January 1974 W6VIO Calling, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club

CLUB MEETINGS

Regular meetings: 2nd Wednesday of each month, 12 noon, 238-543. Open to all. Board of Directors: 4th Wednesday of each month, 12 noon 198211. Open to all club members.

OFFICERS ELECTED

The Nominating Committee, chaired by Nash Williams, W6HCD, presented the slate of officers for 1974 at the January 9th regular meeting. There having been no other candidates nominated from the floor, the election was by voice vote. Your officers for 1974 are:

PRESIDENT Merv MacMedan W61UV VICE PRESIDENT Helmut Mecke W6ZGC SECRETARY Walt Diem WA6PEA TREASURER Merrill Burnett K6BER

Please support them ... and tell them what you want out of your club!

PICKERING SPEAKS

Dr. William H. Pickering, Director of JPL and ex-Z2BL, spoke to a record turnout of over 60 members at the January 9th meeting. He gave us all a vivid flavor of amateur radio in New Zealand in the 1920's ... some real pioneering back then! We all enjoyed it and hope he will return soon.

QSL BUREAU ENVELOPES

The club has acquired at discount prices a supply of No. 35 clasp-type envelopes (5 x 7-1/2 inches) for members who use the ARRL UL Bureau for the 6th call area. All active members are urged to keep at least one envelope on file so any possible cards that arrive can be delivered. Put your call in the upper left hand corner, address it and stamp it and send to:

ARRL QSL Bureau c/o Northern California DX Club P.O. Box 11 Los Altos, California 94022

To obtain the envelopes, contact QSL Manager Sam Weaver, WB6EMO, at Ext. 3997. The cost is 5 cents each. MEXICAN DX AWARD

From Onda Corta, the Mexican QST, comes word (thanks to Nash Williams, W6HCD,) that The LMRE is issuing a new award called the "Certificado Mexico." The rules for non-XE's are as follows:

You must have confirmations for communications with a total of 50 different Mexican stations. All contacts must have been subsequent to January 1, 1957.
Included in the above must be confirmations with at least 15 different Mexican states, plus Mexico City, D.F.
All contacts must be with duly authorized amateur stations. Contacts with mobile stations (aeronautical, maritime, or land) are not permitted.
All confirmations must be for either CV or Phone, not mixed. The certificate is issued for each class of emissions.
Send your cards, accompanied by a summary list and US$1.00 by certified or registered mail to:

L.M.R.E., A.C. Apartado Postal 907 Mexico 1, D.F., Mexico

This does not appear to be an easy award to obtain, and so should be worthwhile, particularly in fostering goodwill through encouraging communications across the border. It may also be of particular interest to the QRP DXer, since distances are not that great from the U.S. to Mexico, and low power will be competitive. For those that like to run probability figures, there are 30 Mexican states, and a total of 2,044 Mexican amateur licensees, according to last year's Call Book, Have fun!

SPANISH MORSE

Those of you that know a smattering of Spanish and would like to try a contact or two with an XE in Spanish, might like to know the Morse code characters for those additional Spanish letters. Here's what you need:

á didahdahdidah .--.- ch dahdahdahdah ---- é dididahdidit ..-.. í (not used) ñ dahdahdidahdah --.-- ó dahdahdahdit ---. ú dididahdah ..--

Merv, W61UV, has used CW extensively in Spanish QSO's and advises that while use of these characters is desirable, you will be understood if you use the plain English ones, with one exception: ñ. As one Costa Rican told Merv, it really doesn't sound Spanish if you don't at least use the ñ! (Pronounced en-yay.) MARINER VENUS MERCURY COMMEMORATION NEWS

Flash! We have just received authorization from the FCC to use special call sign WS6MVM for our Venus and Mercury encounter activities on the air. Spread the word to have the gang look for this special call. Hopefully, the counterpart call WS7MVM will be authorized for the Boeing group, but no confirmation as yet.

OPERATORS WANTED FOR MVM SPECIAL EVENT ACTIVITY

The time has come to attempt to schedule operators for the MVM Special Event Activity. Our hope is to keep the station on the air for one week at Venus encounter and for another week at Mercury encounter. The time periods of interest are (in PDST) 1700 Monday, 4 Feb to 1700 Monday 11 Feb, and 1700 Wednesday 27 Mar to 1700 Wednesday 3 April. We plan to have separate SSB and CW stations capable of simultaneous operation on different bands, plus the novice station. The goal is to keep the station on the air from 0600 to 2200 PDST each weekday and continuously over the weekend. We need commitments from individuals willing to spend some of this time operating, and we even need a list of those who may not be overly anxious to operate but whom we might be able to coerce into doing so. In order to help create a tentative schedule, we ask everyone to complete and return the attached form. In the interest of providing sufficient operating time for all without overburdening any, we ask that commitments be of periods from 2-4 hours each on weekdays and 4-6 hours during weekends.

NEWS FROM MEMBERS

Walt Ross, W6VPN, a past president of our club, has been appointed to the post of "Network Operations Project Engineer for Radio Science," effective December 31, 1973. We all wish Walt lots of success in his new position. Through his Dad, W6CYP, comes word from Ken Newcomer, WA6NQD, that he is getting settled in his new job in Cupertino. So much so that he has already bought a house and moved in December 15th. Guess what the first piece of furniture was? A Christmas tree! Ken isn't on the air yet, but hopes to be soon. He sends regards to all. Randy Burrell, W6GTV, is now firmly established in his printing operation. So well, in fact, that he had to give up his job here to go at it full time. We will miss him at the club meetings, but then again we may have a new source of QSL card printing at our doorstep! Any members needing cards see Randy. I'm sure he'll be glad to do them ... if he has time!

MOONBOUNCE

Members interested in Moonbounce ... or potentially interested in it will be happy to learn that Eimac has a series of booklets on the subject, written for amateurs. They are serious, technical, and complete. Some titles available:

Almost Everything You Want To Know About Moonbounce Locating the Moon Moonbounce Operating kids More on the Moonbounce Universal Window for 144 MHz

Write to Bob Sutherland, W6PO Eimac Division of Varian 301 Industrial Way San Carlos, Calif. 94070

IT'S RENEWAL TIME AGAIN

Membership dues are aptly named. They are "due" in the month of January, according to the by-laws, and become delinquent by February lat. Many of you have already renewed, but those that have not yet done so are urged to dig down and come up with $2 if you have a current valid license, or $1 if unlicensed, and send it with the coupon below [Another coupon? There won't be anything left of this issue but rags! ... ed.] to the club treasurer. Needless to say, this priceless monthly newsletter is only sent to those that support our club!

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club
Attn: Bill Wood, Editor, Mail Stop DSCC-33
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099

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