TREASURER'S REPORT

Club Treasurer Jay Bastow reports that, so far, eight members have renewed their ARRL memberships thru him. He urges you all to keep up the good work. Remember, if ARRL members intend to renew, or if anyone in the Club wishes to join the ARRL as a new member, this can be handled by the JPL ARC. This way, the Club Treasury can retain 50¢ of the usual $6.50 ARRL dues, and will forward the rest for you. Just let Jay know all the necessary details (i.e. new, renewal, class of license, card or certificate) and he will take care of the rest. Don't forget to enclose your check, too, and make it out to the JPL Amateur Radio Club.

YE OLDE PUBLICK NOTICE

Club meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, at noon, in 238-543. Everyone is welcome.

Business meetings of the Club's Board of Directors are held on the 4th Wednesday of each month, at noon, in 180102. Club members are welcome to attend.

ISSUES TO BE COMBINED

Because of the upcoming holiday season, the November and December issues of W6VIO Calling will be combined. A lot of the members will be on vacation, or tied up in the MM'71 operations during this period, making it a bit difficult to keep one' s mind on ham radio. So, we would all like to take this opportunity to wish all of the JPL ARC members the season's best greetings, and may your Xmas stockings be stuffed with all those goodies you need for your rigs.

STOP THE PRESSES!!

Last month, W6VIO Calling printed a small notice indicating an address where members could obtain copies of Technical Manuals (TM's) for government surplus electronic equipment. Club member Jack Bobrow reports back that this was in error and sent this editor a copy of a very terse letter from Ft. Monmouth disclaiming any responsibility. Further checks into the situation are being made at this time in an effort to get you the correct scoop. In the meantime, we have discovered that the JPL Instrument Repair Shop keeps a fair-to-middlin' collection of its own, in 125-B18. The good men in the shop have indicated that they would be willing to let Club members check their files and make copies of whatever information would be useful. The Manual Files can be reached by calling Extension 2335; they will be happy to let you know if they have what you're after. The rest is up to you.

Somewhere in the vast Army organization there is a central agency that should keep these TM's on file. QRX on this frequency and we'll track it all down for you----we hope.

H-E-L-P !!!

Nash Williams reports an urgent need for five project leaders for some of the Club' s current activities. These run the gamut of ham activities and not only will give a lot of satisfaction for a job accomplished, but will open up the doors to a wealth of new information and techniques to enhance your enjoyment of amateur radio. Contact Nash on Extension 2047 to learn more about the challenges awaiting a progressive ham.

RANDOM QRM's

For many years, the Sword of Damocles has been dangled over the heads of the amateur radio fraternity, threatening to take away our present frequency allotments if we weren't able to justify their use in the eyes of the international radio conferences. With the emergence of the new African free nations, and the rapid development of communications in other countries, the U. S. would be hard pressed to keep what they had at the next big conference. QST Magazine, on behalf of the ARRL, has been echoing these sentiments and helping gird our legal loins for this big fight. One step they took was to help create the incentive licensing system in an effort to upgrade the average ham's abilities. The sounds and fury of that move haven't died down yet; it's a subject that will create controversy for years to come and we won't get ourselves involved in it at this writing.

However bleak the frequency picture may look at this point, QST notes that the last international radio conference was held in Geneva in 1959 and there's no indication as to when the next one will be scheduled. At that meeting, one of the delegates remarked that if the invasion of the ham bands could be held off for another ten years, we would have it made. Cable, microwave, and now satellite systems all have greater reliability for commercial and military purposes. Their growth will be such that no one will really need or want HF bands except the amateurs and broadcasters.

Well, twelve years have gone by since then and, although the prediction hasn't come completely true, this movement is gaining momentum. Specialized conferences held in 1963 and early 1971 dealt with space allocations, but made no substantial changes in HF. The emigration to vhf and uhf has relieved congestion enough to hold down what otherwise would be loud demands for another general allocations conference. The ARRL is retaining its vigilance in the interests of the amateur radio service and continues to warn against possible losses of a band or bands.

However, to look on the optimistic side, wouldn't it be nice to have amateur bands at 3. 5, 7, 10, 14, 18, 21, 24 and 28 MHz ?

OFFICIAL FIELD DAY RESULTS

QST, November 1971 listed the final results of the Field Day exercise. W6VIO was entered in the Club category, using four transmitters, with a maximum input power in the 200 w range. As such, we were up against some pretty stiff competition. Two California club stations (West Valley ARC & Conejo Valley ARC) took top honors, with 5964 and 5342 points respectively. W6VIO came in with 1764 points, good for 51st place, out of a total of 95 entries. In further analysis of the results, 14 of the winners were from California, attesting to the high degree of activity out here on the west coast.

Overall, contacts during the Field Day were plentiful. A total of 1116 entries, comprising 11,908 participants manned 2780 transmitters for a contact total well over the 800K mark.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Jerk,

This is to let you know what I think of your @#$¢~7o & rag, W6VIO Calling: In the first place, ¢%@ ¢#'70$@. Furthermore, &%* #¢@$#&!!.
                                           Love, Caligula S. Sfoorz

Dear Editor,

I think your Newsletter, W6VIO Calling is tops, the best I've ever seen. Keep up the swell work.
                       Yours truly, Your Wife.

Each month, W6VIO will print the best of the letters to the Editor, as space permits. Address them to 169-214.

FOR SALE

Heath HO-10 Monitor Scope - $35.00
80-ft Crankup Tower, with $40 worth of 19-strand guy wire - $50.00
Swan 250 6-meter Transceiver (new finals), with AC Pwr Supply - $175.00
3-400Z Home Brew 6-meter Grounded Grid Amplifier, including
Dow-Key Relay - $ 150. 00
Power Supply, 4kv @ 0.5 amp - $100.00
8-Element, 32-ft, 6-meter beam - $50.00
Call for other goodies----
     Dick Piety Ext. 2298 or 790- 1991

Hallicrafters SX-115 Receiver - $300. 00
Hallicrafters HT-32B Transmitter - $300.00

OR
PACKAGE SUPER DEAL
Both Rcvr & Xmtr PLUS SWR Meter & Mike w/Push Button Base
ALL FOR $500. 00 Cash.

Transcom Transceiver, with AC/DC Power Supply - $250.00
     Vince Wirth/WA6BZB 359-5227

The widows of W6EF and of W6LN have the following for sale:

W6EF:

Swan Mark I Linear
Swan 500CX w/AC power supply
2-element Quad and replacement coax
Hy-Gain 14AVQ antenna

W6LN:

Heath SB-620 Spectrum Analyzer
SB-300 Receiver
SB-400 Exciter
SB-200 Linear
HW- 100 Transceiver, AC power supply
Tower & Rotator, guyed tower, about 50 ft.
40/20 Hy-Gain, two elements on each band
Transconductance tube tester
Heath VTVM

Some of the towers & antennas might go for nothing, if the towers or masts are removed from property.

    Call Bill Conklin/K6KA for more info. 790- 7076

Gonset Model 960A, 30 w, 2-meter FM, All transistor, except finals, AC & DC Power supplies, manual included. All for $150.00.

    Gene Thom, Ext. 4897

WANTED

For the JPL Satellite Ground Control Station Antenna--

Fixed annulus planetary assembly from SCR-584 Radar Pedestal (MP-61). The AMSAT-OSCAR AO-B launch is just over 6 months away and the ground control station should be launch ready even sooner. Please spread the word and help us acquire this missing element in the antenna.

    Contact Dick Kolbly/K6HIJ 166 296 (at DSCC).

ARRL NOTES 'N BITS

John Griggs/W6KW, Southwestern Division Director for the ARRL notes that ARRL membership fees will probably be increased in January from $6.50 to $7.50 per year, unless this is prevented by the Phase II price freeze. Life membership in the League costs 20 times the annual fee. This is now $130, but if the fee is increased it will go to $150. This has to be a bargain if you buy a life membership now.

FCC licensing trends indicate a general increase in the number of hams between 1966 and 1971 (256,765 vs 267,213). Advanced grade showed a 48% increase (37,610 to 55, 925) and Extra grade nearly tripled (4,599 to 11,345) Clearly, incentive licensing is working.....

Take Note--- Since last January, the FCC has been calling in Technician and Conditional Class amateur licensees for re-examination So far, about 60% fail to show up, and of those who do, less than half pass the examination. It is understood that the FCC does not take away your existing license immediately if you voluntarily show up for an upgrading exam and fail to make the grade. However, if you are called by the FCC for a re-exam and fail, you do lose your l ic e ns e .

The FCC, in Washington, has placed 1st priority on the so-called "eye bank" matter, with a ruling expected before the end of this year. 2nd priority is on the Repeater Docket with a ruling expected circa March 1. 3rd priority is on the Phone Band Expansion Docket with a ruling expected by late Spring 1972.

Go back to the W6VIO Calling Index.