Bishop Amateur Radio Club. From the President s Shack. Inside this issue: Radio Experience 3

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1 1 Inside this issue: August 6, 2013 Radio Experience 3 BARC T-Shirts 4 Simplex Contest 5 Financial Report 5 Field Day Report 6 Rettysnitch and 7 Wolf Hong News Group 7 EmComm Notes 8 Silent Keys 9 Repeater Info 10 B.A.R.C. Info 11 Bishop Amateur Radio Club From the President s Shack John Shepherd, AD6NR Hello! Despite his best efforts to plead and cajole the officers and members, Bob (N7RAP) has had a heck of a time getting material, so it s been some time since our last newsletter. Newsletters notwithstanding, BARC has been very active and meeting attendance has been increasing. Here are some highlights: BARC officers for 2013: John (AD6NR) President, Mike (W6HDV) Vice President, Jon (NW6C) Secretary, and Bob (N7RAP) Treasurer. Former President of BARC, Adrian van der Riet (N6ZA) and his wife Gigi (KW6Y) are off on a 2 year bike tour of the US. They have a great blog ( where they are documenting the travels. There are 18 new hams in the OV thanks to two BARC sponsored Tech Class training sessions Close ties have been established between BARC and the Eastern Sierra 4x4 club by virtue of the number of hams in the 4x4 club and BARC. The monthly T-Hunts and breakfasts have been lots of fun and are generally well attended. We have had two popular and useful constructions projects: A 2Meter offset attenuator and a tape measure Yagi to help our T-Hunters. BARC members were able to buy Logo T-Shirts in several colors. They sold out quickly so we plan on doing that again the new future. Look for an if you are interested. BARC supported two major local activities, the Everest Challenge bike race and the High Sierra Ultra Marathon foot race to practice and refine our Em- Comm skills. We sponsored a special event station (W4M We re for Mules!) for Bishop Mules days. It was set up in Bishop City Park and attracted a lot of attention. Band conditions were poor but we got a lot of exposure and questions about Amateur Radio. In preparation for W4M BARC purchased an R8 antenna and installed it on Keith s (KJ6IXM) mobile shack. The shack provides the ability to put a station on the air from a secure dry location anywhere we can drive. Continued on page 2

2 2 From the President s Shack Continued from page 1 In addition to the R8 mount it has provisions for both VHF and UHF antennas. We have a new bi-monthly contest for club members. Created by Bob (W7WOW) to encourage simplex activity and the use of emergency power. Point are awarded based on simplex contacts between club members, the use of emergency power (batteries/generator) and if one or both of the members are using emergency power. The first winner was John Husband K6MWK. The 75M Sunday morning (8AM) net on 3985 is gathering more and more check-ins. Run by Bob (W7WOW) and dedicated to Grant Story (W6NTK - SK) who created it in the 1950 s as a Civil Defense net it provides an HF communication capability for stations in and around the Owens Valley. Stations from Southern and Central CA and Southern and Central NV check in regularly, AZ and OR are also represented. BARC has decided to increase its EmComm capability so Olin Beall (WA7YXY) was taken the lead as EmComm coordinator for the Club. One of Olin s efforts has been to identify an appropriate served agency that would potentially benefit from Amateur Radio emergency communication capability. are preparing to support Dr. Rick Johnson (Inyo/Mono) Public Health Officer for an exercise in Mid- November. Hosted by Kurt (W6PH) at his cabin in the Alabama Hills, Field Day 2013 was very successful. We doubled our score from last year (up to 6332 from 3154 last year) with about 25 members participating. We came close to getting all the possible bonus points including visits from an elected official and our served agency, a satellite contact, and a lot of points from our Get on the Air (GOTA) station. A very new addition, courtesy of Hank (W6SX) is a BARCArc Yahoo group for rapid exchanges between members, a place for members to post items of interest, current activities, post pictures and useful files. Check out: A link has been established between the (Silver Pk about Bishop) and the (Mazourka Pk above Lone Pine) repeaters. This link provides good continuous communication capability from Coso Junction to north of Bishop. Plans are in work to also link the (Little Lake) to and the (Mammoth Lakes) to repeaters to provide nearly 100% communication capability for all of the Owens Valley. Check the website for details. Quite a list - but it s really only the highlights. Regards and 73! John (AD6NR) President, Bishop Amateur Radio Club We

3 3 Get More Out of Your Radio Experience & Capabilities By Phil Hartz Of the eighty one members listed on our 2013 Club roster, twenty seven are listed as Technician class, sixteen as General class, five as Advanced class and the remaining thirty three as Extra s. The questions are how many of you Technician, General and Advanced licensees would even consider an upgrade? What would it mean for you? To be a class higher would mean, for some, a move for prestige, others additional privileges while others yet a personal and private move for success/fulfillment. Whatever the motive, it would be good for our Club, the interests of the community, and the Hobby/Service both locally and nationally. Out of the last two years, eighteen new members have joined our ranks as Technicians. Of those, to their credit, four attempted to pass the General class test. Their results were somewhat encouraging to say the least. Certainly, to their credit, they wished to get more out of their radio experience & capabilities. A very worthy choice. Beginning this September, you will be given the opportunity to work/study with others towards your goals in a controlled environment. Amateur radio (Ham) classes will be provided to any and all interested in either getting licensed or upgrading. Will you be one of those class members? The choice is certainly yours. In order to carry this off efficiently from the get-go, order the materials and reserve a seat it is requested that you contact the person listed below in short order. All you need to do is express your interest and what license class s you wish to achieve in short order. All material ordering will be done on August 28 th to allow for adequate shipping time. Any contact prior to that would be greatly appreciated. Any after that date will not be guaranteed materials at the start of the classes. Easy way to get licensed/upgrade Study Material Day One September 7 10:30am 12:00pm Your Amateur Radio license privileges Ham history Day Two September 14 10:30am 12:00pm Rules and Regulations/Approved Emissions Morse Code Day Three September 21 10:30am 12:00am Spectrum Availability/Coverage, outer space comms Continued on Page 4

4 4 Get More Out of Your Radio Experience & Capabilities Continued from page? Day Four September 28 10:30am 12:00pm Skywaves & Contesting/Third Party Operation/safety Day Five October 5 10:30am 12:00am Modulating transmitters/circuits - Amps & Power Supplies Day Six October 12 10:30am 12:00pm Antennas/Propagation/Watts-Oscillation/resonance Day Seven October 19 10:30am 12:00pm Digital & Video modes computers and radios Day Eight October 26 10:30am 12:00pm Material Review Day Nine November 2 12:00pm finished VE Testing for all licenses * (Salvation Army West Line Bishop.) *(Anyone interested in new or advanced licenses) Cost is $45 to cover materials and books/cd s. Test fee is +- $ Location Fire department training facility (East Line to Fire training center on right.) Test practice at the end of each class, similar to actual exam questions. Please notify me as soon as you can of your intent to take the class for an upgrade. It will give me an idea of how prepared I will need to be with the materials and seating. Hopefully, many of those with Technician Class licenses will take advantage of the class for upgrading. It would be nice to have about half of our current Tech pool enrolled and becoming a license class or two higher. Currently we have 27 members that are Tech's and 16 General class operators. It would sure be nice to see the count for one halve itself and another double its size. Imagine a club made up of 43 Extras, 20 Generals ad Technicians. That would certainly bode well for our community. Contact: Phil, K0RVD at partziuse@hotmail.com, or call/text to (760) , or call and leave a message at (760) Kindly give your full name, (callsign) address, phone # and class of license you wish to go for. I will respond to all so, if you haven t heard from me within a week of your message, try again 73, Phil K0RVD BARC T-Shirts There has been a request for another BARC T-shirt order. I have called the company that makes them and have decided to make another order. I will order about two dozen. Please let me know if you want one by or see me at the meeting in September. The T-shirts have a pocket for our reading glasses! The popular colors are white, orange, and yellow. Other colors are available. The price should be around $11 for XL or smaller and $12 for 2XL or bigger. If I don't get a full order, I will speculate on sizes for the remaining T-shirts. Kurt W6PH (Shirtmeister) w6ph@aol.com

5 5 May - June BARC Simplex Contest Bob Moss The May - June BARC Simplex Contest was won with 15 points by K6MWK - John in Hammil Valley. He received a $25 ARRL gift certificate donated by AD6NR - John. You don't have to be in central Bishop to be in the race. To make that point even better, second place with 13 points was won by KJ6IXM - Keith, way down in Lone Pine (55 miles south of Bishop), and third place was 11 points by W7WOW - Bob, over the hill in Fish Lake Valley. Note; all three places in the May - June Contest can use emergency power. That is the key to racking up the points. Remember: both on grid = 1 pt., one on grid & one on emg. = 2 pts., and both on emg. = 3 pts. The July - August BARC Simplex contest ends August 13th. There is still time to see how many BARC members you can contact simplex from your home QTH and log those simplex contacts. It is easy to do and will let you know who you can contact when the repeaters are down as well as who can operate with emergency power. B.A.R.C. Financial Report As of August6, 2013 Checking: Beginning Balance: $1, Income: $0.00 SCE Expenses: $54.22 Ending Balance: $1, Savings: Beginning Balance: $1, Deposits: $0.00 Interest Income: $0.00 Ending Balance: $1, Duplexer Capital Fund Balance: $1, Editor s Notes Thanks to John Shepherd, Phil Hartz, Bob Moss, Kurt Pauer, Hank Garretson & Olin Beall for their newsletter articles. Articles are always appreciated and welcome anytime. Without their help this newsletter would not be possible. Don t forget our nightly net that begins at 8:00 p.m. and our monthly meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of the month and located at the Salvation Army. You can get additional information on the BARC web page, n60v.com.. Bob, N7RAP

6 Bishop ARC Field Day Report Submitted by Kurt Pauer, W6PH This year's Field Day was held at the cabin on Lone Pine Creek for the second year. Planning started in March with three leaders. President John AD6NR was tasked with the equipment and computer logging areas, Olin WA7YXY was tasked with maximizing the bonus points, and Kurt W6PH was tasked with providing the location, setting up antennas, and providing the generator emergency power. At the March club meeting, Hank W6SX gave a presentation on how to operate during Field Day to kick off thinking about Field Day. At the following meetings plans were laid out and everything came together. It was decided to do a 2A entry using N6OV and a GOTA station using W6TD. Antennas would be a 2el 40m Cushcraft beam and an A4S triband yagi mounted on mil surplus AB-577 masts at 50 feet. A quarter wave sloper hung below the 40m beam would be used on 80m. The GOTA station would have an A3S triband yagi mounted on an AB-577 at 30 feet. Power would be provided by Honda generators and a three panel solar array. It was agreed to start set up at noon on Friday in accordance with the Field Day rules. All the antennas were erected without a problem and the three stations were set up, two in the cabin and one in the KJ6IXM mobile ham shack. Olin WA7YXY assured that we would get the maximum bonus points by getting media attention as well as site visits from elected officials and county administrators. KK4AMT and Mrs AG6RU ran an information table. W6PH copied the FD message on CW from W1AW and KK6END sent a FD message to the Orange Section SM. In the two hours prior to FD start, AD6NR gave a class on how to log contacts using N1MM logging software. In prior FD's, logging had been done using pencil and paper and the use of computers to log contacts was a new concept. During the FD the logging system worked flawlessly. Field Day contacts began at 11 am on Saturday and ended at 11 am Sunday when all the antennas were taken down and the stations dismantled. During the FD, 897 SSB contacts and 777 CW contacts were made. The GOTA (Get On The Air) station made 219 contacts by operators AG6RU, NW6C, KK4AMT, and KK6END. The GOTA station is manned by operators who are new hams or have been inactive on HF. The 2A stations in the cabin were operated by AD6NR, KF6YLW, KI6AIK, KJ6IXM, KK6EVQ, N7SSP, W6IY, W6PH, and WA7YXY. Of special note was Debbie KK6EVQ who was a brand new ham and was listening with intense interest on an auxiliary head set. She was asked if she wanted to operate and she was reluctant but agreed to try it. She made about 45 contacts as if she was an experienced operator. Another special note was to get KF6YLW and KI6AIK in front of microphones. Everyone did a great job. Continued on Page 9

7 7 The Rettysnitch and Wouff Hong Submitted by Hank Garretson Back in the day, The Old Man (W1AW) advocated using the Rettysnitch and the Wouff Hong to discipline hams with rotten-operating-practices. Early in 1919, The Old Man wrote in QST, "I am sending you a specimen of a real live Wouff Hong which came to light out here... Keep it in the editorial sanctum where you can lay hands on it quickly in an emergency." The "specimen of a real live Wouff Hong" was presented to a meeting of the ARRL Board, and QST reported later that "each face noticeably blanched when the awful Wouff Hong was... laid upon the table." Ah, the good-old days. These days, one sees grousing on various reflectors about poor operating practices, lousy fists, and trashy signals. You know, we are all part of the problem. Or at least we can all help improve things. Most of the behavior described is by hams who don t know better, who have not been mentored or taught. Shoot, most of the time they don t even know they are doing something wrong. I sometimes send gentle s to hams suggesting that they will have more success and more fun if they improve their operating technique or clean up their signals. In many cases, I get grateful I-didn t-know-that return s. More satisfying, often I work a guy later and he s doing it better. Bishop ARC news group (aka reflector). The idea is to provide a forum for BARC members to exchange ideas and help each other and to encourage club camaraderie. Think of the news group as an expanded nightly net available to everyone twenty-four hours a day. Group membership is of course voluntary. How much each group member participates is up to each individual. Additionally, each group member selects how he wants to receive posts-- individual s, digest , or not at all. and he s doing it better. You can give it a try by going to the link above and clicking on Join This Group. If you are not already a Yahoo member, you need to create an account: very simple--they will lead you through the process.

8 8 EmComm Notes By Olin Beall In May and June BARC participated in two successful emergency communications exercises, the Bishop High Sierra Ultramarathon and Field Day. Although the BHS 50 activity was about providing communications for a charitable event, for all intents and purposes it was an activity with many of the characteristics of an emergency communications exercise. In many respects it was better than an exercise because we passed traffic will real meaning instead of contrived situation messages. There was also the chance that we would be called upon to request aid and assistance for people in distress. I will mention the positive aspects as I see them. We established effective communications at remote locations using alternative power. Net control under the able hands of Jon, NW6C, handled traffic and passed messages to and from the aid stations for the race committee. The new hams in the Eastern Sierra Four Wheel Drive Club were able to extend reliable amateur radio communications to several aid stations and the course sweeps. This is a credit to the efforts of John, AD6NR, and Phil Hartz, N0RVD, the Volunteer Examiners and others who supported the effort. We integrated with our counterparts from the Ventura ARES, aka The Packet People. People like Len, WA6IQO, stepped up when needed. Last, but most important, we took care of each other during the event. Field Day was a great success. I want to thank everyone who participated in the bonus points activities. Our final total for bonus point was 1,330! From placing our entry using the Internet to the thrill of an end of pass satellite contact in the early morning hours it was all fun. While the messages we passed were simple and not real life, none the less we proved our ability to set up in a remote location and operate using alternative power from several sources. Again I want to thank Kurt, W6PH, for hosting BARC at his Cabin by the Creek. John, AD6NR, and myself will attend an Orange Section ARES workshop in Perris, California, on August 4, We hope to meet various Orange Section ARES officials and find out more about California ARES operations and exercises. Earlier this month, John 2 and I met with Dr. Johnson of Mono and Inyo County Public Health. Dr. Johnson is interested in having BARC organize to provide emergency HF and VHF/UHF communications to the three area hospitals and the Emergency Communications Center located in Bishop. BARC been invited to participate in an emergency exercise on November 21, As details become available we will keep you posted. John 2 and I will attend an Oregon Section ARES workshop on Saturday, August 3, 2013, in Perris, California. We hope to make contacts with both Section ARES leadership. NVIS Antennas I have put together a notebook of information I found on the internet regarding Near Vertical Incident Skywave or NVIS antennas. The notebook will be available for loan from the BARC library. There is a wealth of information on the Internet if you search for NVIS antennas. John 2 and I constructed an NVIS portable antenna for use from my truck. I am calling it the IQO model after Len, WA6IQO s airport long wire. It consists of a NMO to 3/8-24 stud adapter antenna mount and a long copper wire. The wire should be approximately 1/4 of a wavelength; however mine is longer. This might be due to the nature of my truck. Our guess is that the antenna should be about 60 feet long based on the formula 234 divided by the frequency in Mhz. The wire was cut to length using an MFJ antenna analyzer and is 78 feet long. It tuned very well using the transceivers built in antenna tuner and I was able to communicate over the Sierras to Fresno and up to Winnemucca in Nevada. The idea was from an Internet posting titled Simple NVIS Antenna authored by D.W. Thorne, K6SOJ. The antenna is a work in progress so there will be more information in the next addition of the BARC Newsletter.

9 Marvin Marty Bramlette KE6VVB 2010 Ted Shelander - AE6YM Charlie Specht - W6VOO Paul Williams - W6LHY 2009 Grant Storey W6NTK Elva Storey - Grants XYL 2008 Val Cameron - KG6FCJ Dave Davis - KG6WSD 2007 Terry Downey - W6TD Jay Fansler - KI6CAA Len Sluyter -W6BNO 2006 Kris Dean - KC7ICH Don Stansifer - N6RU 2005 Gary Belda - K6ENS Sam LaLande - W6OXX C.J. Fischer - KE6REL Bill Millegan - W6DQR Alethea Miller - KA6RFM 2004 Frances Stansifer - N6KGX Gertie Williams - WB6JMA 2013 Bishop ARC Field Day Report Continued from Page 6 We really appreciated Marilyn W6MSO for her keeping everyone fed. She did a great job of organizing the food and preparing it. The persistence of AG6RU should also be noted in the successful satellite contact. He tried three passes of the satellite and finally made the contact on the third pass around midnight on Saturday night. It is interesting to see the importance of bonus points. Due to the efforts of WA7YXY, 1330 bonus points were accumulated. Each SSB contact was worth 2 points and each CW contact was worth 4 points. Those bonus points were the equivalent of making 665 more SSB contacts and they were 21 per cent of our final score. To say that the 2013 FD was a success would be understating the results. Our score was 6232 points compared with the 2012 score of 3074 points. It turned out that 90 per cent of the contacts were made on 40m and 20m similar to m provided 120 contacts. Only 3 contacts were made on 75m as there was very little FD activity there and 40m was far more productive. AD6NR sent in our FD report to the ARRL and listed 25 participants at the site which included those who attended but didn't necessarily operate. We anticipate that we had the highest 2A score in the Orange Section.

10 10 Local Repeater Information Frequency PL Call Location Sponsor Notes Leviathan Open Leviathan Mono S.O. Open Antelope Mono S.O. Open Conway Summit Mono S.O. Open NW6C Mono County, Mammoth Lakes B.A.R.C. Open K6BDI Inyo County, Silver Peak APRS K6BDI Open N6OV Inyo County, Silver Peak B.A.R.C. Open * W6IY Inyo County, Silver Peak W6IY Open ** None W6TD Inyo County, Mazourka Peak S.I.A.R.A. Open ** None W6TD Inyo County, Little Lake S.I.A.R.A. Open None Ridgecrest S.A.R.C. Open Government Peak S.A.R.C. Open Tonopah, NV Open **** Corey Peak Open Frequency PL Call Location Sponsor Notes *** K6BDI Inyo County, Silver Peak K6BDI W6IY Inyo County, Silver Peak Win System Open ** W6TD Inyo County, Silver Peak S.I.A.R.A. Open ** W6TD Inyo County, Mazourka Peak S.I.A.R.A. Open ** W6TD Inyo County, Little Lake S.I.A.R.A. Open WA6ZFT Inyo County, Silver Peak AllStarSys Open WI6RE Kern County, El Paso Peak Win System Open Frequency PL Call Location Sponsor Notes W6IY Silver Peak W6IY Open W6SCE EARN Closed * Notes: is switchable to if BARC repeater fails ** The 2 meter repeaters are linked. The 70cm repeaters are also linked together. *** Linked to Las Vegas and Reno **** Linked to 8 other repeaters, no tone for local Repeater. Requires a tone to talk back into the link.

11 11 B.A.R.C. Web Page: Mailing Address: B.A.R.C. P.O. Box 1024 Bishop, CA Nightly Net: p.m. on PL BARC Meetings... Our meetings our held at the Bishop Salvation Army, 621 W. Line St., Bishop, Ca. Meetings are held at 7:00 pm on the 2nd Tuesday of every month B.A.R.C. Membership: It is that time of year again to renew our BARC membership. Membership remains at $20.00 annually for individuals and $5.00 for a second family member. Please continue to support the Bishop Amateur Radio Club with your annual Membership. B.A.R.C. Officers In Case of a Local Emergency In case of an impending or current emergency, monitor the BARC repeater on MHz (PL 103.5). In case the repeater is down and/or repeater backup batteries run down, the simplex frequency of MHz will be used. On the right you will see our local scanner frequencies listed. These frequencies will come in handy in case of an emergency. Simplex Net: The Bishop Amateur Radio Club has started a new Simplex Net. It will be a short net on the first Wednesday night of the month at 7:30 p.m. (19:30) on simplex and will precede the 8 p.m. nightly net. The purpose of the net is to learn and practice EmComm skills in the event of an extended power outage resulting in the repeaters running out of battery power. Check-in on emergency power if you can, i.e. a handheld, mobile or fixed radio connected to battery or generator power. Learn the capabilities of your station by finding out who you can and can t work simplex and relay if necessary. President: John Shepherd Vice Pres.: Mike Fitzsimmons Secretary: Jon Patzer Treasurer: Bob Payne Board of Directors Bob Moss Kurt Pauer Everett Storey B.A.R.C. License Exams Nov 2, 2013 February 1, 2014 May 3, 2014 August 2, 2014 November 1, / /