Members of ARRL since 1957

The Victor Valley Amateur Radio Club Newsletter THE SPECTRUM February 2007 Come one, Come ALL ! ! ! The VVARC Officers for 2006: President: Jerry Grunden, WR6X Vice-President: Randy Hatfield, AG6RH barbrieg@juno.com Randy.Lori@verizon.net Secretary: Lori Hatfield, KD7GNC Treasurer: Sandi DeWeert, KG6ZHX Randy.Lori@verizon.net sdeweert@verizon.net February Meeting: Tuesday, February 13 Program: Carla Warner from Goldstone will again be out to talk about what has been going on since her last visit. You don’t want to miss this one. Club meetings are held at the Mojave River Campus of the Lewis Center. Membership drawing and door prizes. Everyone is welcome!! Directions: From Apple Valley Road, turn west on Tuscola (toward the river). Take the very first right turn, which is Mana. The campus is located at the very end of Mana Rd. We meet in Building C. Sunday Night Net: Remember that every Sunday at 7PM the club conducts a Net on the 146.940 repeater. Get the latest club announcements and reminders. Also, our club needs volunteers to run the Net. If you are interested, please contact us. In the event that the repeater is down, turn to 146.5350 simplex. Club Member News Birthdays: Lanny Creason 1/17 Tom King 1/6 Barbara LaGrange 1/6 James Pike 1/23 Joyce Pike 1/28 Bobby Wilson 1/20 Rod Zeka 1/17 Bill Baumruck 2/1 John Dooley 2/13 Ron Rosenberg 2/26 Get Well: Please let Sandi DeWeert, sdeweert@verizon.net, know if you hear of any of our members that may be under the weather. 2007 DUES: 2007 membership dues are now due. Thanks to those who have paid for this year; your continued support is appreciated. A membership form is at the end of this issue for your convenience. Dues for 2007 remain the same: $18.00 for individuals, $23 for families, and $10 for youth and all new members. Volunteers Needed: Your Board is looking for volunteers to help out on two separate teams, Activities Committee and By-Laws Review. Please step forward and give us a hand. Contact any of the Board members. If you have any ideas for programs, activities, club projects, etc. speak up. Pass your thoughts along to the Board members.  WE are open to any suggestions.  We have some new ideas that we are looking at and are very excited for the coming year. VE Testing in the Victor Valley The first Saturday of every odd-numbered month there is a GLAARG (Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group) test session in Hesperia. Tests are held at the Fire Station at the corner of Olive and H. Registration starts at 8:30 AM. The cost is $4.00. Walk-ins are welcome. Testing is available for all classes of license. All candidates must bring a picture ID, and if you are upgrading, you need the original and a copy of your amateur license and any CSCEs you hold. For more information, you can contact Jim MacRay, KW6V, at 244-1396. Directions to test site: From I-15 take Main Street, Hesperia exit. GO east on Main St. approx. 5 miles. Turn south on “H” to Olive. Also, the Inland ARC tests on the 4th Thursday of each month, at 5 PM at 25541 Barton Rd, Loma Linda. Contact person is Sam Eller, AD6UE at (909) 796-2996. Location from going south on I-10: Exit Mountain View Ave, right on Barton, Left on Loma Linda Dr, Civic Center complex. Take driveway to your left immediately past the fire station. Silent Key: Polly Newberry, KA6KKN Polly Newberry passed away Jan 9th at the age of 83. She graduated from Whittier College in 1945 and took a teaching position at the old Victor School on Sixth Street in Victorville. She married Bill Newberry in 1946; She and Bill had a home in Apple Valley for 56 years. Polly retired from teaching in 1979 and took up amateur radio, earning her novice ticket after passing the Morse Code tests. She quickly advanced in the ranks, earning her Extra Class ticket, and became a mentor to many who entered amateur radio. She helped administer many certification tests, and with her husband, Bill, was very active in the Victor Valley ARC. Due to her distinctive radio voice and presence, and being one of the very few women on amateur radio at the time, Polly was frequently contacted by other operators from all over the world. As a result of these contacts she was able to travel to Japan, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand and Australia to meet them, as well as to entertain them in her own home in Apple Valley. Polly is survived by her children, William E. “Bill” and daughter, Mary Jane, and their families. We extended our sympathies to all of them. Some personal memories: When Bob and I first became HAMS, Polly and Bill were active members. Polly picked up donuts for every meeting, setting them out for us to enjoy. She collected donations on a volunteer basis, but it was all informal. In memory of this fine lady, donuts will be served at our February meeting. Virginia, KD6YLT. About the time Polly started taking part in Field Day, knowing when her birthday was, I started making a huge chocolate cake each year. We had this at the potluck dinner in honor of Polly’s birthday. She loved her chocolate cake and I enjoyed making it for her. She was the one who hounded me relentlessly to work on my code and would often sit and send to me, to get my license. She was one of the VEs when I tested and was the one who told me I’d passed my code. She never gave up on me. She was my Elmer and I am thankful for that and for her devotion to Ham Radio. I will miss her, 88s Polly de. James KB6WHT From Joyce, KB6BLD: When James and I made a trip to New Zealand together, we had no one in our family who could get on air to keep in touch with. We’d talked to our friend Bruce, ZL1KP, who said he could handle the radio from down there. Polly stepped right up and said she would be happy to keep a schedule with Bruce and would phone our respective family here. Well, I don’t think there was more than half a day at a time when Bruce didn’t hear us on 2 meters down there and call us. He seemed to know every move we made. When we returned, we would go to tell Polly about some place we were and she would say, “I know.” We would start to tell about something else and she would say, “I know.” She and Bruce talked daily while we were there and their friendship continued until the time Polly gave up being on HF. Even then, Bruce would pick up the phone and make the international call, just to see how Polly was doing, even after she went to assisted care. I had peach trees and Polly had apricot trees, so for several years we would swap the fruit and make our jams. As another friend said, Polly stood back and let Bill shine, but she got her claim to fame through Amateur Radio. She will be greatly missed, not only by James and myself, but by all the people and true friendships she made with people all over the world. We all love you, Polly! 73s and 33s de. Joyce, KB6BLD From the Mail: We received the following from Tom King, W4VZH, now happily settled in Floyd, Virginia: I just finished a most enjoyable and lengthy QSO with YI1UNH, Baghdad with an Iraqi with an unpronounceable name via ECHOLINK. He is a teacher and likes to get on the air for a few minutes after breakfast and before leaving for the classroom. He’s 43, single and has a mom and two brothers. They all live together in what he termed a large house (1800 sq meters) in a nice neighborhood. He sounded really upbeat and devoted to his students. You really should get on ECHOLINK. It’s really easy since XP added the Service Pack 2. No more firewall issues. 73, Tom w4vzh@arrl.net From the ARRL: Codeless Amateur Radio testing beings February 23. It is official; the new Part 97 rules deleting any Morse code examination requirement, goes into effect Friday, Feb. 23. If you would like to read more about this, go to http://www.arrl.org/fccmorse/ Don’t forget if you need to renew your membership or join the ARRL, contact Sandi DeWeert (sdeweert@verizon.net) and pay your dues through the Club. VVARC receives a commission for each renewal or new joining fee. He WAS a Renaissance Man. A bit of radio history: The son of a prominent minister, Samuel F. B. Morse graduated from Yale University in 1810 and pursued a career as a painter. While his paintings are now recognized as some of the most accomplished of the 1800s, he also was a pioneer in daguerreotype photography. While perfecting his art in Europe, Morse became acquainted with scientists studying electricity. His interest in the telegraph grew and he devised his famous series of dots and dashes—standing for letters of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation to send via the telegraph. He obtained $10,000 in 1842 to run an experimental line from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C. to transmit his coded messages. The first was from the Bible, “What hath God wrought!” His invention revolutionized the way and the speed with which information could be sent. Within 10 years, 2,000 miles of telegraph lines connected the United States, offering a path to almost anywhere for those simple dots and dashes.” (Oct/Nov. 06 issue of Reminisce magazine). Radio Limerick The ham spent each day in his shack, Of contacts and chats, he’d no lack. His wife fumed, dismayed, But he’d not be dissuaded He’s waiting for her to come back. Limericks all have the same rhyme pattern of these examples. The dictionary definition is: A nonsense poem, consisting of five lines, the first, second and fifth of three feet and rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are of two feet and rhyme. Here is a classic sent to us by Ray Terry: There once was a man from Nantucket, Who kept all his cash in a bucket. His daughter named Nan, Ran away with a man. And as for the bucket, Nantucket. Our continuing Challenge: Try your hand at making one up; it would be welcome. We did this activity a decade or so back, and did have a few participants; we’ll have a new one each month. So, sharpen your wits and your pencils and write one. E-mail to Virginia at kd6rdc@juno.com