October - Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association

Nanaimo Amateur
Radio Association
1415 Wingrove St.
Nanaimo, BC
V9S 3L8
www.nara.nisa.com
[email protected]
Volume 64, Number 2
Static— October 2007
NEXT MEETING: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007
7:30 p.m. at the Nanaimo Volunteer Emergency Centre
(At the foot of Wingrove Street - old Departure Bay Firehall)
It Will Be Either...
...Jim Kipp visiting us from the Okanagan to give a
presentation on emergency preparedness, or a video if
Jim is not able to make it.
Either way, it’s worth coming— see you there! z
Seen and Heard
Page 2
Hot Air from the President
Page 2
Worked All States on 1296 MHz!
Page 3
NARA Regular Activities
Page 4
TWO on the Isle
Page 4
Training and New Hams Profiles
Page 5
HF Transceiver Ergonomics
Page 5
Accidents Do Happen...
Page 6
You Know You’re a Ham If...
Page 6
3900 Saturdays
Page 7
Malicious Interference and Harassment Case
Page 8
The Spy Who Gagged Me
Page 9
Marlena’s Musings
Page 10
Affiliated
INSIDE...
? ?
SEEN AND HEARD...
de Roger, VA7RS (for Dick, VE7RLH)
VA7ACL
Al working on a homebrew 2 meter amplifier using 2 x 4cx250’s. The
output should be about 400 watts Al says.
VA7PLH
Moving into a new QTH. Time for some new antennas, Pat!
VE7DAT
Welcome to Chris who has joined NARA this year. Rumor has it that
Chris wants to get one of our Club’s jackets. Chris operates the 147.24
repeater in Victoria that is on the ITS.
VE7TOP
Chris is going to be enjoying more mobile DX due to a change in
employment. Good luck at the new challenge Chris.
8P6RC
Robert Chambers and his family joining the folks at the ITS picnic in
August.
VA7ITS
A new call sign that NARA has received for a future project.
VA7CIP
Good to see Jean-Michel at coffee after his trip.
VA7MPG
Paul is enjoying his well deserved retirement.
HOT AIR FROM THE PRESIDENT
Alan, VA7ACL
A report was unavailable by press time. Until next month!
Health and Welfare Report
de Pat Harper, VA7PLH
There’s no report this month— so hopefully that means no news is good news! ?
Worked All States on 1296
MHz!
Al Ward, W5LUA, of Allen, Texas, is the first person to
achieve the ARRL's Worked All States (WAS) on 1296 MHz,
making him 1296 MHz WAS #1. Ward first started on his
pursuit January 25, 1977, with his first 1296 MHz contact
with Leroy May, W5HN (SK). His 30 year quest ended last week, with confirmed
contacts with Wyoming, Utah and Idaho, giving Ward his last three needed states,
thanks to Paul Perryman's, WA5WCP, EME DXpedition.
"I couldn't have done this without Paul," Ward said. "Also, thanks to
Ron Roche, K0ALL, and Barry Malowanchuk, VE4MA, in North Dakota
for number 47 in August. Without them, it just wouldn't have been
possible." After collecting his 50th QSL card, Ward drove from his
home in Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas so ARRL President Joel
Harrison, W5ZN, could verify his cards and complete his WAS
paperwork. "Verifying QSL cards from 30 years of activity brought back a lot of
memories of several stations active on 1296, many who are Silent Keys now,"
Harrison said.
Submitted by Roger, VA7RS
From the Secretary’s Desk (Murrey, VE7MUX)
The minutes for the September 20th meeting were distributed by e-mail this past
week care of Dave VE7TWO. Minutes can be printed at the club if anyone wants to
do so.
Hope all NARA members had a
Happy Thanksgiving!
NARA REGULAR ACTIVITIES
There are lots of regularly scheduled activities going on that we’d like to make club
members aware of. If you see an activity that interests you, definitely get involved!
c SATURDAY MORNINGS: Koffee Klatch (0930 hrs, Windward Pub— Beaufort
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Centre, Boundary Avenue)
SUNDAY EVENINGS: “Ragchew and More” on Ten Metres (1930 hrs, 28.400 MHz, Upper Side Band)
MONDAY NIGHTS: NARA Club Net (2000 hrs, 145.43, 146.64 MHz, and Island Trunk System)
TUESDAY NIGHTS: Gerry’s Ham Classes (1900 hrs, Nanaimo Volunteer Emergency Centre - e-mail
[email protected] or call 758-9035 for details - all months except July and August)
3rd THURSDAY OF THE MONTH: NARA Regular Club Meeting (1930 hrs, Nanaimo Volunteer
Emergency Centre)
1st, 4th, and 5th THURSDAY NIGHTS OF THE MONTH: “Open House Nights” (1900 hrs, Nanaimo
Volunteer Emergency Centre - all months except July and August)
2nd THURSDAY OF THE MONTH: Executive Meeting (1930 hrs, Nanaimo Volunteer Emergency
Centre - all months except July and August)
TWO on the Isle
de Dave, VE7TWO (subbed this month by Marlena, VE7DFY)
Dave didn’t have an article ready this month— so just as a friendly “re”-reminder from last month, if you haven’t yet
paid your membership dues for 2007/08, please send them on ASAP (yep, it’s that time of year again):
Basic NARA Membership:
Family NARA Membership:
Repeater Only Membership:
$30
$45
$10
Cheques should be made payable to either Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association or NARA— mailing addresses are as follows:
NARA
1415 Wingrove Street
Nanaimo, BC
V9S 3L8
c/o Dave Marshall
109 Stamp Way
Nanaimo, BC
V9T 3E2
TRAINING AND NEW HAMS PROFILES
Welcome to Paul VA7MPG, who has recently taken over Training Co-ordination for NARA.
Many thanks to Gerry VE7BGP, who held this role for many years. Gerry will still be looking
after technical topics in training, in addition to doing hands-on training.
This report will hopefully resume in next month’s issue of STATIC. Stay tuned!
HF Transceiver Ergonomics
Submitted by Gerry, VE7BGP
Today I ran into a very interesting article on Eham.net (link), where Mike
W5MGC complains about the user interface and ergonomics of modern day HF
transceivers.
Mike says: “It appears that the big 3 radio manufacturers, and the others, are going to take us
kicking and screaming into the next decade, with two radio choices: (1) small boxes without
buttons, but with a USB interface and a software CD, or (2) an all in one small box with a 1 inch
LCD screen, 1 knob and 4 buttons behind which will be 450 functions reachable via a menu
driven system that will require a manual the size of a New York phone book to understand (and
that will be the Nifty Guide version!). Change Mode from LSB to USB: Press Menu for 1.75
seconds; Rotate knob to Item 66; Press FNC for 4.13 seconds; Rotate knob to USB; Confirm Choice
By Pressing ALT for 1.78 seconds; If ERR message, Reboot System and re-enter Time/Date
settings; Send Notice of ERR Message to Microsoft; Press Menu 3 times within 5 milliseconds to
Return to Main Menu… ”
He has a point, of course. When I really really really needed to replace my Yaesu FT-480R, an
ancient all-mode VHF transceiver, I soon found out that this breed of transceivers didn’t exist
anymore. Simple all-mode VHF / UHF transceivers were a thing of the past. In the end, I settled
for a Yaesu FT-897D.
Although I’m quite happy with its performance, getting to know the FT-897D
took at least a day or two. Menus and submenus, buttons with two or three
functions, it’s all in the game. You get used to it after a while, but user friendly it
isn’t. When (for whatever reason) the microprocessor resets itself, you’ll have to
dig up the manual again.
On the other hand, transceivers such as the FT-897D are little miracles. They covers all bands,
have small footprints, deliver enough output power and can be purchased at very modest prices.
It’s just how you look at it.
Accidents Do Happen...
Submitted by: Marlena, VE7DFY
(Some of you may have seen this story before...?)
I am an amateur radio operator and on the day of the accident, I was working alone on the top section of my new
80 foot tower. When I had completed my work, I discovered that I had, over the course of several trips up the
tower, brought up about 300 pounds of tools and spare hardware. Rather than carry the now un-needed tools and
material down by hand, I decided to lower the items down in a small barrel by using a pulley,
which fortunately was attached to the gin pole at the top of the tower.
Securing the rope at ground level, I went to the top of the tower and loaded the tools and material
into the barrel. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a
slow decent of the 300 pounds of tools. You will note in block number 11 of the accident reporting
form, that I weigh only 155 pounds.
Due to my surprise of being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of
the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate of speed up the side of the tower. In the vicinity of the
40 foot level, I met the barrel coming down. This explains my fractured skull and broken collarbone.
Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two
knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold
onto the rope in spite of my pain.
At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of tools hit the ground and the bottom fell out
of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the tools, the barrel now weighed approximately 20 pounds. I
refer you again to my weight in block number 11. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent
down the side of the tower.
In the vicinity of the 40 foot level, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured
ankles and the lacerations of my legs and lower body. The encounter with the barrel slowed me
enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of tools and fortunately, only three vertebrae
were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the tools, in pain, unable to stand and watching the empty
barrel 80 feet above me... I again lost my presence of mind. I let go of the rope.
You Know You’re a Ham If...
- You buy electrical black tape in ten packs.
- You've stripped wire with your teeth.
- You've told your son that, "One day, all this will be yours," and he doesn't respond.
- You'd rather help a buddy put up a new tower than mow the lawn.
- You've grabbed the wrong end of a soldering iron.
- You start giving out RST reports when you are on the telephone.
- The propagation forecast means far more to you than the local weather forecast.
- The microphone or visual aids at a meeting don't work and you rush up to the front to fix it.
- You tell the XYL, when she notices a new rig in the shack, why that has been there for years.
- Your watch is set only to UTC.
- You ever had to patch your roof after an antenna project.
- Ham radio magazines comprise more than 50% of your bathroom library.
- You ever put a GPS tracker in the XYL's car, just so you could watch her on APRS.
- You and the XYL took a cruise so you could visit the radio room.
- You ever tapped out HI in Morse on your car horn to another ham.
- You ever had an antenna fall down.
- Your teenager refuses to ride in your car because it looks like a porcupine.
- You know the Latitude and Longitude of your home QTH.
Submitted by: Roger, VA7RS
3900 Saturdays
An e-mail from VE7JOH, submitted by Roger, VA7RS
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 garage 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
whomever 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. It's
too bad you missed your daughter's "dance recital" he continued. "Let me tell you
something that has helped me keep 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 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside 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 that 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 a 75 year old man, 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. And hey, can we stop at a toy
store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles.
Malicious Interference and
Harassment Case...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2007
From: Greater Vancouver Amateur Radio Council (GVARC) Interference Committee
Months of hard work tracking various sources of malicious interference directed at the VE7RPT repeater, owned and operated by the
BCFMCA and located on Mt Seymour, have finally begun to pay off.
On September 25th the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability, including fines totaling $7,000, to James Grinton, K7VNI, located in
Bellingham Washington. A copy of this notice is attached for your information (Editor’s note: this notice is not included with Static).
Grinton repeatedly and maliciously interfered with the operation of VE7RPT on a frequent basis. During the last 2 years Grinton
directed his malicious interference and harassment at the President of the BCFMCA, jammed phone patches and periodically flooded
the repeater with music and other forms of intentional interference.
In early 2006 a team of Canadian Hams began tracking the interfering signals and quickly determined they originated south of the
Canada/US border. A group of Hams in the US were approached to provide assistance and the source of the interference was identified shortly thereafter. A number of independent confirmations were made to verify the location, the address of which was determined
to be that of James Grinton, K7VNI.
A complaint was formally made to the FCC regarding this interference and the information collected by the combined Canadian and
US tracking team was provided to the Seattle office of the FCC. An agent from the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s Seattle Office
independently verified the location and source of the interference during late 2006 and a Warning of Interference to Communications
Letter was sent to James Grinton, K7VNI, on January 19, 2007.
Grinton continued to interfere with the operation of VE7RPT after receipt of the warning letter. In fact, the Seattle agent recorded over
160 violations during the period January 19, 2007 to June 23, 2007.
A Notice of Apparent Liability, including fines totaling $7,000, was issued to James Grinton, K7VNI, on September 25, 2007.
This is the second of a series of interference complaints affecting repeaters in the Greater Vancouver area to be brought to a
conclusion. Additional interference investigations are on-going.
Many thanks to all the people who devoted countless hours tracking and identifying the source of this interference. This is an
excellent example of the tremendous spirit of cooperation that exists between Amateur Radio operators in both Canada and the US.
In addition, many thanks to the Seattle office of the FCC for their support and subsequent enforcement action.
The Spy Who Gagged Me
A story by WB0RXX (submitted by Roger, VA7RS)
One of the great things about being stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was being able to operate an
Amateur radio station. My first couple of years on the island found me operating mobile from my car, as it was
not possible to operate HF from the BEQ. I actually had a pretty good signal from my Kenwood TS-130s and HF
Hustler antenna.
To make it easier to work CW, a buddy of mine gave me an old tanker key that strapped to my leg. I actually
managed to work a number of CW stations while parked on a local hill top. I guess I must have looked like a
real nut case with the big ol' mobile antenna and the beeps of Morse code ringing throughout the air.
Apparently, I was attracting attention, and it was not the good kind! One afternoon, my leading CPO (boss)
was ominously called down to the local NIS (known as NCIS these days) office. For those that do not know,
NIS is much like the FBI of the Navy. After some small talk, the agents began asking questions about, of all
people, ME! They asked him if he knew that I had radio transmitting equipment in my car that was capable of
operating Morse Code. After a few more silly questions, they told him that they suspected me of committing
espionage with my radio gear, and that they had been monitoring my radio activities for a number of weeks!
After he stopped laughing, my boss picked himself off of the floor and managed to tell them that I was a
licensed Amateur radio operator. He explained that this sort of activity was perfectly acceptable -- and legal
-- within the rules of the Naval base. Lucky for me my boss was ALSO a ham, or I might be in Leavenworth right
now.
What makes this story even more unbelievable is the fact that the Naval base had issued me a base ham
license only a few weeks earlier. The issuing office was not more than a stone’s throw from the NIS office, yet
they somehow managed to miss this important piece of information. My service record was stored in the
same building. Contained within this folder were copies of my FCC Amateur license, as well as my Top Secret
security clearance. Military intelligence indeed!
I was determined to "get back" at these goobers, so I called my dad on the semi-secure land line, and told
him to just play along with me during our next scheduled contact. He was curious as to what was up, but I
told him I would explain later.
On the appointed day of our sked, I parked my car as close to the base spy/listening post as I could, cranked
up the power to maximum 100 watts that the TS-130s would output, and called for my dad. After establishing
contact, I informed him in my best Russian accent:
Comradeski, comradeski: The red sun sets in the east -- Repeat -- The red sun sets in the east.
You know, I was never hassled again by any of the base spooks for the remaining 14 years of my stay in
GTMO, but I would like to think that I messed with at least one or two heads in the spook-house!
A few years later, I made friends with an NIS agent who was also a ham. I told him the
story, which he later looked up in the archives. Amazingly, the records of the
"investigation" were nowhere to be found. He told me that it never happened, as the
lack of records proved. I guess that my boss must have just made up the whole thing...
Or maybe NIS was so embarrassed by the whole thing that they "lost" the paperwork in a
paper shredder. The world may never know.
7J4AAL's Full-Size, 5-Element,
80-Meter, Rotary Beam Antenna
This amazing antenna is located near Hiroshima,
Japan. The boom length is 138 feet (42 meters).
NARA
OFFICERS 2007-2008
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
I.P. Present:
Static Editors:
(Rotating)
Alan Little
Richard Fryer
Murrey Tait
Dave Marshall
Chris Anton
Tricia Marshall
Marlena Stewart
Rob Frolic
Roger Stacey
John Fisher
Paul Giffin
Submitted by: Roger, VA7RS
A true sign of computer addiction…
VA7ACL
VA7AA
VE7MUX
VE7TWO
VE7TOP
VE7SPI
VE7DFY
VA7RJE
DIRECTORS
VA7RS
VA7NO
VA7MPG
245-3019
715-7378
753-0373
758-2549
758-3038
618-1095
751-8870
714-4895
390-1319
751-2033
247-7965
COMMITTEES
Technical & RFI:
Health & Welfare:
Training:
Field Day:
Social:
Repeater:
NARA AREC EC:
Nanaimo EOC Rep:
NARA Historian:
Roger Stacey
Pat Harper
Paul Giffin
Alan Little
Frank Merritt
Roger Stacey
Dick Hobbis
Dick Hobbis
YOUR NAME HERE
VA7RS
VA7PLH
VA7MPG
VA7ACL
VE7FPM
VA7RS
VE7RLH
VE7RLH
Marlena’s Musings...
http://www.ahajokes.com
STATIC STAFF
Editor: Marlena Stewart, VE7DFY
Distributor: Dave Marshall, VE7TWO
Contributors This Issue:
Roger VA7RS
Gerry VE7BGP
Marlena VE7DFY
Submissions for the next
issue of Static are due to:
Rob VA7RJE
([email protected]) by
November 4, 2007, unless
otherwise notified.
For my musings this month, I actually have one more item to
add to Roger’s “Seen and Heard.” Thanks for the personal
indulgence, but I just wanted to officially wish a “special
someone,”our newest senior citizen, a VERY happy
birthday…
Yes, that’s right— BILL STEWART, VE7JY, turned 65 on
October 10th! (Have I roasted you enough, Dad?!?! *ha ha*
I’m done now, I promise. Love you!!! Æ)
Hope all NARA members have a wonderful fall...until next
time, happy hamming!