|
The THE SPECTRUM May
2007 Come one, Come ALL !
! ! The VVARC Officers for 2007:
May General Meeting: Tuesday, May 8 Program: This is going to be a surprise that I’m sure
you won’t want to miss!!!!! Don’t think we have ever had anything
like this before!! It
will be a lot of fun, so be sure and join us! Club meetings are held
at the Mojave River Campus of the Membership drawing and
door prizes. Everyone is welcome!! Directions:
From June General Meeting A little advance notice,
our June general meeting each year is our annual BBQ at the Hall’s home
in More information will be
forthcoming, but we wanted everyone to mark their calendars. 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 help 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 Sandi DeWeert 5/16 Virginia Hall 5/20 Donn Pera 5/7 Joe Schow 5/22 If anyone is missed, let us know. Our records probably need to be
updated.
Bob Hall was feeling a little under the weather, but according to
him, he’s fine now. GLAD TO HEAR IT BOB Please
let Sandi DeWeert, sdeweert@verizon.net, know if you hear of any of our
members that may be under the weather or just need a little lift from
friends in the Club. Welcome to New Club Members Want to welcome some new
members to our Club, Joe and Carolyn Schow, Robert Caddell, and David Deards.
Getting some new HAMS in
our Club and we are looking forward to some new ideas. Don’t be afraid
to speak up. Every idea is a good one. Let’s all make them
feel welcome and say hello. To our new members Are you aware of the ARRL? QST magazine? In order for our Club to be an affiliated organization,
we need to maintain 51% membership to the ARRL. The ARRL pays our Club a
commission for new and renewing memberships. If you have any
questions, feel free to contact your Board members. New Technician Class This class is being
sponsored by the City of When: June 2, 9, 16 and FCC exam June 23, 8
A.M. to Noon Where: Fire Station 311, Country Fairgrounds @ Cost: $20.00 (includes study manual and study guide) Contact: Robert Barton, W7OES, Emergency Services
– (760) 955-5232 Randy Hatfield, AG6RH, Instructor -
(760) 951-9769 Lori Hatfield, KD7GNC, Lovely Assistant
- (760) 951-9769 Registration and payment required by May 31, 2007 Membership Drawing: Our membership drawing
only reflects 2007 members. Be sure and renew your membership and attend the general
meetings. This entitles you to a chance of winning the drawing and receiving
a copy of the Spectrum by email. The May drawing is $10.00. April’s winner was
Jimmy James in the amount of $20.00. Jimmy donated the money to the Polly
Newberry Memorial Fund. Thanks to those who have
renewed this year; your continued support is appreciated If you haven’t yet
renewed, a membership form is located at the end of this issue. Additional
membership forms can also be found on our web site, www.VictorValleyARC.com. Dues for 2007 remain the
same: $18.00 for individuals, $23 for families, and $10 for youth and all new
members. Volunteers Needed: YOUR
INPUT IS VITAL!!! Your Board is always
looking for volunteers to help out with Club business. 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. Remember, without your
input, we have no idea what interests you or what you would like to do. VE Testing in the 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 Also, the Inland ARC
tests on the 4th Thursday of each month, at 5 PM at Web Site Update YES. WE ARE UP!!!!!!! Thanks to Randy and
Steve’s relentless pursuit, the Club now has an active web site. Steve
is working very hard to get it updated. This reporter will try
and get an interview with the webmaster and see what he has in store for
future updates. I know that one of the enhancements will be the Board and
General approved meeting minutes will be posted. If you have any
suggestions on what you would like to see, feel free to let Steve know. THANKS AGAIN!!!!! From the ARRL: Address
or phone number change??? “The
FCC requires you to maintain a valid current mailing address in their
database at all times. This is so that they can contact you by mail if
needed. If you move or even change 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. A Test that was Good to the Last Dot from the Santa Barbara New-Press, Friday, Feb 23,
2007 Will “I’m pretty
confident,” said Will, leading up to the test. “It’s like learning
music.” The Federal
Communications Commission today ended the requirement that people applying
for amateur radio licenses know the alphabets of dots and dashes. So, as a nod to the past and as
acknowledgement that people around the world still communicate via the system
developed by Samuel Morse, the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club held what it
sees at the last official test of the code.
“The FCC says
it’s slow, says there are better ways to send data,” said Darryl
Widman, contact person for the club’s volunteer examiner team. After years of debate, commissioners
decided in Dec 2006 to drop the requirement. That sparked action on the part
of the radio club whose members identify themselves as much by name as call
sign. “Hundreds of thousands of
HAMs all over the world absolutely love the “Code,” aid Mr.
Widman who learned it as a Boy Scout in 1952.
“At midnight Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, that’s
when it came to a screeching halt so we figured we could squeeze it in there
and give the last Morse code tests in the United States of American, one
second before.” As of Thursday afternoon,
Will Campbell was among three people who signed up for the test. Will become
interested in Morse code when a friend of his returned to his native Those sound or character
rhythm each stand for a different letter.
The first telegraph transmission was “What hath God
wrought?” send from Morse in While the results might
go unnoticed by the FCC, Will said he was proud to pass. “I got a certificate and I’m
going to file it away to prove that I was the last person to take the Morse
Code test.” Fun on Two Meters Radios By
Randy Hatfield. AG6RH Have
you ever thought of all the things your 2 meter rig can do? I’m not speaking of just the
multi-mode or mobile rigs. I’m talking
about your 2 meter handheld. This is a
short article with websites you can visit to learn and do more while we wait
for better sunspot numbers. T-hunting There are two really neat options here. First, you can make your rig into a
controlled T-hunting transmitter. Put
it on low power, hide it and let others find it. A good location for small T-hunts would be
the old George Air Force Base parks.
There are trees, trash cans, fence posts and the like over there. There are controllers you can build that are just a
bit larger than a match box. With its
associated cabling this could cost around $50.00. If you really want to be stealthy there is
a kit that has a transmitter set on one frequency and controller
together. The entire transmitter is smaller
than half a credit card! http://byonics.com/piccon/ inexpensive controller for a transmitter. Secondly, you could T-hunt with your HT! When I was young in my HAM career I used to
T-hunt quite a bit. In the summers we
often had a HT T-hunt for the club meeting. The “hunted” would give a demo on how
to radio direction find (RDF) with just a handheld. We would pair up and try to find the transmitter
that was hidden in an area the size of 2 football fields. You’d be surprised at the fun that
can be. When there were two
transmitters at the same time we needed to know a little Morse code to know
which one to hunt first. The
following are really neat websites regarding this subject: http://members.aol.com/homingin/ Deals
with all types of T-hunting http://www.west.net/~jay/hunt/socal.htm Deals with http://home.att.net/~wb8wfk/
Deals with foot race competitions http://www.qsl.net/n6bg/thunt/quad.html A typical homemade quad antenna for receive http://home.alphalink.com.au/~pfraser/index.html
web ring for T-hunting Listening
to Ham Satellites There are several satellites that can be monitored
with an HT. The fun comes from
tracking the low orbit satellites to listen in. With a dual band radio you can listen to
even more satellites. Some satellites
have elliptical orbits that can be heard for many hours. Low orbit satellites can only be heard for
a few minutes. There is also the space
station to contact! http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php Good satellite web page http://www.hobbyspace.com/SatBuilding/index.html Interesting reading APRS
Ever heard of LOJACK? HAM radio provides the poor man’s
tracker. You put the system in your
car and it can be monitored on special websites on the Internet. You can build this system for less than
$100.00. You’ll need a GPS unit
that can be purchased for about $65.00 or use your modern GPS unit that has a
data output. You’ll need to
purchase a kit that you can assemble, or it can be purchased assembled and
tested. There is a matchbox sized unit
for APRS. When you go on vacation your friends can track your
progress! But then again, if you have
teenagers, you know where they drive. http://byonics.com/ A good place to purchase
APRS kits and other stuff http://www.aprsworld.net/ Leads to get APRS info http://www.findu.com/ Really good info and leads to other sites VoIP
or Echolink, etc. There are repeaters in http://www.arrl.org/qst/2003/02/VoIP.pdf The basics from ARRL http://www.echolink.org/ A really good site to start you education So,
there you have it. Simple things you
can do to make VHF/UHF handhelds do some really neat things. Find an Elmer who has done this type of
stuff and let him or her guide you. Field Day 2007 by Bob Hall There are 17 stations
confirmed for the 2007 Route 66 On-The-Air Special Event coming up in
September. The dates this year are
Sept 8 – Sept 16. The clubs
participating include 5 from CA, 2 from AZ, 1 in NM, 1 in TX, 3 from OK, 1 in
KS, 3 from Mo, and 1 in IL. Our club
will operate this year as W6D. Mark
your calendar if you are interested in operating during this event;
we’d love to have more than the usual 5 or 6 of us. You can operate from your own home, on your
own radio, using the special 1X1 call.
(Recommended HF frequencies will be given later.) A total of over 12,000 contacts were made
during this event last year, and since there are hams out there looking for
all 17 stations, it’s a fun event. Polly Newberry Memoriam Our Club received $100.00 donation from Bill
Newberry, Jr. in memoriam of his mother Polly. In accordance with his
request, the monies the Club has received in memoriam of Polly, in the amount
of $200.00, will be set aside and used to advance the hobby of amateur radio. Randy
Hatfield, AG6RH I
just wanted to give you a heads up. Several people have asked for
dimensions for building a j-pole. There are tricks to making this
antenna. If you attend the activity I promise you will learn some
really neat things about antennas and building them. It will be well
worth your time and money! Robert
and I will be having a j-pole making party after a Tech class in June.
We have to determine whether it will be the first or second week of
June. I
was at HRO this week to check the price of J’s sold there. The
basic model costs around $35 with tax plus shipping or the gas to go pick one
up. It’s about 150 miles round trip plus traffic. If
you chose to make one at the “j-pole party” they will cost
$25.00. We will be mass producing them using a jig I made. Again, you
will learn a lot about how your antenna works along with your radio. If
you chose to make an antenna with us, Robert will supply all the
materials. He can buy the materials in bulk and save you money.
You are asked to pay $25.00 at the If
you are interested or have any questions, let me know. Route 66 on the Air There are 17 stations
confirmed for the 2007 Route 66 On-The-Air Special Event coming up in
September. The dates this year are
Sept 8 – Sept 16. The clubs
participating include 5 from CA, 2 from AZ, 1 in NM, 1 in TX, 3 from OK, 1 in
KS, 3 from Mo, and 1 in IL. Our club will operate
this year as W6D. Mark your calendar
if you are interested in operating during this event; we’d love to have
more than the usual 5 or 6 of us. You
can operate from your own home, on your own radio, using the special 1X1
call. (Recommended HF frequencies will
be given later.) A total of over 12,000
contacts were made during this event last year, and since there are HAMs out
there looking for all 17 stations, it’s a fun event. Further information will appear on the CBARC website which is new: www.w6jbt.org. TOP SECRET! By
Randy Hatfield, AG6RH This
article is for those who have faith in the unknown. It is for those who seek adventure. It is for those who have or have access to
a high clearance vehicle. It is for
those who follow “road sign” instructions carefully knowing
disaster will strike if they don’t.
And, for the truly adventurous, begin at the starting point 90 minutes
before sunset. You
will need a GPS unit. You must take a
camera! You should also take
binoculars or a telescope. If you
chose to take a HAM radio be careful with it. Take a cell phone. Your
starting point is the train station in Victorville which is located at
Follow the road around as you climb to 2921 feet.
This road is wider than the previous one. Climb to 3200 feet.
This road is even wider. You will see bad pavement before your next
turn. Climb to about 3425 feet.
This road is narrow and bumpy. Drive slowly. Honk your horn at blind turns. Use low gears.
Drive to the end of the road. See next months Spectrum for “Not So Top
Secret” Radio No submissions this
month. Come on guys, I’m sure somebody out there can come up with one. Sharpen your wits and your pencils and write
one. E-mail to |
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
