Koaloa Beach Park is being strongly considered as the 2001 KARC Field Day Location. It has been surveyed and discussions are taking place to consider the "pros & cons" of the two locations.
The City and County issues the required permits, and it is not known if the site is available at press time.
We will make a certain effort to take pictures and video of this year's Field Day. We will need the obligatory pictures with Chinaman's Hat in the background (It will look good in QST!), set-up, operations, visitors, etc. See the Minutes Section of KARC News for more information. More information about Amateur Radio Operation in Beachparks can be found at http://members.aol.com/greg6fzh/qrphiop.htm.
Recent issues of QST have featured articles on construction of the sound card and serial interfaces used in conjunction with these digital modes now available. WB6FZH had designed a circuit months ago (OK...stealing circuits from the internet and magazines) and collected all the parts, drilled and machined a chassis, and has been just awaiting time to build it.
The chassis looked like it belonged in the new space station. He marveled at all the things it would do; SSTV, Packet, PSK-31, RTTY, BPSK, etc. all in a box with a zillion jacks, plugs and controls. Yes it was designed for a very complicated multi-function relay switched sound card and serial adapter for digital modes, it was also was rumored to have provisions for turning on a selenoid valve to dispense cold root beer to the operating position.
He recently noticed that a recemt QST article that a $10 PC Board and a hand full of parts from the Radio Shack will do about the same thing and with less construction time and much simpler set-up. Greg, a recent convert to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid!) has seen the light.. O.K., he is thinking about trying to stick the QST project in the previously mentioned box destined for the earlier project. Who would ever know what is inside...The PC Board is now sitting on top of the other big box of parts, with a small baggie full of new parts... Now all that is needed is to find the time.
For those of us that do not want to (or can not find time) build the adapter, there are also manufactured "plug and play" sound card and serial adaptors for digital modes found in the advertisements in QST and other Ham Magazines. They require no internal connections to your PC or your radio. The usual connections include a plug that goes into your PC serial port, and a couple cables that plug into the PC your sound card jacks, and a cable to your SSB transceiver microphone and speaker jacks. They are less than $100, and you do not even need a battery. Bring your glasses if needed to see the Ham Radio Magic that will be on the computer screens. Many emergency communications groups are seriously considering this mode for their important work. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to operate PSK 31, it just looks that way, don't miss this presentation!
The KARC Website has PSK-31 and other digital mode information in the HOT TOPICS section on the Homepage.
Sid,AH6HH (261-7916) and Lee, KH6BZF(247-0587), will alternate VE responsibilities each month, and there will not be any testing in December. Contact them directly for further information.
NOTE: With the absence of K.A.R.C. President Walt, AH6OZ, and Mike, AH7R,
Clem, KH7HO took over the meeting as acting president. Lee, KH6BZF was the
acting recording secretary! (Editor's Note: Thanks Lee!)
-...-
I. The K.A.R.C. meeting was called to order at 9:35AM.
Next introductions of all attendees was made.
II. Secretary's report was waived as it was to have been in the KARC
newsletter, which was failed to be mailed due to some sort of mailing labels
problem, Jerry, WH6BKQ, stated.
III. Al, AH6PT, had to attend a plumber's examination at Pearl City High
school and was unable to give his Treasure's report. However, he did pass via
e-mail that the balance was $2,226.29. A check for the sale of flea market
items for $150.44. Two members, Edward Ferrel, W7EQU, and Howard Williams, WH6LF, paid (by check) $12.00 each for dues. These checks were turned over to Jerry, WH6BKQ.
Next, Clem, KH7HO, gave an excellent slide presentation on the State of
Hawaii Civil Defense. His overview of what takes place in one of the Diamond
Head tunnels was very educational and informative.
His presentation was well received.
IV . Old Business.
Lee Wical presented the fact that KARC President,
Walt and Mike, AH7R, were preparing for ARRL Field Day (FD), 22-24 June 2001,
and perhaps a larger, drier location to conduct FD with room for more
antennas. A FD site survey was conducted after the 13 Jan meeting by Walt,
Mike, MI (Not yet a member) and Lee Wical, all traveling to the Koaloa Beach
Park (Chinamen's Hat) to look at various sites. Later Walt, Mike and Mike
Gibson, KH6ND, went to Koaloa
to find tune which camping site we choose. That sight will have to be
requested at C&C Satellite City hall-Kane'Ohe on 8th June 2001. Meanwhile
Hoomalahia Park has or will be secured as a FD site if the Koaloa Park site
isn't not available. Walt has the Koaloa Park request form and he'll take
action.
Any other old business. It was announced that John Oka, ex-KH6DQ
(already reassigned to ex-KH7DQ) became a Silent Key. Lee Wical, KH6BZF,
notified SK Editor at ARRL for a future QST announcement.
VI. New Business.
It was announced that 13th October 2001, the "Hawai'i State Ham
Convention 2001" would be held atthe same Pearl Harbor location as last year.
This year, a tighter entrance gate will occur and it was decided at a 2
Feb 2001 planning meeting that entrance fee will be $2.00 per person with one
door prize ticket included and a family price of $5.00 with only one door
prize ticket will be offered. Of course additional door prize tickets will be offered at $2.00 a pop!
The Hawaii State Ham Convention is the new name. Walt, AH6OZ, will be
the Chairperson with Kevin Bogan, AH6QO, president of EARC with be the Vice
Chair.
Other Convention assignments/positions:
Al, AH6PT-Treasurer
Lee, KH6BZF-Publicity
Sub committee members- Howard,
WH6CLZ, and Jan, WH7Y
Walt and Kevin-Exhibits
Al, AH6PT-Refreshments-If no lunch wagon can
be lined up for lunches.
Shep, NH6IG and Doug, WH7E- Site
Prep/Coordination
Jerry, WH6BKQ-Clean Up
Stu Johnson, NH6DR-Kona-Audio Visual
Equipment
Clem, KH7HO-Drawing tickets and Drawing
VE Testing-Sid, AH6HH and Doug WH7E
Ron, AH6HR and Lee-Talks and Speakers
Mike, AH7R-Swap meet Set up areas
Entry Fees and Talk-in - WH6UG
Ron, AH6HN-Hilo ARRL arrangements/Pac Div Director, HQ ARRL representative
More planning meetings will be held in the months following.
More New Business:
KARC will be testing every month. The only club in the islands to
do so. Sid, AH6HH, will conduct VE testing on the odd months, i.e., Jan,
Mar, May, July, Sept, Nov. Lee, KH6BZF, will conduct VE testing on the even months, i.e., Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct. here is NO TESTING in December as there is no meeting of KARC.
Sid discussed that everyone was to send Greg, Editor of the KARC
newsletter pictures. Sid volunteered to be the central point and digital
picture taker for the club and he'd see to it Greg got pictures.
A discussion of the great job Greg is doing with the newsletter,
although a remote control job at that from California. (Secrty note: We won't
let that hold him back). Great job Greg.
Next, Mel Koizumi, KQ6EB, presented a discussion of CD-ROMs for PSK-31
and MFSK-16.
He then passed out ten (1) CD-ROMs he burned and passed them out to ten
members. More will follow next meeting, I would presume.
A discussion by Mel and Sid, AH6HH, followed. Lee Wical, KH6BZF, asked
if they both would provide a demo at the March 10th 2001 KARC meeting to
educate many in the room who would like to get involved in the transmission
mode. They agreed to provide their technical expertise at the next KARC meeting (10MAR2001).
Jan and Howard brought up Tee shirt sales for the Hawai'i Sate Ham
Convention. Costs, design and availability will their subcommittee to develop
costs and design.
If a year or Third Annual is NOT placed on the Tee shirts, and if we get
stuck with too many unsold Tees, we can use them for club shirts and/or sell
them next year. An amount not to exceed 150 shirts was mentioned. Also it was
suggested that only XL and XXL Tees be ordered. Some excellent expertise
provided by both Jan and Howard. More on this plan later. BTW, Jan has already come up with a KARC design.
There was no further new business.
VII. Adjournment-
At 10:50AM Sid, AH6HH moved for adjournment and Howard, WH6LF
seconded the motion.
-'''-
There was NO VE testing after this meeting due to the single candidate
DID NOT bring his Social Security Number, ID to the testing session as
required by FCC (New requirement of contact VEs since August 1999).
This was a mix up on testing requirements.
Dr. Bernard Knoblich was turned away. However, Lee, Mark, AH6PR, and
Jan, WH7Y, decided to conduct his VE testing on Sunday morning @ Windward
City Flamingo restaurant. It was agreed.
"The club sends our thanks going to Jan Mitchell, WH7Y, who brought
the refreshments to the meeting. The apple juice, cheese and crackers and
apples were a refreshing treat".
-...-
Respectfully submitted,
Lee R. Wical, KH6BZF
Editor's NOTE: The new new name is the "Pacific Section Convention" per WALT, AH6OZ.
10 meters was hot with many DX stations on the air. Howard quickly broke a pileup and completed a contact with DU1EIB on 10 meters. He was then quickly introduced to www.qrz.com for a call/address lookup and found DU1EIB was Warren from Manila, Philippines.
Another introduction to the freeware program "DX monitor" guided him to several other DX station with calls and frequencies displayed. Howard broke two more pileups and made contacts with Jarda OK1RD from the CZech Republic on 10 meters and Elio HP!BYS from Panama. At this point, Howard had made his first three DX contacts and was floating on air. I think he is a DX Chaser convert fellows!
Unfortunately he had other commitments and had to leave, for it sure was a good DX day. Congrats Howard.
At the outdoor swap, I was walking around looking at the wooden boxed radios, parts radios and boxes of parts trying to find a few more pieces of vintage radio parts to build a two or three tube homebrew vintage radio from the circuits in my copies of 1920s radio magazines. I picked up a variometer (a coil with one fixed winding and one that moves within it) and was puzzling how I would mount it without twisting the wires off when I turned the shaft through the panel of my radio project.
Standing next to me, watching my twisting and turning and perplexed look was a man that mentioned that he had built several vintage radios with similar parts when the parts were not vintage. I immediately asked how he would suggest mounting and wiring the coil, and he told me a couple of ways to do it. We chatted for a few minutes, and walked from area to area in the parking lot looking at the many wonderful offerings from 25 cents to $2,500. Everyone seemed to know "Bill" as his friends greeted him as they passed.
I confided my interest in WW2 radios, and Crystal sets as we walked and talked. He was a fountain of knowlege and helped me decide on the "better" type of tube socket for my antique radio project. One of "Bill's" many friends came and reminded him that he had best come into the auditorium (the meet was located at a College Campus), I said good bye, and "Thanks" to my new aquaintance.
Later it was time for the meeting and lecture, I did not remember what the topic was, or who was speaking, I had only been to a couple of meetings and did not really know much of anyone, as I lived 50 miles away, and was new to the group. The guest speaker was introduced, and began speaking... I was suprised to see my new radio pal, "Bill" was the guest speaker.
When I heard his name, Bill Orr, I remembered all the books I had with that name on the bindings or front covers. Books that many of you reading this may have on your shelves. The Radio Handbook, The Beam Antenna Handbook, The VHF-UHF Handbook, The Quad Antenna Handbook, The W6SAI HF Antenna Handbook, and others written with Cowan and Lee. I had them all.. I remembered photo copying some of his QST articles and sending them to friends, or making notes on them for one project or another. Mr.Orr wrote for CQ and Ham Radio magazines also, on topics that ranged within his expertise that started as a teenager in the mid 1930s to Oscar Satellites. He was associated with EIMAC a famous TUBE Manufacturer for many years, I have some of the Operational Specification pages I sent for that I used in the only 2 High Power Amplifiers I ever built.
(Forgive me fellow QRPERS... I actually took the 4-125 amplifier apart to rebuild it and never did, and the 4-1000 rig was at an other Ham's house and I never actually turned it on after he blew the traps out of his beam loading it up)
I ran into my radio pal "Bill" from time to time through the years, he was usually busy with others, but I would atleast wave, and get a nod if he saw me. His DX-peditions and DX accomplishments were well known and documented. When he was on the air it was often a "riot". I can remember wanting to say hello on the air one day, in the Bay Area, but it was hopeless, there were stations 50 deep trying to say "hello" to "Bill". This man who had done so much to make Amateur Radio understandable for us all. We had confidence in his projects, technical explanations and recommendations. This was truely "Mr. Ham Radio". I treasure the "Radio Handbooks" I have, I can see technology change in the editions of his books. I brought a 1950's edition and a later edition to Hawaii with me, my bookshelf would be empty without it.
I later found out that it was not any easier to say hello to Mr.Orr on the air from Kaneohe. I remember one night 20 meters did not seem to be open to anywhere, but a couple of hams were talking, one in California full of QSB, and the fairly steady KH6 Signal that was chatting with his obviously long time friend. I looked up the KH6ADR station, located in Maui, a DX Club Station. Inbetween transmissions, there was a constant flow of "Hi Bill" in voices loud and strong, voices of all kinds of accents from all over the Pacific Rim and they were not even in the QSO!
It finally struck me...It must be "Bill Orr", I listened to his friend in California fade from my vertical's range, and I heard Mr. Orr apologize for the fact he had to go and say good evening to all that were listening and wished to say hello. That was the last time I heard the man that was helpful to me in learning how to mount that variometer...
His books and writings will remain to help Radio Amateurs around the world long after his passing. His key may be silent, but I can still hear the good will and friendship he inspired in the voices on 20 meters that night here in Hawaii a few years ago, a testimony to the legacy of the man.
DE WB6FZH- Greg
Three operators from KARC, Mike, KH6ND, Mike, AH7R and Walt, AH6OZ have squeaked by the old WPX RTTY M/S record sent by HC8N in 1999.
By a mere 20,000 points, these operators managed to complete the difficult task of breaking a world mark from Oceania. As of 2/28, the only score close was posted by RV3BA for the RK3AH team claiming 2,852,476. The next closest score is about 1,000,000 points behind.
The effort owes it's success to Mike, KH6ND who spotted a long path opening on 10m to Europe the night before. This opening was there on each of the two night, netting over 230 Qs and an additional 120 prefix multipliers. KARC President, Walt, AH6OZ, provided this information and the folowing contest summary.
CQ/RJ WW RTTY WPX Call used: AH6OZ Location: HI at KH7R Ops: KH6ND, AH6OZ, AH7R Entry Class: Multi Op, Single Xmit Band QSOs Pts Mults 80 4 24 - 40 253 1482 - 20 401 1183 - 15 453 1325 - 10 619 1814 - ----- ---- ---- ---- Total 1730 5828 493 Prefixes counted only once (not once per band) Most frequently worked prefix: JA1 - 50 QSO's -------------------------------------- Claimed Score: 2870246 Software: RTTY by WF1B v4.2/RITTY 4.24 Power Output: 500
MEMBERSHIP & Field Day CHAIRMAN- Jerry Mulherin, WH6BKQ,
235-3042, email:jerham@aloha.net
MAILING ADDRESS- KARC c/o J.Mulherin, 45-145 Mikihilina St., Kaneohe, HI 96744