Hamfest was a success! Thanks to all of you that helped out! For those of you that missed the business meeting, we had a little celebration with cake and cookies. We also had some discussion about what we did right and ways that we can improve on Hamfest next year.

Since the fourth Wednesday of the month conflicts with holidays in November and December, we will not have business meetings the next two months. Our social meeting in December is our traditional holiday dinner. This year it will be at the Family Pancake House. Watch your newsletter for more details.

Our annual elections happen at the holiday dinner and there are many openings in the board for next year. Please consider running for a position. Do you know someone who would make a good board member? You can nominate them. Please contact any board member if you are interested.

The NKARC Board is still looking for names of people to recognize at our Holiday dinner for their significant contributions. Please call one of the Board members if you know of anyone that should be recognized. We need your help to not forget anyone.

As I mentioned earlier at a meeting, I will not be running for president of NKARC next year. I am going to be involved in emergency communications (ARES/RACES/ECS) in the North end of the county. I will also be taking some career-related training that will occupy a lot of my time. I still plan to be involved in NKARC, but just not as president.

See you at the next meeting on 10 November!

73, Marcie Stilwell, KC7DAT

Be sure to mark December 9th on your calendar to attend the annual NKARC Christmas Dinner and election of officers. The dinner will be at 6:00 PM at the Family Pancake House on Wheaton Way in Bremerton. An estimate has been made of the number expected to attend. However, it would be better if we knew how many will definitely be attending ahead of time to determine if the estimate is reasonable. Please notify John Stilwell at 697-2797 (leave a message on his voice-mail) or by e-mail at: stilwell@web-o.net 

Cost is yet to be determined. Watch the December issue of Solid Copy or contact one of the club officers listed above.

It’s time for the changing of the guard. The success of a club depends a great deal on the leaders and their ability to develop programs and keep the membership interested in participating. Most of the present officers have been in their position for at least two years or more. There is a danger in having a group stay in office too long. The introduction of new ideas and projects start to drop off and the club becomes stagnant.

As the president stated in her column, the nomination and election of club officers takes place at the December dinner meeting. Now is the time to think about who will lead the club into the new millennium. The club offices are listed at the head of the newsletter. Look the list over. Think about the office you could be in or else recommend somebody who would make a good candidate. Remember experience is not necessary. The members and former officers will be there to help in the various projects the club will be running.

The eighth annual NKARC Hamfest was a success. When the gates at the Presidents pavilion opened at 9:00 AM, a large group of Hams began the search for what may have been the bargain of a Ham’s lifetime. Many of the vendors and people who rented tables last year were there. The "Old-Time Ham Station" operated by the Radio Club of Tacoma demonstrated how it was done in the old days when vacuum tubes were used to get the signal out and to warm the shack at the same time. Preliminary analysis indicates that approximately 400 tickets were sold and a profit was realized. Indications are that many who did attend stayed longer and spent more.

Many club members were involved in this year’s Hamfest which helped to add to the run of successes from previous years. The club has additional funds to continue supporting the club projects and to initiate others. The board members thanks all who participated in this great event.

Hope you found the "thingamabob" you needed to finish that ingenious "whatchamacallit" you had been working on in the garage. If you had surplus equipment or hardware, hope you sold some and got cash for the "stuff" your XYL considered junk.

By the way, don’t sit back and think it’s all over. Now is the time not necessarily to come to the aid of your country but to think about next year and what has to be done now for the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Millennium Hamfest.

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.

The page master is John Stilwell, KB7VS

Submit your comments to Page master, John at: stilwell@web-o.net and let him know what you think. If you know of any interesting links, let him know and he’ll look into them. Give it a try. We are now available world-wide.

Cougar Mountain Amateur Radio Group Establishes Multi-Band Repeater Serving Metro Puget Sound

Issaquah, Washington October 21, 1999: There is a new multi-band, computer controlled repeater system on the air in King County. The Cougar Mountain Amateur Radio Group has established operations in central King County with the 220, 440 and 6 meter K7MMI repeater system. The system designed by Pete Kruml, N7KFJ, also includes a direct link to NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System. This is the first repeater system in Washington State to include this emergency warning capability.

The K7MMI repeater can be accessed on either 442.325 Mhz (tone 131.8 Mhz), 224.44 Mhz (tone 100 hz), or 53.31 Mhz (tone 100 hz) with normal offsets. There is also a packet radio mailbox and digipeater co-located on 145.75 Mhz.

NOTE: A few weeks ago, the node was shut down because the files in the radio computer became corrupted during a crash. Assistance is being obtained from experienced operators in other states and work is underway to reload the files and get the system operational. Best advice is to hang in there and watch for the return of this important tool.

Satellites are not only for the cell phone users or for the couch potato watching television through the signal provided by the small dish on his roof. Did you know that there are a number of "birds" (satellites) up there providing signal capabilities for the world-wide amateur radio community? The club earned an extra 100 bonus points during the Field Day by having a QSO via the RS-12/13 satellite.

At the November presentation meeting, the NKARC satellite "guru" Don Gibson, NS7Q, will let us know what's there in the sky for us to use and how to use them. Don has much experience in this phase of the hobby and is well versed in the operating procedures. He has worked all states on the HF satellite RS-12/13 and has set up to work some of the other satellites on VHF. He will show us the software to determine when the bird is overhead for us to work them.

This is an interesting phase and one that could prove to be a real challenge to those willing to accept it.

As the president mentioned in her column at the start of this newsletter, there will only be one meeting in the months of November and December due to the holidays that occur.

There will be a short business session at the start of the November meeting. Also, be ready to discuss nominations for the elections to be held at the December meeting.

The December meeting is election and party time. Be ready to enjoy yourself.

 THE FOX'S DEN

The hidden transmitter hunt at the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Club's annual hamfest was a success. There was no need for rain gear because the hunt took place inside inside the hall, in the vendors' area. Three transmitters were placed around the hall. Two were found fairly quickly but the third proved to be very wily and was not found for at least an hour. The lucky finders all appreciated their prizes. The master fox, Charles, is to be commended for the careful placement and the success of the hunt.

Unfortunately, the master fox has deserted the den. Charles accepted a position in Chapel Hill, S.C. and left the club after the October business meeting. He will be missed for the quiet enthusiasm he brought to the club and for the knowledge he was willing to share with us.

Is there anybody out there who is willing to be the master fox and handle the fox-hunt events next year? It does not required any expertise--only a willingness to keep track of what is going on in this activity. Step forward and help to keep the THE FOX'S DEN open. Until we hear, the FOX is saying "73 es cul."

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.

A friend is someone who know me but likes me anyway.

An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.

Diagnosing the Health of the DX Node:

When the bands are hot dx spotting traffic on KC7Z is usually very active. Traffic density can be loosely correlated to time of day - high activity just before sunrise, just before and after sunset, again about noon local time, and then again into the evening on 20 meters following a brief lull of about an hour or so after the sunset frenzy. At other times of day the absence of DX spot activity sometimes raises the question "is the node working OK?" And users may call to ask if I have noticed anything wrong. When such calls come in I perform a few "tests" to ask KC7Z how it is doing.

1) My first test, of course, is to send out a connect request followed by a sh/u to see who else is connected locally. A short t-message to one of them will confirmthat at least locally operation is OK because I can watch the responses of my own radio and TNC.

2) Next, I might try a request for QSL information using sh/buck to see whether KC7Z is connected OK to VE7CQD. If the connection is OK the appropriate "Remote Data Base....." responses tell me that the internet connection is indeed working and that the observed absence of new DX spots is merely evidence that no one is making any entries. But sometimes the remote callsign database via VE7CQD may be out of order. After all every system has to have its own set of problems. So to make sure, I try another reliable test.

3) Enter sh/c to request VE7CQD to display the connected stations. (A note here before proceeding -This step assumes that step 1 verified that KC7Z is working OK on its own. That is, it is responding correctly to local requests)

After the display of connected nodes and users appears on the screen, I select any station NOT connected to KC7Z and send a "t message" to that station. If the connection to VE7CQD is intact "your callsign de KC7Z".will appear on your monitor. If the connection to VE7CQD is not intact, KC7Z will tell you that the station you selected to receive your t message "...is not currently connected". These interpretations of the observed responses are valid because the t message to a station connected to another node ( other than KC7Z ) must go through VE7CQD to reach your target station.

At this point exercising patience is in order. In previous DX Packet notes it was pointed out that VE7CQD shuts down briefly for maintenance at approximately 1100Z every day (when most of us are asleep). Other interruptions can and do occur. For example, recently after a several hours of malfunction by the remote Buckmaster database, VE7CQD responded to sh/buck requests with a "remote database not currently available" notice. After a few hours the Buckmaster service was restored.

In the next few months I will attempt to put together some sort of troubleshooting notes to simplify the support of KC7Z and perhaps entice more of you to get involved in keeping the DX Packet node working well and reliably throughout the coming DX period of hot HF activity. Get Connected and have More Fun on HF.

Bruce, N7OJ

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.

If you changed your address or call sign, please notify the club secretary to update the roster. This will insure that you will get the latest news via the club newsletter. Either notify Burt at the meeting or drop a card to NKARC at PO Box 2268, Silverdale, WA 98383-2268.

The club has a fine collection of books related to Amateur Radio. The collection available to club members covers a wide variety of topics including packet radio, direction finding, an antennas. Contact Susan, AB7MD, if you’re looking for a book and would like to borrow a copy.

Last month, I published the first of a series of articles on the history of amateur radio. I found the articles on the Internet and wrote to the author requesting permission to include them in the club newsletter. The author approved immediately only requesting that we give him credit for his work. They are presented to let us know where amateur radio came from…The page was released on the electronic version of the newsletter, but the page was omitted in the printed version. I apologize for the oversight, and am taking the liberty to reproduce that page again and include the second article in the series. Bob, N7KTP

(Bill Continelli, W2XOY, has been active in the hobby for over 25 years. The first of this series of articles originally appeared in the Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association newsletter and have been reprinted in a number of other newsletters throughout the country.

I start this column in an attempt to research three major questions that have been asked: "When did ham radio start?"; "Who was the first ham?"; and "Where did the word 'ham' come from?". To answer these questions, let's set "The Wayback Machine" to Warp Factor 9, and head back 100 years.

Practical "wireless" had its start in 1896, when Marconi first sent a signal over a distance of two miles. By 1899, he succeeded in sending a wireless message across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. The year 1899 also marks the first construction project, which appeared in "American Electrician" magazine. In December, 1901, Marconi was able to bridge the Atlantic, a feat which caught the world's attention and fueled the imagination of thousands of potential amateurs, who took their first steps into wireless.

In the early days, everything was "spark." What exactly was spark? Well, sit down some summer night, listen to your AM or SW radio, and count the static crashes. Now turn on the vacuum cleaner, or an electric shaver, and listen to your radio again. Hear that noise? In short, spark wireless was merely a form of "controlled static." A high voltage inside a spark coil would jump across a gap, which was coupled to an antenna. The spark was keyed on and off to transmit the code. The signal generated was extremely broad. A "state of the art" 1906 spark transmitter operating on 400 meters (750 kHz) would actually generate a signal from about 250 meters (1200 kHz) to 550 meters (545 kHz).

Receivers were no better. Before 1912, all systems were basically unamplified detectors. Tuners were primitive or nonexistent. As might be expected, by today's standards, the early wireless stations were terribly inefficient. transmitting ranges varied from as little as 600 feet with a 1/2 inch coil to perhaps 100 miles from a kilowatt station and a 15 inch spark coil. Ships at sea with 5 KW transmitters might get as much as 500 miles maximum range.

It was into this world that the early amateurs ventured. Actually, if we were to concentrate on the years prior to 1908, it would be more appropriate to say "experimenters" rather than "amateurs." For in the first decade of wireless, there was little or no interest in personal communications with other stations; rather, the concentration was on technical development, either in the interest of pure science, or (more often than not) with an eye towards cashing in on this new medium. Experimenters were unorganized and, with the exception of those immediate stations with whom they ran tests, had no knowledge or interest in other pioneer stations. Any true "amateurs" prior to 1908 have been lost in pre-historic obscurity.

By 1908, however, the face of wireless began to change. Technical developments had reached their first plateau, and a number of major competitors had formed the first "wireless trust" -- United Wireless. With a temporary truce in effect, equipment was now more readily available to the public. Along with this, new magazines, such as "Modern Electrics," were formed with wireless communication as the primary thrust. The circulation of "Modern Electrics" jumped from 2,000 to over 30,000 in just two years. The year 1908 also saw the first "handbook," "Wireless Telegraph Construction for Amateurs." It is difficult to know exactly how many amateur stations were on the air in this completely unregulated, laissez-faire era, but reliable estimates put the number of "major" stations (i.e., those capable of communicating over 10 miles) at 600, while "minor" stations with a one or two mile range probably numbered 3000 or more. Thus, if a year had to be arbitrarily chosen as the start of amateur radio, it would probably be 1908.

As for the "first" amateur, that's a harder one. Without licensing, regulations, or a written record, there will never be a definitive answer to this question. However, "The Wayback Machine" has come up with the name W.E.D. Stokes, Jr. he was a founding member and the first President of the first amateur radio club--the Junior Wireless Club, Limited, of New York City. This organization was formed on January 2, 1909. Other founding members who might lay claim to the title "first amateur" were George Eltz, Frank King, and Fred Seymour. Later the same year, the Wireless association of America, and the Radio Club of Salt Lake City were created.

Keep that spark gap adjusted and those raspy CQs coming. We'll catch you next time on board "The Wayback Machine."

© Copyright 1998 by the Hudson Communications Foundation, Inc.

All rights are reserved.

By 1910, wireless clubs were springing up all over the country, and the first callbook -- "The Wireless Blue Book" --was published. Since there were no regulations in this period, the callsigns listed in the "Blue Book" were self assigned--which brings us to our third question--where did the word "ham" come from? Legend has it there was a phenomenal station on the air with a 5 KW transmitter, which could be heard at all hours of the day and night at distances of over 500 miles. The station operator used his initials for his callsign - H.A.M. I don't know if this is the real story, but I've always liked this explanation best.

Amateur radio continued to grow. By 1911, "Modern Electrics" had a circulation of 52,000, and there were 10,000 amateurs in the country. With thousands of stations on the air, both amateur and commercial, interference was becoming a serious problem, especially in marine communication. Ships, because of their restricted antenna length, were limited to frequencies between 450 and 600 meters (666 to 500 kHz). As we have seen, one spark station could take up this entire spectrum. Thus, it was imperative that all stations cooperate and stand by when the others were transmitting. Sadly, this often was not the case. In addition to interference between amateurs and commercial stations, there was more interference and sometimes deliberate jamming between commercial stations of different companies.

Prodded by the Navy (which was using inefficient and outdated equipment and thus suffering from excessive interference), Congress was starting to take a serious look at wireless regulation. However, before they could take up proposed legislation, an incident happened that would quickly and dramatically alter the structure of the wireless spectrum.

On April 15, 1912, the R.M.S. Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. Thanks to wireless, and the first S.O.S. in history, 713 lives were saved. However, it has been argued that the number of survivors could have been doubled or even tripled, if there were stronger wireless regulations in effect.

Monday, April 15, 1912, 12:30 AM. "The Wayback Machine" is over the North Atlantic, at 41 degrees 46' North, and 50 degrees 14' West. Down below is a majestic ship, the largest and most luxurious ship in the world, on its maiden voyage. In the wireless room is a 5 kW Marconi station, and before it sit two tired operators, who make $20 per month, not as employees of the shipping line, but rather as employees of the Marconi Company. The "in" basket is still full of messages, everything from personal telegrams to stock market quotations. They are so busy working Cape Race, Newfoundland, that they didn't even notice the slight grinding jar 30 minutes earlier. As the two wireless operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, passed the routine traffic, the Captain came in, said the ship had struck an iceberg, and told them to send a distress call at once. The blue spark jumped across the gap as Phillips sent "CQD" (come quick danger). "Send S.O.S." Bride said, "It's the new call and it may be your last chance to send it".

Thus began the moment in history that changed radio. Two hours later, Jack Phillips and over 1500 others were dead, the "Titanic" lay at the bottom of the ocean, and 713 survivors huddled in half filled lifeboats waiting to be rescued. The tragic errors in the story of the "Titanic" pointed out the need for wireless regulation.

The first ship to answer the distress call was the German Liner, the "Frankfurt". While the "Frankfurt" wireless operator was informing his captain, the "Carpathia" and Cape Race chimed in. When the "Frankfurt" operator came back to get more information, Phillips tapped back "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, YOU FOOL. STAND BY AND KEEP OUT". While this would seem bizarre by our standards, it made perfect sense to the operators of 1912. The "Titanic", "Carpathia", and Cape Race were equipped with Marconi operators and stations, while the "Frankfurt" utilized the services of Marconi's German competitor, Telefunken. This commercial war was extended down to the individual operators. No routine traffic would EVER pass from a Marconi station to a rival, and, even in an emergency, if Marconi stations were available, the others would be shut out.

The wireless controversy would continue after the "Carpathia" picked up the survivors. A wireless message was received, allegedly from the "Carpathia", which said "ALL PASSENGERS OF LINER "TITANIC" SAFELY TRANSFERRED TO THIS SHIP AND "S.S. PARISIAN". SEA CALM. "TITANIC" BEING TOWED BY ALLEN LINER "VIRGINIAN" TO PORT". Other wireless messages appeared, also stating that ALL passengers were safe, and the ship was being towed in. There was just one problem--these messages were not coming from the "Carpathia". For one thing, her wireless had a maximum range of 150 miles. For another, the "Carpathia" wireless operator had made only a few transmissions to the "Olympic" (sister ship of the "Titanic" and another Marconi operation), in which he tapped out the list of survivors, some coded messages from Bruce Ismay, President of White Star Lines, then shut down his station. So complete was the radio silence from the "Carpathia", that they refused to answer the calls from Navy cruisers sent to the scene by President Taft.

Keep that spark gap adjusted and those raspy CQs coming. We'll catch you next time on board "The Wayback Machine."

© Copyright 1998 by the Hudson Communications Foundation, Inc.

All rights are reserved.