Permission to copy is
granted provided that credit is given to “W6VIO Calling.”
Contents
|
December
1 |
[ |
|
December
12 |
Year End Dinner, |
|
December
15 |
[CMRA |
|
December
29 |
[TRW Swap meet,
|
|
January
5 |
[ |
|
January
9 |
General Meeting, |
|
January
19 |
[CMRA |
|
January
23 |
Board Meeting, |
|
January
26 |
[TRW Swap meet,
|
|
February
2 |
[ |
|
February
13 |
General Meeting, |
|
February
17 |
[CMRA |
|
February
23 |
[TRW Swap meet,
|
|
February
27 |
Board Meeting, |
By
Christopher Carson, KE6ABQ
The
December General Meeting of the JPL Amateur Radio Club is tentatively scheduled
to be held December 12th at El Torito
Restaurant,
The
December JPLARC Board meeting will be held December 26th in
233-305J. Everyone is welcome to attend.
n
By Bob Dengler, NO6B
For
many months now you’ve probably heard about our plans to integrate our primary
repeater communications systems into one fully linkable network by moving the
224.08 repeater to Cerro Negro and linking it to our 445.20 repeater.
On
Saturday December 1st, Chris Carson KE6ABQ, Bob Stiver KF6PSS, Tigran Karsian
KF6PVG, Rob Sweet KG6DKW and I performed this move. It was quite a chore trying to stuff 2
complete repeater systems into one cabinet that was already pretty tight on
space just housing the 220 repeater. But
thanks to some quick layout work by the crew, we managed to get it all in.
Since
the 224.08 repeater and duplexer are all known to be
in good working order, we tried to once again duplex off of the main Scala
antenna with this known combination.
Unfortunately as I write this, I am observing a fair amount of desense
on the system, so it’s clear that there is a problem in the antenna system,
most likely the ½-inch Heliax feed line.
Since the feed line and antenna are mounted to a telephone pole that is
no longer safe to climb, we can only use that antenna for transmitting or
receiving. We’ll have to make another
quick visit during the week to put the system back on split antennas in order
to recover the lost receive sensitivity.
While at the site, we checked the autopatch line and found it to be working. According to the site manager, the phone service for the entire site has been up and down lately, but he thinks it will be fixed soon. In the meantime our phone line has been connected to the autopatch card in the controller, so all that remains before we can once again provide autopatch service to the entire club membership is to program the autopatch settings in the controller. Stay tuned!
I’ve finally found a buyer for the TS-940 that I’ve been having advertised in W6VIO Calling for the past several months. He found the ad on an internet search engine. If you have something to sell, you should really take advantage of advertising it in our newsletter. Even if the readers of the printed version aren’t interested, remember that this newsletter is distributed to hundreds of millions of web surfers every month. From the stories related to me by club members, I’ve found that our newsletter is a particularly good place to list sells and wants of a long-term nature.
73 and have a happy holiday season. See you at the club dinner on Wednesday,
December 12th. n
By Jonathan Cameron, KF6RTA
 |
General Meeting, November 13
This meeting was held at the JPL Emergency Operations Center (EOC, 310-109). Those attending the meeting were Phil Barnes-Roberts (AD6PQ), Jonathan Cameron (KF6RTA), Bob Dengler (NO6B), Tigran Karsian (KF6PUG), Jim Lux (W6RMK), Rick McKinney (KA6DAN), Walt Mushagian (K6DNS), Scott Nolte (K6SN), Jerry Person (KK6TS), Bob Polansky (N6DNS), Mark Schaefer (WB6CIA), Rob Smith (W6GRV), and Bob Stiver (KF6PSS).
Bob Dengler opened the meeting at 12:10pm. This was Tigran Karsian’s first visit so everyone introduced themselves. Bob Polansky pointed out the HF station that is part of the EOC system. There was some discussion about the possibility of using this system during Monday emergency nets.
Eric trains people on-lab in a wide
range of emergency preparedness techniques. Quite a few JPL personnel have been trained by his team and are
available to respond to emergencies at JPL, surrounding communities, and other
NASA centers.
Eric offered to have JPL ARC member badges
reissued to display the fact that we are part of the JPL Emergency Communications team. Walt Mushagian will get a list of club
members and write a memo requesting this to Eric Fuller. Mark Schaefer also suggested that we create a
badge-size card with repeater frequencies, repeater commands, contact info,
etc. on one side and a membership card on the other.
Bob
Dengler reminded us that we need to elect new officers. He also wants to go ahead and do the repeater swap that has been planned for a while. He wants to get the move completed by the
end of February so that we can support the LA Marathon in March. He would change the downtown system to 224.70
MHz so that there would be two repeaters with good coverage of the downtown
area for the marathon.
We
were reminded that we need to make arrangements for our Christmas banquet. We agreed to have the dinner at the El Torito restaurant like we did last year. Mark Schaefer agreed to set a date and make
arrangements for the dinner with the restaurant. Thanks Mark!
Bob
Polansky described facilities in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and
told us about the operations that occur in the room during emergencies. The EOC club station has 220 MHz and HF
capabilities and can access the club repeaters. Bob encouraged us to check in during any
future emergencies and provide communications support. This check-in is very much like the normal
emergency net on Mondays. In a real
emergency, members checking into the net might be asked to check conditions at
specified locations and report the results on the net.
Bob
ordered new QSL cards for the various JPL call signs from a
outfit in
Board of Directors Meeting, November 28
Those
attending the meeting were: Eric Archer (N6CV, via telephone), Jonathan Cameron
(KF6RTA), Chris Carson (KE6ABQ),
Bob Dengler (NO6B), Walt Mushagian (K6DNS), Bob Polansky (N6ET), and Bill Wood
(W6FXJ, via telephone).
Bob
Dengler opened the meeting at
Bob
Dengler reported on the move of the 224.08 MHz repeater to Cerro Negro. Bob has arranged for a work party this coming
Saturday (December 1st). There was some
discussion of the details involved in this move. The 224.70 MHz repeater will be removed. Note that this means we will not be able to
link the 2m repeater to the 220 MHz repeaters.
We should still be able to link the 440 MHz repeater with the 220 MHz
repeater.
Bob
Polansky reported on progress at the new HF station. During a recent work party, they got the rest
of the hard lines connected. Bob
operated the station during a recent CW contest and everything seemed to work
well. Some work remains to be done, such
as connecting the generator, finalizing the grounding, and emptying out the old
trailer. One of the FT-1000s is off-lab
being repaired. n
By Bob Polansky, N6ET
For
the second month in a row I "camped out" in the new W6VIO shack. This time operating the CQ
World Wide CW Contest. As
previously reported, the station performed in an exemplary manner. I contacted virtually everyone I called and
for some strange reason got 599 reports from everyone (standard for
contests). Four new entities on CW were
logged and approaching 100 new band-entities made it into the W6VIO log. Even worked a station in
A
week prior to the Contest, Chris Carson, Walt Mushagian, and Mark Sarrel joined me in accomplishing Phase 1 of the antenna reconfiguration
activity. Thanks to the lightning speed
we all worked, Phase 1 accomplished more than expected. The Phase 2 work party should extend both now
spare hard lines to the top of the mesa!
Two
more contests before the end of the year;. The ARRL 160M Contest from 12/7 at 2200Z to
12/9 at 1600Z, and the ARRL 10M Contest from 12/15 at 0000Z to 12/16 at
2400Z. These should yield lots of new
band-entities.
Now
for some DX specifics:
DUCIE
Everything
else I have in my collection of DX hopefuls is dwarfed by the above items so I
will terminate this article for the month.
Enjoy!!n
Wanted:
Your want-ad or article for inclusion in a future
issue of W6VIO Calling. Submit to Bill Wood, W6FXJ,
For
Gillette Gen-Pro 12.5 Kw
Diesel Generator, 21Hp DUETZ RUGGERINI air cooled diesel, Electric start, 8 gal
fuel tank, Low hrs. Can
be viewed at http://home.att.net/~n7hd/Gen.jpg. Cost $7800, sell for $3100. Contact Buddy, 626-584-4645 days,
661-944-3864 eves, Lv msg.
Kenwood TM-G707A 2 meter/440 dual-band mobile (single
band receive). 50 W 2
meters/35 W 440, CTCSS decoder modified to eliminate falsing problem common
with all G707s & V7As. Original/only owner, asking $260. Contact Bob at 909-396-0991 or no6b@rptrlist.w6jpl.ampr.org.
QST 1990-1994 CD-ROM set, new. $25 (ARRL price $39.95) Skip, W7NWY, 818-354-9674
Icom UT-40 Tone Squelch Option Board (CTCSS) for HT models
2GAT, 4GAT, 12GAT, 32AT or for mobiles 228, 448, 901, 1201, 2400 and 2500. Cost: $80 (AES Catalog)
|
Starting next month “W6VIO Calling” will be distributed via the Internet and direct email. Each issue will published using Acrobat 5.0 and transmitted to each member with an email address. The Acrobat PDF copy will be available on the club web site for those who do not wish to use email. If you want to continue to receive a paper copy of “W6VIO Calling,” notify Scott Nolte, at 1 818 354-9724 or M/S 306-392. |
|
Newsletter Deadline: Friday, December 28 for the January
issue of W6VIO Calling. Your articles, ads, photos,
diagrams, letters to the editor, or technical material should be submitted
to the editor via email (w6fxj@earthlink.net)
or regular mail to: Bill Wood, |
Posted December 2, 2001