Well, our schedule of events for the summer is starting to firm up. At the business meeting we agreed to support the Viking Cup Soccer Tournament for the next 3 years. We hope that the Viking Cup will be a trial run for the NKARC Trailer. The Viking Cup is the end of May (Memorial Day Weekend). We are also supporting the Vikingfest Parade, which is the 15th of May. Next month is Field Day and plans are well underway for that. Remember, we are supporting these events as a group and we need your participation!

In addition to the events mentioned above, there are several other opportunities to volunteer for special event communications that will happen this spring and summer. These events are great opportunities for us to practice communication skills that could be useful during emergencies. The following list is subject to change, but some of the events that have traditionally requested Ham Radio Communications support in Kitsap County are:

Trident Triple (Bicycle ride), June 19th

Kingston 4th of July Parade

MS 150 (bicycle ride), July 24th

Kitsap Countryside Classic (bicycle ride), July 31st

Tour de Kitsap (bicycle ride), September 4th

Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), October

I'll see you on Wednesday May 12th!

73, Marcie, KC7DAT

The NKARC Hamfest comes in October. This is the major fund-raiser for the club and has gotten the reputation of being a well run Hamfest and Swap Meet. Many of the vendors and people who rented tables indicated they will return in 1999 because the club takes extra measures to make them welcome.

The various phases that make up the Hamfest have been defined and a coordinator is needed to keep track of things and report to the board on progress and problems. Work has already been done on the long-range items. The club has a number of members who are willing workers and that is a great asset. It also needs leaders who are willing to manage this important project.

The club is enjoying many benefits from the proceeds of the previous Hamfests. The portable station, DX node, ant the trailer station are projects resulting from these funds. Think about where you can participate. Talk to the board members and they will describe the mini-projects for the event. The involvement of each and every member is required if this year’s Hamfest is going to continue its run of successes from previous years.

The ARRL Field Day is the one major planned event where the club members get together on June 26^th set up to simulate emergency conditions. At 12 noon, we start a contact marathon with other clubs and Hams around the country for the next 24 hours.

During the February business meeting, the question "What is the club's objective?" was discussed. In the past the spirit has been to enjoy the event, practice operating under emergency conditions, and to further public relations. Bruce, N7OJ, stated that we should strive for a higher score than the previous year. Last year, we were in the lower one-third of the category entered. We should strive to do better this year and to get experience in working as a coordinated group to learn better communication techniques.

Field Day is a large undertaking requiring much coordination to set up, operate, and tear down. The task will be made easier by assigning small projects to various individuals. Bob, N7KTP, has volunteered to be the coordinator for the event. Gene, AB7LH, volunteered to call about reserving the same site we had last year at Vinland School here in Poulsbo and to be the site manager. Bruce, N7OJ, has volunteered to put together a band operating plan suggesting best times to operate on the bands available to us. Malcolm, KA6DXS, will be the equipment coordinator.

Contact any of the above to participate or to assume the management of one of the project sub-tasks. The sooner we get started, the smoother the event runs. Effective operation requires preparation now for antenna construction, setups for operating without interference to other modes etc.

This is a chance to learn about one of the most interesting events in Ham Radio. Participate in some way in this event. Bring along the XYL, kids or a friend and work together. They do not have to be club members to participate. If you want to get the feel of making a contact, come in and operate for a few hours. Don’t be concerned about your license class. We can pair the operators and loggers so that a Tech or Tech plus can make the contacts during the operating period to comply with the FCC regulations.

Come on out, push the PTT switch and "calmly" (???) say "CQ CQ CQ Field Day, KC7Z, KC7Z, " and patiently wait for the return. See ya…

Bob Tomas, N7KTP

Worth Gurley (W7WG), Morel Guyot (W6LIX), and Mac Parks (W6NBD) of the Radio Club of Tacoma will bring several pieces of vintage radio equipment to the May presentation meeting. What's especially unique about this vintage equipment is that it actually works... that is, it works well enough for a demo if not for the FCC!

Worth and company will share some of their experiences, demonstrate some REAL radios that glow in the dark, and relate a few incidents from the good old days of amateur radio.

Highway tonnage limits will prevent Worth from bringing "The Old Oak Rig" which was donated to RCT via some NKARC members who rescued it a few years ago. But Worth says the Oak Rig is working, and he promises some pictures. Don't miss this presentation: it promises to be a blast from the past.

NKARC owns a 1969 vintage (really vintage) Shasta 14ft trailer. It is in sound physical condition, and has generous room inside along with already installed extra AC outlets. The required minor modification along with some cleaning and elbow grease has begun.

Any club member willing to work on the trailer can join the work party on Wednesday nights at the WO7B QTH (Bob Burback) at 18675 13^th Ave. NE in Poulsbo. Note that the work party meets there on the nights when the club is not having a meeting. Contact Gene, AB7LH, at 697-9379 if you have equipment to donate.. We need all the help we can get if the trailer is to be ready for Field Day.

Don’t forget to dispose of those discharged household batteries in a way that helps our environment. Bring them to the meeting. John, KB7MKG, will make sure they are transported to the disposal site in South Kitsap County. (at least until he goes back to sea). Lead acid batteries are excluded. The disposal site on Hansville Road will accept lead acid batteries without a charge

There are two types of pedestrians – the quick and the dead.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself and poor propagation.

 THE FOX'S DEN

In celebration of National Foxhunt Weekend (NFW), the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Club and the Burley Amateur Radio Club held a foxhunt on April 17, 1999. It was warm and sunny: a perfect day for a stroll in Battle Point Park on Bainbridge Island, the starting point for the hunt.

Ten (10) participants and one observer attended the event. If you weren't there, be sure to ask one of them about how much fun they had. The attendees:

George Carr (N7GME)

Gene and Susan Johnson (AB7LH and AB7MD)

Bruce McCaffrey (N70J) - observer

Jim and Laurie Pitman (N7NLC and KC7CCU)

Ed Plantaric (KB7BLM)

Richard Rosenau (KK7JA)

Charles Scharlau (NZ0I)

Hugh Starkey (AB7UK)

John Stilwell (KB7MKG)

Going at their own pace, all participants ultimately found all the foxes that they hunted. There were three foxes to choose from! Two were within easy walking distance along a paved path inside the park.

Fox #1 was stashed in a small fir tree (though not disguised, it looked something like a large pine cone) on a hill near the northwest corner of Battle Point Park.

Fox #2 was hidden in a wooded area near the northern-most boundary of the park near the duck pond.

Fox #3 was located in Strawberry Hill Park, about 3.5 miles south, and slightly east, of Battle Point.

The multiple-transmitter hunt format proved to be very popular, and will be repeated in future hunts.

The Puget Amateur Radio Society has scheduled its annual foxhunt for 1999.

The hunt boundaries will be between SR 520 and I-90, between Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. This will be mostly a drive-to type of hunt. No significant hiking will be required.

For more information on the PARS foxhunt

The first Region 2 International Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) Championships will be held August 10-14, 1999 in Portland, Oregon USA. Plans are in the works to visit the Portland games on Wednesday August 11, 1999 to witness the VHF competition. Anyone interested in carpooling to Portland please contact Charles (NZ0I) at 360-297-3904, or e-mail cscharlau@sinclair.net.

On Saturday, April 3, 1999 a platoon of three American volunteers made landfall at Victoria Harbor, British Columbia. Charles Scharlau NZ0I, John Stilwell KB7MKG, and Jim Bowman W7HPK proceeded, with the help of their Canadian hosts, to Mount Douglas Park where the ARDF (international-style) foxhunt practice was staged.

The weather was beautiful, the company enjoyable, and the hunting shall we say was challenging.

John Stilwell was the first of our group to bag a fox. Using his two-element quad, active attenuator, and listening for the third harmonic of 146.565 MHz, John found fox #1, and came within a few feet of finding fox #3 when lunch break was called. John was the only U.S. hunter to have bagged a fox before lunch. The Canadian hunters had each found 2 or more foxes by that time!

After lunch the three Americans hunted together. Hunting in a pack isn't allowed under IARU rules, but three hunters pitted against the four remaining foxes seemed like better odds to the tiring hunters. Together the U.S. hunt pack managed to nab foxes #4 and #5 (the infamous AM fox) and were hot on the trail of fox #2 when time expired. It was time to head back to catch the last Coho ferry back to The States.

The hunt was a very fun and educational experience. All hunters agreed that they'd like to try it again.

KC7Z-DX Packet Notes:

Occasionally I notice time gaps in the DX spots coming from VE7CQD. for example, there were no spots between 2058Z, 12 April 1999, and 0047Z, 13 April. Gaps of an hour or more can signal problems at the station in Viking Park. I have learned to do some preliminary checking at my own QTH before making a trip to the site - especially when Murphy’s Law rules that such occurrences will occur at meal time or during the Monday night football game. To determine that KC7Z is fully functional I check the operation as follows:

1) Is the Radio Computer OK? - a <sh/u> request will verify that KC7Z is on the air if the node responds normally.

2) Is the Radio Computer getting reports from VE7CQD? The answer is "No" if the answer to 1) has already revealed that the Radio Computer is OK. But it is possible that VE7CQD is not sending out spots because no users are making inputs. This can happen when propagation conditions are just not favorable for DX. At this point a request for callsign information from the remote Buckmaster database using the <sh/buck any callsign> command will verify the KC7Z-to-VE7CQD link. A no-information response from VE7CQD, means that KC7Z is not connected to VE7CQD. But this is not the end of it because there is more than one possibility - the Radio Computer-to-Internet connection has malfunctioned; the telephone connection to the Internet via TSCNet is open; or VE7CQD has shut down for some unknown reason (rare).

3) To determine the status of VE7CQD, I go to the Internet and attempt to connect my Internet computer to VE7CQD directly via my own ISP while my own Radio TNC retains a connection to KC7Z via 145.77 MHz. If the connect to VE7CQD is successful AND KC7Z is also connected to VE7CQD, the acknowledgment from VE7CQD that shows on my Internet monitor screen will show my callsign as N7OJ-1. If KC7Z is NOT connected to VE7CQD, my callsign will show as N7OJ (without the -1). Also, when I ask VE7CQD to <sh/dx>, my Internet monitor will show the same DX spots that I see on my DX Packet monitor (via KC7Z).

4) The conclusion is that VE7CQD is not sending out new DX spots or any other data at the present time. Now instead of interrupting my dinner hour or exchanging shoes for slippers to make the trip to Viking Park, I wait a while. And sure enough - DX spots will resume eventually. That’s what happened on April 12 just about the moment that I heard the call from the galley that dinner was ready.

Fun on the DX Node An interesting exercise on the node is to enter <sh/c> and then use <sh/buck> to examine the QTH information for the nodes and users connected to the cluster. I did this recently and discovered nodes and user QTHs in Vancouver, BC; Wasila, Anchorage, Eagle River, Fairbanks, AK; Reno,NV (plus 137 users); Prince Albert, SK; Great Falls, MT; Rademin, Germany; just to mention a few.

Happy connecting de N7OJ

The Packet Notes article last month mentioned that it might be a good idea to turn off your computer and let the TNC run to pick up the packets sent during the time off. The following message reminds us of possible problem if this is done.

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From: Bruce McCaffrey <bim@tscnet.com>

From: Lee Sawkins <ve7cc@dowco.com 

To: Bruce McCaffrey <bim@tscnet.com>

Date: Wednesday, April 28, 1999 2:09 PM

Subject: Re: Turning computer off withTNC on.

Hi Bruce.

I stumbled across the NKARC web site. I read what you had written >about your dx node. You were saying what a good thing it was to leave your TNC connected and >turn off the computer. This can really cause problems to the node software. What happens is that the TNC after a short period of time will refuse to take any further input from the node. It then sends RNR packets to the node. This continues until you turn the computer back on and get all these packets. These unsent packets pile up in the node computer and eventually can cause it to crash if it persists for too long or with too many users doing this as all the buffer room in the computer gets used and there is no where for these unsent packets to be stored. With your node and only a couple of users and not too many spots it will probably survive without any problems. At VE7CQD when I find this happening I will disconnect whoever is doing this as it does cause a lot of problems here, including the max drsi loop counter one.

73 Lee

Thought this was a fairly important message to pass on to the club….Horace Ory, KB6TRG

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The FCC today announced that it has adopted new, improved procedures for persons to use the Internet to file amateur radio service complaints with the FCC.

Effective immediately, amateur radio service complaints should be sent by electronic mail to the following Internet address: fccham@fcc.gov .

Alternatively, complaints can also be mailed to:

Compliance & Information Bureau
ATTN: Amateur Radio Complaints
1270 Fairfield Road
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325

At the same time, the FCC said that effective immediately, it is discontinuing the telephone number designated for amateur radio complaints, 202-418-1184, and will rely exclusively on the Internet system, with the mail back up.

In the future, that number will not be available for complaint

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Annie's Garden Buffet in Bremerton, where we held the club banquet in December, is now closed. Club president Marcie requested that we start looking for a place to hold this year's banquet. It’s not too early to think about this because the better locations are usually booked at the start of the year. A number of places were mentioned, including having a pot luck with the club providing the main meat dish or having the banquet meal catered was also discussed. The board is open to any suggestions regarding location or style of banquet.

Want your newsletter as soon as it comes out of the word processor? Send your e-mail address to : bobtomas@sprintmail.com, and it will be mailed out right after the proof reading. Be sure to tell if you are using an Internet browser or an e-mail only account in order to get the right format. Most e-mail only accounts only accept ASCII text format and we oblige with a text only format for them.

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NKARC sponsors VE testing at Olympic College, Room T-114, Lincoln Avenue, Bremerton, WA on the fourth Saturday of each month at 9:30 AM. All exams, Novice through Extra, are given. Contact Sue, AB7MD, at 360-697-9379 for more information and/or directions to the test site.

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The club is looking for a historian to catalog the large collection of photographs and other accumulated material depicting club activities. This would be a great project for somebody who is also interested in the history of the local area. If interested, let Susan, AB7MD, and she’ll help you get started.

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There is a wealth of information and capabilities to anybody that checks in. After you get connected, you can get the latest copy of the club newsletter -- "SOLID COPY"..

Click on the handi-talkie graphic and you’ll get a list of links to other web pages giving you an opportunity to connect to the ARRL, FCC, Packet Radio Home Page, AMSAT and many others. Need the QTH of the station you just had a contact with? The QRZ call sign look-up form is available. The links also give the link to the information on the Evergreen Intertie.

John has added a whole new section on Fox hunting edited and managed by Charles Scharlau, NZ0I.

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