W6VIO CALLING

JANUARY 1992 Volume 21 No. 1

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, KA6IBF
CLUB TRUSTEE:            STAN SANDER, N6MP
EMERGENCY COMM COORD:    WALT MUSHAGIAN, K6DNS
DIRECTOR AT LARGE:       ART ZYGIELBAUM, WA6SAL
WB6IEA REPEATER TRUSTEE: WALT DIEM WA6PEA

EDITOR: EILEEN McKINNEY KA6DGV

Club Meetings:

12 Noon - Everyone is welcome - Bring your lunch.
Program Second Wednesday of month in 238-543
Board Fourth Wednesday of month in 198-211

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".

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
by Randy Hammock, KC6HUR

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Best wishes to the outgoing board. Your leadership over the past year has been a great benefit to us all.

I think we are going to have a pretty exciting year ahead of us. Jan Tarsala has lined up a series of guest speakers, which should prove quite interesting and informative. There is always Field Day, where we get to have radio fun In the great outdoors. We are trying to improve our participation and capabilities in lab-wide emergency preparedness.

In the repeater areas, the new .08 machine is so close to going on-line that I can almost hear the voice IDer now. Many thanks to Jan Tarsala, Larry Smith, Jim Parkyn and Wait Diem, who along with myself have put In MANY hours toward getting this machine on the air. Bob Dengler has gotten us on the air, on the 2-meter band, with a loaned repeater, which was installed with the aid of Jan Tarsala and Sam Weaver. Bob is also very close to getting the link between .04 and Table Mountain back (possibly within the month) and Is making good progress toward getting the new .04 repeater built-up.

A group made-up of Jon Adams, Gerry Walsh and Cliff Yamamoto, have gotten the club on the air In the packet world. They have put together a node/BBS, which is on 2-meters and 220. Work is going on to add an HF gateway to the system. This system may also be expanded to provide other services In the near future.

In the HF world, we are hurting! As was shown in the last newsletter, our tower and antenna, located at the water tanks on the mesa, were destroyed by high winds just after Thanksgiving. In the shack, we are doing fairly well as far as radios, but things could be a bit more organized. Also, we need to start looking at a way to supplement the solar charger for the shack's 12-volt buss. Another thing which could use some help In the shack Is signal routing.

This all brings us to the fact that while we have lots of things that need to be done, we really need volunteers to help get them done. According to my dad (past president of my hometown Rotary Club), If you get 10% participation from a large group, you are lucky. I think we qualify as a large group with roughly 210 registered members. With the exception of Field Day, we are running far below what is considered average in member participation and I'd like to think that our club was better than "Just average".

How does one get Involved? Come to the club meetings, meet the other members, find out what Is going on and who needs assistance. Just walk up to a committee chairman and say, "I'd like to help." That's what I did. If you see an area in the club which could use Improvement, why not make It your task to see that that area Is taken care of.

If you wish to talk to me about anything, I can be reached via radio on:

And my home phone Is (818) 957-5773, which has an answering machine. I'll return your call though I'm not usually home until pretty late (don't worry, I'll call the next day). 73 de KC6HUR, Randy

BOARD MINUTES
By David Seidel, KC6NRL

Minutes of Special Board Meeting - 1/6/92

A special board meeting was held to discuss budget and other Items of transition between the new and old boards. In attendance were Randy Hammock, Jan Tarsala, Scott Balzar, Rick McKinney, Walt Diem, Jim Kesterson, Jerry Hawkes and Stan Sander.

(For details of the budget please contact Scott Balzar or Randy Hammock)

Other Items of discussion Included: The dues structure for 1992 will be the same as for 1991;

Jerry reported that the antenna tower can be repaired by removing the section damaged where the collapse took place (the tower will be a few feet shorter); the cost of an entire replacement section will be Investigated;

Stan Sander requested that a search be made for a new trustee for W6VIO; Randy Hammock will investigate possible candidates;

The Goldstone ARC Is no longer extant, consequently the facilities at Table Mountain could be brought into the JPL ARC fold. Investigations will be made into the advisability and methods of doing this;

It was moved that a motion to provide financial support to AMSAT for upcoming flight project work be tabled until the next meeting.

All board meetings are open to all members.

1992 ARC MEETING SCHEDULE
By David Seidel, KC6NRL

General Membership Meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of each month between Noon and 1:00 p.m. In Building 238 Room 643. Food is permitted In this conference room so bring your lunch.

Board Meetings are held the 4th Wednesday of each month between Noon and 1:00 p.m. In Building 198 Room 211, except for the December meeting which will be held on the 16th (the 3rd Wednesday). All Interested club members are invited to attend. Food Is permitted In this conference room.

Meeting Calendar for 1992:

January: Membership Meeting: 8th; Gil Duke -Emergency Preparedness. Board Meeting: 22nd

February: Membership Meeting: 12th; Jay Holladay, W6EJJ WARC-'92 (World Administrative Radio Conference) and the International Amateur Radio Union. Board Meeting: 26th

March: Membership Meeting: I 11th VideoTape "Amateur Radio In Space" and AMSAT briefing before the FCC. Tape runs 60 minutes; meeting will begin promptly. (March: STS-45/SAREX launch!). Board Meeting: 25th

April: Membership Meeting: 8th; Dave Glawson, WA6CGR - X-Band SSB station description and demonstration. Board Meeting: 22nd

May: Membership Meeting: 13th; TBD Board Meeting: 27th

June: Membership Meeting: 10th; Field Day organization, meeting. Board Meeting: 24th

July: Membership Meeting: 8th Field Day wrap-up meeting. Board Meeting: 22nd

August: Membership Meeting: 12th; Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, AARL Southwest Division Director. Board Meeting: 26th

Sept: Membership Meeting: 9th Board Meeting: 23rd

Oct: Membership Meeting: 14th Board Meeting: 28th

Nov: Membership Meeting: 11th. Board Meeting: 25th

Dec: Membership Meeting: 9th. Board Meeting: 16th (second Wednesday)

DX NEWS
By Bob Polansky, N6ET

The DX gods continue to look favorable on DXers. In spite of the fact that we are on the downside of the sunspot cycle, solar flux seems "stuck" at high levels. Disruptive sunspot activity has been minimal, leaving the HF bands in pretty fine shape. Some pretty exciting dx Is or will be available for anyone interested in chasing it. A sampling follows. For more information, check "The DX Bulletin" posted on the North wall of the W6VIO ham shack.

AFGHANISTAN YA/OK1IAI frequently operates on 14038 kHz around 02307

BANGLADESH S21A and S21B should appear as early as mid-January. It Is possible that S2/WZ6C, with possibly another call, will appear first.

BELAU - This Pacific Ocean Island, which used to be called Western Caroline Islands, will be available from 1 to 15 March on all bands, all modes including the ARRL SSB DX Contest on 7-8 March. No call sign yet published.

KUWAIT - 9K2WR, a temporary transplant from W6-land, plans to be on the air until July, all bands and all modes.

MALDIVES - Look for 807XX from January 20 through 27 on all bands, CW only. Look up 5 of 25 kHz from the low band edge.

PAKISTAN - AP/WA2WYR Is frequently active In the mornings around 1600Z. He always operates on 14036 kHz. He'll be there for some time and plans to add SSB capability In the future.

REVILLAGIGEDO - XF0C will be active from this country off the Mexican coast from 4 to 19 February. They should be very easy to work.

SAO THOME, PRINCIPE - S92AA will make a repeat appearance In February or March of this year. This time with two stations.

SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS - VP8SSI plans a four transmitter activity from this very rare location starting on 14 March and ending on 28 April. Everyone should have a chance at this one, since many fine operators are signed up to participate. This will be an all band, all mode effort. Frequencies will follow, probably In next month's "W6VIO Calling".

WESTERN KIRIBATI - T32BW plans operation from 22 January to 5 February. There Is no Information on frequencies or modes at this time.

Enough for now. Enjoy the conditions while you can. Sunspot activity and resulting propagation will continue to get poorer for the next 3 or 4 years.

Good DX, Bob, N6ET

DUES ARE NOW DUE!

Contact Rick McKinney, X4-3968, Mail Stop 168-327


Go back to the W6VIO Calling Index.