CLUB MEETINGS:
Regular meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 12 noon, in Room 238-543. Meetings are open to all.
The Board of Directors
meets the fourth Wednesday of each month at 12 noon, in Room
198-111. All Club members are invited to attend.
JMP's JUNK BOX JOTTINGS
A couple of delayed Viking launches, a long-awaited vacation and numerous other interruptions notwithstanding, this issue WILL be published! No use beating the editor about the shoulders to take it easy, he insists that this combined edition be put out in its usual timely manner. After all, a well-informed club is a happy club, so let the news unfold!!
CODE & THEORY CLASSES TO RESUME
Merv MacMedan, our Education Committee Chairman announces the long awaited resumption of code classes during lunch hour. Three different classes are being held, on the following schedule:
Tuesdays Beginners (0 - 7 wpm)
Wednesdays High Speed (12 - 22 wpm)
Thursdays Intermediate (5 - 15 wpm)
All classes will be held from 12 to I pan in the Conference Room at the west end of Bldg. 122. There is a separate entrance for the conference room only.
Beginners classes should result in being able to pass the code test for a Novice license or Technician grade license; intermediate classes should get you a General or Advanced ticket and the high speed class is for those pursuing the Amateur Extra grade.
Seminars on theory
will be held on Mondays in the same room, at the same time. Glen
Berry/K6GHK will conduct the question and answer sessions. The
way things will run is for students to study the material at
home for their particular grade, and then bring in any questions
to the classes. That ways everyone will have a chance to pick
up on some new information he may not have thought about.
All classes are free and those reading this announcement need
not be members of the club to attend. The first of the code classes
started on October 14, so there's still plenty of time to jump
in and get your ticket. If you have any questions or need more
info, contact Merv at X7264
CODE & THEORY CLASS FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS
Classes in amateur radio communications are being planned by the CalTech Amateur Radio Club as part of the CalTech Secondary School Relations Program. Classes will be held on Saturday mornings, 9 - 12 am, and will be open to high school students. Courses are of 3 months duration.
A code machine and a capability for punching paper code tape are needed. Anyone having information on the procurement or possible donation of such equipment, contact Nash Williams/W6HCD, trustee of the club station W6UE, on X2047.
JPL/AMSAT-OSCAR AT VENTURA HAMCON
Skip Reymann/W6PAJ and Norm Chalfin/K6PGX are scheduled speakers at the Southwest Division Hamcon of the ARRL in Ventura. The convention is being hold October 24, 25 & 26 at the Holiday Inn; exhibits are at the nearby fairgrounds. JPL/AMSAT-OSCAR will be represented at a booth that the Convention Committee was kind enough to make available to us at no cost.
WE NEED HELP IN MANNING THE BOOTH. If you can be in Ventura on any one of the convention days, please advise Norm Chalfin on X6833.
At the booth, there will be a continuous slide-sound program, "Amateurs in Spaces" that describes and shows OSCAR's 1 thru 7 and some of the early APT space images received by amateurs. A set of fullscale models of OSCAR's have been put together by Norm and will be displayed at the booth along with photos of various JPL and other groups participating in the OSCAR programs.
ARRL NOTES (de W6EJJ)
FCC News - Announced during the FCC forum at the ARRL National in Reston, Va. - John Johnston/K3BNS will be the new Chief of the Amateur and Citizens division of FCC. With his experience as a former branch chief in that division, and more recently in the office of Chief Engineers John would seem to have an ideal background to fill the post formerly held by Prose Walker. With Joe Johnson/W3GGO now heading the Rules and Legal Branch (K3BNS's old spot) we should begin to see some action on pending FCC dockets.
Action on Docket
20092 -
Special callsigns for Extras
should be forthcoming within a mouth. Action on restructuring
docket 20282 is forecast for the end of 1975 plus-minus a month.
The Class E CB situation will be reviewed at the end of January,
and one possibility Is a further 6-month delay.
Now if FCC could only speed up the licensing process! Although more staff and a bigger computer are being added, severe delays are forecast for the near future. HR Reports says 3 months turnaround may not be unusual for even a simple license renewal.
Ventura Convention is shaping up to be a big one in the tradition of previous Southwest conventions. Keynote speakers at the Saturday morning sessions will be Charles Higginbotham/W3CAH, Chief of the Safety and Special Services Bureau of FCC, speaking on "Deregulation of Amateur Rules," and Dick Baldwin/ W1RU, ARRL General Managers on "WARC 79, an Opportunity and a Challenge." The featured banquet speaker will be Roy Neal/K6DUE, the NBC Network expert reporter on the aerospace field.
The JPLARC will be
well represented with a program on the OSCAR (see article above).
Dick Kolbly/K6HIJ will present a program entitled "Radio
Astronomy and the Amateur."
A DX breakfast will be sponsored by the So Calif DX Club on Sunday
morning, beginning at 8:30 am. The program will feature Ron Stockton/WB6LTJ,
with the story of the Wallis Island DXpedition.
A special convention station will be in operation on the 11th floor of the Holiday Inn, with antennas on the roof. Using a special-event callsign, you will have the opportunity to create some pileups in the CQ Phone contest. Be sure to bring your license with you to operate!!
MAIL RATES GOING UP!! UPDATE UR QSL FILE
In case you didn't know it, mail rates will be going up to 13 cents/oz on December 28. This means that If you have an envelope on file in the local QSL Bureau, you better send them a 30 stamp to cover their next delivery to you.
The Post Office will not accept mail without the minimum postage for the first weight levels and what they used to deliver "Postage Due" (when overweight), they frequently return now. If you aren't getting QSL's from the Bureau, don't blame those poor overworked souls! Get your envelopes from our QSL Mgr, George Williamson/K6YGN, at 50 each, stamp 'em with 13% and send to: W6 QSL Bureau, 2814 Empire Ave., Burbank, Cal- 91504
Unclaimed QSL's will be held for a short periods then destroyed! Send out your envelopes NOW! Another way is to send $1.00 to the Bureau, with six name labels; they will stamp them, put on your labels and put them on file with the proper sorter.
MEMBER ACTIVITIES
Society Note - Ralph West/WB6YMF, our Club Sec'y, now has a Mars. Ralph West. They tied the knot a couple of weeks ago and moved to a house In San Marino. After the dust settles, Ralph expects to look into what kind of antennas he will be permitted to erect in that posh neighborhood.
The Continuing Perils of Piety (de K6SVP)
After a lot of help from Club members, which consisted mostly of dumb questions, I finally passed and received my General license In September. I had been building up my station, so when the license arrived, I was ready to got my feet wet, on 20 m. I finally found a clear place to check the loading and SURPRISE!-- the Swan loaded into the beam okay. Listening to 20 that evening, I thought I had never heard so many stations. Afraid to call CQ in all the QRM, I tuned and Tuned until finally I heard a CQ; I answered and he came back, a mobile In Montana. My first Contact!!
After signing from a very nice QSO, I was called by North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan and Virginia. Later in the week, I really got excited working Hawaii, Antarctica, Eniwetok and Brazil. 6 meters was never like this!! -- and barefoot, too.
Although I'm sure this is old stuff for the old timers# the excitement for me was really something. For those who are still trying to master the code and theory, HANG IN THERE -- IT's A BALL!!!
WANTED
VFO for Heath DX-60, for now Novice (WN6LIG, Tom, son of Stow Doubt). Contact Stew Doubts X.5003.
CODE PRACTICE SCHEDULES ON THE AIR
In addition to W1AW, two California stations provide code practice as follows:
W6ODX Sat & Sun only 7295 kHz 8 amid am PDT (Practice & Instruction
W6QIE Every nite except Monday 3590 kHz 8 pm - 9:30 pm 5 -30 wpm
STUFF 'N SUCH
Solder can be removed from any joint by placing the soldering iron on top of some small shielding braid, which Is placed on the soldered joint; the braid acts as a wick and soaks up the solder by capillary action. This is also available commercially under the trade name WikIt and comes in various lengths on rolls.
JPL ARC STAFF
No room here and anyway, it's the same as last mouth. Look it up if you have any questions for our gang. 73, Stan/WB6JMP
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