Solid Copy de KC7Z

Newsletter of the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Club

PO BOX 2268 -- Silverdale, WA 98383-2268

Web page: http://community.silverlink.net/NKARC/

October, 2001

For a month or more I had planned to order some photo QSL cards using a print film photo I took at Scenic Beach a year ago which shows Hood Canal and the Olympics. I expect them back in mid-November.

At the September business meeting we failed to appoint a nominating committee for next year's officers. The average attendance at the business meetings has been between 10 and 12 members, 7 of which are board members. Unless more members attend, the pool from which to nominate officers is quite limited. The result is that the incumbents usually serve again the next year, or drop out Observe how few, if any, past presidents have attended recent meetings. This is typical of many clubs, particularly smaller clubs with many programs. I once belonged to a club that had more committees than members. I don't have an answer, so maybe we can kick it around at one of our meetings.

Our 10th annual hamfest/swap-meet will be here a few days after our October program meeting. Accordingly, we will devote a short time after the program to wrap up any loose ends. Susan and Marcie have done a lot of work on this year's event, and have done an outstanding job again this year. We ran into a problem of "pre sales." This is where vendors or people renting a table have the opportunity to make purchases before the doors are opened to the general public. Susan encountered one vendor who has notified us that he will not participate this year because of the club's policy of "no presales". Susan has noted that perhaps ten others will not be here out of sympathy. She has also noted that attendance at other swap-meets has been down, and some clubs have lost money. So far, our table sales are following the trend. We will be watching the outcome closely to anticipate whether or not there will be number 11. Also, the County has a new staff to handle the hall, and they have gone by the rules which means we will be charged the first time for setting up Friday-an unanticipated $250.00 that had not been budgeted.

I shall be making a reservation at Angel's Buffet (where we were last year) for this year's Christmas program/business dinner meeting. Again-keep posted.

NKARC Hamfest – HELP!!!!:

The NKARC Hamfest on October 13th is just days away and we need your help! I will have sign up sheets at the October 10th social meeting or you may call me at 690-9379. Volunteers are needed for the following:

Friday afternoon night talk-in from approx. 3pm until 7 or 8 pm Saturday morning talk-in from 6am until 11 or noon. Talk in work can be done from your home or the club trailer which will be at the fairgrounds mid-afternoon Friday. Both the WW7RA repeater and the simplex freq. need to be monitored.

Help Friday night during set up either loading/unloading, organizing tables and security work.

Help Friday afternoon putting up the antenna(s) for the antique radio group's radios. Bob is getting the antenna requirements so we will know more about that by the social meeting.

Help Saturday selling tickets (very important job since no one will get beyond Lois at the front door without a ticket) Shifts of 2 hours are usually what we need filled on Sat., starting around 8am until noon. Then around noon we move the ticket sales inside the front door.

Help staffing the NKARC club table that will have your donations for sale as well as silent auction items.

Help at the NKARC membership table where we help with vendor, customer needs and questions, coordinate door prizes and provide general support.

WANTED – Equipment or part donations. -- NKARC is again having a club table at this year's hamfest. We will have used equipment for sale and rely on members to staff the table. The club will accept any working equipment (new or used) and parts, tubes, accessories, etc. that you would like to donate. All proceeds help fund club activities and special events. Please bring your equipment to the President's Hall on Friday Oct. 12th during the 5pm to 10pm set up period or to the September business meeting on 9/26. Please mark it somewhere as a NKARC donation so we know which table it goes to. Thanks!

Special Event – Dec 7^th

December 7^th, 2001 is the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. NKARC will conduct a special event station at the Naval Museum at Keyport, WA to commemorate this significant and historical date. The museum is open from 1000 to 1600 on that day and there will be a minimum of 2 stations set up in the museum for the event. The ability to set up more stations is dependent on the participation of the NKARC members and those in other clubs in the Puget Sound area.

The museum director, Bill Galvani, has invited us to write and article describing amateur radio cooperation with the Historical Naval Ship Association Fleet. He would submit the article to be considered for publication in the association’s publication, The Anchor Watch. Mr. Galvani has given permission to set up trailers with stations in the museum parking lot to conduct operations after the museum is closed. This could become a 24-hour operation if participants and equipment is made available.

The special event can be considered to be a field day event in a location other than our own QTH. The event has been divided into various tasks to be performed from now until the end on December 8^th. The tasks have been placed into major categories to be assumed by designated team leaders. Some club members have been approached and have agreed to become team leaders in this project. Ed Bruette, N7NVP, is assistant project manager’ Malcolm Mannan, NF7M, is site manager; and Tom Sanders, W6QJI, is handling antenna design and placement. We will meet with the museum staff during the week of 15 October to layout the station, antenna and trailer placements. Members of the Peninsula Radio Club in Gig Harbor and the Mike an Key Club in Renton will participate. They are making equipment available to the operation. We hope to do the same for the Radio Club of Tacoma.

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 posted 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.

The NKARC presentation meeting in September was a real treat for those who attended. Sandy Kolb, NE7V, described her experiences during the shakedown cruise of the USCGS Healy in the Arctic Ocean.

Sandy participated in the cruise during the Spring 2000. Being a teacher with over twenty years of experience, she viewed this as a golden opportunity to gather material for a teaching project and kept a meticulous journal with numerous slides and photographs. The material has been compiled into an informative and entertaining presentation on life aboard an icebreaker. She described how the awesome ship performs the jobs it is required to do in the polar regions. She also provided an extensive look at life in the Arctic – one of the earth’s least explored areas.

Sandy told of how the trip got off to an unlikely start when her luggage came to the starting point in Greenland after the ship departed for the shakedown cruise. Fortunately, she had her essentials in a carry-on bag and the ship’s crew and scientific team provided her with clothing. An exciting experience was the opportunity to steer the ship and to do an ice-breaking action. There were many photographs and slides to show the beauty and contradictory bleakness of the North Polar region.

You can see the journal and photographs of Sandy’s experience on her web page:

The web page also includes Sandy’s journals of her experience in the Antarctic. It’s worth the trip.

A trivia question—“What was one of the earliest form of digital communications used by hobbyists?” If you said, CW or Morse Code, you were right. Smoke signals predate Morse Code. Morse code or telegraphy with its alternate conditions of off or on signified by a long signal interval for dash and a short signal interval for dot is digital communications. So, if you qualified for a tech-plus or higher amateur radio license, you have some experience with digital communications.

With the introduction of PCs, digital communications has taken on a more sophisticated look and amateur radio is in the middle of it. PCs have changed the look of RTTY and allowed the transmission of pictures and photos with SSTV. Packet Radio and its HF counterparts of AMTOR and PACTOR are the amateur radio alternatives to Internet e-mail. Early configurations for digital communications required a terminal node controller (TNC) to be placed between the computer and the transceiver to convert the analog signals to a digital mode. Along came the PC sound card and Hams immediately started to find ways to used them in amateur radio and possibly eliminate the TNC from the shack.

NKARC members will have the opportunity to learn about the latest trends in digital communications at the presentation meeting on October 10^thwhere Clint Hurd will discuss Sound Card Interface Design. The presentation will describe how to connect the PC sound card to your transceiver and the software programs available to use the various modes available to amateur radio.

If you have a computer in the shack, this will introduce you to an economical way to become involved in a most exciting and interesting facet of amateur radio – digital communications. CW, RTTY, Packet Radio, APRS, PACTOR, AMTOR, SSTV, PSK31 and MFSK are all there to be used. Come and learn how to turn that PC into an important tool in the shack.

Don’t forget to dispose of those discharged household batteries in a way that helps our environment. This includes alkaline, ni-cad, and regular zinc carbide batteries. Bring them to the meeting., and they will be taken to the proper disposal site in Kitsap County.

Lead acid batteries are excluded from this collection. The disposal site on Hansville Road will accept lead acid batteries as part of the county-wide recycling project.

Oct. 10th – Presentation meeting at 7:30 PM - Viking Park Clubhouse –. Sound Card Interface Design Presentation for Ham Clubs – Clint Hurd

Oct. 13th – Hamfest, President’s Hall, Kitsap County Fairgrounds. Doors open at 9:00 AM. General Admission -- $5.

Oct. 20th -- 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. Contact Sue,AB7MD, at 360-697-9379

Nov. 14th – Presentation meeting at 7:30 PM - Viking Park Clubhouse – To be announced

Nov. 17th -- 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. Contact Sue,AB7MD, at 360-697-9379

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.

It’s almost time for the changing of the guard. The nomination and election of club officers takes place at the December dinner meeting. Although we are going into the tenth month of the year and the election seems a long time off, there is just a short time to think about who will lead the club next year.

The club offices are listed on the newsletter mailpage. Look over the list and think about the office you would consider or else who would make a good candidate. If somebody approaches you and asks you to consider a position, listen and give some thought to it. After all, they have confidence that you have the qualifications for the office you are being asked to consider.

Continuing with our look into history, the following article was sent to me by Burt, W7IIT. Burt's description of his early experiences gives additional insight into what it was like in the Good Old Days (or were they?) If you have anything to add, send it to the editor and get it published. It's important to know some of the history of amateur radio. How can we know where we're going if we don't know where we've been?

I read Tom's reminiscing comments with a great deal of interest. I was a relative newcomer (September 1940) when W6QJI had been operating three years (September 1937). Here are some of my recollections--

I remember there being two power switches--one for the filaments and one for the plate voltage. When ready to transmit, you flipped the power switch to ON. This switch often connected to a relay to turn on more than one power supply, and /or switch the antenna from transmit to receive. It was also common to use plug-in coils to change bands. To do so, one could not be absent minded. In the least, it was necessary to turn off the plate voltage before making the change. For the most part, the rigs were either "breadboard", open chassis, or exposed rack and panel. Grabbing a coil with the plate voltage applied could be serious. High voltage could be anywhere from 300 VDC for a 6L6 oscillator on up. I remember pointing to a panel meter while visiting a friend's station, and drawing an arc from the screw used to calibrate the zero setting.

Today's rigs are much more convenient to use. When I started, my 15-watt oscillator was crystal controlled on 7181 KHz. If I sent a CQ, I would tune the entire band on my Hallicrafters Sky Buddy receiver hoping to hear someone answering my call. I used a knife type switch to change the antenna from the transmitter to the receiver.

By the time my license arrived in 1940, DX on 40 meters with 15 watts was the East Coast. World War II started in 1939. I don't recall hearing any foreign stations, although there may have been some in those countries not in WWII.

Other than love, characteristics of "Romantic" literature are about fictional stories that took place long ago, or in far off places. In this sense I feel that amateur radio went through a similar romantic period until air travel shortened the far-off distance to hours instead of months, and television brought the current events into our living rooms as they were occurring.

Cost is another factor that favors the present. A 250-watt rig would require a desk high rack and panel and cost perhaps the salary earned in a month or more. Then there would be the cost of a receiver, and possibly an outboard preselector.. There were no dual VFO's or ECO's (Electron Coupled Oscillator), or electronic keyers. The only walkie-talkies I heard of were in the military. The license periods were three years and the FCC was much more active in monitoring the bands for out of band signals, and signal quality. It’s a great hobby regardless of the time frames. Burt (W7IIT)

The newest aircraft carrier USS Iwo Jima was recently commissioned. Among the statistics were the following:

It has an internal communication system consisting of 800 telephones, a tactical Integrated Voice Network (IVN), 20 inter-comm and announcing systems, an internal radio system, three video recorders. 49 receivers, 179 TV outlets and a complete audiovisual studio with 16mm film, slide display and videotape recording equipment for shipboard broadcast distribution.

It has an exterior communications system which includes 32 transmitting channels, 49 receiving channels and 54 transmit/receive channels. High power equipment rated at 36 kilowatts...the equivalent of an average-sized commercial FM radio station.

Newsletter of the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Club

NKARC Hamfest – HELP!!!!:

Special Event – Dec 7th

Special Event – Dec 7^th