With no additional nominations
from the floor; a motion was seconded and passed to close the
nominations. A motion was heard to unanimously approve the slate
as presented. It was seconded and passed.
Jay opened the meeting up to
general announcements. Bob Polansky (N6ET) thanked Jay, now the
outgoing President, for his efforts and the time that he devoted
to the club in 1996. This has been another good year for the
JPL Amateur Radio Club.
Jay then adjourned the "official"
part of the meeting.
Jay
presented a special award [above] to Bill Wood (WB6FXJ) for his
contributions over the years to the JPL ARC. For many years,
Bill has contributed significantly to the maintenance of club
repeaters, and he also serves as trustee for the Table Mountain
repeater system (WR6AZN). In addition, he is now doing an excellent
job as the editor of the W6VIO Calling Newsletter. Thanks again
Bill, and congratulations. This is a well-deserved award.
Jay introduced the evening's
program; Marty Woll, N6VI, [photo to the right] whose topic was
"Hamming from Paradise." Marty shared some of his experiences
while living and working in Hawaii for four years and contesting
from an outstanding ham location.
Board of Directors Meeting
There was no Board of Director's
meeting this month.
|
|
Jay, W6EJJ, reads off the names
of the lucky door prize winners, while Sylvia Moreno, KF6EFZ,
draws the winning tickets |
|
|
John Norris, KE6QEZ, with the Handbook
he won in the drawing |
DX News
By Bob
Polansky, N6ET
Christmas is fast-approaching
and my time for preparing this W6VIO-Calling input rapidly shrinking.
This being the case, let me just state that the source for the
following DX news has changed for the second time in two months
with a further change in ownership of our DX bulletin source.
We are now automatically subscribed
to the 59(9) DX Report published in Spring Brook, New York. The
content of their report looks fine to me, the only problem is
in the time it may take the report to get across the USA to my
mail box. We have upgraded our mail service for this bulletin
to first class, which will help lots! What's upcoming DXwise?
Read on DXer, read on!
BOSNIA - T9/WA5IKQ is active
on 80 through 20 meters, both CW and SSB. He is an AT&T site
engineer, so he should be there for a while.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - For
you French speaking readers, TL8CK much prefers speaking French
over English. He can be QSOed on 14165 kHz at 2000Z.
CROZET - Keep an eye out for
FT5WE, primarily on 30 and 40m CW. He will be leaving about 8
January.
GHANA - Looking for a YL QSO
from Ghana? Keep an eye out for Marcia, 9G1TM, on 20 through
10 meters, including 17 and 12 meters.
NAMIBIA - V5/WA1JBB (ex C53HG)
is now in this South African QTH running low power into a dipole
until his big station arrives. We should hear lots of activity
from him in the future. Until then, look for V51BP and V51CM
on 20 and 15M SSB after 1900Z.
SPRATLEY - This Asian rarity
will be activated by a JA group in April 1997. Should create
some good pileups!
SWAZILAND - 3DA0CA has been making
his CW presence known on everything from 80 through 12 meters.
He is quite copyable on 80cw, but the pile is quite large. One
of these days, I will catch him on 80m.
One additional note. I've been
spending lots of time on 30 meters. There's little QRM there
and you can work almost anything you can hear with 100 watts
and a modest antenna. It's just like ham radio used to be three
or four decades ago. Try it, you'll like it!
For now, 73. Enjoy the holidays
(or perhaps I should say - I hope you enjoyed the holidays).
CPR, First
Aid Classes
By Phil
Barnes-Roberts, KE6PMZ
The recent passing of Chris Brozek,
KF6FET by electrocution working in an attic reminded me of the
usefulness (no, the Necessity!) for anyone working around
electricity (show me a ham who doesn't!) to know how to take
care of our fellow humans who are having a problem.
Chris was a new member of the
Pasadena Radio Club who died on August 6, 1996. His widow is
Liza West of JPL Section 314. She made her CSCE for Novice in
the Pasadena Radio Club Fall class.
Since I have an extra hat at
work of floor warden in my building, I received a reminder about
CPR and First Aid training, and last week, received the training.
The instructor, Chris Munro, is a JPL firefighter who has had
call to use these techniques, and is an enthusiast for getting
the word out there. She offered to teach anybody who we could
bring on-lab, in groups of up to 8, on a weekend (Saturday and
Sunday) for the cost (about $3.50 for the Red Cross certificate.
Some charge $150 for this-go figure!)
So here's the deal; get in touch
with me (Phil KE6PMZ, 818-354-2813w, 818-791-0851h) and I will
put together a visitor list for Security (JPL'ers no problem).
This will likely be four hours Saturday, and another four hours
Sunday, and the best weekend you ever spent if you use any of
it once. Once the first 8 seats are taken, I will start a list
for another session, until everybody in PRC or JPLARC who wants
to is taught how to do something at the scene. Bring some picture
ID for the gate, and your $3.50.
Now it's up to you. 73, health
and peace to you.
Classified
Section
Wanted
A 50-to-80-foot self supporting/telescoping/tilt-over
tower or towers. Can be either tubular or triangular. Need to
be in good condition. Motorized would be a big plus. Will pay
for packaging and shipping to Prescott, Arizona. Contact Brian
(KW6J) at 714-896-3514 (M-F, 8 AM to 4 PM) or via Internet at
stapleton@apt.mdc.com.
New or used (but in good condition)
HF large mono-band beams which were designed for high gain/good
front to back ratio/good directivity etc. Contact Brian (KW6J)
at 714-896-3514 (M-F 8 AM to 4 PM) or via Internet at stapleton@apt.mdc.com.
Icom IC-04AT 440 MHz HT. Call
Joel Mosher KB6RXE at 818-791-1779 or email to jam@alps.jpl.nasa.gov
US Tower (or Wilson) ROTATING
BASE and RAISING FIXTURE for a 40 foot tubular telescoping tower.
US Tower part number for the rotating base is MARB/40 and for
the raising fixture is MAF-40. Please contact Brian Stapleton
(KW6J) at 714-896-3514, M-F 8 AM - 4 PM.
Your want ad or article for inclusion
in a future issue of W6VIO Calling. Submit either to Bill Wood,
Mail Stop DSCC-33; or via Internet (bill.wood@mindspring.com)
For Sale
Video study course, ARRL Advanced
Class includes computerized exam review software. Complete course
for $50 (new cost $129). Call Bob Dye, KQ6GD, 818-249-0171
Only $4,500 for a US Tower Model
HDX-589-MDPL 89-foot self supporting triangular tower with heavy
duty motor, pull downs, and limit switches (original cost, over
$8,100!). Tower is in great condition and is only a few years
old. Contact Brian (KW6J) for further details (work number M-F,
8 AM to 4 PM, 714-896-3514).
Battery Packs (for HT's, camcorders,
laptops, cordless and cellular telephones) and mobile antennas
at unusually low prices. Contact Walt Diem at 818-248-7525.
Yaesu's - like new. Closing station.
FT-470 2m/440 w/tone squelch, PA-6 ~ FNB-12 batteries, chargers,
and two vinyl cases. Unused, in carton. $350. FT-212RH 2m mobile
w/mic, spkrs. Used very few hours. $295. Astron RS-12 power supply,
good condition. $50. George KC6CWA, (707) 945-0705, or via W6MEO@KJ6FY.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NOAM.
ARRL News
Via the ARRL www Home Page
FCC Delays
New RF Exposure Rules
ARRL Letter Online Special
Update, December 24
The FCC has postponed for one
year, until January 1, 1998, the date for hams to comply with
its new RF-exposure regulations. The ARRL was among those requesting
the delay this fall. The League said that the additional time
was needed for the FCC to draft implementation guidelines that
amateurs could use to help them comply with the regulations released
on August 1, 1996, as ET Docket 93-62. Among other things, the
regulations would require hams running 50 W PEP or more to conduct
"routine RF radiation evaluations" to determine if
RF fields were sufficient to cause human exposure to RF radiation
levels in excess of those specified in the proposed regulations.
The ARRL also has asked the FCC to reconsider the 50-W threshold,
but the FCC report (DC 96- 112) extending the compliance deadline
did not address that issue.
The FCC announcement--which the
ARRL obtained just before noon on Christmas Eve--noted that more
time would be needed for affected licensees to determine that
they comply with the new requirements. The extension also will
allow required changes to Amateur Radio operator examinations
to be made at the time other, routine revisions are made between
now and July 1, 1998. In announcing the extension, the FCC said
it disagreed with those petitioners who suggested that the time
extension "will have significant adverse effects on public
health."
Since the FCC announced the RF-exposure
regulations, the ARRL has worked with technically knowledgeable
volunteers to assist the staff, the RF Safety Committee and the
FCC in coming up with a workable ham radio approach toward RF
safety. ARRL Laboratory Supervisor Ed Hare, KA1CV--the ARRL HQ
liaison to the ARRL RF Safety Committee--has spearheaded the
ARRL's effort. "The ARRL is very pleased that the FCC extended
the compliance date," Hare said. "As all parties involved
tried to fully understand the new requirements, it soon became
obvious that neither the FCC nor the ham radio community was
ready for the January 1, 1997, implementation deadline."
Hare said the delay will give
both the FCC and hams more time to better understand the implications
of the rules and will give hams an opportunity to evaluate their
stations as the regulations will require (see "The FCC's
New RF-Exposure Regulations," QST, Jan 1997, p 47).
The entire text of Report DC
96-112 may be found on ARRL Web at http://www.arrl.org/fcc/dc96-112.html
(or click on What's New or RF Safety News). See Happenings in
February QST for additional information.
And, to all, a good night!
Solar Cycle
23 Project: Stellar Conclusions
ARRL Letter Online Update,
December 20
The Solar Cycle 23 Project--carried
out by the NOAA Space Environment Center (SEC) with the support
of the NASA Office of Space Science--predicts big things for
Cycle 23! The panel, which met earlier this fall in Boulder,
Colorado, found "reasonable consensus" for "a
large solar cycle with a smoothed sunspot maximum of 160."
The panel says this is comparable to the last two cycles, but
won't exceed Cycle 19, "the largest cycle on record."
"While the month of solar
minimum is yet to be determined, recent low levels of activity
imply that the minimum is at hand, and will occur during the
final months of 1996," the panel found. "If so, Solar
Cycle 23 will most likely peak in early 2000."
The panel said geomagnetic activity
during the cycle would be comparable to that experienced in recent
cycles, resulting in annual average levels among the highest
in the 128-year record, and the probability of severe geomagnetic
storms "will be the greatest during an extended period lasting
from 1999 through 2005."
The goal of Solar Cycle 23 Project
was to survey forecasts for the amplitude and phasing of the
most common indicators of solar and geomagnetic activity and
to recommend a forecast or group of forecasts for operational
use. The Center recruited a scientific panel to assess prediction
techniques and arrive at a reasoned consensus, including uncertainty,
on how the solar cycle will develop. The panel of 12 scientists
from 10 agencies included representatives from Australia, Germany,
the United Kingdom, and the US. Panel findings were authored
by J. A. Joselyn, J. Anderson, H. Coffey, K. Harvey, D. Hathaway,
G. Heckman, E. Hildner, W. Mende, K. Schatten, R. Thompson, A.
W. P. Thomson, and O. R. White. See http://proton.sel.noaa.gov:80/info/Cycle23.html
on the World Wide Web for a summary of the panel findings. A
more detailed report will be available as a NOAA Technical Memorandum,
and as an article in the open literature.
Solar
Flurries
ARRL Letter Online, Volume
15, Number 12
Solar seer Tad Cook, KT7H, in
Seattle, Washington, reports: Solar flux has still been moving
off the recent flurry of activity caused by region 7999. More
activity wasn't expected until this region returned and solar
flux rose after December 17, but it looks as if we are seeing
increased activity a bit early as the flux rises in the past
couple of days. Average sunspot numbers were down about 8 points
compared to last week, solar flux was down over 11 points, and
the average A index was up about 1.7 points.
The projection from the NOAA
Space Environment Center a few days ago says the flux should
rise again and peak around 94 right around Christmas, and geomagnetic
conditions are expected to remain quiet.
Paul, 5X4F/5Z4FO writes this
week about 10-meter openings from Arua in the northwest corner
of Uganda. "I have had two 10-meter openings into the US
from here since July 1995." He said the first was October
30, 1995, when 24 East Coast stations were worked between 1744
and 1832 UTC. The second was during the CQWW CW contest on November
24, 1996, when 17 East Coast stations were worked between 1447
and 1535 UTC. "The last opening corresponds to the high
solar activity on that day," he said. Paul mentions the
ARRL 10-Meter Contest this weekend, and he says that he made
53 contacts in the 1994 contest and 95 in 1995.
Alan, NS0B, says he believes
the solar minimum already has occurred, based upon his analysis
of moving averages of solar flux and sunspot numbers. He does
a smoothed 365-day running average and says that the solar flux
bottomed out between May 15 and May 23, and has been rising since,
while the bottom for sunspot numbers was during the same period
around May 19. Based on this observation he says that the recent
solar cycle has been one of the shorter ones at 9 years, 8 months.
Sunspot numbers for December
5 through 11 were 0, 0, 12, 13, 20, 17 and 31, respectively,
with a mean of 13.3. The 10.7-cm flux was 69.6, 69.7, 69.2, 68.6,
73.7, 72.4 and 77.6, respectively, with a mean of 71.5. The planetary
A indices for the same period were 2, 1, 4, 3, 7, 18, and 10,
respectively, with a mean of 6.4.
Vanity Callsign
Update
ARRL Letter Update, December
20
The FCC reported December 18
that it's processed vanity applications received through November,
which means the FCC is less than three weeks away from being
completely caught up with its current application backlog. However,
a spokeswoman at the FCC office in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
said she didn't expect the FCC to get to the applications received
during December until after the first of the year.
Gettysburg issued more than 700
new Vanity grants this past week. But, some 640 applications
were set aside for special handling, including those for which
the FCC was unable to grant any of the applicant's call sign
choices. However, the FCC said many applicants failed to include
their current call signs under Item 6 on the Form 610V application,
and this also can delay issuance of a new call sign.
The FCC has not announced an
opening date for Gate 3. -- Bart Jahnke, W9JJ
MGS Relay Test
A Success
ARRL Letter Online, Volume
15, Number 12
The Mars Global Surveyor relay
test in late November was a tremendous success (see "DXing
enroute to the Red Planet," QST, Jan 1996). The MGS was
launched on November 7 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. By the time
the relay test arrived, the MGS was 3.1 million miles from Earth.
For several hours, the spacecraft sent a steady carrier of 1.3
W at 437.1 MHz into a near-isotropic antenna. Many amateurs around
the world participated in trying to detect the extremely weak
signal, a lot of them successfully using the AF9Y FFTDSP program.
On his Web page (http://www.webcom.com/af9y), Mike Cook, AF9Y,
of Huntertown, Indiana, displays the FFTDSP spectrograms of MGS
for the initial CW Mode at 1413 UTC on November 25, 1996, using
two 5-foot helix antennas. He reports that his receiver was set
so that 800 Hz on the FFTDSP screen corresponded to 437.09551
MHz--which was estimated to be the receive frequency at the start
of CW mode. MGS actually was detected 180 Hz lower, at 980 Hz
(Cook says that in CW mode, the receiver will shift the FFTDSP
trace to the right as the receive signal moves down). AF9Y says
the signal level dropped below detection for 45 minutes during
the worst-gain period of the spacecraft's rotation.
At the station of Darrel Emerson,
AA7FV, in Tucson, Arizona, the approach was to try very high
frequency resolution to pull the signal out of the noise, allowing
for changing Doppler shift from the heliocentric orbital motion
of the Mars Relay transmitter. Using a stable reference tone
injected into the receiver passband to measure--and then compensate
for--receiver phase and frequency drift, a resolution of 0.013
Hz was achieved. The signal width measured from the MGS with
this system was 0.0175 Hz, yielding a signal-to-noise ratio of
19 dB from a single 15-element Yagi. Emerson summarized some
of his results on http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/demerson/marsspec.htm.
Emerson reports heavy Internet use during the test to communicate
among participants and for the control station at the Stanford
dish to update the spacecraft's status.
"It was quite an exhilarating,
but exhausting, event for all those who took part," Emerson
said in thanking those at Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and Stanford
University "who made it all possible." -- SpaceNews
Upcoming
VEC Examinations
The following test session information
is provided by the ARRL/VEC for the upcoming three month period.
For further information, please call the test session contact
person at the telephone number listed. If necessary, you may
contact the ARRL/VEC at 860-594-0300 for additional information.
Electronic mail may be forwarded to the ARRL/VEC via USENET at
"vec@arrl.org" or via MCI Mail to MCI ID: 653- 2312
or 215-5052. Although the test session information presented
here does not indicate whether walk-ins are accepted or not,
most test sessions do allow walk-ins. We encourage you, however,
to always call the contact person at the telephone number provided
so that the VE Team is aware that you be attending the test.
01/10/97, Irvine, Jack C Lockhart WD6AEI, 714-824-8477
02/01/97, Los Angeles, Ali Hassan, 213-758-6343
03/01/97, Los Angeles, Ali Hassan, 213-758-6343
03/04/97, Culver City, Edward Walker, 213-292-2183
03/14/97, Irvine, Jack C Lockhart WD6AEI, 714-824-8477
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club
Attn: Bill Wood,
Editor, Mail Stop DSCC-33
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099
Go
back to the W6VIO Calling
Index.
