W6VIO CALLING

APRIL 1992 Volume 21 No. 4

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
W6VIO CALLING M/S 264-419
Attn: Eileen McKinney
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, California 91109

BOARD
 
PRESIDENT:               RANDY HAMMOCK, KC6HUR
VICE PRES:               JAN TARSALA, WB6VRN
SECRETARY:               DAVID SEIDEL, KC6NRL
TREASURER:               SCOTT BALZER, KC6NRP
CLUB TRUSTEE:            STAN SANDER, N6MP
EMERGENCY COMM COORD:    WALT MUSHAGIAN, K6DNS
DIRECTOR AT LARGE:       ART ZYGIELBAUM, WA6SAL
WB6IEA REPEATER TRUSTEE: WALT DIEM WA6PEA

COMMITTEES

FACILITIES:          JERRY HAWKES, W6WXL
EDUCATION:           GIL YANOW, K6TOS
REPEATER:            BOB DENGLER, NO6B
STRATEGIC PLANNING:  JON ADAMS, NW6H

EDITOR: EILEEN MCKINNEY KA6DGV

LAARC REP:           MARK SCHAEFER, WB6CIA
MEMBERSHIP SERVICES: RICK MCKINNEY, KA6DAN

W6VIO Trailer: (818) 393-6312
Voicemail & BBS: (818) 354-1751 (Future)

REPEATERS

WB6IEA  224.08 MHZ (-) Closed/Autopatch
W6VIO   224.04 MHZ (-) PL-54 Open/Shuttle Audio
W6VIO   147.15 MHZ (+) PL-1A Open
W6VRN    51.86 MHZ (-) PL-1A Future
W6VIO-1 145.09 MHZ (S) Packet Node/BBS
W6VIO-1 223.54 MHZ (S) Packet Node/BBS

Club Meetings:

Everyone is welcome - Bring your lunch.
12 Noon
Program - Second Wednesday of month in 238-543
Business - Fourth Wednesday of month in 180-703B

Newsletter Article Deadline: The 5th. day of each month. If the 5th. falls on a weekend, the following Monday will be the deadline.

Your articles, ads, photos, diagrams, Letters to the Editor, or technical instructions should be submitted to Editor at address above.

EXCHANGE CLUBS: PLEASE NOTE ADDRESS ABOVE

Permission is granted to copy enclosed articles
providing credit is given to "W6VIO CALLING".

*** HOME TOUR VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ***
by Dick Mathison, KG6Y

Volunteers are needed for the Altadena Guild's Home Tour on 3 May 1992. The Tour is the Guild's annual fund raising event for the Huntington Medical Research Institutes. Operators will coordinate the movement of guests between the tour site on Mendocino Lane, Altadena, and two parking lots. Two shifts of five operators each are planned. If you can help, please contact Dick Mathison at 45747 day or 818-798-7660 evenings.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
by Randy Hammock, KC6HUR

FIELD DAY

The time for Field Day is rapidly approaching. We now have a Field Day chairman, Bob Dengler NO6B. Please contact Bob if there is any particular area of Field Day (Logistics, Food, Operations and Set-Up) you can help with. You don't have to be a dyed-in-the-wool contester to be a participant in Field Day, just willing to spend some time in the mountains with a group of other radio amateurs and have fun.

ERC 40th BIRTHDAY

This year, the ERC is celebrating it's 40th year of service at JPL and all the sub-clubs have been asked to help in this celebration. The "party" will take place on April 24th from 11:30 AM till 1:00 PM on the mall around the fountain. We would like the radio club to participate by having a table with some equipment set up on it, handouts and, of course, hams to be there and answer questions. I plan to be there, assuming jury duty doesn't get in the way. Hopefully, there can be other members that can make a showing. Remember, the ERC is our parent organization and supports our operations with generous funding each year, so it would only be just that we support their functions as well. Contact me, Randy Hammock, at Mail Stop: 525-3684, x6-6228 or 351-2341.

ERC SPECIAL GRANT

We have been asked to provide the capability to operate any of several digital modes on HF for the NASA Emergency Net by the end of the year. This requires us to obtain some sort of TNC capable of supporting these modes. This had not planned for in this year's budget since the requirement came after the budget had been set. It also came to my attention that we have no operable 220 radio in the shack which is not dedicated to some sort of service.

The board learned that the ERC would entertain a request for up to $1000 for the purchase of equipment by a sub-club. We polled several of the committees to determine what should be put forth as a proposal for purchase. In the end, the ERC board approved our proposed purchase of an AEA PK-232 MBX TNC for the HF station and a Kenwood TM-631A 2M/220 Dual-Band mobile rig for the shack.

We appreciate the support the ERC gives our organization.

A COMMENDATION

It appears our operation on the NASA Emergency Net has not gone unnoticed. The club just recently received a certificate of commendation from the National Communications System.

"In recognition of significant contributions to the National Shared Resources HF Radio Program, NASA - JPL HF Station NA3XT is hereby commended by the National Communications System for dedicated efforts and valuable assistance in furthering National Security Emergency Preparedness of the United States through SHARES."

Thanks to Mark Schaefer, Walt Mushagian, Jerry Hawkes and the others who have been participating in the NASA Emergency Net.

[This certificate will be posted in the shack.]

FINALLY

This is your club! If you have any suggestions, gripes or compliments, please feel free to let me or any of the club officers know. Also, this newsletter is not a forum for just the club officers. Any and all are encouraged to make submissions for publication.

'til next month, 73

Randy Hammock KC6HUR

 

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CLASSIFIED AD

For sale: SS-32 PL encoder, with data sheet. This used to be in a Clegg FM-76 until I sold the radio and removed it. $25.00 (and no sales tax). Herb Younger, W6OJA, M/S 525-3660, JPL extension 6-6187 (306-6187), home phone (714) 980-0191.

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VICE PRESIDENT'S NOTE
By Jim Kesterson, KA6IBF

As I mentioned at the last two club meetings, I recently attended some events where other amateurs were present and many of them were wearing jackets showing their club or other amateur affiliation. As I thought about it, I thought it would be something that our Club ought to have. So, this is written as an inquiry of Club members to find out if there is any interest in getting together an order for Club jackets, hats or that kind of thing. I did some checking to find out prices of various kinds and qualities of jackets and the better quality ones are $40.00 and up. (Hats would be about $10.00 with embroidery.) So I want to suggest a price range and then ask for feedback from members as to their price range preference. I suggest a range of $40.00 to $75.00 and that should get us some good quality multi-season jackets with embroidered club lettering. As for the embroidery there is a one time set-up charge for that whether it is on a jacket or hat. It runs between $100.00 and $150.00 so we need a good size order to spread that charge over. If you have any interest, send it and your price range preference to me at 301-320. As for the embroidery of Club emblem, it occurred to me that we might run a contest for best emblem or embroidery design and, if I can get the Board to agree, we could award a jacket to the design winner. After we get a price range we can form a committee to select the jacket design and proceed with this endeavor. Thanks in advance.

And now for something completely different! I have the PL modules, that everyone purchased on the group buy, in my possession ready to be picked up. If you ordered one you can come by my office, sign for it and collect it. Call me first at 4-1321 to be sure I am in. I am located in 301-320D.

BOARD MINUTES
By Walt Diem, WA6PEA

Minutes of the March Regular Board Meeting - 3/25/92

The meeting was called to order by President Randy Hammock. Also in attendance were Jim Kesterson, Scott Balzer, Art Zygielbaum, Walt Mushagian, Jan Tarsala, Mark Schaefer, Sam Weaver, and Walt Diem.

The planned merger of the JPL ARC and the Goldstone ARC was discussed. Art will check with the FCC regarding the possibility of changing the club name on the Goldstone ARC license. Randy will arrange for a memorandum of understanding to be written.

The user manual for the Kendecom repeater is being updated by Randy Hammock and Walt Diem. Bob Dengler announced that plans are being made to install the Kendecom on April 4th.

Mark Schaefer announced that the Keplerian data is being entered into the computer for SARAX.

Jan Tarsala is putting together a proposal to present to the ERC Board to request funding to procure a PK-232 MBX multi-mode data controller and a Kenwood TM631A dual band VHF/UHF transceiver. The PK-232 MBX data controller has the capability to run AMTOR, RTTY, WEFAX, CW, and PACSAT.

Randy will check with John Tallon to verify that the field day site has been arranged. The pros and cons of running Class 3A or 4A were discussed and will be further discussed at the next General Meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.

REPEATER NEWS

by Robert Dengler, WB6VRN

If everything had gone as planned, I was going to report this month on the installation of the new 224.08 Kendecom repeater. Since when does anything go as planned? Maybe I should plan to NOT install the system next weekend so we can get it on the air!

For those of you who care to hear the details, we were within hours of T zero when some key schematics & one last board to be installed were accidentally left on top of a vehicle which was subsequently driven away. Somewhere between the lab & downtown Pasadena, an unscheduled payload separation event occurred. What all this means is that the board & schematics will have to be refabricated before the new 4.08 goes up. Fortunately, the lost board was small & the schematics can be redrawn from backup notes; however, this will take a couple of weeks.

In other news:

We have been given the final OK to install the Table Mountain link repeater (linking 224.04 to 223.96) at our newly acquired site in the City of Industry. Some last-minute hardware fabrication for mounting the antenna & repeater will be necessary before performing the actual installation.

Jim Kesterson has received the PL encoder boards that were purchased by many of you through the club several months ago. Come by our monthly general meeting or our repeater committee meetings (Tuesdays around 12:15 in the center of the main cafeteria) to pick up your board & DIP switch.

It appears that the 224.04/147.15 repeater upgrade may get bogged down due to the apparent inability of Palomar Telecom (the manufacturer of our new controller) to supply us with adequate software. This software was promised over a year ago but still has not been delivered as of this writing. Nevertheless, we are slowly continuing to get the hardware in order; someday our PROMS will come. . .

Due to the lateness of this report, I've probably left something out. Hopefully we will have accomplished much by next month & will have a lot more to report on. Stay tuned!

LICENSE EXAMINATIONS

by Jan Tarsala, WB6VRN

Jon Adams, NW6H, has suggested that our club offer amateur radio license examinations here on-lab, either during lunch or immediately after work. These will supplement the examinations conducted locally on the last Saturday of each month at either the Eagle Rock City Hall or Clark Junior High School. To this end, Jon, Courtney Duncan (N5BF), Stan Sander (N6MP), and I have applied for accreditation to become Volunteer Examiners under the auspices of the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator. We expect to all receive our credentials shortly. Persons interested in examinations should express their needs to one of us so that a mutually convenient testing time and location can be arranged. Our initial opinion is that exams should be scheduled quarterly, but if there is sufficient demand, the frequency of testing can be increased. Other club members holding Amateur Extra licenses who would like to volunteer to assist our test team should first complete the Volunteer Examiner accreditation procedure described in the QST advertisement placed by the ARRL-VEC. Put simply, this involves filing an application, and either forwarding copies of an existing VE accreditation obtained through another VEC to the ARRL-VEC, or the completion of a seventy-page self-paced tutorial and comprehensive examination if one is to become a VE for the first time. Questions regarding amateur radio license examinations may be directed at any time to one of the aforementioned Volunteer Examiners. All of us firmly believe that the vitality of our hobby is critically dependent on individual hams taking the time and putting forth the effort to bring newcomers into our fold and to assist already-licensed hams in the process of upgrading their license class. We have made the commitment: now, will you?

MALM MODULATION MONITORS

P. O. Box 394       1128 E. Evelyn Ct
La Canada, CA       91011 Ridgecrest, CA 93555
805-254-8691        619-375-6788
KB6IGN Nancy KF6FK  Dick Mark KC6HBK
 
10940 S. Parker Rd, Box 123
Parker, CO 80134-7440
303-484-8775        303-841-5430
KB6IGE Mike         KA0ZKZ Ken
 
910 N. 900 E.       366 N. 200 E.
84604--Provo, UT--  84605
801-373-6381        801-377-3533
KB6LSX Becky        KB7EUB Deb
N7TPO Tom Shepherd  KB7EUA Chris Stocks

WE DO OUR GENEALOGY IN CALL SIGNS

A few years ago I sent in a listing of our ham family which you kindly published. Since then, we have had a few additions, and have had some merging with another family of hams, so I decided it was time to bring you up to date.

By way of a refresher, you will recall that Dick--KF6FK--was the first of the Malm Modulation Monitors, (about '83). Nancy--KB6IGN and Mike--KB6IGE--followed, (when Mike was 14 in 1985), then Becky--KB6LSX--(when she was 14, 1986). Ken--KA0ZKZ--had a few spare weeks between semesters in 1986 and decided this looked like fun and at 19 he got into the act. Dad had promised a radio to anyone who passed Tech. By now, he was sure that was a mistake! He had already bought radios for three of the children and a wife, making a family of five with four "6-land calls" and now a "0".

Then Debbie--KB7EUB--and her new hubby, Chris Stocks--KB7EUA--had passed their Tech's and picked up a couple of "7-calls" in 1988. Mark--KC6HBK--another senior sibling (over 21), followed in 1990- -another 6-er.

Becky's fiancée, Tom Shepherd--N7TPO--is the first in his "flock" to be get a license in the summer of 1991 back in 7-land! (You can tell it's a prerequisite for marrying into the family!)

Now, on the Stocks side--Chris' (KB7EUA above) parents are Linda --AA6MR--and Hugh--AA6MQ--(they are two of those unbelievable people who went from Novice to Extra in seven or eight months), licensed about the same time as Debbie and Chris in 1988. Chris' Grandfather, Max Graham--KC9IC--has been a ham for 40 years, as has Chris' uncle, Huber Graham--WRPJ. Max had promised his daughter, Linda, a radio 35 years ago. Imagine his shock at dealing with inflation, but a promise is a promise and Max kept his word! Then, Chris' sister, Debbie--KC6LVE--(no longer to be confused with his wife Debbie--KB7EUB above--thank GOODNESS for call signs!) got her 6-call in 1990!

Over there on the far side of the tree is Dick's cousin, Roy-- KB7EKG--Daniel and wife Thea--KB7EMK.

So, you see, that is how we do our genealogy in call signs!


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