also had fun working FM repeaters too. KB9KBC(Dave) Enjoyed the :Four Guys Named Moe concert there in Peoria Heights and said he was jealous of Craig K9CT s yagis. Also checking into the net with no traffic werekc9sip, KG9PH, KC9FWR, KB9ATO, KC9ROJ, K9EDT, N9SJZ, K9QXF, AD9Z, K9HJZ, KC9REG, and KB9NBG Total 21 Thanks to all who checked in. Tom KC9QVV 73 Aug 14: No Report Aug. 21: K9DRF(Darhal) Is settling in after his surgery and looking forward to being able to eat again. Also wanted to remind everyone to sell their Superfest tickets. N9WFT(Daniel) worked K0QI rural ARES group on 40 meters during Rail Road days. Also worked special station W8TCM Cherryland Michigan and is still chasing his Worked All Counties N9HHU(Jim) Welcomed everyone interested to the Tri-County ARES meeting Thursday night at the Germantown Hills fire station at 7:00pm N9FAM(John) Announced a Superfest Meeting Monday evening (7:00pm) at the Red Cross Bdlg. Also needs more people to fill out and get the sign up sheets for ticket sales and other Superfest jobs turned in. KB9TNZ(John)has been working some twenty meter nets and was able to work a special Light House station. KB9KBC(Dave) Dave said Football is on and I m into it. Baseball is coming up soon.also looking forward to Super Fest. The weather has been great but he is not looking forward to the cold weather KC9ALV(Daniel) Ran AR News line for us. Thank you Daniel. Also checking into the net with no traffic were, N9NEW, KC9FWR, N9SJZ, W9KCB, N9FLS, KC9UIT, K9EDT, KC9TWL, WX9JC, KA9JHL,KC9SYO, K9QXF, W9WTF, KB9ATO, KG9PH, KB9UXH, K9HJZ, AD9Z, KC9SIP, W9ZHB, and KC9LAL. Thanks to all who checked in we had 28 check ins total. KC9QVV Tom 73 Aug. 28: N9FAM(John) Announced a Superfest Meeting Monday evening (7:00pm) at the Red Cross Bdlg. Also needs more people to fill out and get the sign up sheets for ticket sales and other Superf est jobs turned in. KB9TNZ(John)has been working some twenty meter nets and was able to work a special Light House station. KC9SIP (Rick) Will be at the board and club meetings and will be selling raffle tickets for the Kenwood TS-2000 and the Icom IC- 92ad handheld. Also Illinois has activated the National Guard to help with hurricane disaster in New York. N9WFT(Daniel) worked W9IMS, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club on 40 meters today and also worked two 17meter stations HK4CZE, Jorge in Columbia and DJ6YC, Ingo in Germany. Continued next column Aug. 28: Cont d K9DRF(Darhal) Thanked everyone who signed his card and Let everyone know that he is back in charge of ticket sales. There is a Superfest meeting Monday night. Bring you ideas. He will have tickets if you need more to sell. We still need volunteers for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. KB9TNZ(John) Checked in to the Midcars net, then went mobile for two hours listening and taking check ins for the Team emergency network on 2 meters then checked into the maritime network. KB9KBC(Dave) Was glad hurricane Irene wasn t as bad as it could have been. We were lucky. There were 600,000 people with out power. KC9ALV( Daniel) NEWSLINE KC9GQR(Brad) Announced that there is a new Winlink equipped repeater in the area at mhz with 200 baud hooked up with a pactor modem. KC0TOT(Seth) Received a visit from Bob(W9WTF) at his Glasford QTH and they exchanged ideas and discussed antenna theory. Seth now has a list of items to look for at Super Fest. KB9KBC-RECHECK Dave asked what the Winlink system did. KC9ALV(Daniel) explained that the Winlink system was a radio based system using unencrypted pactor. W9KCB(Al) Al told us about his 1947 airplane he had been flying around in this afternoon. Bought in 1963 would be worth over 100,000 if bought new today. Al said it isn t super fast, it flies about 75knots (85mph). KC9TCM(Sean) Sean checked in from Galesburg Illinois tonight. He said he was new to the net and had just got home from a trip to Virginia. Welcome Sean. Also checking into the net without traffic were, KC9TUJ, KC9ROJ, N9NEW, K9EDT, N9SJZ, KC9FWR, N9FLS, KC9UCX, KA9JHL, K9QXF, KC9SYO, KG9PH, WX9JC, KB9ATO, KC9QHQ, K9HJZ, KB9NBG, W9ZHB, K9TNT, KA9YSE, and KC9HGJ. Thank you to all who checked in tonight. 73 Tom, KC9QVV PAARC Superfest/Club Benefits, Cont d We need help with many jobs during Superfest. There are many jobs, so even if You're limited physically, We can accommodate you with job that will not interfere with Your limitations! We have numerous jobs that We need Your help with. about 6 people can not in reality do about 25 jobs. We have to set up for this event & tear down, along with many other jobs. We do not ask You to be there from start to finish, though You can fill out Your job work sheet, turn it in. If You can work a total of 5 hours to help make this a successful Superfest! You can bring Your wife or girlfriend along to help or friends as well. We would gladly find Them a job as well!!!! Failure to have this become a success will may result loss of things We enjoy as club members because of lack of funds!!! Please fill out the work sheets & turn them in to John Coker asap please!!!! I will have Raffle tickets for sale the Board Meeting Friday night & the Sept. Club Meeting. We are raffling off a Kenwood TS $20.00 a chance & an Icom $10.00 a chance! This Superfest We're adding a Youth Program with Youth Forums, Also be doing a High Altitude Balloon Launch as well!! Thank You! Rick KC9SIP

5 BANDBITS September 2011 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. 09/10/2011 Radio Expo 2011 Location: Belvidere, IL Sponsor: Chicago FM Club Website: 09/16/2011 W9DSCC Convention Location: Elk Grove Village, IL Sponsor: Northern Illinois DX Association (NIDXA) Website: 09/17/2011 Peoria Superfest 2011 Location: Peoria, IL Sponsor: Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club Website: 01/28/12 Winterfest 2012 Location: Collinsville, IL Sponsor: The St. Louis & Suburban RC, Inc. Website: Proposed Changes to the PAARC Constitution SUMMARY: Change length of club membership for officer eligibility from one year to 6 months. Add Board-appointed officers Superfest Chairman and Repeater Chairman to the Board. Allow the Board to remove Board-appointed officers. Proposed changes are in bold italics. Article IV. Officers Section 3. General Qualifications. a. All officers shall be Full or Family Members in good standing, and shall have been members of P.A.A.R.C. for at least one full calendar year prior to the year in which they will hold office. [Proposed change] Section 3. General Qualifications. a. All officers shall be Full or Family Members in good standing, and shall have been members of P.A.A.R.C. for at least six months prior to the year in which they will hold office. Article IV. Officers Section 1. Names of Officers. a. The officers of the Club shall consist of a President, a Vice- President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, a Trustee and two Directors. [Proposed addition] b. Officers appointed by the board shall be a Trustee, a Superfest Chairman and a Repeater Chairman. Proposed Changes to PAARC Constitution, Cont d Section 2. Terms of Office. [Proposed additions] g. The Superfest Chairman is appointed to a one year term concurrently with the President. The Superfest Chairman may be reappointed to unlimited successive consecutive terms. h. The Repeater Chairman is appointed to a one year term concurrently with the President. The Repeater Chairman may be reappointed to unlimited successive consecutive terms. [Change label of existing paragraph b to paragraph c. No other changes to existing paragraph b.] [Proposed addition] b. An appointed member of the Board of Directors may be removed by a majority vote of the Board. Article V. Board of Directors Section 2. Number and Composition of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall consist of the President, Vice- President, Secretary, Treasurer, Trustee, and two Directors selected as provided elsewhere in this document. [Proposed addition] The Board of Directors shall consist of the President, Vice- President, Secretary, Treasurer, Trustee, two Directors, a Repeater Chairman and a Superfest Chairman selected as provided elsewhere in this document. Letter from ALS Association John Coker PAARC Dear John, On behalf of the clients, board, and staff of the ALS Association, St. Louis Regional Chapter thank you for your volunteer service at the Walk to Defeat ALS in Peoria! Because of your generosity and that of many other local businesses and individual, the Peoria Walk generated more than $40,000 to provide patient care for individuals living with ALS in Central Illinois. Thanks you for sharing precious resources on behalf of our patients! Sincerely, David L. Lauber Director of Development

6 BANDBITS September 2011 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 below. Sep. 17, Oct. 15, and Dec. 17. 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 2010 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 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 dates for 2011 are. Testing begins at 1:00pm. Bring two forms of identification. Contact Keith Hanson AC9S at ac9s@mchsi.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 Place Stamp Here FORWARD AND ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED