The FARS Relay

Volume 31, Number 10 - OCTOBER 2001

October Meeting

October 26 7:30 THIS IS THE FOURTH FRIDAY

Our meeting will be held at the Loyola School gym room (directions below) on Friday, 26 October, starting at 7 PM for the code practice and 7:30 PM for the regular meeting.

Right now, we don't know who the speaker is.

Join the ARRL and help the Club

If you have not yet joined the ARRL, you can do so now and help out the club at the same time. The ARRL is offering a rebate of $15 per sign-up to clubs who sign up new ARRL members. The ARRL offers a lot of value to Hams by lobbying for us in Washington. The monthly QST magazine offers articles covering product reviews, operating tips, contest information, and electronic circuits. So, if you have put off joining or have let your membership lapse for 2 or more years, join up now to benefit yourself and the club. Fill out the enclosed ARRL membership form, write a check payable to FARS, and mail these to:

Or you can bring the form and check to the next club meeting.

de Mikel, KN6QI

NOW YOU'RE TALKING - DISCOUNT!!

FARS' successful recent no-code tech class attracted a few students who had already purchased the no-code technician class study guide, NOW YOU'RE TALKING by ARRL. For this reason, FARS has a limited number of new NOW YOU'RE TALKING books available for your family or friends at an unbelievable discounted price of $15!

This book has a list price of $19 plus tax, but to clear out the few books remaining (and help balance the Training budget), FARS members? family & friends can purchase this book at over 20% off of the list price. These are not old books. They are the current study guides published by the League, containing all the information needed to pass the no-code tech exam. The last chapter of this book contains all the possible questions and answers that will appear on the tech license exam. If you want a copy of this book, contact FARS Training Officer, Rich (W6APZ@arrl.net) at this Friday's FARS meeting, or call him at 650-494-0128.

de Rich, W6APZ
antenna witch

President's Corner

We are fast reaching the end of the year and it is banquet time again Make your reservations early by sending your check to Shel N6RD.

October is the month that we nominate officers for the next year and vote on them at the November meeting. If you are going to nominate someone please be sure that you have asked them and that they are willing to run. The board does have a slate of officers to present at the meeting. We are still looking for a training officer. Nominations will be open to the floor for all offices.

Our new meeting place worked quit well and I hope to see you all at the next meeting we have a lot of room so lets fill it up.

Secretary's Report

The FARS board held its monthly meeting on the evening of October 2, 2001. Members present were Jack, WA6YJR, Rich, W6APZ, Howard, KE6PWH, Omri, AA6TA, Charlie, KF6CUU, Herb, KF6BKL, Larry, W6OD, David, KD6WRG, Shel, N6RD, Mikel, KN6QI, Steve, K6OIK, and Martin, KD6WJW.

Preparations for the banquet continue to be discussed. There are nominees for next year's club officers for all positions except training officer. The possibility of teaching ham radio in schools was suggested and discussed.

Joining the ARRL through the club will be encouraged.

- Martin, KD6WJW

Calendar

Livermore Swap Meet - 1st Sunday of each month at Las Positas College in Livermore, 7:00 AM to noon, all year. Talk in 147.045 from the west, 145.35 from the east. Contact Noel Anklam, KC6QZK, (510) 447-3857 eves.

Foothill Flea Market - 2nd Saturday of each month from March to October at Foothill College, Los Altos Hills.

FARS NET on 145.23 repeater Thursday nights at 8 PM.

CLUB INFORMATION

President: Jack Eddy, WA6YJR
Vice Pres. Steve Stearns, K6OIK
Treasurer: Shel Édelman, N6RD
Secretary: Martin Liberman, KD6WJW
Training Officer: Rich, W6APZ
Radio Officer: Omri Serlin, AA6TA
Newsletter: David Wilkes KD6WRG (See address below)

Board members: Howard Califf, KE6PWH, Dick Baldwinson N6ATD, Herb Davidson KF6BKL, Larry Moore KM6IU, Charles Arney KF6CUU, David Cooper KE6PFF, Mikel Lechner KN6QI

K6YA Station Trustee: Stan Kuhl, K6MA
FARS Web Page: www.fars.k6ya.org
FARS announcement mailing list is moderated, so you cannot reply directly to the list.

fars-announce@svpal.org
Also, note you can contact the FARS board of directors at
fars-board@svpal.org
To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to:
majordomo@svpal.org
In the e-mail message (in plain text) put one of:
unsubscribe fars-announce YOUR-EMAIL-ADDRESS
subscribe fars-announce YOUR-EMAIL-ADDRESS
(eg. Subscribe fars-announce dwilkes@svpal.org)

The FARS Relay is the official monthly newsletter of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society Meetings are held at 7 PM on the fourth Wednesday of each month except January (Winter Banquet); and 3rd Wednesday in June, Nov. & Dec. Annual membership $20; family $25. Visitors are always welcome! Directions on the back page. Talk-in: N6NFI (145.23-, 100Hz) or W6ASH repeater (145.27 or 224.36). Contributions to the newsletter from members, family, and guests are earnestly solicited! Contributions subject to editing and/or compression. ASCII files via packet, Internet or diskettes preferred; but all readable forms welcome. Here is how to reach the editor:

Internet: dwilkes@svpal.org, davewilkes@aol.com
VHF voice: KD6WRG on N6NFI, 145.23- (100Hz PL) FARS net Thursdays 8PM; Various other times.
Mail: 1093 Kelly Drive San Jose CA 95129-3222
Voice: 408-996-1613 (Until 9 PM); Fax: 408-725-1036, and at FARS meetings.

ghost

Answers to Quiz
A-f, B-a, C-g, D-b, E-e, F-d, G-c, H-h.

Winter Banquet Details

Every reservation must show the full names and call signs (if any) of the reserver and guests, and their club affiliation.

All reservations and payments must be received by me on or before Wednesday, January 9, 2002.

Reservations and payments received or otherwise made after January 9, 2002 can not be accepted, and refunds can not be made after that date. This is a matter of restaurant policy, which states that we must give the restaurant the total count no later than a full week before the event, and that we are responsible for paying for all meals ordered at that time, whether or not the person shows up.

The restaurant can not readily handle more than about two meals for people who do not reserve ahead but show up at the banquet anyway; and if the restaurant is able to serve them, they may not be able to select the meal they want.

All reservations and payments are to be made directly through Shel, N6RD. Payment by bank check must accompany each reservation and must cover all meals reserved. All checks are to be made payable to FARS; I will decline to accept reservations paid with checks made out to any payee but FARS.

Reservations and payments must be mailed to:

Sheldon Édelman N6RD
2195 Columbia St.
Palo Alto, CA 94306

I can answer questions by phone: 650 493 7212 or email: n6rd@earthlink.net . I am rarely home on any night of the seven-day week; if the caller calls in the evening, they can leave a message.

We're all hoping for a good turnout and a smooth process. If you have questions, let me know.

- Shel N6RD

We Get Email

I really enjoy the news letter each month. One of these days I need to come down and attend a meeting. I miss them and all you guys. There are four of us Hams here In Summerset Three and are going to start a club of some kind. I have spoken with the Brentwood Police department and they want us to get organized so that they could call on us In an emergency.

We really enjoy living here In Brentwood. Its almost like the country and like Sunnyvale was may years ago. I look up at Mt. Diablo from my front door to the West and the back door looks at the Sierras to the East.

I hope this finds you well. Keep up the good job you have done for years on the club's newsletter. Say hi to everyone at the next meeting for me.

Don Miller [KD6KGF]

DaveWilkes@aol.com

As usual, Dave, I love your newsletter. Poor me beyond DSL limits, still on at 28.8Kb. Would you consider not attaching the Word version in the future. Maybe you could put it on the web site? I block all messages larger than 80K and then have to download again to get the entire message. Due to the 250K word file, I was unable to see any of the text version (only 27K) without downloading all. The word file was "pretty" but really added no additional information. Cheers, 73, AD6ID (Tony)

Adcon Telemetry Over the Limit at 433 MHz.

Adcon Telemetry is selling wireless telemetry transceivers that operate at 433 MHz. Six models are offered that transmit at power levels up to 10 milliwatts, with a claimed range of 1,000 meters.

The FCC limit specified in Part 15.209 (a) is 200 microvolts/meter at a distance of 3 meters. The Adcon devices, at 10 milliwatts, put out a power density of 88 microwatts/ sq.meter at 3 meters, which equates to 182 millivolts/ meter. So their devices are 59 dB over the legal limit!!

The legal limit is higher for intermittent devices, viz. 5,000 microvolts/meter. If Adcon's devices qualify as intermittent emitters, then they are only 31 dB over the legal limit. Savi wants the limit raised to 110 millivolts/meter. Apparently, Adcon is over that number already.

I recall that back in March, Savi Technology petitioned the FCC to increase the power of their Part 15 transmitters to allow communication over a 100 meter distance. The ARRL intervened, pointing out flaws in Savi's engineering analysis, and urged the FCC to deny Savi's petition.

Even if Adcon's transmitters are legal, do we want Part 15 devices operating in the weak signal part of the 70 cm amateur band? Why can't they move a few MHz?

See: www.webfactory.apa.at/adcon/english/frame_boards.htm

[Edited DW]- Steve, K6OIK

NUMBERS TO REMEMBER

I gave the following quiz to the audience at Pacificon. Everybody passed. Can you?

Match the numbers below with their meanings.

Steve, K6OIK

Answers wherever I can fit them in DW

How to get to meetings:

(Visitors always welcome)

FARS meets at the offices of the Los Altos Town Crier. The Town Crier is located at 138 Main Street in Los Altos, close to where Main and State Streets converge. Street parking should be available on both Main and State; in addition, there is off-street parking behind the building, accessible from State Street.

USE THE BACK ENTRANCE to the building, accessible from State Street and the off-street parking lot; the front entry via Main Street will be locked. We will be meeting in the conference room on the second floor.

TALK-IN via the 145.230- (100Hz PL) repeater.

To get a map and driving directions go to the FARS web site www.fars.k6ya.org and click on “meetings.” Click on the link in the meeting notice for a map and to obtain specific driving directions.

Map of Los Altos Town Crier

Copyright © 2001 by FARS