RADIOACTIVITIES
Newsletter of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club
Volume XL, Number 4 April, 1999
In This Issue...
Electronic Newsletter? • Open House
Experimental LF Band • FCC Actions
Club meeting
The meeting will be on Tuesday, April 6 at 12 noon in the Bldg. 212 conference room. At this writing, the topic was not yet decided.
Open house
by Jim Klick, K9FAT
Associate Members of AARC are invited to take part in the exhibit that the Club will have at the Argonne Open House Friday April 30, and Saturday May 1.
We will have a station set up in a tent, probably low band and 2 meters. Volunteer operators are needed, for any amount of time that you can spare.
Saturday, the gates will be open to the general public, so access will not be a problem. If you want to help on Friday, I will need your name, address, make of car and license number.
I am compiling a list, so please let me know if you can help either/both days, and the hours you will be available.
The hours Argonne will be open: Friday from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. for scheduled groups/tours; and Saturday from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. for the whole world.
Call me at home or at work. There is an answering machine both places if I am not around. Or email if you have that capacity. Or fax. Thanks to all
Jim Klick K9FAT
8158863110 (home)
6302523334 (office)
6302524559 (fax)
email:
Newsletter by e-mail?
by Gary Myers, K9CZB
Several members have suggested that we should e-mail the newsletter, to save postage. However, it’s not as simple as it sounds.
The files can be huge if there are graphics (600K/page). Furthermore, the Last Page is not computer-generated, so it will have to be scanned and sent as a graphic, which also will be enormous. For those with modems the download times might be prohibitive. And some e-mail systems don’t handle large binary files well, or at all.
So we’ve come up with a possible compromise solution: the newsletter can be posted on the AARC web site (http://www.el.anl.gov/aarc.htm) each month. This has been done in the past, but there was little incentive to be timely.
If there is sufficient interest, we also could post the original WordPerfect file for viewing with Corel’s free browser plug-in, and/or convert it to Microsoft Word for viewing with the free Word viewer.
This process will be a lot of extra work, so we first want to find out if there is sufficient interest. If you would prefer accessing the newsletter in this fashion rather than getting a paper copy, visit the web site and send a message to our Webmaster, Tim, WD9FFT ().
FCC fines operators in repeater QRM case
from ARRL Letter
The FCC has used mobile radio directionfinding techniques to solve a longstanding repeater interference problem. The Commission alleges that Michael Gallagher, KB3DHX and Kornwell Chan, W3CI were maliciously interfering with the PhilMont Mobile Radio Club 2meter repeater, W3QV, and has levied fines on the two operators. On multiple occasions in February, personnel from the FCC’s Philadelphia office traced radio transmissions to a vehicle said to be occupied by the operators. Both licensees have been issued Notices of Apparent Liability for $7500.
Radioactivities April, 1999 Page 2
Radioactivities April, 1999 Page 2
ARGONNE AMATEUR RADIO CLUBBldg. 222 - A253, Argonne IL 60439
─────────
PRESIDENT Dick Konecny K9IB
VICE PRESIDENT Dennis Kelly K9LJK
V. P. IDAHO Bill Parmley KR8L
SECRETARY Joe Kilar WB9THV
TREASURER Dale Travis AG9H
DIRECTOR Jim Klick K9FAT
DIRECTOR Fred Propper WB9VUT
DIRECTOR Stan Reinke KB9FGD
DIRECTOR Jim Specht W9GBL / MEMBERSHIP is open to all who are interested in amateur radio. This club is sponsored by Argonne National Laboratory. Employees of ANL or DOE-Chicago are eligible for Full membership. Associate membership is available to non-employees.
W9ANL/R is an open repeater, coordinated on 145.19 MHz (600 input). The AARC repeater has been in operation on this frequency pair continuously since February 5, 1982.
W9ANL Packet node runs MSYS on 145.09 MHz.
CLUB NETS: 2 meter fm (1) Regular, every Monday evening at 9:00, and (2) the Night Patrol every night at 10:30, both on W9ANL/R. There is an open packet conference on W9ANL packet node every Monday evening at 8:00; type C at the BBS prompt. The Peanut Whistle Net (PWN) every Sunday at 1:30 p.m., and many evenings at 8:30 p.m. on 1932 kHz (cw/am/ssb), QRP. / RADIOACTIVITIES is published monthly by the Argonne Amateur Radio Club as a nonprofit newsletter intended only for the use of its membership. Material appearing here does not represent the official position of Argonne National Laboratory or the U. S. Department of Energy. Please give credit to the author and to Radioactivities or the Argonne A.R.C., when using original material published here. Deadline for submissions normally is the fifteenth of the preceding month.
EDITOR Gary Myers K9CZB
EVENTS Lew Garrison WB9PGO
SKYWARN ACTIVITIES Deni Lamoreaux W9DS
PACKET RADIO Loren Thompson KB9CTJ
LAST PAGE Bill Karraker W9AVE
Please send club correspondence to the above address, or to . Editorial correspondence may be sent to the Editor at . Please include “AARC” in the subject.
http://www.el.anl.gov/aarc.htm
Radioactivities April, 1999 Page 2
Editorial
by Gary Myers K9CZB
If you haven’t visited the AARC web site recently, I encourage you to do so. You’re in for a pleasant surprise. Our Webmaster, Tim, WD9FFT has done an outstanding job of creating a useful, interesting, and attractive site for the club.
This site of course is accessible by anyone, anywhere in the world, and it speaks very well for our club. Good web sites have become a very important PR tool, and ours is very good. Thanks, Tim!
Board meeting minutes, March 16, 1999
by Joe Kilar, WB9THV
Attendees: Dick Konecny, K9IB (President); Dennis Kelly, K9LJK (VicePresident); Joe Kilar, WB9THV (Secretary); Dale Travis, AG9H (Treasurer); Jim Klick, K9FAT (Director); Bruce Epperson, KA9JXU; Tim Hentsch, WD9FFT, Bill Karraker, W9AVE; Deni Lamoreaux, W9DS; Gary Myers, K9CZB.
The minutes of the February Board Meeting and the Treasurer’s Report, both printed in the newsletter, were approved as published.
The Board agreed to a standing rule that Board Meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of each month at 12:00 noon in the north end of the cafeteria. The President will notify us in advance if there is a need to change the date of a meeting.
Jim has been following up on plans for the ANL Open House. We will have a small tent. Jim will write up an announcement for the April newsletter seeking volunteers to man the tent. Jim will be the contact person. There was considerable discussion about where to locate the tent. In the end, Jim was given the authority to work out the location of the tent with the proper people but we recommended that it be near other tents and not isolated.
There was considerable discussion about emailing the newsletter and/or posting it onto the Web. Tim, Joe, and Gary discussed the various issues and effort that are involved in doing this. We decided to run a trial for a period of time. We will announce in the April newsletter that we will start posting the newsletter on the Web. Gary will continue to do the newsletter in WordPerfect. Tim will do the conversions and post it in two or all three of these formats: WordPerfect, Word, and HTML. He can provide a hyperlink to Microsoft’s free downloadable Word Viewer for people who don’t have Word. Comments and feedback can be sent to Tim. If successful, as time goes on, members (full and associate) will be invited to indicate their preference to just receive an email announcement that the newsletter is posted on the Web in lieu of receiving a paper copy. Tim noted and explained why the HTML version will not look like the original WordPerfect printed version. Emailing the newsletter directly is not a good solution because some email systems do not handle larger, binary files properly and no one format would be suitable and readable to everyone. (See article on page 1 for later news regarding an electronic version of the newsletter.)
Dick said there was nothing new to report yet on the UPS for the repeater. Stan is working on the QSL cards and Fred is proceeding on procuring Club Patches. The full Board confirmed the decision of Dale and Joe to not accept membership applications for 1999 that are not on the official 1999 application form. Applications that are not on the official form are being returned to the sender along with an official application form.
Radioactivities April, 1999 Page 3
The treasurer’s computer:
by Dale Travis AG9H
Members: East 39; West 5; Associate 103; Newsletter 9; Retired 25
Balances: Checking $4550.37; Cash $0.00; ANL fund $84.00
Distributed as: Club $1209.67; Equipment $858.20; Repeater $1464.07; Packet $1018.43
For the period 2/17/99 thru 3/24/99:
Income: Dues $65.00; Club $24.43; Eqp $3.00; Rptr $19.69; Pkt $8.18; ANL $0.00
Expenses: Club $171.54; Rptr $0.00; Pkt $0.00; Eqp $0.00
AARC e-mail addresses
AA9BV Tim
KB9CTJ Loren
K9CZB Gary
KB9DBC Gregg
KC7DFN Nancy
N9EJS George
K9FAT Jim
N9HOH Harold
KR8L Bill
KA9MAM Jeff
KF9MI Torben
N7NHF Robin (H)
(W)
N9NWA Randy
WA9OUE Dick
K9REM Emil
WB9THV Joe
WB9VUT Fred
NR9Z Bob
We will continue to publish the updated list, as we get more addresses. If you want to be listed, send an email to .
Lowfrequency experimental license issued
ARRL Bulletin 16
The FCC has granted a oneyear experimental license to the Amateur Radio Research and Development Corporation—AMRAD—to conduct tests on 136.75 kHz. Experiments would be carried out from 12 Northern Virginia sites using the call sign WA2XTF to gain lowfrequency experience in anticipation that the FCC may allocate an amateur band at 136 kHz.
Emissions authorized for these tests include 173Hz and 450Hz bandwidth frequencyshift data and 100Hz bandwidth CW. The authorized transmitted power is 1 W ERP. The 12 stations will operate experimental transmitters, antennas and receiving systems using digital signal processing techniques.
Participating in the experimental operation are Glenn Baumgartner, KAESA; David Borden, K8MMO; Robert Bruhns, WA3WDR; Hal Feinstein, WB3KDU; Terry Fox, WB4JFI; Andre Kesteloot, N4ICK; George Lemaster, WB5OYP; Shannon Mishey, N8TBM; Paul Rinaldo, W4RI; David Rogers, K9RKH; Elton Sanders, WB5MMB; and John Seely, AA4GM. Rinaldo is the ARRL’s technical relations manager.
While the list of stations is closed and new transmitting stations cannot be added, others are invited to join the project by listening and reporting results. Reception reports should be sent via email to Andre Kesteloot, N4ICK, .
Last October, the ARRL petitioned the FCC to create two amateur LF allocations at 135.7137.8 kHz and 160190 kHz. Several countries throughout the world already enjoy LF allocations around 136 kHz. These include New Zealand, Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, and several European nations.
Further information concerning these LF experiments will be available on the AMRAD Web site, http://www.amrad.org.
Ham Trader Yellow Sheets QRT
from ARRL Letter
After 38 years in business, the Ham Trader Yellow Sheets will cease publication. The twicemonthly classified publication is being absorbed into the Amateur Radio Trader, according to an announcement in the last edition of the Yellow Sheets. “It has been increasingly difficult to continue to provide the reliability and low cost that we always have in the past,” said a statement from Founder and Editor Al Brand, and Publishers Dave and Barbara Brand Wixon.
Yellow Sheets subscribers will automatically get an Amateur Radio Trader subscription, while the subscriptions of ART subscribers who also subscribed to the Yellow Sheets will be extended. Amateur Radio Trader of Crossville, Tennessee, is published by TAP Publishing.
Radioactivities April, 1999 Page 3
Archie Comics Creator Dies
from ARRL Members Only web site
MAMARONECK, NY, Mar 3, 1999—John L. Goldwater, the creator of Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead and friends and their perpetual teen universe of Riverdale, USA, died February 26. He was 83. Goldwater reportedly suffered a heart attack at his Manhattan home.
In the early 1940s Goldwater—a distant relative of the late Sen Barry Goldwater, K7UGA—dreamed up Archie and friends and found artist Bob Montana to draw him and his peers. The comic characters became a big hit over the years. Since 1986, Archie's Ham Radio Adventure comic books have invited younger newcomers to Amateur Radio to “ride the airwaves to fun and excitement with Archie and all his friends!” The Archie Amateur Radio comics are still available through the ARRL.
Goldwater was raised an orphan in East Harlem and hitchhiked his way to the West Coast during the Depression, along the way gathering the grist for what would become Archie and his friends. Eventually, Archie made Goldwater a multimillionaire and Archie Comic Publications of Mamaroneck became one of the industry’s top three publishers, along with Marvel and D.C. Comics. In 1983, Archie Comics was acquired by Goldwater’s son Richard and Michael Silberkleit, the son of Goldwater’s early publishing business partner.
The Archie ham radio comics were developed as a joint educational venture by members of the Amateur Radio industry, in cooperation with the ARRL. Funds for the project have come from manufacturers, clubs, and even individuals. Stan Goldberg and Mike Esposito did the artwork in the ham radio version.
Publishing advisor for Archie’s Ham Radio Adventure was Dick Ross, K2MGA, and script advisor was Rich Moseson, NW2L, both of CQ Communications. ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, served as technical advisor.
A little April philosophy
from the Internet
· You’re getting old when you don’t care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don’t have to go along.
· Middle age is when work is a lot less fun — and fun is a lot more work.
· The badness of a movie is directly proportional to the number of helicopters in it.
· You know you’re getting on in years when the girls at the office start confiding in you.
· The most valuable function performed by the federal government is entertainment.