EMARC Relay -- Volume 25, Number 8 August, 1995

OUR NEXT MEETING!

The program for this meeting (originally scheduled for April) is: Commercial CW Today, Myth and Reality. It will be presented by Rod Deakin, NR7E. Rod is well qualified on this subject, since he is a CW operator at Globe Wireless' KFS coastal HF radio station, in addition to being Chief Engineer for Globe Wireless. The company also operates WNU in Slidell, LA and VCT in Tors Cove, Canada.

Rod, an Extra class ham, got his first license in 1958. He is a confirmed DXer and QRPer, with 314 countries confirmed (82 on less than 1 watt!). He likes to rag chew (CW, of course), and in his spare time handles CW NTS traffic nets. He is a member of Society of Wireless Pioneers (SOWP); Morse Telegraph Club (MTC); and Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA). He is a volunteer radio operator aboard the Jeremiah O'Brien, the last remaining Liberty ship that recently returned from the 50th D-Day anniversary celebration in Europe. (Tnx, Bjorn, KN6IW, for the program details).

As usual, the meeting will be followed by the raffle for prizes and the Wish You Were Here drawing for all the cash in the jar!

The EMARC Relay

Secretary's Report

Minutes, EMARC General Meeting

Present: Bob, KD6VIO; Shel, KM6GV; Jim, WA6NIL; Peter, KN6MO; Stuart, KM7V; Omri, AA6TA; Bjorn, KN6IW; Ginny, KC6USW; Dick, N6ATD. Absent: Steve, KD6PLD; Jim, KT6W; Dave, KD6WRG; George, K6OG; Larry, KM6IU.

Donated Key: Bob announced that Ginny Coutts, KC6USW had donated a Vibroplex paddle to EMARC for use in the club station in memory of Irv, N6SCH. Club members expressed their appreciation.

Thursday Net: Omri reminded everyone about the EMARC club net that meets every Thursday at 8:00pm on 145.27 MHz, 100 Hz PL is turned off for the net.

New Editor: Omri asked for a volunteer to become the new Relay editor for next year. He will help the new editor take over the responsibilities.

Antenna Seminar: Omri announced that Ray Gaschk, KD6BLS, will be organizing a seminar on Antennas at the upcoming Pacificon convention. KD6BLS is a designer of popular log periodic arrays for Ham use (on 2m, 220 MHz, and 440 MHz) and a recognized expert.

Homebrew Contest: Bob reminded members that the September meeting will be the annual homebrew competition night and he hoped that there would be many entries.

Field Day: Dick gave a summary of EMARC's field day activities and thanked the many members who had made it another successful year for EMARC.

New Board Member: Michael Lechner, KN6QI, volunteered to fill the vacant board position. His nomination was unanimously passed by the membership.

Speaker Program: Michael L. O'Connor, KE6FZN, was the guest speaker. His talk was on Automatic Aircraft Landing Using the Global Positioning System. There were many questions for Michael demonstrating the high level of interest in this topic.

Wish You Were Here: The "Wish You Were Here" drawing was up to $20 and would have been won by Peter Griffith, WA6VAQ. Peter was not there and so the August drawing will be for $25.

Respectfully submitted,

Stuart A. Fox, KM7V

Welcome New Members!

Please welcome our newest members:

Wayne Colliander, KE6AJE got his license in 1993; he is a Tech class ham. If you're wondering whether he and Mike Colliander, KE6MDW (introduced in this column in June), are related, the answer is yes: Mike is Wayne's son. Wayne is into home-brew activities, scanning, SWL'ing the HF bands, and especially 6 meters (Wayne and Mike set up and operated our Field Day 6 meters station). Among Wayne's other hobbies: archery and bicycling. In civilian life, Wayne is a quality engineer at Teledyne Microwave.

Strick, KE6RFB, in another e-mail message, this time from Strassbourg, France, said he was in Paris just 20 hours before the terrorist bomb exploded. Strick seems to be everywhere in Europe! He will have a lot to tell when he comes back in October... Al, KE6BER passed his Advanced recently. Congrats, Al!

Carrier Detect

Better Field Day results! The preliminary figures published in the July RELAY were unnecessarily pessimistic. The final tally, courtesy Jim, WA6NIL, is 3,488 QSO points. This included 461 CW QSOs (worth 2 points each) and 822 'phone QSOs (including 145 at the Novice station). Total QSO points before the multiplier were 1744; multiplied by 2 (for our 2A status) to yield 3,488. Added to this were the 1310 bonus points, for a grand total of 4,798. Still short of last year's 5,100, but not too shabby.

You read it here first. You may remember the item in the February, 1995 RELAY reporting on the first 2.4 GHz repeater in the country. That news has finally made it to the ARRL's QST. Color photos of the repeater, users, and mobile 2.4 GHz installations are on pages 12-13, and a more detailed description on page 106 of the July QST.

Home brew contest coming! The annual Home-Brew show-and-tell takes place at our regular September meeting. Cash prizes for the best projects! Must be ham radio related and not previously entered in this contest. Time to start designing and building!

Satellite action. Several EMARC members are getting serious about working the hamsats! Recently, Jurgen Lew, AC6HQ, worked his first Oscar 10 CW contact, a Finland station, when the bird was 15,000 nautical miles away; his rig is a Yaesu FT736R. Andy, AC6GN, has put his Yaesu 736 based satellite station on the air with Oscar 10 and 13 contacts. Omri AA6TA has worked some 15 SSB contacts via Oscar 10 and 13 since Field Day using the Icom 275H/475H combination. All three are using tiny (21"-24" boom) log periodic beams a Radio Shack TV rotator for azimuth control and no elevation control. Arv, WA6UUT has had several successful contacts via RS-12; that bird has its uplink on 21 MHz and downlink on 29 MHz, so it can be worked with off-the-shelf HF gear. Arv has no tracking program at this time; he merely listens to the beacon frequency (29.408) and jumps in when he hears it!

BTW, Omri has been invited to deliver a talk on working the hamsats at the October Pacificon convention in Concord (see Coming Events).

While on this subject, get ready for Phase 3D! This super hamsat is scheduled for launch on 29 May, 1996 on a French Arianne rocket into a high elliptical (Molniya) orbit with an apogee at about 30,000 miles. In addition to supporting eight (!) uplink bands and six downlink bands, Phase 3D will have more powerful transmitters and better antennas. If all works as planned, Phase 3D will bring satellite operations within reach of more hams than ever before. Donations for completion of the Phase 3D construction and launch are urgently needed! If you send yours to the ARRL (225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111), the amount you contribute will be doubled. Alternately, you may remit directly to Amsat, 850 Sligo Ave., Suite 600, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Pacificon Seminar. Among other activities planned for Friday, 20 October, there will be an all-day (8-4:30) antenna seminar. Topics include antenna basics, near-vertical-incidence skywave (nvis) antennas, impedance matching basics, square boom log periodic antennas, and more. Among the five speakers: Gene Swiech, N6COY, of Swiech Antenna Co, fame. There will be a nominal charge to cover the costs of printing the extensive handout. To register call Ray Gaschk, KD6BLS, at 510-933-3242.

New ARRL president. Rod Stafford, KB6ZV, has been named ARRL president, to succeed George Wilson III, W4OYI, who resigned for health reasons. Stafford was previously First Vice President.

Color-our-face-red Dept. Owen, KB6MER notes that his BBS is in South San Jose; a wrong location was given in last month's Welcome to Packet column (page 10). Sorry about that, Owen... Apologies to Al, KE6BER, whose call was given incorrectly on p. 8 of the July RELAY.

In the Welcome to Packet column in the May RELAY, p. 8, the section on digipeating should have said "...some BBSs will not allow you to digipeat to them..."; this matches the explanation that followed. As it turns out, most BBSs also do not permit digipeating through them, but for another reason: that takes bandwidth away from (i.e., interferes with) users of the BBS.

Relay Schedule (reflects new, 4th Fri. meeting date; exceptions marked by *):

Issue Meeting Closing Date

August 25 August 14 August

September 22 September 11 September

October 27 October 16 October

November *17 Nov. 06 November

December *15 Dec. 04 December

* 3rd Friday! To accommodate Field Day (June); Thanksgiving (Nov.); and Christmas (Dec.).

ARRL Pacific Division Update

Rod Stafford, KB6ZV, Becomes ARRL President:- Rod Stafford, KB6ZV, ARRL First Vice President became President on July 1, 1995, upon the resignation of George Wilson, W4OYI. Rod becomes the second ARRL President from the West Coast in the entire history of ARRL. Rod is also a past Director of the Pacific Division. Please congratulate Rod when you see him! ARRL President George S. Wilson III, W4OYI, resigned due to ill health.

Great news!:- ARRL HQ reported on Tuesday, June 20 that a Report and Order in MD Docket No. 95- 3 has been released. The fee for Amateur Vanity Call Signs, previously $70, has been reduced to $30 per license for the ten year license term, effective Sept. 18, 1995. To obtain the necessary 610- V and 1070- V forms: call the FCC automated order line at 1- 800- 418- 3676 or via the ARRL at 225 Main St., Newington, CT 0611; enclose SASE.

Telecommunications Reform and the Proposal to Do Away with the FCC:- Many of you are probably concerned about the new Telecommunications Act passed June 15 by the Senate and the now separate "Think Tank" proposal to eliminate the FCC and allocate the entire RF spectrum on a "property rights" basis. These stories are headline news as this is being written.

The ARRL Washington Team continues to monitor these activities very closely. There were many last minute amendments added to the Senate bill so that even the legislators apparently are not really sure of the details. It appears that this bill does not affect the Amateur Radio Service directly, but there may yet be surprises. The two House committee versions of this bill are considerably different from the Senate version and each other. This summer, the House must first reconcile its two versions and then work out the differences with the Senate. Also this summer, the "Think Tank" proposal to eliminate the FCC could well influence the debate on the expected FCC funding bill.

The mood in Congress seems to be to enact some sort of telecommunications reform, but just what is unclear so far. Stay tuned! The ARRL Washington Team is active on our behalf!

5.8 GHz Band Battle Now Underway:- Just as we are coming out of the 13 cm band battle (see below), the 5.8 GHz band is now threatened by a petition to the FCC from Apple Computer Corp., the Intelligent Transportation System folks and possibly others.

Basically, Apple asks that half of our 300 MHz wide band be shared with a new service - - a "National Information Infrastructure" band. One characterization of the NII band might be a "wireless Internet available to all persons without license." It is not clear that compatibility is possible. If there is incompatibility, this might lead effectively to the elimination of the operation of a San Francisco Bay Area group which has been active in this band for some 20 years. The petition also asks for 150 MHz outside our band just above 5.1 GHz. The petition was filed at the end of May but could not be obtained from the FCC until mid June. The deadline for filing Comments was July 10. Reply Comments are due July 25.

After a extremely rapid but effective effort, the ARRL filed Comments on time opposing the petition on technical, legal and conceptual grounds. Several individuals and groups in the Pacific Division also worked extremely rapidly to file Comments.

The Washington and the Pacific Division teams are working tirelessly to defend this spectrum. Please contact Jim Von Striver, W6ASL, the Pacific Division Spokesman for the Spectrum Management Committee at (510) 827- 9826 for information or to offer assistance.

13 cm. Band- - Latest News:- On Feb. 7 it was announced by the FCC that the Amateur Service not only retained our 2390- 2400 MHz and 2402- 2417 MHz spectrum, but we were upgraded from Secondary Allocation to Primary Allocation! There was NO reallocation of 2300- 2310 MHz as it was not involved specifically in this matter although some commenters wanted to pair up this segment with 2390- 2400 MHz. The battle over 2300- 2310 MHz will appear again very soon in 1995 to meet NTIA's schedule of transfer in Aug. 1995. Be prepared again! May 1995 QST on page 94 contains a "2400 MHz Honor Roll" honoring those organizations and individuals who contributed to this win. The Pacific Division celebrated this win by installing and operating the first known 13 cm. repeater - - see "S- Band by the Bay" pictures in "Up Front in QST" on pages 12- 13 and the corresponding article in the FM Column on page 106 in the July QST. Great work by a group of pioneers!

Latest Pacific Division Appointments:- It is my pleasure to announce that Nubar (Nory) Tashjian, K6KVX, has been appointed as a Volunteer Counsel in Oakland CA. Thanks, Nory, for joining the team!

New Service to New Licensees in the Pacific Division:- Starting in June, the Pacific Division part of the ARRL National Traffic System began delivering "welcome to Amateur Radio," "join your local radio club," and "join the ARRL" messages to all new licensees in the Division. This effort is being led by Jim McCauley, AB6EU, Section Traffic Manager of the San Francisco Section, with the assistance of a group of dedicated NTS hams. Thanks for the effort!

Scholarships and Awards:- I am pleased to announce that Benjie Chen, KE6BCU, of Sunnyvale CA, has been awarded The ARRL Scholarship to Honor Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, by the ARRL Foundation Scholarship Committee of the ARRL Foundation, Inc. Benjie will be an entering freshman at MIT this fall. Congratulations!

There are many scholarships and awards covering a wide range of situations available to licensed Amateurs. The ARRL Foundation, The Dayton Amateur Radio Association, The Foundation for Amateur Radio, to name only a few, will be announcing their dates for applications for their 1995/6 scholarships. Watch QST and other amateur radio publications for details.

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EXAMINATION SCHEDULE

Fremont: Walk-ins on the 1st Tuesday of each month, 7 PM. No-Code Tech and Tech-Plus exams only. Alameda County Water District, 43885 Grimmer Blvd., near I-880. Info: 510-791-6818; or Greg, KJ6EP@ N6QMY. Talk-in: 147.015+

Redwood City: Walk-ins on the 3rd Saturday of each month, 11 AM. 411 Broadway (Ampex Cafeteria), near Woodside exit off 101. Info: 408-255-9000 (recording); or Joe KB6OWG@ KA6JLT. Talk-in: W6APZ, 145.23- (100Hz PL).

Sunnyvale: Walk-ins on the 2nd Saturday and last Sunday of each month, 10:30 AM. 840 W. Washington St. Talk-in: W6ASH, 145.27-. Info: 408-255-9000 (recording), or Gene AA6IY@N6LDL, or Gordon W6NLG@ KA6JLT. Talk-in: W6ASH, 145.27-

ARRL License Class Hotline: 408-971-1424

FCC Inquiry Line: 717-337-1212

FCC Customer Assistance: 800-322-1117

FCC Forms Distribution: 800-418-3676

COMING EVENTS

EMARC Monthly Meeting: Fourth Friday of the month (except 3rd Friday in June, Nov. & Dec.) at 7 PM; Business Meeting, 7:30 PM; Program starts 8 PM. At the Covington School in Los Altos; directions on last page. See specific date listings below. EMARC events are also listed on packet (to EMARC@allscv); on the N0ARY event bulletin board (type EVENT or List Clubs); and on the automatic enunciator on the W6APZ repeater (145.23-). (Note: there are 5 Fridays in March & Sept., so the fourth Friday is not the same as last Friday!).

EMARC Weekly Net. Thursdays at 8 PM on the W6APZ repeater, 145.23- (100Hz PL is off for the net).

EMARC Board Meeting: Wednesday, the 16th day (2 weeks + 2 days) prior to the meeting date.

Foothill Flea Market: 2nd Saturday (starts pre-dawn), March thru September. Bring 4 quarters for the parking meters. At Foothill College, just west of I-280 at the El Monte/Moody Rd. exit in Los Altos. Talk-in: 145.27-

Livermore Flea Market: 1st Sunday (starts 7 AM) year round, rain or shine. At Las Positas College, Airway Blvd. exit off I-580 just west of Livermore. Talk-in 147.120+ or 145.35-(100Hz PL). NOTE: The NorCal QRP Club meets following the flea mart at 11 AM at the California Burger in Pleasanton, abt. 2 miles from the flea mart.

T-hunts: See the February, 1995 RELAY under Carrier Detect (page 6).

10 AM net. Weekdays at 10 AM on W6APZ, 145.23- (100Hz PL). A very informal rag chew net with mostly EMARC members. Net control: Arv, WA6UUT.

Amsat net. Wednesdays at 19:30 on the WA6PWW repeater, 147.015+. Net control: Bill, AA6PA.

10-10 Net. The local net for 10 meters enthusiasts meets every Monday at 8 PM on 28.475 MHz; net control: Neal, WA6OCP.

Events by date:

( designates EMARC sponsored events)

25 Aug. EMARC Monthly Meeting. 7 PM. Directions back page.

6 Sept. Board Meeting. 7:30 PM; 343 Second St., Suite A, Los Altos.

9 Sept. Foothill Flea Market.

22 Sept. EMARC Monthly Meeting. 7 PM. Program (8 PM): Annual Home-brew Contest. Directions back page.

23-24 Sept. CQ WW RTTY Contest.

11 Oct. Board Meeting. 7:30 PM; 343 Second St., Suite A, Los Altos.

20-22 Oct. Pacificon '95. Hilton Hotel, Concord, CA (same place as last few years). Sponsor for the Pac.Div.: Mt. Diablo ARC. Technical sessions, exhibits, small flea market, prizes. Info: Richard Schulze, AA6DL, 510-932- 6125.

21-22 Oct. JOTA '95 (Scouting's Jamboree On The Air). EMARC will no doubt participate (again).

27 Oct. EMARC Monthly Meeting. 7 PM. Program (8 PM): Rick Ellinger on ARES. Directions back page.

28-29 Oct. CQ WW (SSB) Contest.

1 Nov. Board Meeting. 7:30 PM; 343 Second St., Suite A, Los Altos.

4-6 Nov. ARRL Sweepstakes (CW).

17 Nov. EMARC Monthly Meeting. 7 PM. (3rd Friday due to Thanksgiving). Program (8 PM): Tom Schule (Force 12) on antenna design. Directions back page.

18-20 Nov. ARRL Sweepstakes (SSB).

25-26 Nov. CQ WW (CW) Contest.

29 Nov. Board Meeting. 7:30 PM; 343 Second St., Suite A, Los Altos.

9-10 Dec. ARRL 10 Meters Contest.

15 Dec. EMARC Monthly Meeting. 7 PM. (3rd Friday due to Christmas). Directions back page.

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