July 2008

W7PX

http://www.w7px.org

Next meeting is July 14, 2008

At City Fire Station #4, 3011 Latimer St.

1900 local

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Hellgate Amateur Radio Club

P.O. Box 3811

Missoula, MT. 59806-3811

HARC Board of Directors

Club President, W4YMA, Bill Farrell at billfarrell@hotmail.com
Vice-president, AC7UZ, Lewis Ball at ac7uz@blackfoot.net

Treasurer, N7GE, Jerry Ehli at jehli@modernmachinery.com

Secretary, KE7IZG, Mike Leary at michael.leary@umontana.edu

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Present: 14 members

Correction to minutes: Liz said mailers were ready but not mailed, yet.

Treasurer’s report: check $23.

Missoula Marathon – cannot take it unless we spend it on the Marathon

Probably o.k. to keep it

$9,247.54 in account now

Motion to accept, 2nd, all in favor passed

Presentation – Larry Stipe on maps. He is a tech on 2 meters. His main interest is Repeater Directory on ARRL CD for computer, Repeater Book $16, CD $40

Also a world map

“Travel Plus for Repeaters” – gives latitude and longitude, all the nets are listed, can be used for trip planning. Can get at Northwest Distributors, Main street

Committee Reports

Repeaters They met, Eric not here, talked about repeaters

Finish with 4 repeaters we have priority this summer. Note: Eric pulled 146.80 repeater down on June 9th.

40 feet of snow on Point Six

APRS antenna is perfectly buried

Eric hopes to have 146.80 up by 4 July

Membership

Liz getting ready to mail out letters

Liz said talk about putting together board, like a bulletin board

She has a membership form, Emergency Prep – put it off until later

Bill report on TOSRV

Well covered, everyone got gas money and hats and shirts

Got $300 from them for gas. Gas was total of $400

Old business

Sign up for Field Day

Blackfoot River Cleanup July 26

Fourth of July signup sheet went around

Missoula Marathon sign up in July

Andy Commons, Lewis Ball

Bill said to email him if you have some questions

Motion to let Bill email 2nd and passed

Note: Letters to 366 homes, outreach to get more members

Motion to approve just for this letter 2nd and passed.

Recommendation to wait to send these out until web done right ( Mike Leary, Andy Commons) 2nd. Motion failed, and we voted to let the letter go out.

Subject of old generator came up. Lewis offered $25.00 for it.

Had to move and it is heavy

Motion to put it out in Static as is passed

New generator, 2400 watt inverter style new one bought for an incredible $899.00, $1,300 regular

Can double with another one to get more power

Letter of appreciation to Jerry

Net control

18 June Byron

25 June Bill

2 July Paul

9 July Jerry

New Business

Weather Service said we need help. The NWS noted where the “Black hole” of information around Missoula was covered very well by HARC members.

Teach emergency communications needed H.F. very bad and antenna not have radials on it

Mike day relay – did something worthwhile for community

Possible Sister Cub from California (Western Placer ARC) is interested a possible HF net.

If people could send through APRS they have APRS at the NWS site.

Field Day

IC - Incident Commander, Byron in Charge

Incident Command System (ICS) training platform

ICS has roots in military, Supervisor has 3-5 under them

COML- Communication Leader- Donny

PSC - Plan Section Chief - Larry

IAP – Incident Action Plan

OSC - Operation Section Chief, on the air, make contacts

FUDL- Food Unit Leader - Bill

LSC - Logistic Section Chief

We might have a check in location

Deputy + (OSC) - Jerry

Facilities – either Frank or Dennis

Generator and shelter to eat under

Tower – Eric

Station – Frank

Setup schedule, logging etc, Greg

Saturday 9:00 a.m. meet at the guard shack or chapel

Byron talked about EmComm

ARES exists, thought not a very valid emcomm group

National Weather Service

No Red Cross

Montana has accepted ICS

Problems began after September 11, 2001 with ARES, RACES, MARS given National Security concerns

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JULY 4^TH CELEBRATION AT FORT MISSOULA

Another great time was had by all at this year's 4th of July Special Event station at Fort Missoula. Setup proceeded smoothly in spite of the distracting smell of bacon cooking next to the museum. Lewis (AC7UZ), Paul (N7PAS), Mike (KE7IZG), and Craig (KE7NO) set up a 200 foot dipole through the trees on one end and attached to the future trolley station on the other.

Together with Bill's (W4YMA) mobile setup around thirty-two contacts were made on 20 meters through much fading. Around three hundred members of the public were able to witness and talk to local hams in action on both HF and VHF.

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from: THE ARRL LETTER
Vol. 27, No. 26
July 3, 2008

ARRL TELLS RED CROSS OF REMAINING BACKGROUND CHECK POLICY CONCERNS
ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, has written to Armond T. Mascelli, Vice President for Domestic Disaster response for the American Red Cross (ARC) to identify the ARRL's remaining concerns over the background check policy for ARC partners. Harrison emphasized that the commencement of negotiation of a replacement Statement of Understanding (SOU) between the two organizations should not be further delayed while these concerns are resolved and that he looked forward to signing a new SOU once
additional edits to the background check Disclosure Form and clarifications of the background check Authorization Form are in place
for those radio amateurs who volunteer their service to the Red Cross.

Harrison first wrote to Mascelli on November 28, 2007, setting out the ARRL's concerns with the background check procedures recently implemented by the ARC. ARC now requires a background check for Amateur Radio volunteers seeking to support a Red Cross disaster relief response for more than a seven day period. In the ARRL's view, Amateur Radio volunteers were being asked to consent to a more intrusive background check than was necessary or appropriate.

Mascelli's reply on May 8, 2008, addressed some of the ARRL's concerns and Harrison's latest letter to the ARC -- sent on June 30, 2008 -- recognizes considerable improvement in the forms related to the background check procedures that are linked via the ARC's Web site; however, Harrison also states that analysis of the forms has revealed two continuing problems:

* The Authorization for Background Investigation consent form still contains "some highly equivocal and broad language which, because of its ambiguity, will inevitably discourage substantial numbers of radio amateurs from participating in the background check process." This form was not included with Mascelli's reply and was not seen by the ARRL until later.

* The "Disclosure Regarding Background Investigation" can still be construed as overly broad, although this can be corrected by fairly simple edits.

Harrison told Mascelli, "We do not want the implementation of these additional changes to further delay the negotiation of the terms of a replacement SOU. A new SOU is, in my view, a critical and urgent matter. Because the old SOU expired on September 16, 2007, the vacuum thereafter has served neither ARRL nor ARC well." ARRL and ARC staff are ready to work on a draft replacement SOU, the text of which will be reviewed by the ARRL's Programs and Services Committee and approved by either the Executive Committee or the Board prior to completion.

Harrison concluded, "We look forward to continuing to provide seamless disaster response communications by Amateur Radio and to enhancing and expanding ARRL's proud partnership with the American Red Cross. I look forward to meeting with you and executing the new SOU once additional edits to the Disclosure Form, and adequate clarifications are included in the Authorization Form that appears on your web site for partner organizations are made, and when the new SOU terms are agreed upon."

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N7MSU/KL7

I visited w/ N7MSU/KL7, Bob on 20 meters tonight at 01:00z, 14.178 MHz.  He said to say "Hi to all." 

He is doing very well, fishing and hamming a little and doing the "camp-host thing" a lot! 

The temp was 73F, mosquitoes are abundant as are the flowers and birds.  He has seen a few moose, one big bull. 

Bob was 5x5 on my old FT 101 with some QSB. 

He'll be on again Saturday night, 00:00, 01:00 & 02:00 if any of you are available. 

73, Vick, K7VK

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W7DHB QSY

Dear Friends,

For those of you who have not heard of our plans to move, we have sold the house and will be moving to the Oxnard or Ventura CA areas by the end of July.  When we get the new address, etc, we'll try to get all the new information to you all.  However, we will be very busy with a yard sale, contacting the mover, etc, etc, etc, so PLEASE, no emails for a couple of months -- we are in a panic mode because the house sold fast (after waiting so long), so not much time for checking or responding to emails.

Thanks for all the concerns; we really will miss you all. 

Dennis & June

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ARRL CLUB NEWSLETTER
JUNE 3, 2008
Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, Editor

HAM RADIO IS A REAL VALUE
(Originally published in AIRWAVES, The newsletter of the Sierra ARC, May 2008.)
Mike Herr, WA6ARA

As a kid in the '60s I hung around my father, WB6MNX, and his ham buddies. The talk in those days was pretty much similar to now, what features their new rig had. But one thing I now note is that each ham had but one rig, yep, just one rig. It was usually a HF rig, and it was used both in the house and in the car. Before the 2 meter revolution everyone, except for the few brave experimenters in the
VHF regions, was on the HF bands. But why did most ops have only one rig? The answer is simple economics; radio equipment was expensive back then. 

As a novice I would lust over the Heathkit "perfect" novice station, the DX-60B, HR-10 receiver and HG-10B VFO. Wow!  Ninety watts on CW or AM on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters (In my Novice days we only had privileges on 80, 40 and 15 meter). But with a price tag of $200 it was way out of reach for a lot of people, especially for a teenager.

Today ham radios are much cheaper and offer much more features than rigs available to Amateurs in the mid 1960's. I cannot comment on every ham's financial situation but when comparing selling prices, average salaries and technological features, Amateur Radio is a bargain today.

Let's take a look at the previously mentioned DX-60B, HR-10 and HG-10B station. In 1965 it cost about $200, only offered two modes (AM and CW), took up an entire desktop and it generated enough heat to warm half the house. Adjusted for inflation the "perfect" Heathkit novice station would cost $1,323.00 today!  Compared to entry level radios today that offer 100 watts on all Amateur bands, all modes (AM, FM, CW, SSB and digital), dual VFOs, general coverage receive and all sorts of bells and whistles, not to mention outstanding dynamic receivers and clean, stable transmitted signals, when adjusted for inflation, would have cost less than half the price of the 1965 model.

The Heathkit HW-101, an entry level SSB rig for many operators during the '60s and 70s, sold as a kit in 1971 for $350.  In today's dollars that same unit would be $1,849, which buys a heck of a lot more radio the old '101.

The biggest bang for the buck is in a piece of equipment that we all use, a 2 meter rig. Back at the time the 2 meter revolution was in
full swing FM transceivers were selling for about $300 to $500 which translates to thousands of dollars today. There were a few
synthesized models but most were crystal controlled which meant purchasing a pair of crystals, one each for transmit and receive for
each channel that you wanted to operate and were limited to two to ten channels.  They were about the size of a large book and operated at 2 to 5 watts output.   Today you can buy a shirt pocket handheld or a 65 watt mobile transceiver, fully synthesized 100 channels, scanning, CTCSS encode/decode, etc for what amounts to about $28 in 1971 dollars.

Ham radio is CHEAP. In the 60s the typical ham had to work for a month to buy a rig, today it is more like one week. I remember in
1965 when dad bought a SBE-34 and he had to buy it on time because it was just so expensive. Compared to other hobbies and recreation, ham radio is a steal. You can be on the air with the local repeater for about $150.  A complete 100 watt HF station including an antenna is less than $1000.  If you are a builder, parts have never been cheaper or more available. A couple of minutes on the internet and you can order parts and have them at your house in a couple of days. No more waiting for the once a year trip to the Hamfest.

Of course you can spend tens of thousands of dollars creating the ultimate station. There is no limit as to what you can spend on any
hobby but there a tremendous value to anyone who is attracted to Amateur Radio. Let's compare Amateur radio to other past times.  A
decent 4 wheel drive vehicle, with the extras to keep up with others in the local 4 WD club might set you back $30K. That boat for water skiing or fishing during the summer is about the same. How about the home computer? Again, about the cost of a HF rig and you buy a new one every couple of years or so. Ham radio cost a fraction of what it did in the past and offers twenty times the features. So get out and enjoy ham radio and stop feeling guilty about the money. 

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CONGRATULATIONS DAVE, KE7SIA

On Monday, June 9, KE7SIA, Dave of Seeley Lake was successful passing his General Class examination.   Congratulations Dave.

Thanks to VEs  N7GE, K7VK, W7DHB, K7PX and WG7E. 

At the HARC meeting following the exam, WG7P, Elmer made a good point that the noise should be kept down when a candidate is completing the test.  I was remiss about correcting this during the examination.  Please assist us in keeping future examination rooms quiet during testing. 

Thanks much & 73,

Vick, K7VK    

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JULY BRAIN TEASER

By Pete / NL7XM

FIVE HAMS

There are five houses in five different colors. In each house lives an Amateur Radio Operator of a different License Class. These five hams are different ages, use different types of antennas, and prefer different brands of radios. None of them are the same.

Using the following clues, answer the question, “Who owns the Yaesu?”

l The Novice lives in the red house.

l The Technician only uses Kenwood.

l The Extra is 45 years old.

l The green house is on the left of the white house.

l The Ham in the green house is 61 years old.

l The Ham with the dipole uses Ten-Tec.

l The Ham in the yellow house has a vertical.

l The Ham living in the house right in the center is 57 years old.

l The Advanced Class Ham lives in the first house.

l The Ham with the Yagi lives next door to the Collins user.

l The Ham who owns the Icom lives next door to the vertical owner.

l The Ham with the quad is 33 years old.

l The General uses a half-square antenna.

l The Advanced Ham lives next door to the blue house.

l The Ham next door to the Yagi owner is 70 years old.

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MONTANA MONTHLY SUMMARY

Well, summer is here with a vengeance.  It's already hit 100 degrees here in my area and looks like more to follow.  These warm days are an excellent time to pull down your antennas and give them a good inspection, re-soldering any connection that looks stressed and checking out hardware for cracks and loose parts.

This also is a great time to inspect your towers for plugged drain holes at the bottom of the legs where water might collect and begin to rust out the tower legs.  This is an insidious damage that can kill or injure anyone who might climb the tower at a future time after the leg or legs have been weakened by this rust.  Most (but not all) commercial tower manufacturers claim to have galvanized the inside of their tower section legs, but don’t bet your life on it.  I've seen several tower structures whose legs were full of water and were damaged structurally.  If you find one of these, don’t climb it.  Get some professional help and take down the tower, replace it with a new bottom section and be sure the legs pass water out of them at the base.  To ignore this problem can be deadly.  If you are like many amateurs and use a tower section set in concrete for your base, be sure and place a few inches of gravel in the bottom of the hole before pouring your base.  That will provide a good drainage path for any moisture that might travel down the legs to collect at the bottom of the base.

Glacier Hamfest is next week.  Sounds like a great sign up for this year, nearly that of last.  With fuel prices as high as they are, it has been a concern that some might not be able to afford the trip.  Hope to see as many as possible there.  Tailgate sales will be available, so bring your old gear and anything else you'd like to sell or trade.  A small percentage will go to the Hamfest to help support it. WIMU Hamfest will be the first weekend in August at Jackson Hole, WY.  This is always a great gathering and worth the trip if you can make it.

The Butte ARC is holding their annual Trivia Picnic at noon on August 2nd at the Cardwell Campground.  The campground is located right at the bottom of the Cardwell hill on I90.  For more info, contact Bill, W7ROE in Butte. Bring your trading stock or gear you'd like to sell.

MTN-W7MPK, QNI-1935, QTC-80, IMN-VE7DWG, QNI-425, QTC-66, MSN-K7YD, AE7V, QNI-176

Thanks and 73,

Doug Dunn, K7YD

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FIELD DAY CROSSWORD

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The most popular on-the-air operating event in amateur radio. FIELD DAY

Small, winged, vampires that occupy every Field Day location. MOSQUITOS _

Motorized piece of equipment that stops working at 11 PM local time. GENERATOR

What dinner time and coax have in common? FEEDLINES

What has replaced paper logs and dupe sheets COMPUTER

“Operator” present at every Field Day Site. Also has a law named after him. MURPHY

What the two stations pass to each other. EXCHANGE

What precedes the “section” in the exchange between stations? CATEGORY

What EWA, NFL, EPA, SNJ, MT, and PAC are? SECTION

Sunlight and bike peddling are types of ALTERNATIVE power.

The equipment that dies at 11 PM is also EMERGENCY power.

Get On The Air abbreviation. GOTA

The reason that many people copy CW at 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM on Saturday during FD. BULLETIN

The most important “birds” on Field Day. SATELLITES

Phone is one and CW and Digital is two. POINTS

On the trailer and it doesn’t rotate. VERTICAL

The other antenna on the trailer. BEAM

Don’t forget the radio or the POWER supply.

Radio, power supply, feedline, power, tuned antenna, and a good GROUND, should get you on the air.

Without one (above), you can get a nasty RF BURN.

During this time of the cycle, ten doesn’t work after dark, but go down and try EIGHTY.

Watch out for overseas AM broadcast on FORTY.

Public RELATIONS are a huge part of the event.

Ride the WAVES is the theme this year.

Remember, the key ingredient to Field Day is to learn and have FUN.

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Did you hear about the $3 million Redneck Lottery?
The winner gets $3.00 a year for a million years. - Steve Harding, KT6Z

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THE JULY MEETING PRESENTATION

John Locke— Will talk about his experiences during Hurricane Katrina and how ham radio helped or could have helped during that disaster. His strike team was the first strike team to arrive in New Orleans, and was overwhelmed with work the entire time he was there.

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is this frequency in use

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.

As was said earlier, it is summer. The rivers are still running a wee bit high, but as we saw earlier this week, the fires are beginning to burn here. The temperatures are up, and so is the price of gasoline. You could use this as a fine opportunity to clean up your shack (or totally rearrange like Steve KK7UV is doing). Antennas always need maintenance, whether it is a yagi, a ¼ wave vertical, a 20 meter beverage, or even a simple 40 meter dipole. When was the last time you changed out your coax? Water is amazing, especially the way it finds its way into 50 ohm feedline! If you have a tower, take the time to read the Montana Monthly Summary by Doug Dunn, K7YD. Don’t forget about the likelihood of summer lightning storms!

If you have the time to make it to the Glacier-Waterton Hamfest, I hope you find everything you are looking for. If not, there will be more to come, for example, Spokane in September.

The Blackfoot River clean-up and the Missoula Marathon are the “big” club events left this month. Whatever you do, enjoy the warmth and remember that too much snow could be five months away.

My wife and I send our best wishes to Dennis, W7DHB, and his lovely wife June. We will miss you and hope that you will enjoy your new home in California. Our best 73.