Spring is upon us, but I think it might be more the "Monsoon Season" with the daily rains. The winds check my trees’ root system, and so far no trees have fallen. Antennas are still up too. No doubt sometime in the near future, you might just hear K9CCZ/HS3 as I hope to be called to Rome. HaHa. A late April Fool joke! "Hope springs eternal!" Speaking of Spring, now is the time to look around the shack and gather together "swapfest" items as we’ll have our own mini "hamfest" sometime in early summer when it is warm. "One person’s junk is another person’s treasure."

During the last couple of days I’ve tried to find a good article I had on "volunteerism", but I can’t seem to locate it. It was good so I’ll keep looking and use it next month. There are several events coming up that need volunteers, so sign up, show up and join in on the fun of operating and providing a public service. Our very capable and super editor will provide the details for the coming events. Speaking of doing a super job, Horace has a new roster format updating our roster with license classes. It was a surprise and that I didn’t realize we had so many experts in the Club. I wish many of them would come to the meetings and share their wealth. Russ and sometimes John bring cookies and sweet rolls hoping to bribe our members to come. Remember Burt in your prayers for a speedy recovery. Come and bring a friend or fellow ham to the next meeting.

73/88 Jerry Turner, K9CCZ

President Jerry tells us to prepare for the "swapfest". Keep sorting through those gadgets and help make the XYL happy. The club is responding to the request to assign one meeting as a gadget sell/exchange meeting. This is the chance to pick up those pieces needed but could not be afforded at market price. Remember—one man’s surplus ("garbage") is another man’s treasure

Right now, the meeting is scheduled for August 10th to coincide with the annual club picnic meeting. Will keep you posted if there is a change.

April is the birthday month for the US Navy Submarine Force. Every year, the Submarine Museums and Amateur Radio forces join together to run a Special Event to commemorate the contributions of "Silent Service". This year, the event will be on April 30th and May 1st. Since Kitsap County is the home of the Bangor Submarine Base, it is appropriate that a Special Event be run during this period.

The Naval Undersea Museum at Keyport is a museum dedicated to preserving information and artifacts related to undersea development and to undersea warfare.

It has many exhibits showing the history of these related fields dating from 650 BC to the present. The Trieste, DSRV-1, and Deep Quest are two important vessels used in deep-sea research, development and search missions. The Museum has won international awards for its display of deep diving equipment and history.

The Museum has invited NKARC to run a special event station any time we could find a reason. The "Submarines on the Air" event was discussed and quickly endorsed by the museum. This will be the third consecutive year the event will be run. Bob Tomas, N7KTP, has volunteered to coordinate the event with the museum staff. Plans are to operate two stations within the museum. Setup will be on Friday afternoon, April 28th. Bob will be approaching the club members for sign-up to various tasks. We had fun at the last event so don’t be bashful about joining for this one. We will also be announcing this to the rest of the clubs and amateurs in the county to get a sufficient number of operators for the event.

Visit the NKARC web page at http://www.nkarc.org; click on "Special Events", and on "Subs on the Air" to see articles describing the event run in April 2004. The sonar ping in the background helps to add the "submariners" flavor. We will add to the article describing the 2005 activity. More than 30 museum submarines worldwide will participate in this Submarine Veterans Amateur Radio Association special event. Stations will transmit on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters--CW and SSB..

The number of storms and natural tragedies throughout the world alerts us to the inevitable need for emergency communications. The media have reported a number of instances where amateur radio provided the only communications as order was being restored to the stricken area. The Kitsap County Alternate Communications System (ACS) was established to provide coordinated emergency communications when the need arises. The VHF net meets on Sunday nights on the 145.43 Mhz repeater (negative offset with PL tone of 179.9) at 1900 local. The HF net meets on 28.330 Mhz at 1900 local and packet meets at the same time on 145.01 MHz. Check in on any or all of these nets and keep posted on what is happening in your county regarding emergency communications.

If you are interested in joining the Kitsap County ACS, contact Jerry Turner, K9CCZ, for information and applications

Last week, you received an e-mail message reporting that Burt Boyd, W7IIT, fell off a ladder and wound up with a broken hip. The doctors determined that it would be better if Burt underwent surgery to replace the hip and did so the same day.

Burt, in his usual style, went through the surgery, and immediately showed signs of a quick recovery. He was moved to Northwoods Lodge in Silverdale and is now going through rehabilitation.

If you have some time and are in the Silverdale area, stop by and see Burt at Northwoods and let him know we expect him to be operating CW during Field Day. His room number is 125. If you cannot visit him, send a card.

Past ARRL Northwestern Division Director Rush Drake, W7RM, of Vancouver, Washington, died March 11. He was 87. Drake served as Northwestern Division Director from January 1987 through December 1989, when he stepped down due to medical problems. Prior to serving as Director, he was the division's Vice Director for two years. A Life Member of the ARRL and an inductee to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame (Class of 1993), Drake may have been best known for his wholehearted devotion to contesting and to hosting some of the nation's top operators--initially from his well-outfitted oceanfront multi-multi station on Foul Weather Bluff northwest of Seattle.

Apr. 13th – Presentation Meeting – 7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse – Emergency Communications in the American Red Cross – Horace Ory, K7ORY

Apr. 16th – VE testing Community Room, Poulsbo Library, 700 NE Lincoln St., Poulsbo. Doors open at 9am. Picture ID, original and photocopy of current amateur radio license and pending CSCE's needed. Cost of session is $14.00. Cash only – No checks accepted. Questions please call Horace, K7ORY at 360-779-2215

Apr. 27th – Business Meeting -- 7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse

Apr. 29th – Submarines on the Air – Special Event setup – Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport – 1:00 PM

Apr. 30th to May 1st – Submarines on the Air – Special Event – Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport – 8:00 AM

May. 11th -- Presentation meeting -- 7:30 PM– Viking Park Clubhouse – Broadband Over Power Lines – ARRL Stand On – Ed Bruette, N7NVP

 

May 21st – VE testing Community Room, Poulsbo Library, 700 NE Lincoln St., Poulsbo. Doors open at 9am. Picture ID, original and photocopy of current amateur radio license and pending CSCE's needed. Cost of session is $14.00. Cash only – No checks accepted. Questions please call Horace, K7ORY at 360-779-2215.

May. 25th – Business Meeting – 7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse

Please notify the club secretary to update the roster if you changed your address, call sign or e-mail address. Include your phone number so that you can be contacted in case of emergency or for assistance. This will insure that you will get the latest news via the club newsletter. Either notify Horace at the meeting or drop a card to NKARC at PO Box 2268, Silverdale, WA 98383-2268. You can also send the changes via e-mail to Horace or Bob Tomas at the addresses listed in the club officers list on the mailing page.

Amateur Radio is noted for providing communications in emergency situations. When disaster strikes, it seems as if the amateur radio operators just turn on their equipment and work into a synchronized operation getting information to where it is needed. Most people do not realize that this apparent smooth operation is the result of integrating amateur radio into the services provided by many disaster and relief organizations.

The American Red Cross is a predominant organization providing disaster relief support. It recognized the importance of amateur radio and has established an arm within the organization to coordinate amateur radio communications during support activities. NKARC secretary Horace, K7ORY, is active as American Red Cross liaison and coordinator in Kitsap County. Horace will be the speaker at the April presentation meeting taking us through the American Red Cross communications network and how we participate in times of disaster relief. Now we can learn how our participation in emergency communications helps in disaster relief.

Need a generator to provide power in an emergency? Although the calendar says that winter officially ends on March 21^st, blustery storms can happen into April resulting in power outages.

It’s nice to have the capability to turn on the emergency generator and have the power to run the freezer and watch the storm reports. NKARC is offering for sale the 5 KW generator used to provide power during Field Day and special events. The generator has very few hours of operation on it and is very clean. The price for this piece is $300. Contact Jerry, K9CCZ, or any of the club officers.

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 can be sent in Word or .pdf format. Notify Bob of the format you desire.

It costs approximately 70 cents per copy to print a newsletter and postage to mail it. Receiving your newsletter electronically helps keep publishing costs down allowing the funds to be used for other club projects

Help the environment by properly disposing of discharged household batteries. This includes alkaline, regular zinc carbide batteries, and batteries with heavy metals such as mercury, ni-cads and lithium ion. The Solid Waste Facility on Hansville Road accepts the batteries as part of the county-wide recycling program. Otherwise, bring them to the meeting for transfer to the disposal site.

Do not bring lead-acid batteries to the meeting for disposal. It is your responsibility to take them to the Solid Waste Facility. There is no cost for the battery disposal because it is considered one of the items in the recycling program.

If you have any items advertised on the site and they have been sold, please let me know so I can remove them. The site is live and there will be lots of new and useful changes in the very near future.

Mark the weekend of June 24 to 26 to be available for one of the most important events in the Amateur Radio calendar – Field Day. NKARC will operate from a new site so plenty of help will be needed to get the gear to the area and to set it up. See ya' there.

The computer and amateur radio – a combination of technologies leading to new and interesting modes of communication.

CQ introduces CQ DX Field Award: CQ magazine has introduced the CQ DX Field Award to recognize making two-way contact with at least 50 of the world's 324 "grid fields." The CQ DX Field Award is based on the Maidenhead Grid Locator system, already popular among VHF DXers and contesters, in which the world is divided--based on latitude and longitude--into 324 10x20-degree fields, and each field is broken up into 100 1x2 degree grid squares or locators. CQ DX Awards Endorsements will be issued for each additional 50 fields up to 150. Further endorsements will be available in increments of 25 fields, up to the 324 maximum. Contacts made on or after January 1, 1980--when the grid system was adopted for Amateur Radio use—may be applied toward the new award. Full details and rules will appear in the April 2005 issue of CQ and posted on the magazine's Web site < http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com  >.

Take a look and enjoy.

The newsletter provides news about the club activities and its members. Once in a while, an article is presented on one of the many facets of amateur radio – technical, events, or personal happenings.

Not all of us have great writing skills, but most of us have opinions, interesting tales to tell, or questions to ask. 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.

The March 2005 business meeting discussion included ideas for long term programs requiring inputs from as many club members as will participate. As is the case with most long-term programs, the initial phase is to develop ideas to be evaluated and implemented. Three programs are presented here to solicit ideas from everybody – The Amateur Radio display at the Poulsbo Library; the Development of an Amateur Radio Station at the Naval Undersea Museum at Keyport and introduction of amateur radio classes.

Amateur Radio Display at the Poulsbo Library:

The theme for the library display will be Amateur Radio and Emergency Communications. The club board is looking for display ideas including graphics and equipment. If you have equipment that helps to define how amateur radio is used in emergency communications and is available for the display, please let the club officers know either by e-mail or at a club meeting. There are club members who are experienced with graphics development and their assistance would be greatly appreciated. The club sponsored a display last year and it was well received. The theme for this year’s display provides an opportunity to show amateur radio as an important community service.

The museum based amateur radio station is long term. Preliminary discussions with the museum staff indicate that they are interested but are limited on available funding. They would appreciate a station to join the network of museums that already have stations installed. Reviewing the history of other stations establishment, it was found that nearly all were established with equipment donated by members of the amateur radio community. Let’s look into our shacks and see what we can make available to the project. Again, get to the club officers with your ideas and suggestions. If you would like to chair the project, let us know.

Increase public awareness of amateur radio and/or license classes – what steps do we take to increase the public’s awareness and interest in amateur radio? Since primary interest now tends to digital communications, can we develop public displays of amateur radio with the digital modes? Suggestions please….