The Koolau Amateur Radio Club Newsletter for September 2000

NEXT MEETING- Saturday, September 9th, 2000 09:30

In Kaneohe, at The Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden, Meeting Room in the Visitor's Center at 9:30AM.

W5YI TESTING- After the Meeting, check with Sid, AH6HH, for details (261-7916) or see AH6HH's Testing Information Page at the KARC Website.

KARC IS ARRL AFFILIATED!

ARRL Certificate

The KARC is formally presented the "Certificate of Affiliation" by Dan Spears, KH6UW(left), for the ARRL and KARC President, Walt- AH6OZ(right). Many thanks to Jan- WH7Y for his digital photo. This affiliation is one more of the important steps to make sure that KARC has the credentials to continue and remain one of Hawaii's finest clubs. A copy of the certificate will be uploaded to the KARC Webpage later by AH6OZ, Walt.

-NEWS-Features-CONTESTS-Ham Ads-MINUTES-Articles-PHOTOS-

Ramon- XE1KK, at AH6HH

"LEO", SID, RAMON & PETER- By AH6HH- Sid

On Saturday and Sunday, 12/13 August, KARC members were able to demonstrate the "Aloha Spirit" to a visiting Mexican Radio Amateur, Ramon, XE1KK. Saturday, Peter NH6VB hosted Ramon at the monthly KARC meeting, Sunday, Sid- AH6HH hosted Ramon to a day of working the LEO's[Low Earth Orbiting Satellites] from his Kailua QTH. AO-27 was not working. However, a morning and evening pass of UO-14 yielded a total of six California and Nevada contacts using Sid's satellite rig. While Sid's XYL, Tiare, kept the hams well fed in-between satellite passes.

Sid introduced several digital modes to the enthusiastic XE(Mexico) Ham, demonstrating the sound card interface technology that allows PSK31, SSTV, RTTY and more. Ramon in return led Sid to some good web links and downloaded some helpful programs. [Edited from e-mail]

NOTE:"EasySats" has been added to the KARC "HOT TOPICS" section of the KARC WEBSITE. You will find LINKS, UO-14 & AO-27 Frequency Channel Lists for Dualband HT programming, and more! You will find other information associated with KARC activities and "Hot Topics" at your Club Website! [WB6FZH-Greg]

MINUTES- Mike, AH7R

The Koolau Amateur Radio Club held its regular meeting on August 11, 2000 at the usual place, the visitor's center of Ho'omalahia Botanical Park on windward Oahu.

We were glad to welcome a special visitor, XE1KK, Ramone from Mexico City. An active ham, Ramone also maintains a 6 meter beacon on 50.023 which is often heard in Hawaii. We were also happy to see Howard, WH6LF back and looking great.

Clem gave the treasurer's report for Al who was out of town. We previously had $1,950.42, and currently we have $1,942.43. We have paid for a new subscription to World Radio.

Dennis Egge was nominated by Sid for membership and duely voted in by a unanimous vote. His $12.00 check was also delivered by Sid.

Dan Spears, KH6UW, formerly of KL7, presented the club with a fancy ARRL league certificate. We are now formally affiliated as an ARRL club and the certificate was our ARRL club charter. The club is listed as having a special interest in Ham Radio License testing, appropriate since we try to sponsor testing every other month, next possible round being at the September meeting.

The club discussed publicity for the upcoming Hamfest on Veteran's Day, November 11, at Pearl Harbor. We have submitted information to the ARRL and hope to hear soon that this is accepted by the league and will appear in the announcements in QST.

After the break there was a short discussion by Mike, AH7R on measuring current demands of your rigs at various power settings and conditions using series low ohmage resistors.

Jan, WH7Y had some interesting inductors salvaged from a building that was demolished. Fred, KH6BI finally identified them correctly as AC current probes. A single wire went through them making a zero turn primary and the probe served as a secondary, giving a 200:.5 current reduction, making it easy to measure the high AC currents in the big #00 size cables.

Several people discussed experiences during the recent Daniel scare and what really happened from various vantage points where hams were standing by to assist and with Skywarn which was quite active Sunday and Monday of the event.

TREASURER'S REPORT- By Al- AH6PT

No actual report this month, Al has been reviewing the paperwork from Len, KH6NFN(SK) and will provide a report when he returns to the Islands.

Hamfest 2000- Update- AH6OZ, Walt

Planning for the Ham Fest continues. Doug, WH7E and I will be working more earnestly on the publicity thing now that Doug is finished with the Pacific Cup race.

All members are invited to contact Walt, to find out how they may help with this important Oahu Ham Radio Event.

QUIST QUIZ- KH6WM, Warren

Ohm's Law
What is the resistance of R1 and R2? Answer next month..

SEPTEMBER CONTESTS- All Asia, NA Sprint, VHF Contest, WW DX RTTY

SWAP, SELL & TRADE- KARC Members...Your FREE Advertisement here!

The Other Side Of The Pond- By Greg, WB6FZH, Editor KARC News

The Western US is ablaze with forest fires. The skies here in CN-80 have been fairly clear. The temperatures have been in the 100s, and very dry. A recent scare in the form of an Recreation Vehicle catching fire on the 2 lane highway that climbs out of town towards the West. Within minutes of the first sighting of smoke, a local aircraft was appropriated and began to orbit the location as the local volunteer fire department arrived on scene. I heard the sirens and turned on my scanner to hear the CA State and USFS Federal fire fighters responding too. There is no local broadcast radio station, so a properly programmed scanner is a must here to obtain safety information here.

Most of the Northstate fire fighting assets are already on mutal aid duty fighting fires elsewhere. The RV burned completely into the asphalt pavement, a total loss. The cause of the fire was a recently overfilled propane tank, high temperatures and suspected ignition from the vehicle exhaust. The rapid response knocked down the fire and wetted down the nearby dry fuel grasses as the fire was observed from above for any embers that might have been transported from the heat of the fire and the 20MPH winds to the forest the road goes through. We were lucky again.

My "Interim" Satellite/VHF-UHF antennas have been up and briefly tested for a month. Work and some other activities are keeping me off the air for a while, but hopefully I can arrange a UO-14 or AO-27 to a KARC Meeting one Saturday Morning in the future. I miss you all and hope that you and yours are well. I hope to get one of the HF verticals up in a couple weeks. My G5RV that has been up for more than 20 years has already worked KH6 at QRP and 100W levels during some of the contests. 72/73 Greg

KOOLAU AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

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CLUB MEETINGS & MEMBERSHIP

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

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