The Kaw Valley Amateur Radio Club Newsletter THE TRANSCEIVER. June Club Web Page:

Transcription

1 The Kaw Valley Amateur Radio Club Newsletter THE TRANSCEIVER June 2018 Club Web Page: How Can Anyone Be Bored in Today s World? Each and every day brings so many adventures that I really have a hard time understanding people who complain about boredom. There are so many interesting things in our world, and so many sources of information, how could one possibly become bored. In a typical day, I might investigate earthquake patterns in various places in the world. And then there is the volcano s in Hawaii. The volcano activity on Hawaii recently has been fascinating to observe. Many are focused on the loss of property, but the regeneration of earth is much more fascinating to me. And then there is the wonder of how all this is affects the magnetic poles of the earth. In turn this causes wonder of how our climate is changed by these natural occurrences. What will happen if at some point, the earth s poles 1

2 flip? How will that affect the climate. Then, we have a sun, that we see in the sky. We know that the things happening on the sun have an effect on the propagation of our radio waves. And the sun s poles flip somewhere near the peak of the sunspot cycle. There are those who believe that this weather on the sun has a much bigger impact on the weather on this earth than any man-made change of climate. When we are at the solar minimum, there are many who decide to give up on making contacts on the HF bands. While contacts become harder at the solar minimum, are the bands really that bad due to natural causes, or is it because the ham community as a whole give up on operating? If you are one of those who have given up on HF for now, there is still plenty to do in the world of amateur radio. This would be a great time to do things like make up an APRS unit. APRS is valuable as a means of helping net control keep track of where you are in emergency situations, or when providing communications for special events. There are also various digital modes that have become available. Perhaps it is time to make the plunge. If you have not tried any digital voice, now is the time. There is D*Star, Yaesu System Fusion, DMR, NXDN, P25, and probably more. Find one that interests you, and start learning what you can. D*Star seems to be losing favor, at least in this area. DMR and System Fusion seem to be increasing in popularity, perhaps because of some inexpensive hardware. Well, enough rambling for now. Hope to see you at the club meeting on Friday! 73 de AC0HY 2

3 Field Day!: Field Day will be at the Shawnee Sheriff's Training Center(approx SE California). We will have a pot luck dinner on Saturday late afternoon/early evening. Please bring a side dish to share. The meat will be pulled pork (supplied by the club). Set up will start around noon at the training center on Friday. Contact Mike Hill or Frank Kent( or fkent@kentsafetyllc.com) for further information. Tear down will start at 1pm on Sunday and usually done around 3pm. Even if you don t have time to participate please come out and help take it all apart. We will be listening to repeater if you get lost or need info. Foxhunt: Was held May 12 th First to find the Fox(me) was David Coultis KE0EK and his son Benjamin KD0UJW. Second was Dennis Miller KC0AQE and Jim Nixon KE0HYV. Third was Charlie Carter WD0GOQ with Susan Sims KC0ODN close behind. The fox was hiding at Lake Shawnee Tinman Circle just south and behind of Reynolds lodge. Attention! 3

4 KVARC has received a gift of some equipment from an inactive older Ham. As voted on at the last club meeting we will hold a silent auction at Field day this year. Proceeds to go to the repeater fund. Please plan to come by and check it out. List follows. 1. MFJ Pocket CW Reader, model MFJ Micronta Field Strength / SWR Tester, Cat. No MFJ A/B Antenna Switchbox, model MFJ-1702C. 4. MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner, model MFJ-949 E (with manual). 5. MFJ Antenna Tuner / Artificial Ground, model MFJ-934 (with manual). 6. MFJ 25amp Mighty Lite Switching Power Supply, model MFJ Realistic 10-Meter Band Amateur Transceiver, model HTX-100, Cat. No (with manual). 8. Kenwood 2m FM Transceiver, model TR 7950, (with manual and mic; power cord missing). 9. YAESU model FT-450 HF/50 Mhz Transceiver, (with manual) with Two YAESU Dynamic Microphones, model MH-31. KVARC Forum: We have created a KVARC Forum to share our experiences in ham radio with each other and to assist new hams with questions they may have with getting started in ham radio. Please check it out and register for the forum at: This resource is not being used so it may not last. Please check it out as it could be a great 4

5 resource! Reminders: Annual 2018 Membership form at Ham FAQ: For Hams new to the area or are just licensed - FAQ.pdf Ham bands Chart from ARRL - 20Chart/Hambands_color.pdf Larrys List web page - Skywarn Info If you are on Twitter to get spotter activation for NE Kansas. For Wichita area Regular test session on June 9th at Topeka Library at 2pm. Pre-register with Paul at ham.test@kvarc.org. Regular test session at July 13th at Carbondale City Hall at 7pm. Pre-register with Paul at ham.test@kvarc.org KVARC Club meeting on June 1st. Meeting starts at 730pm. Location is Topeka Public Library. Check the marquee for room number Tuesday night - Alpha 1 ARES net on (88.5 tone) at 830pm Tuesday night 2M SSB net on at 2100 hr this is based from north side of Topeka so aim your beams toward Hoyt/Holton area Tuesday night at 7:30pm, on the repeater in Topeka. Minus offset (i.e in) and 88.5 Hz tone. Wednesday night - Wild on Wednesday simplex net on at 730pm run by 5

6 KB0WOW Dan Saturday nights K-Link net (162.2 tone) 9pm run by N0MXI Chuck covers the entire K-Link repeater system Thursday - 1 st Thursday of the month Osage County Club holds a net on repeater at 2030 hr. informal so far. Osage County Amateur Radio Club meets on the 3 rd Thursday of each month at Lamont Hill Resort, Highway 368, Vassar, Kansas and starts at 7pm arriving around 6pm to visit and get something to eat. ERC net on Sundays at 830pm on simplex. from N0JRD Field Day! June 23 rd location is at the Shawnee Sheriff s Training Center just north of 77 th and California. Remember don t go down California to get there. Go down Topeka Blvd or some road west of there or go down Berryton road and come from the east. Get to 77 th then over to California and then go North. Tech Class Sept 22 nd and 29 th 9am to 5pm Topeka Public Library Rm 206 General Class - Nov 24 th, Dec 1 st and 8 th 9am to 5pm Topeka Public Library rms 206,101a, and 206 Extra Class 2019 Jan 5 th, 12 th, 19 th and 26 th 9am to 5pm Topeka Public Library rm 206 for any of the classes wd0dbs@arrl.net to sign up 6

7 Kansas repeater information is available at on the left side click on repeater directory. Once there you may click on any column heading and re-sort the list. Click once for ascending and a second time for descending Local Repeaters: Topeka W0CET 88.5 Topeka W0CET 88.5 Topeka W0CET 88.5 ECHOLINK see note Topeka W0CET 88.5 Topeka W0SIK D-STAR Topeka WA0VRS 88.5 ECHOLINK Topeka WA0VRS 88.5 Topeka WA0VRS 88.5 Topeka N0CBG 88.5 Topeka K0HAM 88.5 Topeka N0YUR 88.5 Topeka K0USY DMR Topeka K0HAM 88.5 Auburn WV0S K-Link Carbondale KB0WTH 88.5 Carbondale WB0PTD Holton AA0MM Lecompton K0USY 88.5 Fusion Lawrence K0USY DMR Lawrence K0USY DMR Lawrence W0UK 88.5 Lawrence N0APJ 88.5 Lawrence N1HWC Fusion Lawrence K0HAM 88.5 Holton AA0MM St Mary s K0HAM 88.5 Osage City N0OFG 88.5 Burlingame N0OFG 88.5 Alma W0KHP K-Link Local Simplex: / National simplex frequencies used by KB0WOW Wednesday night(730pm) informal net and other informal conversations APRS frequency 7

8 Just a quick reminder of some best practices for repeater use. Recently on the repeater, it seemed that there was someone deliberately interfering with the repeater, but it turned out to be a hardware problem with the repeater itself. Certainly, when it appears that someone is trying to use the repeater but has a signal or audio problem, we should definitely let that person know they are not being heard. However if there is someone maliciously interfering with the repeater, it's best to not in any way acknowledge that there is interference; either at that moment, or talking with others later, as that just tends to exacerbate the problem. When there is a problem with the repeater, the best thing to do is report it to the repeater owner/trustee, along with as much information as possible about what is happening: Times of day (if it's regular); transmitting music/swearing/dead key, etc.; if you can hear the interferer on reverse mode (the input frequency), and if so, if you can get a bearing on the signal. Once we found out that the repeater controller was saying "port 2 timeout", that narrowed down the possibilities and made it relatively simple to find 8

9 and fix the problem. Also, get some experience tracking down "rogue" transmitters an upcoming foxhunt. Then, if we do have someone interfering with a repeater in the future, you'll know how to pinpoint their location. Other info: Do you have interest in a particular mode or band etc? Would you like to get others involved also? Why not contribute an article or column here in the newsletter? Could be 220mHz, CW, Antennas, contesting, digital modes(ft8?) or mesh networking. There are hundreds of other topics. Send me an at wd0dbs@arrl.net to talk about it. Or, if you are an expert in a particular subject, help others join in that interest by giving a program on it at a club meeting. (Let s give Paul a break now and then) Local club websites: Topeka Osage County - Emporia - 9

10 Please send any equipment you have for sale and I will include in next month s issue Elmer-ing Attached is a form for letting me know what you might be interested in having help with. Or If are available to help someone. Please fill in as appropriate and back to me or bring to the club meeting Friday. I have mentioned this new item to a few people, I would like to suggest adding a get together some other time of the month as a learning session. I am open to suggestions as to a day and time. I can try to schedule time at the library or if a different location is available I would take that as a suggestion also. So what do you think? Let me know by or at the club meeting. ARRL Affiliate since

11 Need/willing to be an Elmer Info Call Name How to contact Location Phone City Long/Lat Other Grid square want/need help Interests level of expertise Willing to help Antennas CW Digital General Info Radio to buy APRS ATV Level of expertise (1-5) 1=beginner, 5=expert 11

12 Give to Doug(WD0DBS) or info to 12