Tough times are ahead for our hobby as big corporations are out to take our frequencies and other things, and they have millions to spend to do this. If you are not a member of ARRL, you need to be. You may not always agree with ARRL...BUT it is the only voice we have that is loud enough to be heard in Congress and the public domain. We all have our own needs in the radio spectrum and we need to band together to protect it and to police it. Just listen on 75m or 14275/313 to see the need.

We had a lot of fun last year, and special thanks to those who helped make our Club a success. It's your Club and hopefully we'll have a bigger and better year ahead. Suggestions are always welcomed.

Happy New Year and 73.

(Rev.) Jerome "Jerry" Turner, K9CCZ

The nomination and election of club officers took place at the December dinner meeting. Look at the list of officers on the cover page and note that the list of officers is almost identical to the one listed in 2004. The president and secretary were nominated for and elected to their respective offices. The vice president and treasurer declined for personal reasons. Bob Tomas, N7KTP, agreed to be the vice president and Ron Sefton, N7EM, agreed to be treasurer for the year 2005.

Opinions Needed:

A club’s success is assured when the member’s opinions are known and acted upon. As NKARC enters into a new year, it is time to set a course for operations and events. The club officers are here to serve you and to provide you with programs and events that will help you enjoy the hobby (or service) of Ham radio.

Please take a few minutes and send your responses to the club officers. The best opinions are those that are formed immediately after the question is asked. Do it after you finish reading the newsletter. We’ll be looking for your responses. A summary will be published in the February issue of Solid Copy.

What’s old and new in Ham Radio?

Know somebody interested in Ham radio – a friend, relative, or young neighbor? Invite these prospective hams to attend the Wednesday presentation meeting where we will have a presentation for new hams and those interested followed by a panel discussion with questions and answers on Ham Radio.

There will also be a show and tell segment where you and others can describe an interesting piece of electronic equipment or tell of your experiences. There probably is not any Ham who goes back to the days of the spark gap, but there are those who can talk about items like the vacuum tube or conversions of surplus military communications equipment. There will be a showing of a piece of non-operating paraphernalia from the early days of the ARRL. Y’all come; Y hear.

Last month, an article was published in Solid Copy describing the operation of Ham Radio nets and how one could join in this interesting aspect of the hobby. The article provided information on a couple of the nets available to those living in Kitsap County. Your editor says "Ooooopps" and apologizes for giving the wrong operating frequency for the Noon Time Net. The corrections are contained in the following paragraph.

Nets can be found on all the amateur radio bands. Kitsap County is home for two nets that all amateur operators should be familiar with. They are the Noon Time Net on 3970 KHz and 7268.5 KHz at 1200 local where message traffic is passed from and to those who check-in. Historically, this is the activity that became the ARRL. The other is the ARES-RACES nets on 28.330 MHz at 1900 local and 145.430 MHz at 1930 local to provide operating experience for emergency communications. Check-in and welcome aboard.

Jan. 11th -- Presentation meeting -- 7:30 PM– Viking Park Clubhouse – Introduction to Ham Radio and Old Time Show and Tell..

Jan. 15th -- 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.

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

Feb. 9th – Presentation Meeting – 7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse – To be announced.

Feb. 23rd – Business Meeting -- 7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse

Feb. 26th -- 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

The annual Christmas dinner was held on 8 Dec at Mitzel's in Poulsbo. Temporary reservations were made for 25 to 35 and 35 people showed up. Jerry’s friend, guitarist Gilber Yslas, provided music for the occasion.. Table decorations were provided by Connie Burette, N7NVQ. entertainment. Club President Jerry provided three excellent door prizes.

After thanking those present for the support he received during the year, Club President Jerry opened the floor for nominations of club officers. The results of the election were reported in a previous article. The attractive table decorations were included in the door prizes and drawing was held.

In summary, the meals were great, the entertainment was outstanding and the fellowship was apparent. Time to go through the year’s activities and be ready for the next dinner. In the meantime, come to the meetings and participate in the club’s events throughout the year. There is something available for all phases of amateur radio—rag-chewing, DX chasing, digital modes, satellite communication, emergency services, and others. Let’s not wait until next Christmas to get together.

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 60 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

The Standard Flux Index is low these days and the propagation makes DX chasing a near impossibility. It’s almost not worth the trouble to turn the HF rig on and determine if propagation is good enough to listen for the DX contacts. If only beacons like those on six and ten meters were available on the other bands.

Ham beacons are available on 20 meters at 14.100 but there is QSB in the area and it’s difficult to pick out the low power CW signals from the beacon stations. With a bit of patience, there is a way to determine propagation on the frequencies close to the ham bands.

Using the listing, I tuned to the frequencies listed and got a good idea of the propagation to the area of the world the station is located in. If the signal is 59, the probability of DX is good. Considering the power output of the stations, if the signal is 55, it’s time to turn off the rig and wait for better times.

If you intend to take the VE tests, cash only to make the payment. Checks are no longer accepted.

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.

73, Bill, W7ARC

Bill has agreed to continue as webmaster even though he has moved to the other side of the Sound.

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.

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.

FCC CITES HOMEOWNERS FOR CAUSING INTERFERENCE TO RADIO AMATEUR

"Investigation by the FCC's Houston Office revealed that on December 7, 2004, you were operating battery charging devices at your residence," the Citation said. "These devices were observed to be generating radio frequency pulses on various high-frequency radio bands. These radio frequency pulses were determined to be causing harmful interference to the Amateur Radio Service." Only after FCC agents visited the couple's home did the interference cease. The FCC did not make the couple's names public nor did it post the Citation on its Web site.

The ARRL Laboratory has been working with the FCC and Cooper to help broker a resolution to the interference issue.

FCC Part 15 rules regulating "unintentional radiators" require that the operator of such devices must cease operation upon FCC notification that it's causing harmful interference. "Operation may not resume until the condition causing the harmful interference has been corrected," the FCC said.

Since it began about a year ago--when Cooper first suspected the interference he was hearing came from his neighbors' Christmas lights—the squabble has escalated beyond the interference issue. Both parties have hired attorneys, and volumes of correspondence have changed hands. Last September, the couple complained that Cooper's antenna support structure violated homeowners' association covenants.

After notices from the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau went unanswered, Hollingsworth issued warning notices to the couple last June and September alleging that the battery chargers--apparently used to charge some electric scooters--were causing interference. Cooper provided his neighbors with free toroid core devices that resolved the interference, but the couple subsequently removed them. The couple told Hollingsworth they'd initially been willing to work with Cooper but took out the filters after he allegedly made disparaging remarks about them to another neighbor and took photos of their house and property.

Hollingsworth responded by emphasizing that it's the couple's responsibility to correct the interference--whether or not they accept Cooper's help. Simply unplugging the chargers when not in use--as they had suggested--was not an acceptable solution, he told them in his final Warning Notice. Cooper claimed the chargers had been operating 24 hours a day.

The FCC Citation, which does not require a response from the couple, warned that subsequent violations could lead to fines, equipment seizure and even possible criminal sanctions.

From ARRL Letter Vol. 24 No. 1 of Jan. 7, 2005

And you think you have problems with your neighbors.

At the Lighthouse event last fall, it was noted that the club was running a 5KW generator to recharge the comm. trailer batteries with a 6-amp charger. That's certainly overkill. We'd like to put a larger charger on the Club's Santa list. If anyone has a 30 or 40amp (or larger) battery charger that could be donated, we would have a better setup for charging the trailer batteries.

ARLP053 Propagation de K7RA

After passing the longest night of the year, the northern hemisphere will have gradually increasing sunlight over the next six months. These seasonal variations have a big effect impact on propagation. As an example, using a popular propagation program to calculate a path from Seattle to Cleveland on December 22 with a sunspot number of 35 (average value for December 20-22), I looked at a projection for the 30 meter band. 30 meters should open toward Ohio around 8:00 AM Seattle time, around Seattle's sunrise. Expected signals should be good until sunset, when signals jump higher by 10-20 db. Then the chance of an opening stays low most of the night. From sunrise to sunset is 8 hours and 20 minutes.