Permission to copy is granted provided that credit is given to “W6VIO Calling.”
Contents
|
October
6 |
[Fontana Swap Meet,
A. B. Miller HS, Fontana] |
|
October
10 |
General Meeting,
Noon - 238-543 |
|
October
20 |
[CMRA Hamfest, Cal
Poly, Pomona, 7 AM] |
|
October
24 |
Board Meeting, Noon
- 233-305J |
|
October
27 |
[TRW Swap meet,
Redondo Beach] |
|
November
3 |
[Fontana Swap Meet,
A. B. Miller HS, Fontana] |
|
November
14 |
General Meeting,
Noon - 238-543 |
|
November
17 |
[CMRA Hamfest, Cal
Poly, Pomona, 7 AM] |
|
November
24 |
[TRW Swap meet,
Redondo Beach] |
|
November
28 |
Board Meeting, Noon
- 233-305J |
|
December
1 |
[Fontana Swap Meet,
A. B. Miller HS, Fontana] |
|
December
12 |
General Meeting,
Noon - 238-543 |
|
December
15 |
[CMRA Hamfest, Cal
Poly, Pomona, 7 AM] |
|
December
29 |
[TRW Swap meet,
Redondo Beach] |
By Christopher
Carson, KE6ABQ
The October General meeting will be held October 10th
at noon in 238-543. Everyone is welcome and you are invited to bring your
lunch. The topics include the proposed Club Budget for next year, the move to
the new Shack, and nomination of Club Officers for the coming year.
The next Board meeting will be
held October 24 in 233-305J. Everyone is welcome to attend. Bring your lunch if
you want. n
By Bob Dengler, NO6B
This month was a
month of tragedy and unfortunate firsts for our country and our club. We had what was probably the first meeting
cancellation in our club’s history that was due to a closure of the lab.
Immediately
after the attacks, the level of radar interference on the 440 MHz band suddenly
became worse than it’s ever been in over 10 years, making our 445.20 repeater
temporarily useless for HT’s.
Fortunately,
this condition cleared up after a couple of hours, but it did reveal one flaw in
our emergency communications plans: we still need 2 meters as a viable backup
option to 222 and 440 MHz.
Our 224.08
system worked fine, but many members including myself do not have reliable 222
MHz capability, hence the need for 440 or 2 meters. 440 MHz is usually preferred over 2 meters due to the superior
building penetration and lesser amount of intentional QRM problems on 440.
However, with
the possibility of being subjected to heavy radar interference, we should
either keep 147.15 available as a backup for our lab emergency communications
network or consider having a separate 2-meter receive-only input available at
Cerro Negro. The latter would actually
be quite easy to implement, so we might want to discuss this possibility at
the next club meeting.
Some problems
with the station in building 310 were found during the emergency net
activation. We should plan to activate
this station on a more regular basis, perhaps during the Monday noontime net or
every first Monday to keep the equipment in place and in ready-to-operate
condition.
Coincidently,
our 224.08 to 223.96 JPL to Table Mountain link system failed right on or near
Sept. 11. Thanks to quick repair work
by Bill Wood W6FXJ, the link’s failed power supply was replaced, burned in and
returned to it’s site in the City of Industry all within a couple of days. Great work, Bill!
I regret to
announce that I have decided to abstain from volunteering to serve as your
club President for 2002. I’ve been
doing this for 3 years straight and it’s really time for someone else to take
over, at least for next year. In addition
to my ever-increasing JPL work load and family obligations, this year I took on
the daunting task of leading TASMA, the local 2-meter frequency
coordinator. Fortunately, some of my
reforms have taken hold but more work is needed there, probably one more year
(provided they’ll let me).
Therefore, I ask
that all of you consider leading the JPLARC into 2002. I’ll still be around (I’ll have to be at
most of the meetings, since I’ll be “Director at Large” being the past
President),
so I’ll be available to help in whatever way I can. If you don’t think you’re the “leader” type, don’t worry: there
are other club officer positions that need relief as well:
Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. Chris, Jonathan and Chuck have all served us very well for
several years so they deserve a pat on the back, and more importantly, a break
too! n
By
Jonathan Cameron, KF6RTA
General Meeting, September 12
This meeting was
not held because the JPL was closed due to the terrorists attacks on New York
City and Washington DC. .
Board of Directors Meeting,
September 26
Those present
included: Eric Archer (N6CV, by telephone), Jonathan Cameron (KF6RTA), Chris
Carson (KE6ABQ), Bob Dengler (N6OB), Walt Diem (K6PEA), Randy Hammock (KC6HUR),
Walt Mushagian (K6DNS), and Bob Polansky (N6ET). The meeting was called to order by Bob Dengler.
Bob Polansky had
three items he presented to the board.
The first item was that he had located a surplus military field antenna
for the 30 to 70 MHz range. The antenna
is apparently a wire log-periodic type, raises to 25-30 feet off the ground,
has a sturdy tripod base, and can be erected by one person. He was recently informed about the antenna
and can purchase it for $250. He
recommended that we purchase the antenna for field day use. The board voted unanimously to authorize Bob
Polansky to purchase the antenna.
In the second
item, Bob reported about the club performance in the recent on-lab closure due
to the terrorist attacks of last week.
Only he and Jay Holladay checked in at the emergency operations center
(EOC) and on emergency nets that morning.
He and Jay stayed there a good portion of Tuesday and Wednesday.
For this
particular emergency, that was adequate, but it is clear that our club needs
some training in this area. He indicated
that anyone that had one of the emergency communications vests (available at
the shack) could have gotten on lab and helped out. He said that the Kenwood TM642 EOC rig was operating
intermittently. Other members of the board
seemed to be familiar with the problem.
In any case, it needs to be repaired.
Bob also mentioned that the AC power cord for this radio is
missing. Bob also shared that the HF
station in the EOC needs headphones to be used effectively in that noisy
environment. After some discussion of
all this, the board encouraged Bob to make a presentation about this topic at
one of the upcoming general club meetings.
The final item
that Bob presented was the design of new QSL cards for the club. He has worked out free printing of the cards
via contacts on lab and will get a couple thousand printed. The picture side of the card shows the
Goldstone antenna against a blue sky.
Bob Dengler then presented the latest version of the club budget for
next year. There is still a significant
overrun so the board spent most of the remaining time discussing various items
on the budget. A few budget items were
adjusted but there is still more work to be done to get the budget to balance.
Randy Hammock
reported that he is making progress assembling equipment for the IRLP
(Internet Relay Linking Project) setup in building 180. He is looking for a Pentium class computer
(100 MHz or better) for this project.
Walter Diem will
talk with officials of La Canada Flintridge city council about the difficulty
we are having accessing our equipment at Cerro Negro. n
By Bob Polansky,
N6ET
My continued thanks to The Weekly DX newsletter for
the lion’s share of the information provided here. The solar flux is through the roof and the HF bands are humming
with activity. Among the more exciting
entities active as I type are Nepal, Chad, Turkey, Tromelin, Botswana, and
Pakistan. There are many more, of
course. Don’t miss the fun. Listen and work them while they’re
active. Specifics follow.
CHAD - TT8DX
should be active for the next year.
This is apparently an all-band operation. W6VIO needs him on SSB.
ERITREA - Look
for E30NA to create large pileups from 17 October through 3 November.
IRAQ - Look for
YI1BGD to be more active than usual, operated by a visiting Britisher. The operation will be from 30 September for
several weeks, if I correctly read the tea leaves. 1400Z is the time he plans to start his on the air activity. 20 meters is our best chance on the long
path at this time. W6VIO needs this as
an all time new one.
MALTA - 9H0VRZ
should be available through 6 October.
No specifics on bands are available to me.
MOZAMBIQUE -
C98DC will be the call used by this not-to-common entity. Activity is planned from 28 September
through 13 October.
NEPAL - 9N7BY,
DL, and QJ will be operating through 2 October. This one, W6VIO needs on CW.
PAKISTAN -
AP2JZB and AP2ARS are your best chances from here. Antennas are being considered for 30 through 80 meters in
addition to the beams currently being used.
AP2JZB does well into Southern California on 20 through 15 meters.
TROMELIN -
Another Tromelin DXpedition is active at this time. He is using the call FR7ZU/T, a call he used on a previous
“outing”. Don’t miss this one. It’s quite rare these days.
Enough for now. Got one more article I have to prepare.
Enjoy! n
By
Bob Polansky, N6ET
The new W6VIO ham shack is coming along well. Painting is complete, the new air conditioner is in and
operating, the Internet port, CCTV cable, and telephone interfaces are being
installed and should be operational within a week or two. Floor covering will be installed, within a
week, in the entry room.
The hard line termination “pole” has been fitted with a junction plate
and the first of the four hard lines has been moved from the current
shack. The other three will be moved in
the next week with temporary interfaces put in place to the existing ops
trailer so operation can continue until the large move takes place.
I anticipate
that to occur within the next month.
Following that, we will have some significant work to do to re-layout
the antenna interfaces on the hill to optimize their use with the new
setup. B173 IS CLOSE TO
OPERATIONAL! n
Wanted:
Reliable on-lab person to receive about 40 copies of
“W6VIO Calling” each month to address and mail to retired and other off-lab
club members. Job involves applying
club supplied adhesive address labels and postage stamps. Takes only one hour each a month. Contact Scott Nolte, K6SN, at Ext 4-9724 for
details.
Your want-ad or article for inclusion in a future
issue of W6VIO Calling. Submit to Bill
Wood, W6FXJ, 31094 Hemlock Ave, Barstow, CA
92311; or email w6fxj@earthlink.net
For Sale:
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 TS-940S
base HF radio w/automatic tuner, MC-60 microphone, SP-230 speaker & MFJ 300
watt dummy load. Asking $850 or trade
for FT-100D. Contact Bob at
909-396-0991 or no6b@rptrlist.w6jpl.ampr.org.
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) Sale for $40. Radio Shack, Rotor/Controller and Cable, 3 years old, never used,
have box/papers, like new. Cost: $70+ n
By Bill Wood, W6FXJ
Editor Merv MacMedan, W6IUV,
packed off the October 1976 issue with many interesting articles of importance
to The JPL Amateur Radio Club.
Jim Lumsden, WA6MYJ, led off
the issue with a detailed status report on the Viking N6V Special Event
activity Jim reported that the activity was extended beyond the initial 40 day
period to November 15 due to the high level of interest by the media and the
world-wide amateur population.
Contact by Canadian hams with
N6V highlighted on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as part of their evening
national news program. KABC-TV visited
the N6V operation and aired a 5-minute segment on their local news broadcasts.
ARRL Southwestern Division Vice
Director Jay Holladay’s, (W6EJJ) “ARRL Notes” reported the FCC’s plan to allow
Extra Class amateurs who were licensed prior to November 22, 1967 to apply for
so-called two-letter call signs in newly assigned “N” prefixes.
Finally, Ralph West, WB6YMF,
solicited inputs from club Members to gauge interest about going ahead with a
club project that would build and install a system of amateur radio repeaters.
The full October 1976 issue can
be accessed at the following Internet address: http://www.jplerc.org/radio/calling/1976/oct/oct76.html
n
Amateur Radio Volunteer Information is on the Web
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 25, 2001--Amateur Radio volunteers continue to be needed to assist with disaster relief communication in New York City.
REACT International is looking for additional Amateur Radio and licensed GMRS users, primarily to support the Salvation Army's relief efforts in New York City. REACT International Secretary Lee Besing, N5NTG, said his organization has been lining up volunteers, and Jeff Schneller, N2HPO--who's affiliated with the Salvation Army Team Emergency Response Network (SATERN)--has been handling scheduling for the support effort.
REACT needs up to two dozen volunteers a day but
wants those who are willing and able to first visit the REACT International Web
site or send e-mail to NYCHelp@reactintl.org.
"Don't just show up!" Besing requested.
The Virginia ARES operation in support of the Salvation Army in Washington, DC, and the New York City ARES/RACES effort in support of the American Red Cross have ended. Via www.arrl.org n
Newsletter Deadline:
Friday, November 2
for the November 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, 31094 Hemlock Ave, Barstow, CA 92311.
