The VALLEY HAM
NEWS
The Voice of the Yuba
Sutter Amateur Radio Club
A California Non-profit
Organization
Web Page:
www.ysarc.org E-Mail:
k7ppm@hotmail.com
MAY 2007 Edition
__________________________________________________________________
UPCOMING EVENTS
Antenna Saturday is coming May 12th.
If you are interested in
building your own antenna or getting one analyzed then you want to be
there. One of the most satisfying
aspects of amateur radio for me is building my own Homebrew antennas not only for
myself, but for other hams as well. It
is very gratifying to hear a fellow ham say, I got my antenna from KC6MCI and it sure works great. Ive made many dipole antennas, quad antennas for both HF and VHF
bands, J-Poles and motorized multi-band mobile HF antennas, but I must admit,
all of the antenna designs that I have made were not my own. Most of which were
taken from calculator programs on the internet and some were just copied from
other manufacturers. However, building them has been and still is a great hobby
and pastime for me and it still amazes me that something I built myself with
just a little bit of wire can allow me to talk to someone on the other side of
town or the other side of the world.
Since 1990 I think I have only purchased four factory made two meter
vertical antennas for mobile use. All others have been Homebrews. One of my favorite homebrew antennas is the DK3. It is a motorized
multi-band HF mobile antenna that operates from 10 through 80 meters and
without the use of tuner. The original
design is by Don Johnson (W6AAQ). Other manufacturers build them as well such
as High Sierra. It is also called a screwdriver antenna since it is power by a cordless
screwdriver inside the antenna. Ill have one disassembled and on display at Antenna Saturday.
Below are a few antenna
design websites:
http://www.commparts.com/antutorial.htm#2mjpole
Directions to the training/meeting site:
http://www.commparts.com/JPOL4EVER.html
Hwy 65 to McGowen then west to Rose.
http://www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html Turn south (left) on Rose and go to the
end
http://www.commparts.com/antutorial.htm#designqd then turn left on Mage. It
is on the left side.
Submitted by Lee KC6MCI
MAY 5 Saturday, VE Testing session 9:00 PM
12 Antenna Building
Saturday @ Dons QTH, Olivehurst 9:00 AM
20 NHRC SWAP Call-in Freq, 145.19Mhz Pl 162,2 7:00 PM
23 Board Meeting @ Steves QTH (N6YCS) 7:00
PM
JUNE 9 Second
Saturday, Club Breakfast Meeting Location TBA 9:00 AM
16 SaturdayKids Day, show a kid ham
radio
23 & 24 Field Days (Saturday and Sunday)
Location TBA
JULY 7 Saturday, VE Testing EV Free Church @ 700 Washington Ave., YC 9:00
AM
21 Club Picnic,
Saturday Location
TBA 11:00 AM
AUG. 11 Saturday, Club
Breakfast Location
TBA 9:00 AM
22 Board Meeting Location
TBA 7:00 PM
SEPT. 8 Saturday,
VE Testing EV Free Church @
700 Washington Ave.,
YC 9:00 AM
11 Club Meeting,
Winlink Program @ St. Andrew
PC, YC 7:00 PM
26 Board Meeting Wednesday Location
TBA 7:00 PM
OCT. 6 Cal
QSO Contest? Great DX Fun
9 Tuesday, monthly meeting
with Program @ St. Andrews PC, YC 7:00
PM
12 thru 14, Pacificon Ham
FestBigger/Better @ San
Ramon Marriott
24 Board Meeting Wednesday
Location TBA 7:00 PM
NOV. 3 Saturday,
VE Testing @ EV Free Church 700
Washington
Ave. YC 9:00 AM
3 Saturday LOVER (Lake
Oroville Ride) Contact Paul,
N6XVL
13 Second Tuesday, Election Of Officers, &
Pie! @ St. Andrew PC YC 7:00 PM
DEC. 11 Christmas Party Potluck
& Prize Drawing @ St. Andrew PC YC 6:00 PM
Weekly Activities:
Monday Night YSARC Net 7:00 PM on WD6AXM Repeater.
146.085 (out), 146.685 (in) PL
127.3.
Wednesday Morning Gathering.
Local eateries and arranged weekly during Monday night net.
Thursday nights YSARES Net at 7:00 p.m. on WD6AXM repeater.
Other Activities:
ARRL SECTION NET: Second Wednesday night each month, at 7:00 PM on
WD6AXM repeater.
No-so-daily, 12:00 (noon-ish) Lunch Bunch. Details arranged daily on WD6AXM repeater.
Remember to use 443.85+ repeater (PL 127.3), the Voice of the Sutter
Buttes. See The Valley Ham News for
updates.
******************************************************************************
PRESIDENTS REPORT
Submitted
By
Bob McClard W6OWH
Have you ever wondered if the overall number
of hams in the USA
is growing or shrinking? Well, here are some of the statistics from the ARRL
ham radio statistician Joe Speroni.
1. The total number of Amateur Extra
licensees is up 1649 from March 2006 to March 2007, while the General population
grew by 2668.
2. The total number of Technician
licensees dropped by 1632 during the same period.
3. His figures also show that the grand
total of all Amateur Radio
Station licenses
has declined by more than 12,800 over the past two years to 655,048 at the
end of March. The drop may open up some of the better personalized calls for
you. Easily check out available calls on http://www.vanityhq.com/. You may find
the call you have always wanted.
The ARRL VEC is
still seeing a heavy volume of license applications and this has
stretched the amount of time it takes for an application to proceed from
examination session to license grant. "I think we're looking at eight to ten
days from the test date," Somma allowed. A staff of seven full-time
and three part-time employees handle the "incoming exams" from
Amateur Radio exam sessions across the USA. As a point of interest David,
WD6SCD, just received his new general and it took about 14 days from test date
to arrival. Remember the club May test session is on the 5th at 9 AM
in case you want to upgrade. If you are a new VE please let Herb, W6HBU, know
you would like to attend and help.
On April 21st about 36
members of OARS and YSARC met at the Gold Country Casio for a fine joint
lunch and informal chat. It was good to chat with some of our Oroville members
and OARS friends. NE1CH, Tee Jay took pictures for your enjoyment which I hope
are printed elsewhere in the VHN and on the web. Thanks Tee Jay.
The
main Club Meeting for May 12th is at Dons KB6RHJ QTH. Members can build a
dipole from the ground up, including these steps: measuring, cutting,
soldering and tuning. This will be fun for all. They will go through all the
steps with the able assistance of some of our experienced antenna builders as
guides. Builders will be able to take home a tuned dipole and will only have to
attach coax and antenna supports. So if you are a new general or Tech that
wants to get ready for 6 meters or are a soon to be general then please come.
We have planned an educational and fun time for all. Dont miss this event. (Parts
have been donated JUST FOR YOU.)
The Yuba Sutter
ARC will participate in the American Radio Relay League
(ARRL) 2007 Field Day event on Saturday June 23rd and Sunday
June 24th. You can download a copy of the 2007
Field Day Rules (PDF), or the complete 2007 Field Day
Package (PDF]).
John L. Gaffey, WS1EA has written
a helpful primer for organizing your own Field Day
event.
YSARC will likely operate in the
2A category, with two HF radio stations on emergency power at a temporary
location near the Sutter
County Airport
at the Ag helicopter area. We plan to have four operating radio stations:
_ HF station operating Single
Sideband (SSB) voice;
_ HF station split between
operating CW (Morse Code) and PSK31/RTTY (keyboard);
_ VHF/satellite station (not
counted in category number);
_ GOTA (Get On The Air) station
(not counted in the category number);
Our GOTA station will be open to
be operated by new hams and anyone who wants to try their hand at operating an
amateur radio station. Non-licensed visitors are also welcome to operate the
station under direction of our GOTA station captain.
We will likely have
demonstrations of other amateur radio communication modes including APRS
(Automatic Position Reporting System), APRS allows wireless tracking of the
location of objects in a region. Thanks to Lee, KC6MCI for setting up and
operating the PSK 31 station at the YSARC
Field Day last year and Pat KI6ZX for operating CW.
Schedule for Saturday June 23,
2007
|
12:00pm
|
Visitors were
welcome until 7pm.
|
|
5:30pm
|
Barbecue,
bring a side dish and join us.
|
|
7:00pm
|
Visitors
depart.
|
I look forward
to seeing you all at the months activities and please offer to help with Field
Day. There are opportunities for all on and off the air. The set-up Saturday
morning is fun and very educational as we try to get antennas as high and
effective as possible. FD is a team effort. We hope to have a band/music for
evening entertainment. Yes, we will have free time as we will take turns
operating the station. We always have room for late night operators- nite owls.
Leo, the VHN editor, is the contact person to sign up for you favorite band and
time.
See you on the
air and stay Radio Active.
73 Bob W6OWH
******************************************************************************
TREASURERS REPORT
For this month, the treasurers report is
separately attached to the news letter.
_________________________________________________________________
QST-QST-QST Check-in Monday Nights at 7:00 p.m. with YSARC!
____________________________________________________________________
MINUTES OF THE BOARD MEETING
YSARC
BOARD MEETING- April 2007
Manna Whelchels Residence
The monthly Board Meeting was brought to order about 7:30 PM.
Officers in attendance: Bob McClard, President W6OWH; Don Fair, Vice President KB6RHJ;
Manna Whelchel, Secretary KG6PNE.
Officers absent: Clara Ansley,
Treasurer KC6JPP.
Board Members in attendance:
Ron Murdoch W6KJ; Herb Puckett W6HBU; David
Wainer WD6SCD; and Lee Sheffield.
Members absent: Steve Sweetman.
Our interim Newsletter editor Leo
was in attendance and volunteered to be the Field Day contact person as well.
Thanks Leo.
The secretary Manna, read
the minutes of the last meeting which was held at Rons residence. Don made the motion to accept minutes as
read. David seconded. M/S/P.
Herb reported on the current
payment for the Web site and the efforts to get our account credited. At this time we have a copy
of the canceled check so the payment issue is taken care of - in the continuing
saga of our domain name and web-site payment.
We are looking forward to hearing Clara back on the air and offer
any help she may need.
Herb has some antenna work
that he wishes to be done. Get ready to
help put up a push up mast and small antennas. Fall was suggested as a good
time
Our September Meeting has a special guest with a power point presentation to show us how we can use the
WinSystem. Harry Miller, W6HFM ,will be
here on Tuesday, September 11, at St Andres Presbyterian Church. His topic will be the WINSYSTEM which
has repeaters in the United
States and in 3 countries. The system uses linked repeaters on the 70 cm
band and the internet.
Are antennas a MYSTERY to you???? We will do something to de-mystify this for you. Don is hosting an antenna Saturday on May 12,
at his house in Marysville. Come and
make your own tuned Dipole antenna for 40, 20 or 6 meters. You will leave with a free antenna and the
knowledge of how to make a dipole antenna. All licensed club members are
welcome at no charge for the material or knowledge. What a deal. As an added
point of interest Lee, KC6MCI, will bring his screwdriver HF Mobile antenna and
dismantle it so all can see just how its made. Please bring your
portable antennas
if you would like them to be checked out for resonance and low SWR. Dons QTH is located at: 2291 Mage Avenue,
Marysville . This event will be from 9am to noon.
The topic of non-club groups using our repeater was
discussed. This was a continuing discussion from the March Board meeting and
it was decided that any request should be brought to the attention of the Board
for discussion in reference to each
particular situation. Ultimately this
information will be talked over with Dave Gartner. Ron moved that non-club groups wishing to
use the club repeater need to have a representative present their proposal at a
club Board meeting before the event, as this should go through the Board
first. Herb seconded this motion. M/S/P.
Passed unanimously.
Field Day discussion: The Club should place a Notice in newspaper inviting all hams as well as non-hams and friends and
interested parties to see our FD site and what amateur radio is all about. The FD location is going to be at the Sutter County
Airport by the Helicopter
area where there is a large grassy field, trees, water, and facilities to make
for a pleasant FD experience. We are planning to supply burgers, hot dogs, and
beans for the Saturday night dinner. This is a pot luck so please join us with
a favorite dish to share or just show up and make a donation.
The MAY Board meeting is at Steves , N6YCS, QTH up Hammonton Smartville Road on May 23rd at
7 PM. He makes the effort to come to our meetings so we will make the effort to
visit his QTH. Thank you, Steve , in
advance for hosting
As the meeting business was concluded, the meeting was adjourned
at approximately 8:47pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Manna Whelchel, Secretary, KG6PNE
******************************************************************************
WHO AM I
I was first licensed in late 1989 but I have not been real active until a year and a half ago.
I am interested
in increasing my code speed; my favorite
mode of operation is single sideband. I
use a GAP multi-band antenna. .
Answer to March Who Am I
The Who
Am I for
last month was Curtis KF6VFP. Curtis was
our past President, Vice President, and current keeper of the membership
roster. He can be spotted at the Y.C.
Racket Club working out when he is in the state
******************************************************************************
JOINT
OARS/YSARC LUNCHEON AT OROVILLE GOLD COUNTRY CASINO
The
luncheon meeting at Gold Country Casino in Oroville was a success. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend. I understand that it was good food and good
conversation. Those I talked to wanted
to have the luncheon again next year.
TJ
NE1CQ and Steve K6YCS provided the following pictures:
The Luncheon Group Bob
talks with Bob Howard W6AIL
******************************************************************************
Can anyone hear me?
By Don KB6RHJ
Now that the code requirement for any Ham license has gone away we
seem have an epidemic this spring of up-grade fever upon the ham community.
After the up-grade now what will you do with it? It is time to up-grade to HF!
But what frequency and what antenna do you want to try? I asked a few of the more experienced hams at
the Wednesday coffee and donuts last week and here are their thoughts. When I
asked what their favorite frequencies this is what they said. W6OWH-Bob likes
17 meters. He called it the friendly frequency. W6OTW- Sid likes 80 meters
because he has friends on that band.K7PPM- Leo favors 40 meters. KC6MCI- Lee
likes 20 meters for PSK 31. W6KJ- Ron likes 20 meters and when it is open 10
meters. W6HUB- Herb likes 40 meters because he can work it most of the time. So
much for a consensus on frequencies, what about antennas? I asked the same experienced hams about the
antennas they use and again I got mixed answers. W6HUB-Herbs favorite is a beam for
20-15-10 meters. W6KJ- Ron likes his 4 element quad. W6OTW- Sid uses wires.
W7XRX- Ted uses a wire for20 meters. K7PPM- Leo uses ham sticks and inverted Vs.KC6MCI-Lee likes quads.
W6OWH- Bob likes his Windom but does have a beam.
So there you have all the info you need to get going full speed on
HF. I think the most important thing is
to get on the air and make some contacts which will very likely lead to some
life long friends. Beams and towers can require some capital outlay while a
wire is very inexpensive. The room you have for an antenna may decide for you.
Dont
forget that this is a hobby and it is ok for you to have fun. Contact any of the hams mentioned for advice about their
favorites. One thing I have found out is that hams like to talk about radio.
******************************************************************************
It was the most amazing thing.
Saturday,
April 14, we saved 34 people.
Twenty-one of us ham operators,
organized and led by Herb Puckett, W6HBU, saved 34 people. We can be very proud
of this accomplishment. Far from a nice Spring day, the rain was almost
constant, making the even a real trial for hundreds of dedicated bike riders.
Each year, when Bike Around the Buttes plays out, we have a
certain feeling of having done something important. But this year, when you
look at the figures, was something really special. As I walked away from Herbs trailer Saturday
afternoon, one of the event organizers asked me how many we had rescued. Thirty-four, I answered, And we traveled 1,270
miles!
Tom Galbreath, KB6WID, drove 160 miles, while Steve Sweetman,
K6YCS, recorded a whopping 188. All SAG drivers, none of whom drove less than
89 miles back and forth over their assigned routes, witnessed very challenging
conditions for the riders. It was very fortunate for them that we were there.
The top rescue driver was Bob Oden, K6RCO, of Oroville, bringing
in nine dripping wet, cold, tired riders. Steve, K6YCS, brought in seven
similarly beat athletes.
Tom, KB6WID, rescued 5, Marsha Sylvester-Jose, KI6CSN, in her
first BATB as a SAG, rescued 3. Curtis Sylvester-Jose, her OM,
covered the 40-mile route as a SAG driver while the rescues were taking place.
Lee, KC6MCI, brought three back also, as did Bob, W6OWH, also a first timer as
a SAG. Chuck, KI6IND, who was helping to man rest stop 4, assisted by picking
up a rider with a disabled bike on the south loop of the 100 mile ride, so that
the rider could be brought in by a SAG vehicle. Mike Cook, KG6TTM, had a grand
total of four rescues, while Michael Hardesty, sporting his new call sign
AF6AK, brought in two. Barry Barnes, KE6LW, brought in two and took over as net
control (while driving his route!) when I left the NCS volume control down too
long during an attempt at fixing one of our mobile rigs.
Rest stops were limited to just five this year, and were manned by
Mike, AF6AK, relieved by Vicki Ball, KI6EDS; Sean Murphy, KI6BKL, had rest stop
two; Eleanor Knox KI6CSO, had rest stop three, supported by David Warner,
KI6FRR; and Chuck Murphy, KI6IND, and Mike Lesnewsky, KI6ITK, both of Penn
Valley, had rest stop four on the south loop of the 100 mile course.
Michael Hardesty, after taking the initial stint at rest stop one,
filled a vital role as a router, a job we hadnt even considered before, as bikers rode through poorly marked
intended turns. Mike did this at two different places on the route. One of our
backup operators, Tim Wells, W6TWI, of Paradise,
filled this role at the end of Pass
Road, keeping 40 mile riders from bothering Barry
all the way over at Loveys
Landing.
Clara Ansley, our angel, KC6JPP, took over at net control when
needed, before leaving for a well-deserved evening with her daughter. Darrell
Mefford, KI6DGW, of Magalia, acted as shadow for the event organizers, relaying
information on riders and supplies to and from net control as required. Herb
set up his RV, radio and antenna so we could control this event. I got to run
the show. It was wonderful to have enough people who were ready to do what was
needed, who came up with solutions rather than problems, and who seemed to have
so much fun doing it. For amateurs, we did a professional job. If you missed
it, there is always next year. There were a lot of grins at the end of this
day, and nobody got hurt.
73, Ron Murdock, W6KJ
******************************************************************************
Herb W6HBU provided me with this QSL card from the 1989 Sable
Island Dxpedition. The card is quite
unique in that it folds with a picture on each flap of the outside, and inside
there is information about the island
and the success of the Trip. The island
is 111 miles southeast of Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean.
Sable island is known for its wild horses. The island was declared a DXCC country in
1775.
