Monitor march 2003

The Monitor
Published jointly by the Valley Amateur Radio Association and the Massanutten Amateur Radio Association, Dedicated to serving those interested in Amateur Radio in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley Local Ham Swap Shop Is Now Up and Running Thanks to Billy Hooke, KG4JOF for creating
Most of the listings are accompanied by pho- and maintaining the on-line ham radio swap tographs of the equipment, and all contain the contact information. Asking prices are shown, too. The swap shop can be found by going to the VARA home page below, and clicking on the To post to the shop, send an email to Billy at Swap Shop link on the left hand column of You don’t have to have internet access or As of February 21, the shop contained a Pro- email to list an item. Billy can post the de- 2015 scanner, a Kenwood TL-922 linear am- tails for you. You can reach Billy by phone at plifier, a Heath Power SWR meter, a Drake http://www.qsl.net/w4mus/
Congratulations to Upgraders, New Calls, and New Hams!
Andrew Barbour, formerly K4AJB, who has
Aaron Blum, AG4XA, of Staunton, is a new
changes his oil, recently upgraded to Extra class. Andrew now sports the call AG4XN.
Ginger Blum, KG4WQU, also of Staunton,
Roy Trump, KE4UFN, of Verona, recently up-
upgraded to a General class license. She Larry Moyer, formerly KF4VWL, has a new
upgraded by the time the call was recorded. call: K4LDM
William Moyer, formerly KF4TGN, has a new
And Ethan Blum, KG4WQV, also of Staunton,
call: K4MRB .
upgraded to General class. He was issued KG4WPP as a technician, but upgraded by Bradley Andersen, KG4YLE, of Dayton, is a
the time that call was recorded. His current Brent Smart, KG4ULF , of Toms Brook, is also
Jason Miller, KG4YLG, of Bridgewater, is also
Thanks to Volunteer Examiners A hearty “Thank You” to the hams who volun- teer their time to become Volunteer Examin- VE, contact Gayle Shull, KU4XN, at 540-828- “The Next Testing ers, and help others in our community join Session will be the ranks of ham radio. At the February test Our next testing session is scheduled for April 12, at the usual place: The Woodmen GERALD NAUMAN KN4FM,
of the World building in Dayton, Virginia, on ANDREW BARBUR AG4XN,
Highway 42, a mile south of the Harrison- RICHARD HAXTON KC3AN,
RAY RICHIE K4NRA,
DALE SHOWALTER N4DAI.
Update Your VE Credentials. If you are an ARRL accredited Volunteer Examiner Call sign changes; Notify the ARRL if your call in the VE program, you need to know that you can sign has been systematically changed by an up- update your VE credentials for free in most cases. grade. The ARRL will change your VE credentials Further, you are required to notify the ARRL when you make certain changes to your license or ad- dress. The ARRL does not update the VE records Notify the ARRL by mail with $2 if you have a new Vanity call sign AND if your accreditation is not otherwise in need of renewal or license class up- Notify the ARRL when your license has been re- date. A new badge at your routine renewal or at newed so that they can provide renewed VE cre- Notification by email, fax, mail or phone is accept- Notify the ARRL when your license class has been able (except in the case of the vanity callsign upgraded so that they can provide upgraded VE Notify the ARRL when your address or phone numbers have changed. This also is free. (And don’t forget to notify the FCC about your change of address! Your license can be cancelled or re- voked if the FCC discovers you didn’t notify them Shenandoah Valley QRP and Homebrew: Visitors Welcome! Which is better: A homemade birthday KD5KA, in the suburbs of Weyers Cave, at To reach the meeting place, take I-81 to They work on simple projects that anyone exit 235, go east (towards the airport). take the very next road to the right. Go a Road. Chuck’s place is down about a half The answer to all four of the above ques- tions depends on your point of view, and 6:45 or 7 pm on the meeting night on the what your intention is by buying, or mak- time around 7 pm, give or take a few min- 145.13 repeater and ask for a “talk-in”. AA4RH’s MFJ Tuner Story: A Little Loose Connector VARA members were informed at the January Richard firmed up the connections attaching the meeting of a potential problem with the venerable SO-239 to the metal chassis box, and presto, the SWR changes and power output fluctuations dis-appeared. As for the big toe problem, well, two Richard Huttinger, AA4RH, explained his discovery out of three ain’t bad. of a problem with the SO-239 connectors found on these (and many other) tuners. If you are experiencing unusual output character-istics at your station, before you go outside in the Richard was experiencing unexplainable fluctua- snow and begin working on your antenna, check tions in SWR, power output, and pain in his big the firmness of the SO-239 on your tuner. While toe. Upon investigation, the SWR and power out- the coax might be connected tightly, the connec- put fluctuations were traced to an intermittent tor itself might be wiggling against the box, caus- connection between the SO-239 on the tuner and ing capacitance changes, reflections, and all the tuner chassis box itself. Screws, rivets, and other methods of connecting the SO-239 to the box aren’t as good as old-fashioned welding or soldering. 443.150 Repeater Is Back Up. —— All the Way Up. Jason Armentrout, N4DSL, is pleased to an- This repeater also has a nice autopatch to the nounce that the 443.150 repeater is back on the Harrisonburg calling area, including limited long- air from its lofty perch way up on Laird’s Knob, distance service, and in-dial capability where someone can call you on their telephone, and you can answer on your UHF ham radio. The repeater uses PL tone of 131.8 Hz, and has an input frequency of 448.150 (+5 MHz). For more information on this repeater or to sub- scribe to the autopatch ($25 per year), contact The repeater had been up (working) but down (at Jason at: [email protected], or telephone at 540- low altitude) at Keezletown for a few months. 269-8141. Or better yet, call him on the Also, note that this repeater was originally on RACES Training: May 31 —— Mark Your Calendar Some amateurs are confused by the differences between ARES and participate in regular drills and other training exercises in order RACES. ARES is an organization made up of trained and willing ham to become (and stay) a fully-qualified RACES station, “enrolled radio operators who volunteer to help with emergency communica- in that organization”, as required by the FCC rules. tions whenever needed. Most of us are ARES volunteers. Interesting in becoming a RACES station? Thanks to the efforts RACES on the other hand is a separate FCC-recognized radio service, of Dale, N4DAI, a training session will be held at Eastern Men- one which shares frequencies with the amateur radio service. nonite University in the Commons, on Saturday, May 31, from 8 am to 5 pm. There is room for up to 130 hams in this session. While the RACES service consists of licensed amateurs, it is not sim-ply a set of amateurs who step forward to volunteer in an emergency. The training is free. But advance registration (both in VA RACES In order to operate in the RACES service, federal law requires not only and in the training session) is required. Contact Dale Showalter that you be a ham, but also that you be enrolled as a member of a
N4DAI, at telephone 540-896-7027 during normal working recognized Civil Defense organization. See CFR 47: 97.407(a). hours, or at 540-896-6535 evenings and weekends to register. In fact, plain amateur radio operators are prohibited from even com-
Within a week or two, information on the training session, in- municating with stations which are operating in the RACES service. cluding registration opportunities, will likely be posted to the VA RACES web page, which can be accessed at: However, as a licensed radio amateur, you are eligible to become enrolled with Virginia’s Civil Defense” organization. First, you register with Virginia RACES, then you attend a training session, and finally, At Long Last: Some Help With the Valley’s “Bear Hunter” Problem? Those who monitor the 2- other from their trucks, living address, telephone number New Field Day Entry Class! To promote the “Emergency of Field Day station, effective will apply to stations which Whales, Baby Seals, Spotted Owls, — What about Ham Radio Spectrum! The Amateur Radio Spec- VARA President’s Message The Valley Amateur Radio THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME
OUT TO HELP & MAKE IT A
SAFE WEEKEND. FALL IS
BEAUTIFUL AT THAT TIME OF
THE YEAR.
Valley SkyWarn News Virginia’s Statewide Tornado cials are closely coordinating scheduled for May 18, from SkyWarn Operational Frequencies in the Valley SkyWarn reports is 146.625. tion any time that SkyWarn Poor Man’s Packet: $15! Terminal Node Controllers from Bux. See the web page at: completely free and available High Speed Internet Access Over Ham Radio! The ARRL has begun a project covering the entire valley. For the most part, the connections www.arrl.org/hsmm/
Weekly Ham News from the ARRL: Free to Everybody! (not just ARRL members) Virtual Tours of the Sterling WSFO Office Since the events of September 11, 2001, federal installa- tours, the Sterling office has prepared an on-line tour, com - tions have been a little skittish about giving tours to the gen- plete with photographs and explanations, of their facilities. There is even a picture of the Skywarn operating position. That even holds true for some low-risk government offices http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/onlinetour/welcome.htm To partially compensate the public for their inability to give The Opinionated One: A “Ham-to-English” Dictionary There are Russian-to-English QSY: As in, “Let’s QSY over to
XYL: As in, “My XYL said no.”
PL: As in, “Why are there so
“gain”, “DXCC” or “feedlines”? “Hi-Hi”: As in, “Just wait till his
Rig: As in, “I can’t wait to try
<censored> As in, “ Holy
<censored> !!”. Expletive. This now that is a rig! A rig does not
did happen to stumble across
such as “W3MMC working CW? shout this word to the fellow Hi-hi, hi-hi, hi-hi.” But you don’t. standing at the 75-foot level of Kerchunk
and don’t drop- … kerchunk.” Fine Business
that you just said.” Adjective. : As in, “This is
KG4JOE for ID.” Adverb. This is your ancestors had married
<censored> As in, “who the
Net Information can be found on the MARA Web page. Go to the Schedule and Calendar Page, and scroll to the bottom. Each net The February meeting of the Massanutten Amateur Radio Asso- has its own information page giving frequency, PL information ciation was held at Evers Restaurant in Mt. Crawford, the meet- where necessary, meeting days and times. ing was opened at 7:30PM by the club president, Ellsworth Neff, K4LXG, there were 19 members and guests present. The Rockingham County ARES Net meets every Monday night at 8:00 pm local time. On the first Monday of each month, the net is Secretary’s Report: The secretary’s report for the January meet- held on 146.550 simplex. All other Mondays, the net is held on the ing was accepted as given in the February MARA monitor. 145.130 repeater (-0.600 offset, PL of 88.1). Treasurer’s Report: The treasurer’s report was accepted as The Augusta County ARES Net meets the second Thursday of very month, also at 8:00 pm local time, on the 146.850 repeater. This repeater uses a -0.600 MHz offset, and a PL of 131.8 Hz. New Members: Richard Gunick, KG4WNZ and Brent Smart, The Page County ARES Net meets every Sunday night at 8:00 pm local time, on the 146.670 repeater (-0.600 offset, PL of 114). 50/50 was won by Bill Karle, KG4UPN, $11.00 went to Bill and The Highland County ARES Net meets the first and third Wednes- day nights at 8:30 pm local time, on the 147.180 repeater (+0.600 Chuck, KD5KA reported there will be a meeting of the QRP club The Virginia Sideband Net meets every day at 6:00 pm at 3947 Chuck, KD5KA also showed the club his latest QRP project, a really small 20 meter transceiver with CW key. The Virginia Phone Net meets every day at 7:30 pm and at 10:15 A reminder of the Vienna hamfest on February 23 at the North- ern Virginia Community College Annandale Campus. The Virginia Traffic Net meets every day at 1:00 pm on 3907 kHz The formal meeting was adjourned at 8:19PM and the program was given by David Fordham, KD9LA on the JMU wireless experi- menters group (WN4JMU) wireless weather station. The Old Dominion Emergency Net meets the first and third Mon- days at 6:30 pm local time on 3947 KHz. It also meets the last Wednesday night at 8:45 pm, local time on 3927 kHz, LSB. It also meets on the second Wednesdays (until March 31) at 8:45 pm on 1900 kHz. Starting April 1, the ODEN net will move the second Wednesday net meeting time and frequency to 6:30 pm local time on 7243 kHz. March 1-2 ARRL International DX Contest (Phone) March 2: Page County ARES Net (and every Sunday night) March 3: Rockingham County ARES Net Simplex night April 12: Chesapeake (Norfolk VA) Hamfest April 13: Easton (PA) and York (PA) Hamfests March 9: North American RTTY SprintA March 10: Rockingham County ARES Net Repeater Night May 4: SkyWarn Board Meeting and Net Control Class May 18: Skywarn Storm Damage Survey Class March 25: Virginia SkyWarn Tornado Drill March 29-30: Timonium (Baltimore) Hamfest VARA Secretary’s Report: February 4 Meeting
The Valley Amateur Radio Asso-
This will be for Ham related
items only. You can send a list
Mark your calendar and check
into the net. Remember without
YOU there will be NO ARES NET.
We would like to get training
classes started for the Techni-
cian level. Anyone interested in
helping teach the classes
Thanks to all that gave up their
please contact Benny N4BCC,
weekend and came out to help
Alby AD4KZ or Richard AA4RH.
Submitted By:
make a safe weekend for the
ADDRESSES!!! If your e-mail
We need to get some young
bikers and to enjoy the scenery
people interested in ham radio.
on the country roads.
changed for any reason YOU
Listen for any hints that some-
one may like to learn what ham
radio is all about.
PROGRAMS NEEDED…Richard
On the sick list:
MARA/VARA
c/o David Fordham 131 Wayside Drive Weyers Cave, VA 24486 Phone: 540-568-3024 Email: [email protected] Return Service Requested
MASSANUTTEN AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION
MASSANUTTEN AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION, Inc.
VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION
VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION
Vice President: Richard Huttinger, KF4QZG Program Manager: Richard Huttinger, AA4RH MARA meets the first Thursday of each month VARA meets the first Tuesday of each month month at Ever’s Restaurant on U.S. 11 south at Ever’s Restaurant on U.S. 11 south of At Gavid’s Restaurant on U.S. 11 south in At Shoneys Restaurant on U.S. 250 east in of Harrisonburg. Meal starts at 6:30 pm.
Visitors are welcome.
Visitors are welcome.
Visitors are welcome.
Visitors are welcome.
Dues ($12 per year) should be mailed to: Dues ($15 per year) should be mailed to:

Source: http://cob.jmu.edu/fordham/mara/backissue/Mara0303.pdf