Meeting Notice
By Scott Nolte, N6CUV
The
next regular Club meeting
will be held May 14, 1997, in building 238, room 543 at Noon.
Topics and Speakers wanted for JPLARC meetings: If you have a
idea for a topic or a speaker for a club meeting contact Scott
Nolte at 354-9724 or scott.nolte@jpl.nasa.gov
Club Board of Directors meetings
are held at noon on the fourth Wednesday of each month in 301-227.
Everyone is welcome at all club meetings; bring your lunch. n
President's
Message
By Randy Hammock, KC6HUR
You may recall that in a message
past, I put out the call for volunteers to head-up various activities.
Well, I glad to say that we have had some members volunteer,
but we are still in the need for others. Bob Polansky and Jay
Holladay volunteered to co-chair the Field Day activities and
they will be letting us know what their plans are for this year.
Manny Caldera volunteered to be the cook for Field Day once again.
I've decided to head the group that "runs" the La Canada
Memorial Day Parade.
And now, something completely
different...
The JPL ARC has always been a
club that supports 220 MHz operation. We helped pioneer repeaters
on this band. Before we added the 2-Meter repeater and 70-cm
repeaters to our lineup on W6VIO, many new members asked why
we had two 220 repeaters but no others. After all, doesn't the
ARRL and every Amateur Radio publication say that 2 meters is
where it is at and 70cm has a lot of potential? Although this
dates back before my time as a member of JPLARC, it is my understanding
that there was an attempt to put up a 2-meter repeater, but the
band was considered saturated and that we were offered two repeater
channels on 220 instead. We accepted the offer and the rest is
history.
Times and technology change,
as have we. Through the efforts of Bob Dengler and Jan Tarsala,
we have managed to get repeaters coordinated on 2 meters and
70 cm. These repeaters share the same controller as the W6VIO
220 repeater and thus cross-linkable. It is, therefore, my proposal
that we move our Emergency Communication Team Net over to the
W6VIO repeater system from WB6IEA. There are several reasons
for making this move:
- Many of our members do not have
220 radios, but would like to participate in our net activities.
- Since the Table Mountain Repeater
system is linked to the W6VIO repeater system, it is then possible
to add that system into our net activities. This would serve
as a means of testing this link on a weekly basis and would offer
members on the other side of the hill a chance to participate
in the information nets.
- The W6VIO system will be easier
to maintain in an emergency situation as it is well with walking
distance if service is needed.
- By moving our net operations
over to the W6VIO repeater system, the WB6IEA autopatch would
be freed-up for emergency phone call use since emergency net
operations would be conducted on W6VIO.
- The W6VIO system provides better
on-lab coverage and with the inclusion of the 70-cm repeater,
provides better building penetration.
Before making the move final,
I would like to run a test where we hold net operations on the
W6VIO repeater system during the month of May. I encourage ALL
members to check-in using whatever band you have: 2m, 220 or
440. After the information net has closed, those with 220 can
move over to WB6IEA for the Newsline replay. This will serve
as a test of the autopatch.
One note of interest. In the
event of an actual emergency, the 2-meter repeater will not be
available for club use, as we have given the Pasadena EOC permission
to that system for their emergency operations. That would leave
use of 220 and 440 for our internal use; therefore, while the
2m repeater will be linked with the other repeaters for our weekly
net, it is recommended that those with 2m/440 dual-band radios
use the 440 repeater rather than 2m for a more realistic test.
n
April
Club Meetings
By Chris Zygielbaum, N6WEI
General Meeting
The April General Meeting was
held on Wednesday April 9, 1997. Randy Hammock (KC6HUR) called
the meeting to order. He started the meeting with officer and
committee reports, and other announcements.
The duplexer in the WB6IEA repeater
is degrading rapidly. Walt Diem (WA6PEA) will be replacing it
with the mobile duplexer system that was installed at the Arco
Building in downtown Los Angeles to support the Los Angeles Marathon.
Randy is planning to conduct
the Monday Emergency Net on the 224.08 220 repeater, linked to
the 2-Meter frequency during the Month of May. More club members
should be able to participate and it will be an opportunity to
test the linking capabilities, audio leveling, etc.
Rick McKinney (KA6DAN) will be
sending out reminders to those members who have not yet renewed
their membership for 1997.
Walt Mushagian (K6DNS) reported
that Eric Fuller, the JPL Emergency Preparedness Coordinator,
was setting up some emergency communications for the flood victims
in the Midwest. Unfortunately, the JPL ARC cannot participate
because we don't have a FEMA call sign and we don't have equipment
to access to the frequencies that will be used this time.
Walt Diem announced that the
July 19 meeting of the 220 SMA will be held at JPL. There will
be some significant issues brought up and members are encouraged
to update their SMA membership and attend.
Jay Holladay (W6EJJ) has volunteered
to coordinate a JPL ARC booth at the Open House on June 7 and
8. He is looking for ideas to represent amateur radio to the
general public and volunteers for the event.
Bob Polansky (N6ET) relayed Eric
Fuller's request for anyone who is familiar with scanners to
contact him. Eric is planning to purchase scanner(s) to listen
to local public service organization broadcasts during emergency
situations. He feels that he will be better able to plan the
JPL response to emergencies if he has information about situation
in the local areas.
Eric Archer (N6CV) provided an
update on the status of the Packet System upgrade on Lab. Eric
has secured space and access to Building 180, Room 6. His home
organization is having the room stripped, painted, HiNet connections
and AC power (hopefully, uninterrupted) installed. The ARC will
receive 1-2 racks and antenna space on the roof. It may take
a couple months to complete, but it will be first class.
Bob Polansky provided the program
for the meeting. He discussed his plans for refurbishing the
W6VIO HF station and rebuilding the antenna system on the JPL
Mesa. Bob described the current situation, both the bad and the
good.
The Bad:
- The Sommers antenna was destroyed
- The Sommers tower was weakened
so that the beam cannot be lowered
- One hard-line was ruptured
- The satellite antenna tower
was bent
- The DX packet cluster tower
was sheared
The Good:
- TS-850 received and integrated
with the Dentron linear,
- kW antenna tuner has also been
integrated,
- DX packet cluster tower has
been repaired and the system is operational
- The hard-line leak has been
located and a repair kit is available in the shack
- A WARC band antenna has been
ordered and received
- The Sommers antenna rotor has
been fixed
- TH7DXX antenna has been built
and is stored on top of the water tower
- Funds have been obtained from
the ERC for a new tower for the Mesa
- JPL Facilities Division will
dig the holes and pour the concrete for the new tower
Bob's plans for the next steps
are:
- Fix the Sommers tower pulley
assembly
- Fix the hard-line leak
- Recondition W6VIO excess hardware
and conduct an auction to raise money
- Build, install WARC antenna
and rotor at the water tower site
- Remove and scrap the Sommers
antenna
- Temporarily install the 203BA
on the Sommers tower
- Prepare the new tower
- Install 1 Kilowatt antenna switch
- Install new satellite station
tower
- Prepare equipment for Field
Day
- Move TH7DXX and rotor to new
tower (next year Bob plans to add a 40-meter beam)
- Retrofit Sommers tower to support
wire antennas (80 and 40-meter delta loops and 160 meter inverted
vee)
The plans are dependent on the
level of participation by club members. If all goes well, Bob
hopes to complete by the end of the calendar year. A more detailed
schedule was included in last month's W6VIO Calling. The work
was started on Saturday, April 12.
Board of Directors Meeting
The JPL ARC Board of Directors
Meeting was planned for Wednesday, April 23. There was no quorum,
but several announcements were made.
Rick McKinney has sent out reminders
to 1996 members who have not yet renewed their membership for
1997. Autopatch members should know that the Autopatch may not
be used by those who are not up to date with their dues.
Jay Holladay and Bob Polansky
will be meeting to organize their plans for Field Day this year
and will be presenting the plan at the May 14 General Meeting.
There was discussion of moving
the location of the Board Meeting to a room with teleconferencing
capability so that Bill Wood can participate. n
DX News
By Bob Polansky, N6ET
I've been listening for the BS7H
guys, who I know are active, but all I've heard are significant
pileups, and uncopiable signals from Scarborough Reef. Wonder
if someone disconnected my coax from the antennas! They will
operate through 7 May on 80 through 10 meters, both phone and
CW, but you will probably miss this operation unless you read
about it in the last W6VIO Calling. My thanks to both The 59(9)
DX Report and QRZ DX for providing source material for this DX
News article.
Now for the news:
ANNOBON - 3C0DX will liven up
the bands from 20 to 27 May with 3 stations simultaneously operating.
Don't miss this one.
BANABA - T33?? will be ZL1AMO
in disguise assuming he finds a fishing boat to transport him
from 3D2-land to this much more remote QTH.
FRANZ JOSEF LAND - Look for newcomer,
R1FJV through the rest of the year. He's supposed to be active
on 40 through 10 meters, primarily on CW.
GUINEA - 3XY3A (a most unusual
call) is active on 14020 and 14130 kHz through 15 June.
IRAQ - YI1VK will be active starting
12 May for a couple of months on both CW and SSB. This will be
a fine catch if we're lucky. YI9HW may also be heard.
MALDIVES - 8Q7BZ and 8Q7MZ should
be active now through 14 May on SSB on 40,20,17, and 15 meters.
Good luck on this one. 20 meters is probably your only hope from
California.
RHODES - SV5/many HA calls plan
an operation from Rhodes from 3 to 17 June, all bands, and all
modes. Published frequencies where the W6's have a chance on
SSB are 7089, 14189, 14260, and 18141 kHz; on CW 7011, 10101,
14011, 18071 kHz.
TURKEY - If all goes well, TA4/G3SDL
will be active from Turkey from 18 through 25 May. Keep your
fingers crossed.
VANUATU - YJ0/K8VIR promises
activity from 8 to 15 May. Look for him on 14260 and 21300 kHz.
Conditions between now and mid-May
are forecast between High-Normal and Above-Normal. Not bad for
the sunspot minimum!
73, Bob, N6ET n
Memorial
Day Parade
By Randy Hammock, KC6HUR
We are rapidly approaching the
time for the La Canada Memorial Day Parade. This is an activity
that I think is more fun than the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Instead of just being communicators for guys in "funny white
suites", we are the guys who run the show, more or less.
We quite literally tell everyone where to go. Our job is to make
sure that everyone appears in the correct order and to get them
lined up and ready to go. When all is said and done, we usually
get a ride down the parade route on the back of a fire truck.
Sounds like fun? Give me a call
and let me know you want to be a part of the fun: Work: (818)393-1214;
Home: (818)951-7975. n
W6VIO Work Party
By Bob, N6ET
On Saturday, 12 April, the JPL
ARC had another successful work party. A new Club record (I think)
was set for attendance with on the order of 13 people supporting
our efforts, including a volunteer tower climber and a contingent
from the JPL Fire Department! We had set out to do the following
tasks:
1. Tie down Sommers antenna lowering
pulley
2. Free inverted vee from pulley assembly
3. Fix hole in hardline
4. Locate 203BA 20 meter antenna and prepare it for temporary
use on Sommers tower
5. Dig hole and sink 4X4 at top of mesa site for antenna switch.
Cement in place
6. Pull spare Sommers rotor cable to top of hill. Measure spare
cable length
7. Lay out and clear pads for new tower and guy points
We made a command decision to
not work items 3 and 4 in favor of completing all work needed
at the top of the hill, in addition to the lowering of the Sommers
tower (now possible after the pulley mechanism repairs) and the
removal of the remains of the Sommers beam. All work at the top
of the hill was successfully completed. A picture [taken by Jay
Holladay] showing our tower climber perched atop the telephone
pole is shown here. The Club members who supported this work
party were:
Our sincere thanks go to the
JPL Fire Department, JPL Safety Office, and our tower climber,
Roger Linfield for the help received in making this all happen.
Without their support, we could not have completed the most important
repairs needed to reestablish our HF antenna capability. My thanks
to all the Club members who contributed to the success of this
operation. I hope that future work parties will continue to get
strong backing from our club members. n
Opportunity
to Volunteer
By Randy Hammock, KC6HUR
Though I don't have the exact
dates just yet, I'm putting this out to you thinking about it
now. In the latter part of October, there is this footrace (Angeles
Crest 100) that starts in Wrightwood and ends in the Arroyo just
below the JPL East Parking lot at Johnson's Rock.
The organizers of this event
are looking for a group of amateurs to man the finish line. It
is the responsibility of these volunteers to log the arrival
of the runners as they cross the finish line. The time for the
race is about 36 hours; however, it is only necessary to man
the finish line for that last half of the race (yes, runners
complete the 100 miles that quickly).
This still leaves 18 hours where
people must be available. Given enough volunteers, times can
be broken down into several hour shifts. Of course, if you want
to be there for the entire time period, you are welcome to do
so. The race starts round 6:00am on Saturday morning and officially
ends about 36 hours later. The JPLARC repeaters in Pasadena and
on TMO are used along with packet. If interested, call me: Work:
(818)393-1214; Home: (818)951-7975. n
Field Day Plans
By Jay Holladay, W6EJJ
Plans
are well underway for our annual trek to Mt. Gleason for Field
Day. This year we have THREE tower trailers available!
Once we get on top of the mountain, putting up antennas will
be much more pleasant than with some of our past tower lashups.
The problem will be getting those three trailers to the top of
the mountain. If you have a trailer hitch on your vehicle, please
help by providing a tow - these are lightweight trailers that
can be pulled by virtually any vehicle. Even if you can't spend
three days on the mountain, towing a tower in one direction on
Friday or Sunday would help us tremendously.
Warren Dowler, KE6LEA,
(who provided these photos) Welds Tower
As usual, we need help in many
departments. We especially need people for setup on Friday, and
we are looking for someone to lead the effort to set up our satellite
station. Come to the Club meeting on May 14 to hear all about
our plans for Field Day 1997, and watch for the full story in
W6VIO Calling for June. Be sure to mark you calendar for
June 27-28-29 and get set to participate in Field Day '97!
Dave Ritchie (N7UE) and Bob Polansky
(N6ET) monitor repaired tower test n
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@jpl.nasa.gov)
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).
Yaesu FT-470 2m/440 mobile w/tone
squelch, PA-6, FNB-12 batteries, charger and vinyl cases. Like
new, $250 or best offer, + shipping. FT-212RH 2m mobile w/ mic,
spkrs, Diamond antenna. Like new, $195 + shipping, or best offer.
KC6CWA Geo Kendall (916) 383-1652. For more info contact W6MEO
@ KJ6FY.#NOCAL or a.k.chapman@ieee.org. n
Editors Note:
This is the first issue of W6VIO
Calling to be published on the Club’s Web site at the same
time it is printed. After some training (and arm twisting) of
your editor by Webmaster Gerry Walsh (KB6OOC), we have converted
over to Microsoft Word 97 to produce both issues.
At the same time a new Kodak
RFS 3570 film scanner will be used to produce high quality digital
images from 35 mm to 6 by 9 cm color negatives and transparencies.
Images provided on film in past issues of W6VIO Calling have
been rescanned, processed in Adobe Photoshop 4.0, and replaced
on the web site to both reduce file sizes and to improve the
quality. Check out these and give us some feedback.
To encourage you to send your
negatives for use in future editions, your editor will return
them with disk copies of the digital images after scanning. So,
by all means, take photos of your ham related activities and
send in your negatives and/or short articles for publishing in
your club’s journal of record, both in print and on the
Internet. n
ARRL News
Via the ARRL www Home
Page
Vanity Fee
Hike?
ARRL Letter Online, Volume
16, Number 18
Last month, the FCC proposed
effectively raising the fee for a vanity call sign from $30 to
$50 for the 10-year license term. Now, the ARRL has asked the
Commission to postpone the higher fee until after all four vanity
call sign gates have been opened. In comments filed April 23,
the ARRL told the FCC that it does not object to the fee increase
per se but said that it wants all hams to have an opportunity
to request a specific call sign under the current fee schedule.
The fee increase was among those
included for all FCC-regulated services -- including broadcasters
and commercial satellite services -- in the NPRM in MD
Docket No. 96-186. Under the proposal, the FCC "rounded
up" all FCC-imposed $3 annual fees to $5 per year --
the lowest fee in the new schedule. The ARRL noted in its comments
to the Commission that because projected revenue from the vanity
fee increase "significantly exceeds" the revenue needed
to cover the costs of administering the program, a delay would
be reasonable. The ARRL also asked the FCC to limit the vanity
call sign fee to the minimum it needs to recoup its costs to
administer the vanity program but "without rounding to a
significantly higher fee." The FCC adjusts its fee schedule
every year. n
Solar Activity
Increases
ARRL Letter Online, Volume
16, Number 18
Sun watcher Tad Cook, KT7H, Seattle,
Washington, reports: Solar activity was up a tiny bit last week,
but the daily solar flux was still below the previous 90 day
average of 74 on each day. Solar flux peaked slightly at 73.1
on April 27.
April 26-29 had very quiet geomagnetic
indices, with an A index of 4 each day and many periods with
a K index of zero, the best there is for HF conditions.
The projection for the rest of
May indicates more flat conditions, but of course this is based
only upon the previous solar rotation. Since there has been no
significant activity over the past month, there are no known
really active regions to rotate into view.
Sunspot numbers for April 24
through 30 were 13, 12, 32, 17, 17, 12 and 0, with a mean of
14.7. The 10.7-cm flux was 69.8, 68.7, 70.9, 73.1, 72.4, 71.9
and 72.6, with a mean of 71.3, and estimated planetary A indices
were 15, 7, 4, 4, 4, 4, and 11, with a mean of 49. n
Upcoming VEC
Examinations
The following test session information
is provided by the ARRL/VEC for the upcoming one 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.
- 05/10/97, Culver City, Clive
Morel 310-827-2538
- 05/10/97, Cypress, Harrison
Spain AC6TI, 714-952-6114
- 05/10/97, Fontana, Louis Johnson,
909-823-6818
- 05/10/97, Glendora, Perry Stevens
AC6UJ, 818-966-8549
- 05/10/97, Austin Rudnicki K6IA,
805-967-3024
- 05/10/97, San Pedro, Elvin Lytle,
310-325-2965
- 05/12/97, Lancaster, Adrienne
Sherwood WA6YEO, 805-948-1865
- 05/17/97, Big Bear Lake, Howard
Wilson, 909-866-8944
- 05/17/97, San Bernardino, John
P Mc Cann, 909-864-2656
- 05/17/97, Santa Clarita, Irene
Oseas, 805-252-7459
- 05/17/97, Signal Hill, Don Boyce
NN6Q, 310-420-9480 n
FCC Call
Sign Update
The following is a list of FCC
sequentially assigned call signs issued as of April 1, 1997.
|
District |
Group A-Extra |
Group B--Advanced |
Group C-Tech/Gen |
Group D--Novice |
|
0 |
AB0EW |
KI0HM |
++ |
KC0AIR |
|
1 |
AA1RX |
KE1HL |
N1YWB |
KB1CDF |
|
2 |
AB2DK |
KG2KS |
++ |
KC2BGQ |
|
3 |
AA3PO |
KE3ZI |
N3YZS |
KB3BST |
|
4 |
AF4BV |
KU4EV |
++ |
KF4QIR |
|
5 |
AC5LX |
KM5IC |
++ |
KC5ZSK |
|
6 |
AD6AV |
KQ6NW |
++ |
KF6JXT |
|
7 |
AB7UQ |
KK7GL |
++ |
KC7VMM |
|
8 |
AA8ZU |
KI8BQ |
++ |
KC8GTE |
|
9 |
AA9UG |
KG9JZ |
++ |
KB9PZR |
|
N Mariana Is |
NH0A |
AH0AX |
KH0GS |
WH0ABG |
|
Guam |
# |
AH2DC |
KH2RM |
WH2ANT |
|
Hawaii |
AH7S |
AH6PA |
KH7DJ |
WH6DDT |
|
Amer Samoa |
AH8O |
AH8AH |
KH8DH |
WH8ABF |
|
Alaska |
AL0D |
AL7QT |
KL0FM |
WL7CUE |
|
Virgin Islands |
++ |
KP2CJ |
NP2JQ |
WP2AIH |
|
Puerto Rico |
NP3C |
KP3AR |
NP3MI |
WP4NMZ |
# New prefixes are available for
this block, but none have been issued.
++All call signs in this group have been issued in this area.
n
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
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