The Repeater W A A R C I A U. Snowpocalypse February 9, Volume 16 Issue One. Vol. 16, Iss. 1 February 2011

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1 W A A R C I Vol. 16, Iss. 1 February 2011 The Repeater Snowpocalypse 2011 W 0 A U February 9, 2011 Volume 16 Issue One Unofficial record breaking snow storm in North Central Missouri brought up to 23 inches of snow to the Warrensburg and surrounding areas on Tuesday, February 1, Pictures above and to the right were taken in front of the Warrensburg/Johnson County Emergency Management office on Hout Street in Warrensburg. Rick Ebbesen, KBØVZP, was in stand-by mode at the EMA office during the blizzard. Rick reported helping a woman get her car unstuck from the snow. Ham radio operators all over the country-side were on alert, while the 88 repeater was in constant use during the snow storm. 1 Gloria Michalski, KCØTPB, kept the amateur radio community informed of weather conditions throughout the storm through the Warrensubrg JoCo EMA s facebook page. One good reason for a facebook account.

2 The Repeater Newsletter Club Officers W A A R C I W 0 A U VHF Repeater tone UHF Repeater tone Steve Sisco, KCØYEH Rick Ebbesen, KBØVZP Sheri Sisco, KDØCAT Keith Haye, WEØG 2 President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Repeater Committee Keith Raihala, NØVJ Rick Ebbesen, KBØVZP Keith Haye, WEØG Larry Vandivier, W9XE Gary Monte Montemarano, NO2CW Newsletter Gail Haye, N2ART Web Site Larry Vandivier, W9XE Keith Haye, WEØG Jack Welch, KØBI Tyler Graham, KKØXX Editor/Publisher Webmaster Administrator Administrator Administrator Contact Information Warrensburg Area Amateur Radio Club, Inc. P.O. Box 1364 Warrensburg, MO admin@waarci.org Monthly Meetings Open board meetings are held on the Sunday of before second Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Club meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month at 9:00 a.m. Located at: Warrensburg JoCo EMA 122 Hout St. Warrensburg, MO 64093

3 A Word From The Prez... Hello and welcome to The Warrensburg Area Amateur Radio Club was extremely busy last year. We started off 2010 with a couple of Tech Classes, then we moved on to Field Day, Hamfest, Wings Over Whiteman, and the MS 150 just to name a few of the events the club was involved in. As we roll into 2011, it is shaping up to be just as exciting. The Johnson County Sheriff s Department has offered the club some space on the new tower going up in the Centerview / Holden area, which will give the club some additional opportunities if we choose to go that route. In March the National Weather Service with hold its annual Storm-Spotter s training at the University of Central Missouri. Whether this will be your first time or your tenth time, everyone has the opportunity to attend storm-spotter s training. It s an excellent tool for Ham Radio operators who want to assist the National Weather Service during times of need. As we move into spring the club will host a picnic and fox hunt and at the end of June is Field Day. Amateur Radio offers a lot of opportunities to support the local community and as a club, members of the Warrensburg Amateur Radio Club are always looking for ways to get involved and support our community. The club is always looking for fun and exciting ways to support our communities, so if you have any ideas please come to the club meetings and share these opportunities. I encourage everyone to get out and share Amateur Radio with our community. I hope to hear you on the radio. 73s Steve Sisco, KC0YEH (President, WAARCI) Upcoming Events & Activities February Thursdays CW Training Warrensburg EMA Office 6:00 p.m. 12th General Club Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 9:00 a.m. 20th ARES Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 3:00 p.m. March Thursdays CW Training Warrensburg EMA Office 6:00 p.m. 6th Board Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 4:00 p.m. 12th General Club Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 9:00 a.m. 16th - 17th Sheltering Animals During JoCo. Fire Protection Dist. 8:00 a.m. A Disaster Class - 5:00 p.m. 23rd Storm Spotter Training UCM - W.C. Morris Bldg. 7:00 p.m. April Thursdays CW Training Warrensburg EMA Office 6:00 p.m. 3rd Board Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 4:00 p.m. 9th General Club Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 9:00 a.m. May Thursdays CW Training Warrensburg EMA Office 6:00 p.m. 8th Board Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 4:00 p.m. 14th General Club Meeting Warrensburg EMA Office 9:00 a.m. TBD Fox Hunt / Spring Picnic TBD 3 Vol. 16, Iss. 1 February 2011

4 The Repeater Newsletter New Tower/Antenna Opportunities for WAARCI Keith, N0VJ and I spoke with Bill Holcomb, project manager for the tower project at the new Sheriff's Office facility near Holden. Rick has posted some information about the opportunity we (the amateur radio community) has to install antennas on the new tower. Some discussion has taken place on the air about putting antennas up on the new tower near Holden and a rumor has begun that we have been kicked off the tower south of Warrensburg. This is not true. Please stop these rumors by telling everyone the full story behind the possibilities of new antennas/repeaters. The.88 and repeaters will remain, for the foreseeable future, at their current location south of Warrensburg. Here is what Keith, N0VJ and I discussed with Bill Holcomb today and what we learned. Commenco is having concrete poured next week, the first week in February. They are planning to erect a 180 foot tower in late February dependent on weather. The tower is a Rohn XSU or XSV (didn't hear clearly) The repeater committee has proposed that the club purchase antennas for 6, 220 and 440 to install on the tower. There isn't a hard timeline for purchasing the three repeaters but getting the antennas installed is the current priority. Installation of all antenna systems will follow one week after the tower is erected. Commenco will purchase all hardware for installation of antennas. We have the option of purchasing our own antennas and hardline for installation or having Commenco purchasing the equipment for us. Polyphasers will be required for each hardline entering our facility. A building will be required to house the three repeaters. There is a possibility of a donated building and that is being worked on. No hard timeline is set for getting the building. Further the location of the repeater building at the Sheriff's Office site will have to be approved by the Sheriff. The building may require a concrete pad be poured or we may be able to set the building on concrete blocks like our current repeater building. **** Bill says he needs an from the club for what antennas will be installed and the specific frequencies so a interference study can be conducted prior to installation. We need to proceed with this information ASAP to ensure the installation is engineered for the construction phase of this project. We'll be learning further soon but at this time we don't know whether AC power will be donated at the site by the Sherrif's Office. If not we will incur a monthly charge for electricity. The 220/440 repeater antennas will be installed at 120 to 130 up on the tower. The 6-meter antenna would be installed around the 100 foot level. This opportunity has been offered to us by the EMA Office in Warrensburg in coordination with the Sheriff's Office. There is a lot of work to do if we are going to take advantage of free labor during the construction phase. So there's pretty much the gist of what's going on. More information will be made available as soon as we (the repeater committee) have it. Keith, WEØG 4

5 Repeater Committee Update The Repeater Committee met at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, January 29 at Keith Raihala's home. Those present were, Rick, KB0VZP; Keith, WE0G; Steve, KC0YEH; Monte, NO2CW; Larry, W9XE; Doug, N4RZB; and Keith, N0VJ. The meeting covered topics regarding the tower being erected at the New location for the Johnson County Sheriff's Office and Jail at 278 SW 871st Rd, Centerview, MO The facility is actually only a few miles east of Holden, MO. The first priorities of the committee were to specify frequencies in the 6-meters, 1.25 cm (220 MHz) and 70 cm (440 MHz) bands and develop a list of companies that sell equipment for those bands. The committee developed and reviewed the list of repeater frequency pairs in each of the three bands within 150 miles of the new tower site. Available frequency pairs in our area were discussed and a list of primary and alternate repeater pairs were selected. Keith, N0VJ completed the appropriate forms and sent them to the Missouri Repeater Council for coordination. The list of frequencies will also be provided to Commenco for them to conduct a frequency interference study to ensure no interference between our proposed frequencies and those being utilized by the sheriff's Office and Johnson County Fire District who will also have antenna systems on the tower. The committee asked Rick to explore information and pricing of antennas and duplexer systems for 6-meters, 1.25 cm (220 MHz) and 70 cm (440 MHz) with companies that sell the equipment. That information will be discussed at the Board Meeting, Sunday, February 6 at 4 p.m. and the Club meeting, Saturday, February 12 at 9 a.m. Both meetings will be held at the EMA Office in Warrensburg. Keith, N0VJ has agreed to donate a 70 cm (440 MHz) repeater and a 6-meter (50 MHz) repeater and duplexers. I can't remember if he had 70 cm duplexers available to donate. Larry found a complete 1.25 cm (220 MHz) repeater (repeater, controller and duplexer) system available for sale on the east coast. This system will be discussed further at the board and club meetings. Keith, WE0G is coordinating with the Sheriff's Office for a location of a building at the new tower site to house our proposed repeater systems and equipment. Updates and additional information will be posted as its available. Keith, WEØG Vol. 16, Iss. 1 February Year Anniversary Club Photo 5

6 The Repeater Newsletter KKØXX aka Tyler Graham...A young ham grows up Starting out at 13 years old......and continuing on as an active and dedicated community ham and WAARCI club member... 6

7 ...10 Years Later Vol. 16, Iss. 1 February 2011 Graduating UCM with an Electronic Technology Degree Congrats & Good Luck! Farewell Party at Pizza Hut before Tyler moved to Omaha, Nebraska to take a job with Security Equipment Inc. We re proud of you, Tyler and you are missed! 7

8 The Repeater Newsletter CLUES Crossword Puzzle Making Waves Across 1 A type of communication 6 Rate of electrical oscillation between 30 khz and 300 GHz 8 Manufacturer of radios 11 Type of radio 13 Antenna direction 14 Mobile gear 16 Sometimes used as a power source 18 Helps to boost communications 20 Band of radio waves Down 1 Something you talk into 2 Amateur radio operators abode 3 Type of antenna 4 Local club 5 "How's my?" 7 Regulator of the airwaves 9 Identifier for the radio operator 10 Something used to throw coax into a tree 12 Used for making antennas higher off of the ground 15 Power source 17 Slang for amateur radio operator 19 Tracking program CryptoQuote J V M C ' A O A Q S M D A Y Q A P, V M C ' A E Q F P A M X M, J ' Z B M Z P Q I M D A P J X B A, R D O A Z P Q C V Z S F Q V J M. - Q C V S F Q W Q T 8 Puzzle Solutions on page 10

9 Social Page Happy Birthday To You!...And Many More!! Birthdays February KDØILV Katy Camden 2nd KDØJMA Dixie McIndoo 2nd KØUG Bill Gardner 4th WØADQ Britt Faaborg 7th JL1VUN Shuji Komura 12th WU6G Phil Meyer 14th KCØWEG Wayne Dothage 15th Janis Raihala 15th KDØKBA Lorna White 15th KBØVER Sean McMahon 20th KDØALD John Davis 26th KØVET John Howard 28th March WDØCLH Bob Belker 1st WAØBTM Gary Adams 6th KDØDMD Phillip Evans 11th WEØDH Dennis Henderson 28th KDØKBJ Ronald White 28th KØPSP Brandon Sisco 31st Vol. 16, Iss. 1 February 2011 Long time club member, Murrel Zollicker, WAØPZW has moved into a nursing home in Stuart, Nebraska where he has family locally. Please remember Murrel in your thoughts and prayers. If anyone would like to send him a card or letter his address is: Murrel Zollicker c/o Parkside Manor P.O. Box 350 Stuart, NE I m sure he d love hearing from you! Thank you sounds so inadequate to describe my gratitude to those amateur radio operators who unselfishly gave of their comfort, safety and time to assist and protect their community during the blizzard of And experienced, knowledgeable, dedicated and passionate volunteer, Rick Ebbesen, KBØVZP, finally stood down after approximately 30 hours of manning the radios, phones and computers at the EOC. Truly, an unsung hero in the shadows. - Linda Zumwalt, KDØLIV 9

10 The Repeater Newsletter Options For Antennas... This was forwarded to WEØG from James Adkins, KBØNHX: UHF antennas are pretty cut & dry: Andrew DB-408B dbd gain is a great antenna for UHF: The Andrew DB-420B dbd gain is its big brother: We use ours down to on TX and it still has a 1.3 to 1 VSWR. Great, heavy duty antennas. Telewave offers a 30% discount to amateurs if you tell them you re using this for ham radio when you purchase, here is a link to their model # list: Antennas to check out are: ANT450D6-9 for UHF ANT220D6-9 for 220 ANT50D or 6-meters As for Comprod, consider these antennas: (single bay) 6-meters: (2-bay) 6-meters: 874F-70SM - 4-bay Comprod dbd gain 872F-70TM - 4-bay Comprod dbd gain SM - 4-bay UHF array dbd gain Here are some options at Sinclair: (would be my last choice) Lastly, here s the RFS / Celwave antennas: Crossword Puzzle Solution O R 2 E C O 3 E R A D I O 7 F R E Q U E N C Y I C O M O K I T E N E R A T O R P E C T R U M 4 W 5 S M I S H D I A P A G C R 8 O R N C O K L 9 C A C P E I L S H A N D H E L D 12 L L O T V E R T I C A L N G N S E W 15 G I B E 16 S G H N T O T A 18 R E P E A T E R S P R R Y S 17 H CryptoQuote Solution I don't stay out late, don't care to go, I'm home about eight, just me and my radio. - Andy Razaf

11 National Level Earthquake Exercise Missouri will be participating in a National Level Exercise on May 16-20th For five consecutive days the governmental and non-governmental organizations in the NMSZ states and federal agencies will participate in the nation s largest ever national level exercise that will test response planning for a 7.7 magnitude NMSZ quake. The Johnson County ARES group will be participating to support the Warrensburg/ Johnson county emergency management in this exercise, if you would like to participate contact kb0vzp at jocoares@yahoo.com or call at (660) Vol. 16, Iss. 1 February 2011 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, April 28, 2011 At 10:15 a.m. All Missourians are encouraged to participate in this first ever statewide earthquake drill. Six of the seven other NMSZ states (Indiana will conduct its drill of April 19), Georgia and South Carolina will all participate in this personal safety drill that teaches the importance of Drop, Cover, Hold On. QUALITY FULL COLOR QSL CARDS $37.30 for 250 qty $42.80 for 500 qty $51.80 for 1,000 qty EYEBALL CARDS Two-Sided $33.30 for 250 qty $38.30 for 500 qty $51.30 for 1,000 qty One-Sided $33.30 for 250 qty $38.30 for 500 qty $43.00 for 1,000 qty Additional Charges: *$20 set up fee for 30 min. design Shipping for UPS Ground 6.225% Jo. Co. Tax *Regular design fee is $45 per hour Graphically Inclined Designs & Commercial Printing Gail Haye, N2ART (Owner) ghaye@graphicallyinclined.biz Classifieds THIS SPACE AVAILABLE to advertise equipment for sale or trade. Club members can post items here free of charge. Whether you need to make an extra buck to buy a newer piece of equipment or are looking to trade for equipment, this is the place to do it. WANTED NEW 220 and 6 Meter Repeater Antenna s The Warrensburg Area Amateur Radio Club, Inc. has been made available some tower space in our local area. We are looking for commercial grade new antennas for 220 and 6 meters. The requirements by the tower owner is they have to be new. Please can anyone provide a source for purchasing these antennas. Contact Larry Vandivier, W9XE at admin@waarci.org. 11

12 The Repeater Newsletter VHF Repeater tone UHF Repeater tone In this issue: Front Page Snowpocalypse Page 2 Club Information Page 3 President s Corner / Events & Activities Page 4 & 5 New Tower/Antenna Opportunities Page 6 & 7 A Young Ham Grows Up Page 8 Crossword / CryptoQuote Page 9 Social Page / Birthdays Page 10 Options For Antennas / Puzzle Solutions Page 11 Earthquake Exercise / Classifieds Attachment WAARCI Roster New WAARCI Eyeball Cards should be available at the February Meeting. There s a new ham in the area by the name of Robert Crighton, NØTUR. Keith Haye, WEØG ran into him in Warrensburg on February 6, 2011 and gave him his personal eyeball card and invited him to the meeting. If you see him around town, be sure to make him feel welcome by the ham radio community. Warrensburg Area Amateur Radio Club, Inc. P.O. Box 1364 Warrensburg, MO Postage Stamp 12