About two weeks ago your Prez had an opportunity to attend the Western Wash. DX Club dinner and meeting in Burien in the south of Seattle. That is quite a bunch of ham talent! I sat across from Ward Silver, N0AX, who is the author of all those quizzes you see in the ham magazines. He seems to be everywhere at once. Ward is a technical editor for QST. Commutes from Vashon Island to teach college in Seattle. The presentation for the evening was a slide show of the North Cook Island Dxpedition club members had just completed.

A bit of bad news: Radar electric has moved away from its longtime location at the foot of Queen Ann hill in Seattle. Radar was originally a surplus goody store. They gradually added a huge selection of contemporary electronic parts. The new location is in Bellvue or Redmond. (Forgot which)

Hamfest plans are falling into place. As mentioned before, we are making an extra effort to recruit more vendors this year. So if you have a new idea about how to sell more tables or advertise to more hams, please go for it!

Bob Tomas, N7KTP called some time back. A silent key had requested that the club help dispose of his ham gear after he passed on. This got me thinking: a good collection of ham gear could pose quite a problem for the surviving spouse in a case like this. Wouldn’t it be thoughtful on our part, if we asked in our wills, that our gear be donated to the club in case of our demise?

It often is the case that the XYL, or whomsoever, has little knowledge of used equipment values. The gear may be obsolete, or may be so obsolete that it has antique value. But more often than not, the disposal of our beloved ham stuff is a burden on our survivors.

Ham gear drops in value quite quickly as new technology comes along. As such, it is seldom a significant part of our total estate value. So how about making a provision in our wills for a donation to the club. If you feel your goodies do have significant value, leave instructions for disposal. The club can take the equipment on consignment for sale at Hamfest with a percentage going to the club. Perhaps the club should set up a specific policy for such disposals.

Summer looks pretty near, now that the flowers are out and the fruit trees are in bloom. Maybe it’s time to think about Field Day preparations. Get in touch with FD chairman, Jeff Hasz, WS7H to be first in line for the choice operating and setup slots.

73, Ron, N7EM

Since April is the birthday month for the US Navy Submarine Force, the Submarine Museums and Amateur Radio groups run a Special Event to commemorate the contributions of "Silent Service". Thi0s year, the event will be on April 26th and April 27th.

The Naval Undersea Museum at Keyport has invited NKARC to run a special event station any time we could find a reason. Since Kitsap County is the home of the Bangor Submarine Base, it is appropriate that a Special Event be run. Jeff Hasz, K7SH, has volunteered to coordinate the event and Bob Tomas, N7KTP, will act as coordinator with the museum staff.

Plans are to have two HF stations on the air during the hours the museum is open to the public -- 0800 to 1600 local. Setup will be on Friday, April 25, starting at 1200. A vertical antenna will be mounted on the roof and an all band dipole will be strung from the roof across the front of the museum. A VHF station may be setup if operators are available. Cables, display boards, and other materials required for the event will be taken from the club trailer which will be towed to the site.

Apr 9th -- Presentation meeting at 7:30 PM– Viking Park Clubhouse – The NVIS Antenna – Tom Sanders, W6QJI, and Ed Bruette, N7NVP

 

Apr 19th -- VE testing Olympic College, Room B200 of Olympic College in Bremerton. Doors open at 9am. Picture ID, original and photocopy of current amateur radio license and pending CSCE's needed. Cost of session is $12.50. Questions please call Susan, AB7MD at 360-697-9379.

 

Apr 23rd – Business meeting at 7:30 PM - Viking Park Clubhouse

 

Apr 25th – SOTA Special Event setup – Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport WA. 1200 local

 

Apr 26th to 27th -- SOTA Special Event – Naval Undersea Museum 0800 to 1600

 

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

 

May. 17th -- VE testing Olympic College, Room B200 of Olympic College in Bremerton. Doors open at 9am. Picture ID, original and photocopy of current amateur radio license and pending CSCE's needed. Cost of session is $12.50. Questions please call Susan, AB7MD at 360-697-9379.

 

May. 28th – Business meeting at 7:30 PM - Viking Park Clubhouse

The presentation meeting on April 9^th is going to feature Nancy Sefton (N7EM’s better half) who will be presenting a video presentation of a trip up the inside passage to Glacier Bay, Alaska. Get to see some big critters up close and personal. This is not going to be just another slide show and it will not be technical, so do invite your non-ham friends to the meeting that evening.

NKARC members are interested in many different areas of life. Attempts are made to balance the presentations to achieve maximum interest. If you are aware of someone who could provide an interesting presentation to the club, notify Jeff, KS7H, and he will schedule it into the meetings.

The March presentation was on Amateur Radio in Japan, by Jerry, K9CCZ, who had a few tours of duty in Japan as Chaplain. During the evening Jerry regaled us with tales of life in the orient, including a trip to China.

With a flyer for a Japanese distributed HT and some other equipment that was usable only in Japan, we learned that the US ham serving over there had a US style call while the US ham operating under reciprocal privileges, wasn't actually licensed, but the station was, and was limited in the amount of power output allowed.

After a number of "sea stories" about meeting Japanese hams and his experiences teaching in institutions of higher learning there, the evening was deemed a success.

Jerry has a few other things up his sleeve which we hope to utilize for a future program - we'll keep you posted.

Jeff, KS7H

Know anybody involved with scouting and is interested in having some of their troop earn a merit badge? Are YOU involved with scouting and would like to share your interest through a cooperative program? Do you have a son or grandson involved in scouting? Ron, N7EM, has been meeting with scouting officials to obtain information about scouting merit badges related to ham radio. Scouting offers merit badges in three areas closely related to what we enjoy as a hobby – radio, electronics and computers. Contact Ron or Horace and get the ball rolling.

Think back in how your interest in ham radio was sparked. Somebody was an "Elmer" to you patiently teaching you electronics and the Morse Code. Invite a scout to visit your shack and see what amateur radio is all about. If you have an extra receiver sitting in the shack or garage, lend it to the scout and let him be an SWL and learn about the fascinating world of International Short Wave broadcasting. Visitors to my shack are impressed with the World Map with green and red pins showing my DX contacts. They find it had to believe that I made a contact with a Russian soldier stationed at a gold mine in Siberia north of the Arctic Circle with only 100 watts and a wire antenna.. If you operate RTTY, packet, or PSK-31, introduce him to the combination of computers and amateur radio. Get involved and come October, NKARC and some scout troops can participate in JOTA

Bob, N7KTP

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.

It costs approximately 60 cents per copy to print a newsletter and the postage to mail it. Receiving your newsletter electronically helps keep newsletter publishing costs down allowing the funds to be user for club projects.

Visit the NKARC Web Page at the URL

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. Have something to sell? Classifieds is a new addition to the page. The QRZ call sign look-up form is available..

The web page master is Jeff Hasz, KS7H. Submit your comments to Page master, Jeff at

and let him know what you think. If you know of any interesting links, let him know and he will look into it.

Here’s a thought that comes to mind concerning getting interesting articles into the newsletter. Not all of us have great writing skills, but most of us have opinions, interesting tales to tell, or questions to ask. Our newsletter is a great place to put your ideas out to the rest of the ham world.

If you would like to tell of your experiences, or to ask questions, technical, or ethical, submit them to our editor. Send them in any form and don’t worry about being grammatically perfect. The Editor can tidy your handiwork and our readers will get more variety.

N7EM

Help the environment by properly disposing of discharged household batteries. This includes alkaline, ni-cad, and regular zinc carbide batteries. The Solid Waste Facility on Hansville Road accepts the batteries as past of the county-wide recycling program. Otherwise, bring them to the meeting., and they will be taken to the disposal site. Lead-acid batteries are excepted. They too are accepted at the Solid Waste Facility, but it is your responsibility to dispose of them.

For Sale: Door Opener. Working condition. Removed during renovation. Unit has 7 or 8 foot screw type actuator. This could be rigged to be used as an elevation control for a low cost satellite antenna. U haul. $5.00

JPS Model NF-60 DSP notch filter. Zaps heterodynes like magic. Works in your audio line. $65

W9GR DSP III. A great digital signal processor with filtering/notching in at least a dozen different modes or filter widths. Also works in audio line. See www.w9gr.com and www.eham.net/reviews/detail/801  for info. MSRP: >$170. Sell for $75

Canon Inkjet Cartridges - BCI-21 black and BCI-21 Color (Printer died) $10 >ea. Several available.

Ron Sefton - N7EM ph: 360-779-5418 or ronsefton@hotmail.com

NKARC will be on display to the people of North Kitsap during the month of May when the club installs a display into the foyer in the Poulsbo branch of the Kitsap Library. Club president Ron is compiling ideas for and a list of items to be included in the display. Among some of the ideas advanced during the last meeting were some equipment depicting the history of amateur radio, pictures of amateur radio operations and posters describing the facets of amateur radio. The display will also include contact information for the club.

Contact Ron, N7EM, if you have any ideas for or equipment to be used in the display. The month of May seems like a long way off, but time goes by fast if you’re having fun.

The ARRL, FCC, and Civil Defense leaders learned from the mistakes of W.E.R.S., and were determined to have a viable radio Civil Defense program in place before it was needed. Thus, on December 19, 1951, at the same time that CONELRAD was announced, the FCC released the proposed regulations for RACES--The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. On August 15, 1952, the final RACES regulations were put into effect. Amateur Radio

operators now had a Civil Defense program in place that would utilize their communications skills.

Before a RACES unit could be authorized, there were some requirements that had to be met. First, the local government needed a Civil Defense organization and a Communications Plan. The local Plan had to be approved at the State Civil Defense level. Next was the appointment of the RACES Radio Officer. The Radio Officer, or R.O. for short, had to hold a Conditional, General, Advanced, or Extra Class amateur license, or a first or second class commercial radiotelegraph or radiotelephone license. The potential Radio Officer submitted FCC Form 482 to receive certification--provided, of course, that they passed the loyalty investigation. Note that the Radio Officer did not need to be an amateur. The FCC and Civil Defense experts determined that about 25,000 amateurs might be available for

RACES authorization. However, in a full scale national emergency, up to 200,000 radio operators would be needed. Thus, provisions were incorporated for qualified commercial licensees to become part of the RACES program.

After the Communications Plan was approved and the Radio Officer was certified, station authorizations could be issued. Amateurs submitted FCC Form 481 to have their station license made valid for RACES operation. Novices and Technicians were not eligible for RACES authorizations. The FCC and the ARRL emphasized that membership in RACES was NOT an invitation to continue casual amateur radio activity in a war. RACES was strictly dedicated to public service, under the direction and control of the local C.D. unit.

The frequencies initially allocated to RACES were:

1800-2000 kc (subject to LORAN restrictions)

3500-3510 kc

3990-4000 kc

28.55-28.75 mc

29.45-29.65 mc

50.35-50.75 mc

53.35-53.75 mc

145.17-145.71 mc

146.79-147.33 mc

220-225 mc

In addition, 1750-1800 kc (which was outside of our 160 meter band) was allowed under Disaster Communications Service.

Note that the initial frequencies did not include the 40, 20 and 15 meter bands. The 15 meter band was not yet available to amateurs when RACES was first proposed. Later, 40, 20 and 15 were added, and the 75 meter phone segment was expanded.

Reaction to the RACES frequencies was mixed. Some were upset that they were insufficient, and were not exclusive to RACES. Others thought of it as a diabolical plot on the part of government agencies and commercial interests to grab parts of the amateur bands for non amateur use by non amateur personnel.

RACES was never used during an enemy attack. Over the years, however, it proved its value in countless natural disasters. Frequencies were expanded, and Novices and Technicians were brought into the fold.

One interesting fact about RACES--it was designed to be a TEMPORARY service. The initial regulations indicated that it would be discontinued after the termination of the national emergency. CONELRAD has been gone for 37 years, and the "Fallout Shelter" signs are rusting away on the walls of abandoned buildings. Why does RACES--a temporary service--still live? The answer is found in every natural disaster that hits the U.S.--every tornado, hurricane, flood, earthquake, blizzard and fire. Every time dedicated amateurs, working with their local C.D. Officials, provide effective emergency communications, they keep a "temporary" service alive.

It was a dark and stormy night. The young Novice sat alone in the big, Gothic, Victorian style house. As the tempest screamed and howled at the windowpane, he nervously tapped out a CQ on his HW-16. Behind him the house creaked and groaned ominously. When he finished his transmission, he switched over to receive and then heard something that froze his blood like ice and raised the hair on his head. His mouth opened in a wordless scream. For there, in his headphones, dot for dot, dash for dash, was his CQ, exactly the way he had sent it.

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In our next installment --we will explore "Long Delayed Echoes". Is there a natural explanation? Or, were they truly something "out of this world"?

Copyright 1999, 2001 by William Continelli, W2XOY.

All rights reserved.