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The VALLEY HAM NEWS
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The Voice of the Yuba Sutter Amateur Radio Club
A California
Non-profit Organization
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E-Mail: ki6bkl@arrl.net
Web Page: http://www.ysarc.org/
Yuba Sutter Amateur Radio Club
C/O Clara Ansley, KC6JPP
1943 16th Street Olivehurst, CA 95961
January,
2007 Edition
2007 CLUB OFFICERS
President: Bob
McClard, W6OWH
Vice President: Don Fair, KB6RHJ
Treasurer: Clara Ansley, KC6JPP
Secretary: Manna Whelchel, KG6PNE
REPEATER TRUSTEE
Dave Gartner, WD6AXM
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2006 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ron Murdock, W6KJ
Herb Puckett, W6HBU
Lee Sheffield, KC6MCI
Steve Sweetman, K6YCS
David Wainer, WD6SCD
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UPCOMING EVENTS
VE TESTING SESSION: 9:00 a.m. Saturday, January 6th,
2007 at the West Building 715 King Ave. (Cornerstone Church) in Yuba
City. www.ysarc.org/exam.htm
CLUB MEETING & TECHNICIAN LICENSE CLASS BEGINS: 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
at the Three Rivers Red Cross Chapter
Building,
2125 E. Onstott
Rd. Yuba City. North of Queens Ave, East of SR-99.
MONDAY NIGHT NET:
Monday nights at 7:00 p.m. - Weekly YSARC club net with check-in,
roundtable, swap shop and ham help sessions on the local repeater.
YSARES NET: Thursday
nights at 7:00 p.m. - weekly ARES net on the local repeater.
BUTTE ARES NET: Monday nights at 8:00 p.m.
- Butte County ARES
net on the GEARS repeater, W6RHC 146.850, –offset, PL 110.9.
ARRL SECTION NET: Every Second
Wednesday night of each month at 7:00 PM - ARRL Section Net on the local
repeater.
Every
Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. – Coffee and donuts get together. Location
changes weekly. Listen in for details during YSARC club net Mondays at
7:00 p.m.
No-so-daily at 12:00 p.m. (noon-ish) – Lunch bunch get together. Listen in for details daily on the local
repeater.
UPDATES AND ADDITIONS TO YSARC ROSTER
ADDITIONS: KI6EDS, Vicki Ball.
Patrick Fulmer, KI6ZX.
Brenda Kountz, KI6FRQ.
KI6FRR,
David Warner. KI6GWF, Sharon Cross.
CHANGES: KE6ROA, Sharlene
Gilman – call added.
NOTICE:
CLUB DUES ARE NOW DUE. IF DUES REMAIN UNPAID BY JANUARY 15TH, YOU WILL
NOT RECEIVE A NEWSLETTER IN FEBRUARY.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PROMPT ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. CLARA M. ANSLEY - KC6JPP, YSARC
TREASURER
A geography lesson due for the FCC?
(a ham chuckle)
A ham friend
once called the FCC to inform them that he had moved and change his address in
the ULS from Vermont to California.
The operator at the FCC who took the call then asked where Vermont was. As he tried to explain, the operator
interrupted and said,
“Look, I'm not stupid or anything, so just tell me what state it is
in!” sit?'
MEET A FELLOW HAM
KI6COM, Roger Hahn - Sutter, Technician Class
Licensee, ARES Member.
MINUTES OF THE BOARD
MEETING
No YSARC Board
Meeting official minutes were submitted at press time.
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
When
leaving home do you ever stand in
front of the mirror and look at what you are wearing? I do this daily and
…No… I do not mean the clothes or your pocket pen or pencil.
Look a little closer and notice the technology you have on. Let’s
see, there is that small cell phone in your pocket or on the belt. Is it
looking neat and in order? Oh, there is the small
digital camera on the belt or in a
pocket. A one gig little Zip drive
with all your Word Docs and downloaded Valley Ham News, and lists of all the
local hams stored inside being worn
around the neck or on your key ring. Maybe you like to Geocache and wear a GPS like
me with 1000 cache directions and maps of all streets and restaurants in the US stored
inside.
I now carry an Apple I-pod. This is
a wonderful device for storing all your music, pictures, and commercial free podcasts of many radio shows. I plug mine into a small
speaker and
listen to favorite shows like Science Friday while driving the car. Another
device I sometimes carry is a PDA
with files downloaded from the Internet. On the key ring is a bright LED
flashlight for looking in those dark holes or illuminating the path at
night.
Devices that were not available 10 or 15 years ago are worn by most hams today
without giving it a thought…. Gee… did I mention the new little HT on the hip tugging things
down further. The modern rig of
2006/7 could be a dual bander or even a trib-bander at that. The little Yaesu VX-5, 6 or 7 could be
doing the job of keeping you connected with
your ham friends. I love my little VX-6 tri-band (2m, 11/4m, 70 cm radio) with
lithium 1400ma Lithium battery and water proof too. The local favorite HT has
been the Icom T-7H
dual bander but it is no longer available so a new
favorite will emerge next year. All this great technology could be used in an
emergency for communications or other unplanned uses.
Are we geeks? Who cares, if we can
get the job done with the tools we carry… Right?
Christmas Party:
Last month the club had a wonderful
Christmas party with 41 people attending. We had the usual great food brought
by you club members and guests (Thank you David for the two
turkeys!) and the club supplied baked the ham. The raffle was fun and had great
prizes. Ron won the new FT-1802 mobile 2 meter radio, and Ginny won the VX-150
HT. Lots of others
won prizes too. Thirty-one prizes were awarded in all on this night with lots
of other prizes at drawings held over last 6 months. Other prizes were: hats,
books, magazines, World Radio
subscriptions and others. Thank you Dave, WD6SCD for chairing the drawing and
all the officers and board members who helped sell tickets. We look forward to
next year’s raffle
with even bigger prizes.
The Prize Table at the
Christmas 2006 Dinner… lots of goodies for most.
Thank you to HRO Oakland for help with the purchase and donations of gifts.
FCC Drops Morse Code Requirement:
Well, it finally happened with little
fanfare. In December the FCC published a notice of proposed rulemaking dropping
the Morse code. I know many of you Technicians have just been
waiting for this to happen while the old timers of us have been saying just sit
down and learn the code and you may find you will like it when you upgrade.
Well, now you can upgrade
and if you want to you can still learn and use the code, but it is no longer
required. I personally feel the code requirement should have been kept for the
Extra Class as that level has always
been the top of the ham pyramid. Well, forget that. Now one can just sit down
and memorize about 1000 questions and move up to Extra. No Code, No two years
of waiting to upgrade like
in years past. Not so special anymore. That sort of hurts those of us who
worked so hard for this special license. We did the work for the pride of being
in an elite group. It just seems
disrespectful of all our hard work. But, oh well… life moves on and so
must we. So, please come and upgrade to General or Extra on January 6th. Then
submit the paperwork when the
rules are finalized in the Federal Registry --sometime in February is the ARRL
estimate. This means paying the $14 license fee each time. Or just wait it out
and take the test in February
or March when things settle down.
New HF Phone Frequencies:
Effective December 15 the expanded voice
frequencies on 75, 40 and (for Generals) 15 meters became available to U.S. hams. Of
course this means a smaller CW band.
The new
lower limit of the 75 meter phone band is 3.6 MHz for Extras (3.7 MHz for
Advanced) and General band at 3.8 MHz. Forty meters permits the General to use
phone on 7.125 MHz. For
complete information and a beautiful full color chart of all the bands/
privileges visit the ARRL.org web site and down load the table. Copy this
address to get right to the page with a link
to the PDF file and then just print it in full color.
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/bands.html
The club is starting the Technician class
on January 9th at the Red Cross building at 7 PM. Let your friends and family know and
please drop by and say “HI” to all the prospective
hams. Let them feel you want to meet them on the air someday.
73,
- Bob, W6OWH
EDITOR’S RAMBLINGS
In observance of the holiday season the
‘Editor’s Ramblings’ will return in the next issue.
Happy New Year & 73, – Sean, KI6BKL
FCC's Morse Code Report &
Order
The FCC's 05-235 R&O on the Commission's proposal to
eliminate the Morse code requirement for all license classes was issued on
12/19/2006. However, it does NOT go into
effect until 30 days from the time it is printed in the "Federal
Register". The Federal Register
Publication Date and the Effective Date are NOT yet known. As soon as
the
R&O is published in the Federal Register the ARRL will verify the effective
date and publicize it on the ARRL Web and in QST.
The FCC has clarified that there will be no changes in the
administration of Amateur Radio examination elements or upgrades and in
granting a Certificate for Successful
Completion of Examination (CSCE).
CSCEs are only valid for
examination credit for 365 days from date of issuance per FCC Rule
97.505(a)(6); applicants cannot
use CSCEs older than that to upgrade.
Amateurs possessing CSCEs that have gone beyond the
365 day window must retest. The FCC will not make any exceptions to this rule.
Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) will handle
all upgrades through volunteer examiner teams.
Candidates for General or Amateur Extra testing between now
and the effective date of the new rules will still have to pass Element 1 (5
WPM Morse code) to obtain new privileges.
Those earning Element 3 or Element 4 credit between now and the effective date
of the new rules will receive a CSCE from the VE team. Once the new rules are
in place, anyone
holding a valid CSCE
may apply for an upgrade at a VE examination session. As with any candidate
who attends a test session, the candidate must present a photo ID, their
current
license and CSCE document, pay the $14 test session fee and fill out a NCVEC
form 605 to have the upgrade paperwork processed. The upgrade may NOT be sent
directly to the
FCC or the VEC.
Please visit the ARRL web for complete information on the 05-235
R&O and check back frequently for updates.
TREASURER’S REPORT
As a reminder, dues for club membership renewals are now due. If dues remain unpaid by January 15th, 2007 you will no longer receive the newsletter. We have attached the
YSARC Membership Application to all printed newsletters and are also available for download at the ysarc.org website from the ‘Membership’ page. Thank you for your support
and commitment to YSARC in 2006 as we look forward to a great 2007!
No YSARC Treasurer’s Report was submitted at press time
Have you checked your SWR’s
lately?
My
New HF Beginning
Return to The Art
Here, I affectionately refer to our hobby as “the art.” After an eight-year break from the art
as a No-Code Tech, I made a goal to get back into ham radio. But this time, I would come back
with a definite purpose- worldwide communications with maximum available power
on HF! That was 1500 Watts with
hopes of being able to talk to
people in faraway places like Italy, Japan,
Venezuela, Connecticut, or The Philippines, to name a few.
Limitations
Right away, I learned my limitations as a ham because I set radio goals
too big and too fast! Some of the
most obvious obstacles were international spoken language barriers, the need to
learn
code and upgrade my license, equipment cost, hazards, and real estate. I discovered that it costs thousands to
set up a new HF rig for maximum power, the RF exposure risks and voltage
hazards are significant, the necessary gear can have a large footprint in the
shack, and safe antenna placement comes with all kinds of peripheral
issues… At that point, even
without a radio,
all those obstacles, and an expired license, I felt like I was back in the
spirit of the art!
The Heat is On
I
felt challenged! I immediately
started looking for way to accomplish worldwide HF communications with
significantly less cost, space, and health property and health risks.
The 10 dB CW Advantage
Then I discovered CW or synonymously Morse Code. In a nutshell, CW can be more than 10 dB
more effective that SSB (voice).
What this mean is that (all things being equal), if 1000
Watts in the SSB mode were required to make contact with someone in a faraway
place, you should expect to do even better on less that 100 Watts in the CW
mode.
Rebirth of the Shack
With “The
10 dB CW Advantage” in mind, I was able to plan, purchase, and set up a
very capable, yet modest HF shack that met my basic needs for communication,
safety, space, and lower
cost. After setting up my shack, feedline, and
antenna (components listed below) I went on listening to my new rig for a few
months while reading shack instruction manuals and preparing for
the General Class License Exam.
Learning and struggling with all this new stuff has not only been
intellectually stimulating, but it exacts a certain level of physical exertion
as well. I can’t tell
you how many pounds I’ve lost from leaping gables and pulling feedline. And
when there’s nothing else to do at your shack but enjoy it, there’s
always more fun to be had discussing it and
helping other hams see their art from a different perspective.
My 1st HF QSOs
What I
really like is the feeling I got when I made one of my first real-life, long
distance QSO (contact): Mark, KD4D, an Extra in Maryland working a DX contest. I worked him loud and
clear using 100 W SSB on 40 meters!
Mark was very patient and compassionate as he helped me through the ARRL
contest protocol. I owe thanks to
Bob, W6OWH. He was
instrumental in helping me develop the confidence and readiness needed to make
these contacts. W6OWH and I had
several QSOs on 40 & 80 meters in both CW &
SSB.
Revelation
I learned you don’t need 1500 Watts
and a rig sporting the latest DSP algorithms to have fun. There is more work than you can shake a stick
at out there, even with less than 100 Watts.
There’s also a whole special interest area for low power (less than 5 W)
HF work called “QRP,” which is where I intend to focus during 2007.
Final Tidbits
In
reality, I spend more time talking on my 2 meter rig. While 2 meters remains invaluable, my
heart still yearns for more time on HF at the straight [CW] key. CW is an art in itself.
I find CW over HF to be fascinating, especially how you can accomplish so much
with so little.If you are currently new to- or
looking forward to HF and you are reading this letter,
then you have a huge advantage, because there are quite a few HF enthusiasts in
the club that can help you make smart choices focusing your effort and setting
up your first rig.
Glad to be back- Good luck!
Wish list
·
A mile-high acre!
·
Elecraft KX-1 w/paddle
·
Elecraft K2 w/paddle
·
Beam Rotator
·
40+ Foot Tower
·
ICOM IC-756 ProIII
·
TenTec Omni II
·
A great big dedicated ham shack
Early Shack Components: HF Rig: Icom
IC-718; Antenna: Alpha Delta DX-CC 80-40-20-15-10 meter 82’ short
dipole; Power Supply: MFJ-4125; Tuner- Manual: MFJ-901B; Straight
Key: Kent SK1; Feedline: Coax-
RG-213/U
73, - Wilson,
N6EMF
The Radio Amateur is:
Considerate Never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the
pleasure of others.
Loyal Offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other
amateurs, local clubs, and the American Radio
Relay League, through which Amateur Radio in the United States is represented
nationally and
internationally.
Progressive With knowledge abreast of science, a well-built &
efficient station, and operating above reproach.
Friendly Slow and patient operating when requested; friendly
advise and counsel to the beginner; kindly
assistance, cooperation and consideration for interests of others. These are the hallmarks
of the amateur spirit.
Balanced Radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties
owed to family, job, school, or community.
Patriotic Station and skill always ready for service to country
and community.
YUBA SUTTER AMATEUR
RADIO CLUB, INC.