NOVEMBER 2006

W7PX

http://www.users.qwest.net/~k7vk/

Next meeting is November 13, 2006

At St. Patrick Hospital basement meeting room (1^st level)

500 West Broadway

1900

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HARC Board of Directors

Hellgate Amateur Radio Club

P.O. Box 3811

Missoula, MT. 59806-3811

Club President, N7GE, Jerry Ehli at jehli@modernmachinery.com
Vice-president, W7PAQ Frank Kisselbach at fkissel@hughes.net
Treasurer, K7PX, Steve Schlang at ripply1@msn.com

Secretary, AC7UZ, Lewis Ball at ac7uz@blackfoot.net

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HARC Meeting 10/09/2006

The meeting was called to order by president N7GE at 19:05. Introductions were made and the treasurer report was given and accepted as read.

The minutes of the last meeting were presented with a motion by W4YMA to accept the minutes as read, seconded by W7DHB.

Old Business

The repeater committee has not had a chance to meet as Frank W7PAQ, the chairman, has been out of town. The repeater committee will meet to discuss issues that have come up with the linking on the 146.900 repeater.

The emergency phone tree was created by Frank W7PAQ and copies were distributed. The phone tree will be activated in the event of an emergency by the Red Cross, National Weather Service or the EOC.

The Boy Scout JOTA is to be held next weekend on the 21^st and 22^nd of October with set up to start at 8:00 am. Frank W7PAQ, will have the operation under way at 9:00 am and run until 4:00 pm each day at the Fort Missoula. KPAX TV was contacted to cover the event. The call sign in use will be K2BSA/7.

New Business

The ham fest in Bozeman is to be held on Saturday October 14^th.

The Christmas party is coming soon so a meeting place needs to be secured. Any ideas would be appreciated.

The program for the next meeting in November will be presented by Dennis W7DHB and he will discuss the proper grounding of mobile antennas and the proper way to provide power to the mobile transceiver.

Ideas are needed for programs to present on meeting night. Suggestions are requested.

A motion was made to adjourn by Dennis W7DHB and seconded by Mike KE7IZG. The meeting was adjourned at 19:50 and Frank W7PAQ presented his program on DXing.

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ERROR, ERROR, ERROR

Last month’s Hellgate Static had some errors. Try as I might, errors do sneak in, and unfortunately, they did last month. I apologize for my mistakes and I have included the following note from Dennis, W7DHB.

“I don't want to be picky, but the last static had the following errors:

1)  The JOTA article is on page 102 of the September issue, not October.

2)  Frank's call is W7PAQ, not PQA “

Thanks for the note, and for keeping me in line. At least I know folks are reading the Hellgate Static.

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CHRISTMAS ISSUE IS NEXT MONTH AND I NEED YOUR HELP

As mentioned last month, I still need the club to send in their “Christmas want list”. Like last year, price is not a consideration. The worst thing you can do is not ask! Me, I guess I should ask for a proof reader since KE7FAH is busy for the next several months. You might need a visit from the spirit of Dr. Yagi, your own satellite that works on a 2 meter uplink and has a 160 meter downlink, a contest logging program that comes “out of the box” with a “”7QP” form built in, an ARES net that 75 people check into, or even something as simple as a new keyer. Let me know. E-mail, phone, club meeting, or snail mail will get them to me.

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RADIO CLASS INFORMATION

It is getting that time of year for another Radio class. However the ARRL has an offer that's hard to beat. Their on-line class for Technician includes the book and a one year membership. If you buy these items, you pay
the same price as they are offering the class for. I am encouraging anyone wanting to get their license to take advantage of this offer. I will be glad to act as a contact when they need some additional help but don't think formal classes are needed. They can contact me at 777-2695 or at kc7zo@arrl.net

Not that I want to give up on the classes, how about a General class? If we have enough interest I will do that. I don't want to do CW though so I need someone else to help. CW is best done more often than a weekly class. Any takers?

Danne, KC7ZO

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OCTOBER NORTHWEST DIVISION REPORT

To: ARRL Northwestern Division Members
From: Jim Fenstermaker K9JF -- Northwestern Division, Director
        Bill Sawders K7ZM -- Northwestern Division, Vice-Director
Subject: October 2006 Newsletter

Dear Northwestern Division Members:
The end of summer is passed and we're into the throes of fall. It's long past overdue to update you on the various events and activities in and affecting members in the Northwestern Division.

I'm excited to announce the new Division web site, which was recently redesigned and made available to review.  Note that we will complete the various sections during the next few months.  Please suggest changes and additions as you review the content of the new site. Thanks to Rodger Alexander, KK7LK, for working on this project! Currently, Rodger along with Assistant Director Michael Sterba, KG7HQ are working on additional enhancements to the site.  As you review their creation, please provide feedback to me about additional topics you would like covered.

The League recognized two of our Northwestern Division members this summer. Roger Hayworth, KA7EXM was awarded ARRL's Technical Excellence Award for 2005.  I was honored to recommend Roger to the ARRL Board for this award.  Marv Loftness KB7KK from Olympia, WA received a plaque for the best article in May QST.  Marv's article was “When Should You Call the Power Company”. Congratulations to both Marv and Roger!

Congratulations are extended to the Radio Club of Tacoma on their 90^th anniversary.  Only a few clubs in the USA have this legacy.  This club was formed in 1916 and became affiliated with the ARRL in 1920 as its 7th affiliated club.  During their celebration last Saturday, their affiliation certificate was displayed with HPM's signature prominently displayed. 

Development of the Legislative Action Process is nearly complete.  An explanation of the process as well as discussion why this is needed as well as the implementation plan will be forwarded to you soon.  In May and June, members in ID, AK, WA, and MT were asked to contact their Senators, requesting support of adding language supporting amateur radio to the Senate Telecommunications Bill.  Thanks to 155 of our members who responded.  Of the 551 letters generated nationwide, 28% came from our division.  That is an outstanding response from the Northwestern Division.  The Northwestern Division advocacy effort was noted and discussed at the Board meeting.  As we move forward, we will ask for your support including contacting your local federal legislators and asking for assistance for amateur radio related legislation.  Given the current FCC attitude, this is needed to insure our survival!

Speaking about the Board meeting, Bill and I attended the meeting in July in Newington.  The highlight of the meeting was a Strategic
Planning exercise to guide the League during the upcoming year.  Items of emphasis include: Membership, Advocacy, Emergency Communication, Education and Finances.  I'll give you more details following the January board meeting when the strategic plan is ratified.

As you have undoubtedly heard by now, the FCC released the Report and Order (R&O) on October 10.  A summary of this R&O can be viewed on the ARRL Web Site http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/10/11/100/ .  The most surprising portion of this pending rulemaking is the expansion of the 80 meter band, especially in light of other current users of a portion of this spectrum for nets and digital modes.  Comments regarding this proposed expansion as well as other elements of the R&O can be made to the ARRL via e-mail to bandplan@www.arrl.org.  In addition, you can communicate directly to us at: K9JF@arrl.org or K7ZM@arrl.org .

As Bill and I will be continuing as Vice Director and Director through 2009, we encourage you to invite us to visit your local clubs and activities.  However, since I am not yet retired; scheduling is of utmost importance to me.  We will both try to accommodate your
visitation requests during the next three years.

Don't forget that the Northwestern Division Convention will be held at Seaside, OR on June 1-3.  This is a date change from that appearing on their program.  Attendance at this gathering has remained steady at approximately 2,200.  Compare this to Pacificon in the SF Bay Area at approximately 1,200.  The Northwestern Division is Radio-Active! Thanks for your support.  We will be in touch again soon.
73, Jim K9JF

A word from your Vice-Director, Bill Sawders, K7ZM
Even though I was interested in assuming the position of ARRL Northwestern Division vice-director, I was quite surprised to have been chosen. There were several well qualified persons seeking the position. Being unopposed in this years election has given me the confidence in knowing you have given me your trust in the leadership team of Jim, K9JF and myself. As the Oregon section manager (1998-2002) Jim and I worked very closely at times and this relationship will continue as we strive to represent you as members of the American Radio Relay League, Northwestern Division.

I am very proud of the way the ARRL challenged the propose BPL (broadband over power lines) rulings. However, when I watched our President tell the nation that every single household in the United States will have the ability to use the internet (with the use of power lines), I knew the FCC would quickly hurdle over any and all objections. After all, you have to realize the FCC Commissioners are made up of (mostly) lawyers and others who have very little or no knowledge of communications and especially Amateur Radio. However, in the future, I know any vast interference caused by BPL can and will be pursued with help from the League. Quoting now, from one of our fellow ARRL Division Directors:

ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio Is!
MEMBERS: The reason ARRL Is!

When visiting any of the major northwest ham fairs and conventions, please take time out to visit the ARRL booth and say “hello”.

73.
Bill, K7ZM

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OCTOBER MONTANA SECTION NEWSLETTER

The September fire season was tough on many in our state. Lots of smoke and ash to deal with, not to mention high temps and winds that came along with them.  Many people suffered from breathing difficulties.

There has been much activity in the new experimental band of 505 to 510 khz.  These freqs are part of the old Maritime bands that were at one time exclusively CW for communications with ships at sea.  They were guarded by those massive shore stations like KPH, KFS, WLO, NPD etc.  This is a special grant issued by FCC to the ARRL, who has licensed some stations with beacon priviliges to provide information on propagation within this frequency range for possible issue as a new band for Amateur Radio.  If you are interested, look up the 600 Meter Research Group on the Internet and read the info contained there.  A good converter for that range or a receiver capable of good sensitivity around 500 KHZ will be needed.  None of the signals heard at this station have been strong, but down in the noise, as the present power limit is 25 watts EIRP.  A larger antenna or long wire is helpful also.  Reception reports
are always welcome.

Don’t forget Bozeman's Hamfest the 14th of Oct.

IMN-W5UYH, QNI-516, QTC-86
MTN-KD7HWV, QNI-2209, QTC-28
MSN-K7LMT, AE7V and others, QNI-96

73 all, Doug, K7YD

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FROM THE NOVEMBER 1, 2006 ARRL CONTEST RATE SHEET

EDITED BY Ward Silver, N0AX

If you are teaching or mentoring (or learning!) Morse code, Ray G4FON has just released version 9 of his Koch Method Morse trainer (http://www.g4fon.net). He says that it features a more flexible user interface and a few other new goodies, as well.

If you were working on something at the same time you were watching the Cardinals and the Tigers duke it out, does that mean you were doing it in parallel with the series?

From Gerry G0RTN's email signature: "In days of old, when ops were bold, and sidebands not invented, The word would pass, by pounding brass, and all were well contented."

Norm KA4PUV's radio club has just completed a series of ten study guides for the Technician exam in PowerPoint format.  They can be used either for self-study, or in a classroom setting. If you or someone you know can use these, they're offered to the amateur community at no charge at: http://cnormany.googlepages.com/home .

Top Band in Sweepstakes?  The band is little used, but definitely available, so Tree N6TR suggests giving 160-meters a short, coordinated test run in the coming CW and SSB weekends of Sweepstakes, the largest domestic US/VE contest. Tree has come up with the idea of tuning down to 160 meters at "0200Z on Monday, one hour before the end of the contest, when many of the Big Guns are hungry for contacts and can tune down to 160 with their second radio."  This is something that everyone can try, so give a CQ to attract callers looking for every last QSO. Tree also suggests staying below 1820 kHz to avoid QRMing the usual DXing activity with this experiment.

Tired of RFI troubles in the shack and around your home?  Several have recommended the extensive and detailed article for the Yankee Clipper Contest Club by Chuck W1HIS on using common-mode chokes (http://tinyurl.com/qnzs3) to deal with RF.  By being proactive, you can make major improvements in RFI from computing and network equipment and keep peace at home by reducing or eliminating interference to audio and video equipment.

What is the most important part of the contester's body?  Your shack chair knows!  Along those lines, Chuck N7BV discovered Oregon Aero (http://www.oregonaero.com), a company with a number of aviation accessories that are definitely useful in the shack.  For example, the Portable Universal Softseat Cushion might help us with all those long hours of sitting during contests. The cushion is designed to be removable and so you can take it with you to the big multi-op. There are several varieties and styles. Ahhhhh!

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SATURDAYS

received as an e-mail, no author known

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was
intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's "dance recital" he continued. "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over
twenty-eight hundred Saturdays." "I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really
important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have beengiven a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off.

I guess he gave us all a lot to think about I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter..

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles...”

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DUES WILL BE DUE, SOON

2007 Dues will be due.  Please support the repeater system and club activities.  Annual membership is $25.00 ($5.00 for additional family members).  Dues are payable to the Hellgate ARC treasurer, K7PX, Steve at ripply1@msn.com.  New members may fill out the application membership (available on the website or in the December Hellgate Static) and send it to us.

Remember, your membership provides:
*Maintenance and funding of over a half dozen VHF/UHF repeaters and emergency and portable repeaters.  These provide wide-area coverage for emergency, public service, club events and routine communications for all VHF/UHF ham radio operators.

*Additionally, HARC maintains portable and fixed HF communications equipment (radios, portable tower and antennas) for emergency, public service, and the numerous radio communication events held throughout the year.

*Monthly Newsletter, hard copy mailed to your postal address and on the club website.

*Monthly meetings to enjoy and interchange information with other radio amateur enthusiasts.

*A source of assistance, advice and encouragement (we call it "Elmering") with your antenna projects and/or radio operation.  

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SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY IS UPCOMING

December 1^st and 2^nd, is SKYWARN Recognition Day, a 24 hour (0000-2400 UTC) demonstration of amateur radio capability and National Weather Service cooperation.  Hellgate ARC members and other participants are needed to operated radio equipment from the National Weather Service office, just North of the Missoula Airport Terminal off Broadyway.  We begin to set up on Friday and finish near 5PM, Saturday.  Please help out and have fun.   Here's a SKYWARN information website, SKYWARN, http://hamradio.noaa.gov/. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Congratulations Ed, KA7YUH and Betty, KA7YUI

A successful examination session, Oct 16:  two new generals, KA7YUH, Ed & KA7YUI, Betty.  Congratulations.  Both, current Technicians w/ code, had their necessary Certificates of Successful Completion of element 3 dated prior to March 21, 1987 to qualify!  Great record keeping. 

Thanks to volunteer examiners, N7TAE, Wayne; K7VK, Vick and N7FMW, Ruth. 

Our next examination session is November 16, 6 pm at the Missoula Public Library, 301 East Main Street.

If you are curious about taking an exam, check out our website. We can schedule for walk-in candidates. No pre-registration is required, just bring your photo ID, a copy of your current license (if you have one) and/or a copy of certificates of successful completion of examination elements. Per the ARRL-VEC and W5YI-VEC, the examination fee is $14.00. The complete question and answer pools are on the ARRL web site.

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ANSWERS FOR LAST MONTH’S PUZZLE

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1) What is an OSCAR, an RS, and an SO? SATELLITE

2) Frequency “going up”. UPLINK

3) Frequency “coming down”. DOWNLINK

4) Orbit time of about 90 minutes comes from this orbit. LOW EARTH

5) Change in frequency of a train whistle as it passes by you. DOPPLER SHIFT

6) The circular orbit matches the rotation of the earth. GEOSYNCHRONOUS

7) The orbit that puts the satellite at up to 60,000 km. from the earth surface. HIGH EARTH

8) The path of the satellite “footprint” on the earth surface. GROUND TRACK

9) The vertical component used to locate the satellite. ELEVATION

10) The compass point location of the satellite (0° - 359°). AZIMUTH

11) A satellite’ current location or future locations are gotten from _____ elements. KEPLERIAN

12) Satellite that captures one signal out of all that it hears and retransmits it on the downlink. TRANSPONDER

13) The old transponder mode “B” is now ____. U/V

14) Voice FM operation is _____. ANALOG

15) Listening on one band and transmitting on another band. FULL DUPLEX

16) Not just for bows anymore. ARROW

17) Abbreviation of “Time of Closest Approach”. TCA

18) The common vernacular for the satellites orbit when a station can work it. PASS

19) The only manned satellite. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

20) Mode JD is _____ operation. DIGITAL

21) A simple piece of equipment designed to improve your received signal. PREAMP

22) A series of CW signals that are sent out to inform people on the earth know what the condition of the satellite is. TELEMETRY

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CONTESTS IN NOVEMBER

November kicks the contest season into full action. By the time this gets to you, the first of the Sweepstakes tests (CW) has already taken place. During the week of November 11-13, the ARRL EME contest, the Japan International DX and the Worked All Europe DX (RTTY). During the weekend of November 18-20, the second of the Sweepstakes tests is on the air. The phone bands will be crowded, but if you put out much of a signal, most folks will love to work someone in Montana! The last weekend this month will bring the CW CQ world wide DX contest. Early next month things will continue with the ARRL 160 Meter contest from 2200 UTC on December 2 through 1600 UTC on December 3. This is always a great time, stop in and work Steve KK7UV, and me if I can ever seem to get my 160 antenna back up! That same weekend is the Skywarn Recognition Day (see previous article). It sounds like folks will be showing up at the airport to help get HARC be back on the air again. If you are curious about what ten meters sounds like during the bottom of the cycle, check out the ARRL Ten Meters Contest on the weekend of December 9-10. Several years ago I worked Bob, N7MSU during the beginning of the contest and Europe the next day. Ten is always a kick since you really never know where your signal will hit the ground. True, the sunspots being gone will mean the pile-ups of European stations probably won’t happen, but…. It’s a fun one anyway.

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IS ANYONE OUT THERE

We hope the HELLGATE STATIC was interesting for you this month. Let us know if this newsletter is to your acceptance. So far, I’ve only heard good things. If there is something YOU would like to see, or that you feel is overdone, please let me know. This is the Hellgate Amateur Radio Club newsletter, not mine! If you have something (even a simple one-liner) please write to me at our address or e-mail me (Craig, KE7NO) at twincreek@blackfoot.net.

Hope that your antenna farm is better shape than mine is! New “harmonics” will tend to rob time away from what needs done outside. The discussion last month was very entertaining, I hope that we can keep it up. If you have any idea at all about a topic, let us know! We all know each other, what a better time to begin your public speaking tour. Because it is “old hat” to you doesn’t mean it would not be interesting for someone else.

With the Christmas party coming very soon, the probability of a similar gift exchange to last year, and the need for new officers, you are needed at the meetings. Plus, we haven’t seen you for a while.

I need your quick one liners for the December “Christmas” wish list. Please send them in. Plus, if I made any mistakes this month, let me know. I try to make it as clean as I can, but errors sneak through.

Have a great Thanksgiving and see you next month.