Articles and information for the Newsletter may be submitted up to the 25th of the month before the next meeting.

Ken Blair, KC0GL, Editor
1711 West 19th Terrace
Lawrence, KS 66046
Phone: 843-8826
e-mail: kc0gl@arrl.net

This Newsletter is published monthly by the Douglas County Amateur Radio Club (DCARC). Reprint permission is granted to other Amateur Radio-oriented publications (expept for copyrighted material as noted) provided that credit is given to the author and source. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the club or its officers.

PROGRAM--August 9,2000 Meeting

HAM RADIO SAVES THE DAY

ARRL Video showing hams operating in actual emergency situations.

--Jim Canaday, Program Chair

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DAYTON 2000: A PILGRIMAGE TO HAM HEAVEN

Gordon Fitch, N0AB

The 49th annual Dayton Hamvention was every thing I had been told over the years, but had not personally experienced since obtaining my original novice license (KN9AED) in 1955. I had "almost" gone many times, but other responsibilities and activities always seemed to conspire to prevent it.

This year, during one of our Tuesday "DQ Discussions," Dave Fayman, W0GI, mentioned that he had space in his mini-van and that a hotel room might be available as well, so this seemed to be the right time to make the great pilgrimage. Ken Olson, K0TLQ, also decided to "sign up," so the die was cast and we were on our way early on a Thursday morning in May.

Dave took the first "tour" at the wheel of the "GI-MOBILE," and I was next. Seating myself in the driver's seat, I promptly set off every security device known to man, including the ability to start the engine but not sustain its operation for more than 15 seconds. Urgent instructions from the owner soon had us on our way and before we knew it we were eating raisin cream pie near Effingham, Ill.

A few more hours saw us pulling up to the motel, courtesy of K0TLQ, the "anchor man," and, standing there waiting for us to go to dinner? Who else but Bud, N0APJ and Travis, WA5RGU. What timing! Plans were laid for the next morning which dawned cool and cloudy, as I recall. What an incredible event! Where to start? I have been to many hamfests, but this was like the TITANIC (hmm, maybe that isn't the best analogy) compared to a row-boat. Of course, I had been carefully (by the veteran attendees) admonished that if I saw something I wanted, I should buy it on the spot, because I would never be able to remember where I saw it and if I did make it back, the desired item would be gone. And, of course, they were right, which added at least a mile to my weary feet on Sunday morning when searching for a "closing" bargain, which had disappeared, along with its purveyor. Many booths were gone by Saturday afternoon. Estimates of the total percent of available flea market booths actually visited? After 2 days of hard work, maybe a third to a half? (I kept hearing about the great bargains, but they must have been gone by 8 a.m. on opening day!)

I later heard via a listserve that the REALLY great buys disappear out of the trunks of the seller's cars and never make it to the table. Oh well, next year!

They say you can find anything and see everything at Dayton, and I am now a firm believer! Everything from that rare 1950s boat anchor to items from the recently bankrupt Iridium satellite telephone network were available. Anyone need an unused telecom satellite? Of course you do! Every ham needs at least one. All you have to do is figure out how to keep it in orbit and how to make it talk!

Mobile attractions included the hard-hatted ham with miniature lighted crank up tower and yagi attached. (He demonstrated both the lighting and the crank up features! I don't know exactly what this says about hams in general, but perhaps a reader can enlighten me.) His competition for attracting the most attention was a ham leading a small goat with saddlebags and transceiver for garnering the most attention.

Manufacturer's and retailer's booths on the "inside" were also well stocked with merchandise, bargains, and brochures. K0TLQ and I succumbed to some weather recording instrumentation (which is still in the process of installation, with advice from our own weather GURU, Tony, W0RZF. Ask K0TLQ about the environmental shield he built for his temperature sensor, an engineering Tour De Force for sure.

Best of all, though, were the camaraderie, new friends met, old friendships renewed, and the dinner conversations recapping the day's finds and foibles. I can honestly say I have never met nicer, more interesting people at any convention, including many year's worth of both "fun" and work related conventions attended. Dayton 2000 also was a great way to renew, sustain, and increase one's fervor for this incredible hobby. Highly Recommended!

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A 2-METER EXPERIENCE AWAY FROM HOME

Truman "Bud" Waugh, N0APJ

As I sit here in the hotel after a very difficult day filled with meetings and talks, some thought enters my mind of kicking off my shoes and taking a nap. The air in the room is too warm. The stale cigarette smoke seeps from the carpet and somehow gets swallowed in the Glade "room freshener." Street noises come through the windows from the street thirteen floors below. Mike Douglas's voice drifts through the wall from the next room which is occupied by the running TV only.

Home and the family are too far away to think about. The five splits in the wallpaper converge and like a stream on a map run into the black box on the dresser with the "Drake" emblem on the front. Perhaps it was a dumb thing to do--I drag that thing all these miles, check it through airport x-rays, get fishy stares from the officers at the airport just to see if you could raise a couple of new repeaters. Well, might as well give it a try!

As I dial through the various channels, nothing is heard. What a blunder. This was a total loss.

Maybe what I should do is to try keying a repeater. I always hated the thought of the "kerchunking" that goes on back home. There should be some other way to tell if repeaters are available. Wish I had brought my repeater directory instead of leaving it on the table at the door so I wouldn't forget it.

Punching the transmit on the mike, I am delighted to find I can raise three repeaters from my hotel room. Hey!! Not bad!! I can't do that at home! Give the first one a try -- got things going my way, now -- can't lose nothing! How about number two?

"Where did you say you were from? What part of Zero land? My name is Harry, what's the handle there? You are too early! Elaine and the rest of the guys arn't here for fifteen minutes yet. We are usually on for about an hour before the club meeting starts. What are you doing in town?"

"Name here is Bud. I am in town for the convention. It ends at five o'clock and I am about to go get something to eat. How about coffee? QTH is Lawrence, Kansas, just a little ways outside of Kansas City. I have been a ham for a couple of years and enjoy it very much."

"Break -- break -- Hey Harry, get that guy to come to the meeting tonight. Let's find out what they do in the Midwest. Better yet, I go past the hotel and I can pick him up and drop him off after the meeting."

As the evening goes on, I find that there are many clubs full of very friendly persons. People in different areas have ideas about radio clubs that are "strange" to an outsider. The interests are different. I find that there is a huge division of the amateur radio community who are also pilots and are interested in direction finding -- a skill that seems impossible to me. Others are interested in weather, traffic, television and RTTY. But not only are they interested, they are interesting.

Two meters is great at home. It is fantastic on a trip, even a business trip. Loads of instant friends are available to you when you press the mike button. It turns a dull evening in a hotel into a very enjoyable one. The next time you travel, remember two meters; remember plop plop, fizz fizz!!

--DCARC Newsletter, April 1979, Kathy Vaughan, WD0AQH, Editor

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STATES AREA BY AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS

Rick Link, ex WB0KDE ..............................................................................

FROM THE EDITOR'S CORNER . . .

2000 ARRL KANSAS STATE CONVENTION

August 27, 2000 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

BIcentenmal Center Oakdale Park

Salina, Kansas

Talk in frequencies: 147.030+ and 443.900+ Reglstration: $5.00 in advance or at the door. Tables: Commercial or Flea Market $15.00 each. Electricity and Registration included VENDORS -- FORUMS -- FOOD -- FUN -- YL ACTIVITIES DOOR PRIZES -- VE TESTING. This is your invitation to attend one of the finest gatherings of Amateur Radio operators in the Midwest. Your attendance at this convention will insure the continuation of this type of activity and help attract major vendors to bring and display their newest products for your enjoyment. Sponsored by the Members of the Central Kansas Arnatcur Radio Club, Inc. For more information on space available contact: Ron Tremblay, WA0PSFI 12 N. Douglas Dr., Salina, KS 67401-3516 Phone: 785-827-8149. E-mall: HYPERLINK mail to: tremblay@midusa.net

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WB0AUQ's WEB PICKS OF THE MONTH

Bob Rainbolt, WB0AUQ

Here are this month's picks:

http://www.invent.org/book/index.html
National Inventors Hall of Fame

http://www.nacc-mallory.com/techa5.htm
Great technical info on capacitors

http://w3.gwis.com/~joelr/gearpix.htm
The Traditionalist Radio Amateur Program

http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/bat.html
Great technical info on batteries

http://www.antiqueradio.org/recap.htm
Some practical info on capacitors

http://playlist.broadcast.com/makeram.asp?id=5972
Streaming audio--listen to Dallas, TX railroads

http://www.qsl.net/kc8kfi/
A young ham's web page (anyone for bicycle/M (HF!)

http://www.electronics-tutorials.com/
Tutorials on basic electronics and info on ham radio

http://www.radioblvd.com/
Maybe a good side-trip next time you're in Las Vegas

That's about it for this month. Happy surfing!

--WBAUQ

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A Movie Review . . . "FREQUENCY"

Dave Bell, W6AQ, Worldradio, June 2000

"Frequency" is an imaginative fantasy based on the complex relationship between fathers and sons.

From an Amateur Radio standpoint, given the movie's conceit, it could hardly have been better. The conceit is, of course, communicating through time, in this case the son in 1999 and the Ham father, W2QYV, I think, in 1969.

It's hard to believe that this movie was not written by a Ham or perhaps the son of a Ham. Here is a picture which, in an oblique way, will convey the lure of Amateur Radio to the uninitiated. Long suffering spouses of Hams should leave the theatre nodding and smiling.

Any Ham club which can get it together to give demonstrations of Ham radio in action in front of theatres playing "Frequency" should get a lot of interaction from the crowds leaving the movie. Since a number of equipment manufacturers are offering prizes for the best Amateur Radio demonstration, and since it's a very entertaining film, any club with the ability should make arrangements ASAP for a "movie field day." There is a terrific PR opportunity here.

The director and writer take care at the beginning of the Ham radio sequences to go pretty much by the book, but as the movie progresses they move slightly farther from real Ham operating procedures as the movie itself moves farther from day to day reality. There's a wonderful scene where little kids "want to talk on the radio."

Starring Dennis Quaid in perhaps his most moving performance ever as the firefighter Ham from the 60s and relative newcomer Jim Caviezel as his son who's not a Ham but knows how to push the microphone button, "Frequency" moves at just the right pace for the audience to follow the complex happenings on screen.

There's a serial killer sub-plot which will undoubtedly annoy some real critics, but from my perspective it worked just greatİİheightening the tension and picking up the pace as it shifted ever back and forth between the 90s and the 60s.

There's no doubt that the ending is a bit saccharine, but it is a fantasy after all, and ends as all but the most cynical want fantasies to end.

Baseball fans will enjoy this picture almost as much as Hams because an important plot turn involves "predicting" the outcome of the Mets-Orioles World Series of 1969.

The acting is uniformly good, with Shawn Doyfe really creepy as a demented killer and Andre Braugher very believable as a cop in both tile 60s and 90s. (Like all of us, 30 years has made him a little porky.)

As my friend Alan Kaul, W6RCL, said as we left the preview, "It's a really good example of the law of unintended consequences." And if you don't know what that means now, you will when you see the movie. And I urge you to see it soon. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I'm going again. CU at the movies!

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QSL CARD CORNER . . .

An interview with Bob Drake

* How did you become interested in Amateur Radio?

I became interested in amateur radio as a teenager (about age 13) when we visited my uncle (then W9KXD, now W0PWH) in Chicago and I saw his station. I became an avid shortwave listener, but never could get my code speed up enough to qualify to get a license. This also led to an interest in electronics and caused me to become an electronic technician and graduate from Central Technicial Institute in Kansas City in 1968.

* When were you first licensed?

I was first licensed in 1991 after a DCARC license class led by Tony Shirer, W0RZF and Earl Schweppe, N0KYS.

* When did you receive your extra class?

1993. Shortly after that I applied for certification to become an ARRL volunteer coordinator, which allowed me to participate in the administering of license exams.

* What is your main interest in Amateur Radio?

That is hard to say, as I equally seem to enjoy DX, CW, and homebrewing projects.

* Approximately how many people have become licensed since you began the DCARC Amateur Radio Classes?

Actually, I didn't "begin" the classes, I just started assisting Jim Canaday and Earl. I would take a wild guess and say that around 100 people have been through the classes since I started helping out.

* Do you have any other hobbies or interests?

Yes, I am active in teaching a boy's mission group called Royal Ambassadors at church. I also help run the sound system there. I also enjoy science fiction and camping.

* Describe your present job at KU.

I work as a Research Instrument Technician in the Chemistry Department at KU. My job involves the operation, maintenance, and repair of several instruments called Mass Spectrometers that are used to analyze chemical compounds that graduate students make in their research. These instruments detect the mass of a particle either using a large magnetic field or via an RF field, so the knowlege learned in amateur radio is sometimes helpful. In September, I will have been there 30 years.

* Is there anything else you would like to pass along such as family information?

I got married late in life at age 37 to my wife Sandra. She had two children, Charles and Amy. Sandra was a school teacher for many years, but just this summer quit teaching and is working as an office specialist in the Communications Studies Department at KU. Charles just graduated from Midwestern Baptist Seminary in Kansas City with a degree in youth work. Amy graduated from KU last semester with a teaching degree and begins her career this fall teaching first grade at Centennial Elementary School here in Lawrence.

I want to thank all those in the radio club who have helped and assisted me over the years. Thank you all.....73, Bob Drake, N0TFU

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BELL ROTOR HISTORY

From the Web Pages of Craig Henderson, N8DJB, C.E.O. of Rotor Doctor. This appeared in the August-September 1999 edition of the "Log," the newsletter of the West Park Radiops, Glenn Williams, AF8C, Editor

The general line of bell rotors was developed at Comell-Dubilier Electronics about 1950, starting with the TR-2 and TR-4 series of rotators designed for the newly popular directional TV antennas. As Ham Radio antennas became larger and larger during the 50's, the need for larger rotators became evident. So sometime about 1956, work started on a heavier design with a separate brake feature to keep the antennas from windmilling.

The Ham-M was the result of beefing up considerably the TV rotator design with stronger, heavier gears, the wedge brake, and an improved south-centered meter marked in degrees from 0 to 360. The first Ham-M's, series 1 and 2, debuted in November, 1957 and used a wiring format that was different and not compatible with later units.

Ham-M series 3 showed up late in 1959 after numerous complaints about the wiring, meter flutter and the backward scale. Series 3 revised wiring DOES MATCH the current models. There is an improved grounding system for the meter feedback circuit, and a north-centered scale. Ham-M's continued until 1974 through Series 4 and 5 with minor improvements in reliability.

HAM-2 or HAM-II debuted around 1974-1975. Aside from rumors, the most logical explanation for the change was a reworked design for the separate brake control because as antennas continued to grow in size, the instant stopping feature of the older style was causing more and more breakdowns. The rotator units were the same. The new control was larger, therefore lending itself nicely to later options. Early Ham-II control covers were two shades of brown; later model covers were black and white. Both controls had a gold faceplate and three plastic levers for direction control, along with front-mounted calibration and on/off switches.

HAM-3 or HAM-III came out in the spring of 1977 to fulfill the needs of contesters and other big-guns whose antennas continued to get yet larger. The wedge brake style which had served so well for almost 20 years was being overloaded more and more often by monoband yagis with boom lengths larger than the average tri-bander. The pointed steel brake wedge evolved into being squared off on the end. A new brake housing design was built to match. This was an incredible improvement, and is still being used. Also at that time, the control was modernized internally with a printed circuit board to replace the old point-to-point wiring style. A disc pre-brake was also added to the motor to stop coasting.

HAM-4 or HAM-IV came soon after the Ham-3, about January 1979, because all these new larger antennas tended to break the die-cast ring gear used until then. The improvement consisted of making the ring gear out of low-grade stainless steel machined to match other ears and the main casting. The other most noticeable change was the switch to black plastic covers on the control unit, with a black faceplate. Other changes within the next few years included changing the old rotary on/off switch to a toggle switch and redesigning the indication potentiometer to improve the grounding for more reliable meter indication.

In 1981, TELEX-HYGAIN bought the rotator portion of CDE and continued to build the world's most popular rotators, the Ham-4, T2X, and several smaller models. However, as the years progressed, the material in the brake wedge somehow changed, and problems started to develop (such as broken wedges) in 1985. Late in 1987, C.A.T.S. produced some hardened steel wedges and Hygain followed suit in November of 1988. This was the last major change to date on this series and its popularity continues.

Starting in September 1977, CDE produced a restyled unit commonly called the T2X or TailTwister. It used much heavier castings, was painted a flat black color, and contained an extra row of ball bearings located at the bottom of the a thicker brake casting. Therefore, the T2X rotator will support heavier antennas, and is much more tolerant of side thrust when pipe-mounted with a lower adapter. Originally, the T2X had a specially-made wedge that was much different than the smaller models but this proved to be a problem. After several different designs the whole brake assembly was changed in 1984 to a similar, but not identical system like the Ham-4. One point worth mentioning is that all internal components such as the motor and all gears are the same as the HAM-4. This is not widely known. The only other change from the HAM-4 is the use of LED indicators in the control, for showing activation of the brake and direction levers.

--via ARNS Bulletin, October 1999, Steve Auyer, N2TKX, Editor

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HAMS FILL IN DURING TELEPHONE OUTAGES

ARRL Letter, Vol. 19, No. 26, 7 July 2000

Hams in three states have been able to fill the communication gap during recent unexpected telephone outages.

In Texas, telephone communication in the New Braunfels area was disrupted June 30 due to major problems in the telephone switching network. The cause and extent of the problem were not clear, but, according to ARRL Official Relay Station Dan Whelchel, K5IQZ, the only telephone services left working were cellular-to-cellular and cellular-to-911. He said hams filled in during the early hours of the outage, handling messages between New Braunfels and San Antonio.

In southern Oregon, telephone service was interrupted June 26 when fire severely damaged a central telephone switching facility in Medford.

Sacramento Valley (North) SEC David Thorne, K6SOJ, reported widespread interruption of telephone, Internet, and other services in Jackson County.

Thorne says the telephone system's emergency generator was shut down at the request of the fire department, and the battery back-up system was depleted within hours due to high usage.

Thorne says Jackson County ARES was activated, and the Douglas County ARES/RACES team was on duty at the EOC in Roseburg. . . .

In Oklahoma, a power failure early on the morning of June 20 took our almost all land-based telephone systems in the 918 area code around Tulsa for several hours. Although some pagers and cellular phones still had limited capabilities, most of the public could not even call 911.

ARRL PIO Mark Conklin, reports that, with the phones out, hams initially were out of the notification loop. Conklin says a few members of the Tulsa Repeater Organization overheard the radio traffic on scanners, however, and, before long, an ARES net was established on a local repeater with Ron Lancaster, KB5VDB, and Merlin Griffin, WB5OSM, at the Tulsa EOC. . . .

--Thanks to Dan Whelchel, K5IQZ, and David Thorne, K6SOJ, and Mark Conklin, N7XYO

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SATURDAY MORNINGS

Submitted by Bob Rainbolt, WB0AUQ

Ken, I received the following story in an email and thought it interesting. The K9NZQ call is non-existent, not surprisingly. Not sure if it has been printed other places but surely has as it did come from a non-ham. --Bob

Bob: May your Saturday mornings be special. The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles."

I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital." He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight. Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time. It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

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ANTENNA DESIGNER LOUIS VARNEY, G5RV, SK

ARRL Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 25, 30 June 2000

The Amateur Radio world is mourning the loss of R. Louis Varney, G5RV, who invented the world-famous G5RV antenna. Varney died June 28, at his home in West Sussex. He was 89 and had recently been reported in failing health.

The G5RV multiband wire antenna for HF--typically 102 feet on the flattop section--is among the most popular of all antenna designs. Varney first described the G5RV in the November 1966 issue of the RSGB Bulletin. While models fed with coaxial cable have proliferated, Varney's personal recommendation was to use a balanced feed line and a matching network for bands other than 20 meters. (The G5RV dipole is discussed in Chapter 7 of The ARRL Antenna Book.) Varney had a full-size and a double-size G5RV, both fed with open-wire feeders, at his own station.

Varney was an RSGB member for 74 years, and he served as life president of the Mid-Sussex Amateur Radio Society. His wife Nelida is among his survivors. Services were set for July 4 in Brighton, England. Thanks to Bob D'Imperio, N4XAT, and RSGB for this information.

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WARP SPEEDS EXCEED THE SPEED OF LIGHT

Newsline, No. 1195, 7 July 2000

Has Star-Trek come true? Can warp speeds be achieved? Warp speeds exceed the speed of light. Science now says it has happened. Q-News Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has the details:

Particle physicists have shown that light pulses can be accelerated to up to 300 times their normal velocity of 186,000 miles per second. And the implications, like the speed, are mind-boggling.

On one interpretation, light will arrive at its destination almost before it has started its journey. In effect, it is leaping forward in time.

Exact details of the findings remain confidential because they have been submitted to Nature, the international scientific journal, for review prior to possible publication.

The research is already causing controversy among physicists. What bothers them is that if light could travel forward in time it could carry information. This would breach one of the basic principles in physics--causality, which says that a cause must come before an effect.

It would also shatter Einstein's theory of relativity since it depends in part on the speed of light being unbreachable.

For Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB of Q-News Australia

* * * * *

Light is nothing more than another form of electromagnetic energy. And, as Graham's report says, it can carry information ahead in time. Now, applied to Ham radio, it could mean that you would know if you were going to win your favorite contest before you sat down to operate. Then again, if you did not sit down to operate you would definitely not win. Now, that's causality! (Q-News)

* * * * * *

Did you know . . .

That light travels at 186,000 mps and 670 million mph?

That light would travel 7-1/2 times around the earth in one second?

That light would travel to the moon, 240,000 miles away, in 1-1/4 seconds?

That some other stars are 2,000 million light years away?

That our Milky Way, through the center, would take a beam of light traveling at 670 million mph, 30,000 years to make the trip?

That we have one billion galaxies while our Milky Way with its one billion flaming suns is only medium sized?

Fill a pint jar with air, and count the molecules of air as you let them escape from the jar. Let out 10 million molecules per second and it would require 40 million years to empty the jar.

--From Florida Skip, by W4DVR and ARNS

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A big win for broadcasters could protect ham radio . . .

SPECTRUM ALLOCATION

Newsline No. 1196, 14 July 2000

Television stations are declaring a major victory. This, as the FCC orders the Mobile Satellite Service to pay the cost of underwriting the revamping Electronic News Gathering or ENG equipment as a part of an upcoming spectrum reallocation. In the process, the Commission may have set a new precedent that will help other services including ham radio to protect current bands from outside attack by making changeover expensive.

Newsline's David Black, KB4KCH, reports from our South East Bureau in Birmingham, Alabama:

The ENG spectrum, located in the 2 GHz band, is being reapportioned to make room for mobile satellite services. Under Phase One of the plan, broadcasters are to be compensated by initial Mobile Satellite Service licensees for the cost of retuning or replacing their ENG equipment as a result of the move.

The compensation plan represents a big win for broadcasters, because the companies that will use the recaptured spectrum had long argued that a station's compensation should equal only the depreciation of its ENG equipment. More important, the decision could become a legal precedent in all cases where spectrum users are forced to abandon spectrum after its reallocated to another service or some newly created service.

The decision could also have a chilling effect on some industries seeking spectrum for nonessential or poorly funded services or new services that hold little chance of success. If a company wanting several megahertz for some new plan that may fail, it will now give a lot more thought before attacking a current service in hope of grabbing its bandspace.

But what does this mean for ham radio? If nothing else it gives hams a bit more leverage in protecting our spectrum. Amateur Radio is a legitimate radio service that has outlasted others that have fallen by the wayside.

We have in the past and continue to this day to prove our continued viability in the realm of voluntary service to our communities, to our neighbors and to the nation. This in itself is legal ground for the United States Amateur Radio Service to demand similar financial compensation at any time that the government might accede to the will of some commercial interest and ask us to move or go away. It's a precedent that could be a precious tool to insure the survival of the United States Amateur Radio Service for years if not decades to come.

--From Birmingham, Alabama I'm David Black, KB4KCH, reporting for Newsline.

With close to 700,000 United States hams each having an average investment of close to $2000 in a basic station, that's a lot of dollars for any corporation to shell out to reimburse radio amateurs if they are ever forced off of one or more of our favorite bands.

--(Newsline from FCC Release)

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BIKE ANTENNA

Vince Francisco, KC0DLP

I was looking for some info on the net and found this link. I know that some of us like to ride our bikes, and this antenna seems to be kind of handy. It's a twin lead j-pole. Nothing fancy, but the web page has some good info for folks who may be interested. Here's the link: http://www.qsl.net/wx2nj/.

Enjoy! 73, Vince.

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NEW MEMBER -- Please welcome Reid Crowe, KC0IDI, as a new member to our Club. Reid was a member of the 2000 DCARC Amateur Radio Class. His address is: 1560 Alvamar Drive, Lawrence, KS 66047. His e-mail address is: Frosty6981@aol.com

NEW MEMBER -- Please welcome Jim Eckler, KC0IDF, as a new member of our Club. Jim was a member of the 2000 DCARC Amateur Radio Class. His address is: 801 West 21st Street, Lawrence, KS 66046. Jim's e-mail address is: kc0idf@aol.com

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MINUTES OF THE JULY 12, 2000 MEETING

Dan Gravatt, N2PRC, Acting Secretary

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. The minutes of the last meeting were approved unanimously. None of the officers had reports.

The activities manager Vince KC0DLP reported on Field Day scores, and a discussion of other potential bonuses followed. Vince also reminded us of the upcoming Tailgate meet, and discussed the Nowhere event in the fall. A sum of $75 was approved for creating certificates for the "Nowhere" event.

Jim Canaday, N6YR, reported he had received requests for several QSL cards for Field Day. No QSL cards exist for the Club station, W0UK, and it was not determined who would be responsible for creating the QSL cards.

The program manager Jim N6YR reported that he had no programs lined up for the remainder of the year, and asked for suggestions or volunteers to give programs. The emergency, information, newsletter, and training managers had no reports. Manager's reports were approved unanimously.

The 147.03 repeater was reported to be running only 3 watts output from the exciter while the power amplifier was out for repair. However, the autopatch is now working properly. The 146.76 machine is operating normally.

There was no old business. New business consisted of a detailed description of the upcoming MS150 bike tour route and the assistance that would be requested from the DCARC in managing that event.

The meeting adjourned shortly thereafter to South Park to enjoy the concert.

Submitted by Dan Gravatt, N2PRC.

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THE END