Solid Copy de KC7Z
PO BOX 2268 -- Silverdale, WA 98383-2268
|
June, 2001 |
The President's Message:
Occasionally I hear a contest going on, and would make a few
calls except that I don't know the exchange and who the contacts are
between. On the latter point, it may be
between former members of the British Empire, or between members of QCWA, or
whatever. I subscribe to WORLD RADIO
and noticed that they publish the contests that will be happening during that
month, the exchange etc... Ah ha--I cut
out that page for the past year, inserted it in a clear plastic sleeve, and put
the sheets in a notebook. I should have
thought of that a long time ago. Now
when I hear "test," I'll have an idea of what it is all about.
I'll be presenting a program about QSLing at the June program
meeting. It will be mostly my experiences
with plenty of opportunities to ask questions or to add comments. I had hoped
to invite the QSL manager for a Russian station to help me out, but he is
cruising with the Navy most of the month.
I'll be counting on our treasurer to add some perspective of what it is
like to be the recipient of loads of QSLs to answer from a DX station (ZF8AA)
and another operation from Midway Island.
There should be time at the end to discuss last minute Field Day
questions.
Lets give Bob (N7KTP) all the support we can during Field
Day. In the meantime hope to see you at
the meeting and at the Vinland School site during FD.
73, Burt. W7IIT
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NKARC
helps the Poulsbo library:
Many have asked how we can help SPREAD-THE-WORD
about ham radio. ARRL offered a set of publications valued
at $302.90 at $170 to ARRL affiliated radio clubs donating books to their local
library. NKARC purchased a set of the books to be donated to the Poulsbo branch
of the Kitsap Regional Library. A book-plate was inserted in each book
indicating that it was donated to the library by the North Kitsap Amateur Radio
Club. The 16-volume set was presented the to the library on June 1st by Club
Treasurer Ron Sefton. The event was photographed and reported in the Saturday
(June 2nd) issue of the North Kitsap Herald. Stop by the library and examine
the publications.
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Constitution
and By-Laws Update:
The revised club constitution and
by-laws were
discussed by the members present at the business meeting on May 23rd. The by-laws committee of
Burt Boyd, Malcolm Mannan and Susan Johnson met again to review the suggested
changes presented
at the meeting. The committee worked to reduce redundancy,
simplify language and keep a clear focus on the club's current and future needs
as they relate to the by-laws.
A revised document has
been prepared and is posted to the NKARC website at:
http//www.silverlink.net/nkarc
along with the current
by-laws for membership review. Anyone
who does not have access to the website may call Susan Johnson, 360-697-9379,
to request a copy via the US mail. The
by-laws will undergo
final review and reading at the June business meeting on June 28th.. Barring any further adjustments,
they will be voted upon.
Susan Johnson, AB7MD
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Changing equipment in the Shack?:
Once in a while, every ham operator decides to reconfigure the
equipment in the shack. Father’s Day comes and there are a few new toys to
go into the ham shack. The pack rats will store the old equipment in the garage to serve as backup or
spares. Problem is that as time goes on, there is more equipment in the garage
than can be used in a reasonable time. It’s time “cleaning” up the garage seems to take priority.. Hints are passed to get rid of some of the
gear in the shack and/or the garage. A common rule is: “If you haven’t used it
in two years, you don’t need it and
it’s time to get rid of it.” Look
around and see what’s “surplus”. If it’s usable, consider getting some extra
cash towards that new piece of equipment you want to buy. If you don’t want to go through the selling
process, consider donating it to the club for sale at the October Hamfest. Proceeds
will be used to support the club activities during the year.
Field Day (FD)
2001. (June 23 & 24)
FD is probably the most important event that ARRL
sponsors. This is the activity that demonstrates and verifies the readiness of
the Amateur Radio community for emergency communications. Some of us like to
participate on Field Day just to hang out with friends and fellow Hams, talk
about the good old days or what's new. Some like the realism of an emergency
situation that comes with the competition for point scores. It can be a lot of
fun for everyone - whatever your preferences - operating Phone, CW, Packet, HF
or VHF, and Satellite, talking to visitors that drop in to see what Amateur
Radio is about. Or, if you enjoy installing and testing antennas, there will be
a need for helping hands on Saturday morning. In addition, during the entire
24-hour operating period there will be frequent need for maintenance support,
talking with visitors to the site about the great opportunities of ham radio,
or greeting visitors and helping them find their areas of interest. This year, we expect to
be visited by Dimitri
Viktor Rozenblit, RA0LU, a visitor sponsored by the Committee for Russian-American
Cooperation, to join us at Field Day. We hope to
have him make a few QSOs during his visit.
If
you can't show up Saturday, maybe you could turn out on Sunday morning to
operate the stations for more points, or to help take down the antennas and to
clean up the site. The location for FD is the same this year as last - the
Middle School at Vinland just off Finn Hill Road.
Operating CW or Phone on
Field Day can provide a real opportunity for Hams who do not have a HF station
set-up at home, as well as for folks who have not earned their licenses yet. If you know someone
having an interest, Field Day is a good event to invite them to have a little
hands-on operating time. Experience not required. Many people who are licensed
Amateur Radio operators today, got their first real spark of enthusiasm at a Field Day when a
Ham saw them standing around and asked the question "Would you like to
talk on the radio?" and then handed over the microphone and provided a little
bit of coaching.
If you want to have some
fun with CW, hang out at the CW trailer and make sure you get a turn at the
key. Help out with the logging job and practice copying the standardized
exchanges. The NKARC side of the exchange is simple and is the same for each
QSO - KC7Z 2A WWA. For Phone the format is the same except that it is spoken phonetically - Kilo Charlie Seven
Zulu 2 Alpha Whiskey Whiskey Alpha. (2A is our FD Entry Category; WWA means
Western Washington, our ARRL Section). We will be covering this sort of stuff
at the Club meetings. Incidentally, if the propagation gurus are right in their
current predictions for 23 & 24 June , we could be in for a lot of good 20
Meter and 40 Meter band openings well into the wee hours of the morning. Come
out and see how many different states and ARRL sections you can QSO during
Field Day. Or see how many points (2 points for each CW and 1 point for each
Phone QSO per operating band) you can add to the Club's overall score. Field
Day comes only once per year. Don't miss it.
Bruce McAffery, N7OJ
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2001
Trident Triple Bicycle Tour
This is to announce the
2001 Trident Triple Bicycle Tour to be held on Saturday, June 23rd. As in previous years, this all-day event
will start and finish at the Silverdale Mall and will include four routes, all
including a loop through the upper portion of Subase Bangor. We need approximately 12-15 radio operators
to man the start/finish line, four rest stops, four sag vehicles, a mechanic's
vehicle, a strategic intersection, and a relay in Mason County. Most of you have participated in previous
years and we're counting on your experience again this year. Please let me know as soon as possible if
you can assist this year. Please excuse
me if you have already volunteered.
Details will be available within the next few weeks.
Thanks,
Peter KB7TGF
360-697-2183
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Antenna Economics
Presentation:
The Presentation on
economical Antenna design by Tom Sanders, W6QJI, at the May 9th presentation success was
a great success. Tom described some wire antennas that could be built at an
economical cost and used in areas where there are space and visibility limitations. His
explanations regarding SWR and its significance in antenna operation was very enlightening. It now
saves a lot of time and concern in tuning antennas for maximum performance. We now know that we do
not work the transmitter for hours trying to get a 1:1 SWR reading – we can live with an
SWR up to 1.5:1. Thanks Tom for an
interesting and informative presentation. We well be using your talents when we
set up the Special Event station at the Undersea Museum in December.
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NKARC Web Page..
Visit the NKARC Web
Page at the URL
http//www.silverlink.net/nkarc
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 page master is
Malcolm Mannan, NF7M Submit your comments to Page master, Malcolm at
and let him know what
you think. If you know of any
interesting links, let him know and he will look into them.
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Calendar
of Events
June 13th – Presentation meeting
at 7:30 PM - Viking Park Clubhouse –. QSL cards and how to exchange them effectively. Burt Boyd, W7IIT
June 16th -- VE testing – Olympic
College, Room T-114, Lincoln Avenue, Bremerton, WA at 9:30 AM. All exams, Technician through Extra, are
given. Contact Sue,AB7MD, at
360-697-9379
June 23rd and 24th – Field Day, Vinland
Elementary School, Poulsbo – Setup 0700 on June 23rd.
June 27th – Business meeting –
7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse
July
11th –
Presentation meeting at 7:30 PM - Viking Park Clubhouse – Sheriff Steve Boyer will
discuss Sheriff’s Police functions in Kitsap County
July
21 st – VE Testing --Olympic College, Room T-111,
Lincoln Avenue, Bremerton, WA at 9:00 AM.
All exams, Technician through Extra, are given. Contact Sue, AB7MD, at
360-697-9379.
July 25th – Business meeting –
7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse
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Early Newsletter delivery?
Want your newsletter as soon as it comes out of
the word processor? Want to help the club keep the cost of the bulletin at as
low as we can by minimizing the costs of printing and postage? Send your e-mail
address to :
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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Canada drops 12 wpm code
requirement
Basic + 5 wpm get full HF
operating privileges
In a notice from Industry Canada the Technical Requirements
set out in the Radiocommunication Information Circular 2 (RIC-2),
"Standards for the Operation of Radio Stations in the Amateur Radio
Service", has been amended.
Effective May 19, 2001,
this notice grants full operating privileges in all amateur radio frequency
bands below 30 MHz to amateur radio operators holding the basic and 5 w.p.m.
Morse code qualification.
Copies of the revised
RIC-2 are available from the Industry Canada web site at:
http://strategis.gc.ca/SSG/sf01226e.html
Horace Ory, KB6TRG
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Northwest
DX Convention
Western Washington DX
Club to host Northwest DX Convention: The Western Washington DX Club will host
the Northwest DX Convention--DXing in the 21st Century!—in Seattle, Washington,
July 20-22 at the Everett Holiday Inn. Speakers include Bill Fisher, W4AN; Carl
Luetzelschwab, K9LA; DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L; Garry Shapiro, NI6T and NCJ
Editor Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV. DX videos will be shown hourly. Send
questions to convention@wwdxc.org or to WWDXC, PO Box 395, Mercer Island, WA
98040. For on-line registration and the up to date convention agenda, visit the
WWDXC Web site,
http://www.wwdxc.org/convention .
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The only cure for insomnia is to get more sleep.
Love is blind, but marriage is an eye opener
Wayback Machine –
Part 21
The Technician license is, by far, the most popular class
of license now held in the amateur community. Most new hams start at the
Technician level, to the extent that proposals have been made to eliminate the
Novice license as unnecessary. The amateur community accepts the Technician,
especially the Technician Plus, as an acceptable mainstream license, either as
a steppingstone to a higher class license, or as an end in itself. But it
wasn't always like this. For the first 25 years of the Technician class
license's existence, it was an official outcast, set apart by the FCC as
separate and distinct from the other amateur classes. Why were Technicians considered
second class? To answer this question, we must go back to 1951.
On July 1, 1951, the FCC replaced the class A, B, and C
licenses with the Advanced, General and Conditional classes and created three
new licenses--the Extra, Technician, and Novice. The FCC was specific about the
purpose of the Technician class license, as shown in the following quote:
"This class was established expressly for serious minded experimenters who
need spectrum space in which to air test their equipment. It was not
established as a communications service and should not be regarded as a stepping
stone between the Novice and General operator classes. The Technician class of
amateur license has as its purpose the provision for serious amateur
experimenters to explore the higher frequencies and otherwise contribute to the
art".
Thus, the Technician was an experimenter, not a communicator.
For this reason, the FCC initially allowed Technicians privileges only on
frequencies above 220 Mc. The FCC did not intend for the Technician to engage
in casual conversations on the air. Other than allowing a Technician to simultaneously
hold a Novice license (which at that time was valid for only one year and
non-renewable), it was expected that the Technician operator would stick to
experimentation, not communication.
Although many of the early Technicians were indeed pure
experimenters, many others obtained the license as a means to communicate
without having to pass the 13 WPM code test. These "Technician
communicators" became restless with the limited frequencies available
above 220 Mc., and wanted access to the more mainstream VHF bands at six and
two meters. They were joined by a small number of "Technician
experimenters" who also wished access to 50 and 144 Mc., for the purpose
of studying Sporadic E skip, building equipment for these bands, or even using
their license for radio control.
Thus, in early 1955, a proposal was submitted to
the FCC to allow Technicians access to six and two meters. Knowing that the FCC
regarded the license as an experimental one, these proposals avoided mentioning
"communication"--rather phrases such as "greater
experimentation" were used. The ARRL supported Technician access to six,
but not two meters. In announcing their decision, the ARRL stated that six
meters was far less occupied than two meters, and could use the influx of Technicians
to study the band, and thus contribute to greater understanding of the unique
characteristics of 50 Mc. The ARRL went on to say that permitting Technicians
on two meters would appear to make the Technician license too attractive. Many
amateurs also wrote the FCC on this--some said that Technicians should have
full access to all frequencies above 50 Mc., while others opposed the move,
citing the FCC's original intent for this license, and expressing fears that by
allowing Technicians to use six and two meters, they would become mere
communicators.
On April 12, 1955, the FCC amended Part 12 of the
rules and regulations to give the Technician class operator six but not two meters. The fears of those opposed
to Technician communicators were amplified in 1958 when, at the peak of the
sunspot cycle, thousands of Technicians used F layer skip on 50 Mc. to work
vast amounts of DX--with some earning the W.A.S. award. Nevertheless, allowing
Technicians on six meters had a beneficial effect--it helped populate a band
that was underutilized, and it allowed a greater study of E and F layer skip.
For this reason, early in 1959 another proposal was submitted to the FCC to
allow Technicians full access to the 144 Mc. band. This time the ARRL agreed.
They stated that things had changed since 1955 and Technicians on two meters
would benefit not only the advancement of the radio art, but would also allow
all classes of amateur licenses to share at least one voice band in common, as
Novices had access to the 145-147 Mc. segment of two meters.
Despite the ARRL's support of Technicians on two
meters, there was opposition. Again, the argument as to the purpose of the
license was brought up. Many amateurs wrote to the FCC stating that a
Technician was an experimenter, not a communicator, and that the license should
not be used for the routine exchange of communications. One ham complained that
Technicians were rag chewing and not experimenting. A few amateurs not only
wanted Technicians kept off of 144 Mc., but asked the FCC to incorporate their
statement as to the purpose of the license into Part 12, presumably so that
Technicians caught "communicating" rather than "experimenting"
could be fined or have their licenses suspended. Others, including the ARRL,
did bring in valid "experimental" reasons to allow Technicians on two meters. Once again, the FCC compromised.
They restated their official position that a Technician was an experimenter,
not a communicator. However, they acknowledged that VHF studies could be made
on two meters, and that it was beneficial to have one common meeting ground for
all classes of license. Thus, on August 21, 1959, Part 12 was amended to allow
Technicians access to the 145-147 Mc. segment of two meters--the same subband
that Novices had.
And so Technicians entered the 1960s as a
distinctly second class license. They were not eligible for RACES station
authorizations. They could not hold many ARRL appointments. And, despite the
ARRL support of full Technician access to all frequencies above 50 Mc., the
FCC's official position had not changed. Although no Technician was ever
actually fined or suffered a license suspension for the "crime" of
communicating, many hams felt that Technicians were merely "glorified
CBers" who were violating the spirit, if not the letter of the law.
*************************************************
This article may not be reprinted without
the express permission of the author -- Bill Continelli, W2XOY