DARC NEWSLETTER APRIL 2002
Author:
Dan Farwell
St. George, Utah Repeater Information
Frequency Location Notes Sponsor
146.82- Utah Hill Snowbird WCES/NR7K
146.91- Seegmiller Peak NR7K
145.45- Black Rock K7SG
146.64- Red Hill Autopatch DARC
145.49- Utah Hill 100 Hz DARC
146.700- Winchester Hls ca KA7STK
449.425- St. George IRLP, ca KA7STK
449.325- Seegmiller Peak NR7K
DARC Financial Report: Bank balance $947.22
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A Brief Radio History
Ron Sappington
Ron, a third generation southern Californian was born and raised in Orange on an orange grove. I spent six years in the Navy operating nuclear reactors and various support equipment on submarines. I got out of the navy and moved to St. George with my family in April of 1979. In 1984 I found a 1980 copy of the ARRL Handbook and was so intrigued that I decided to get my license. Thurmer Jacobs gave me my novice tests in November and in January received my license and call of KA7SBQ. I joined the DARC and the ARRL and I was active on CW for a few years then let everyday life interfere. I went inactive. I live the next street over from where John Hunt lived. With his antenna and, for a while, TVI it was hard to keep ignoring Ham Radio. I would say “Hi” and talk with him on occasion. Then finally I decided to get my license back. He was the perfect elmer to get me active again. I went in and took my tests for technician and general on May 24th 2001, passed and received my call KD7NMM (no more money), on June 5th. John by the way is the one who came up with the ‘no more money’ moniker, very appropriate. John also lent me a TS-520 so I could get on the air. I cut and put up a dipole for 40 and 20 meters and I was on the air. I joined the DARC and the ARRL again and started my new life. In July I got my 14 check-ins for the beehive net and I have been on the roll since August. Finding out that a vast majority of the DX countries work just below the general bands I decided to get my Extra Class License. I took the test on December 3rd and received my new call of AC7PZ on December 20th. George WI7E came up with ‘Always chasing 7 purple zebras’, and it has stuck. I decided that I might be able to do some good things if I was president and decided to go for it. After a very hard run race against no opponents I was elected at the Christmas party. I have gotten a couple of the things accomplished that I wanted and with the help I have been getting a lot is going to be done this year.
AT 8:00
PM SUNDAY APRIL 7,
2002 TO COINCIDE WITH THE START OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!
Vice President: Dan
Farwell W8EQA
Secretary: Mike Wellhoff
KC7HGA
Treasurer: Travis
Lofthouse KD7FRN
Board of Directors:
Casey Lofthouse KD7HUS
Duane Beecher W7BN
Many thanks to all who attended the March 2002 meeting at our new club site. It’s on the third floor of the student services building at Dixie College. You can get talk-in directions on 146.91 prior to the meeting time at 7:00 PM.
George Mackley, WI7E, gave an interesting presentation on solar powered portable station setup and operation.
We had a very special guest at our last meeting. Leonard “Woody” Woodward, W7KOP, who professes to be the oldest Boy Scout in Utah! (Not to mention one of the oldest hams alive!)
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The Dixie Amateur Radio Club now has its own vanity call sign W7DRC.
Russ Bateman, K7SG, has just donated his 146.64 repeater, complete with autopatch, to the DARC. Many thanks for this generous gift!
The DARC now will sponsor two local repeater machines 145.49- and 146.64-.
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Silent Keys
It is with great regret that we record the passing of two of our beloved
amateurs: Carl A. Emerson, W2RWH and Robert Jones, WA6ZVJ.
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Due to many requests I am including the new address for John Hunt, K7XE: John Hunt, 52 Greenbrier Dr., Oroville, CA 95966 k7xe@dcsi.net
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COMING EVENTS:
DARC MEETING April 17, 2002 __…__ ARRL Field day June 22-23
DARC VE TEST April 20, 2002 __…__ Utah Hamfest July 13-14
DARC MEETING MAY 15, 2002
The next VE test session will be held at the Student Services Bldg.
Third floor at Dixie College at 9:00 AM April 20, 2002.
DEFINITION: QRP, reduced power, 5 watts output or less measured
at the transmitter output.
Dear Friends:
I’m the last guy I ever thought would get involved, yes, excited about operating QRP!
I came back to ham radio after a 28 year hiatus with a bad taste in my mouth for struggling to work DX as a teenager with a lowly 100 watts.
When I came back to Ham Radio in 1995 it was with an older tube set and an AMPLIFIER!
Several years of bliss and two hundred countries later I upgraded to a real late-model rig and a bigger amplifier. Life was good.
One day my loudenboomer let me down. Just the two 3-500 tubes I need were a small fortune.
OK, so, I’ll just use 100 watts for all my Dxing and contesting efforts (UGH!)
Several years of low power operating proved that I could work the new ones (just not the first day of the Dxpedition) And I could get a decent score in a contest with some alterations in operating style. (Sneak up, don’t just barge in! LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN !! ) All the while the power knob was turned hard right to full output!
In January of 2002 a dear friend became a silent key and left me an
Elecraft K-2. My first instinct was to say, “I don’t really think I’m QRP material” (Life’s too short etc, etc ). Several weeks passed and I finally got up the nerve to get out the book and check it out. (I couldn’t sell it unless I knew everything worked- right?)
A few days before the ARRL DX CW contest I caught ten meters open and worked a handful of juicy DX. No, I didn’t just work the DX, I pulled them out of small pileups. What made it exciting was when a couple of these stations broke from their cookie-cutter “599 BK” exchange to ask me what antenna I was using and was I really QRP?
Hey, this QRP thing might be fun even with a Mosley classic at only 35 feet.
The following weekend I decided to “experiment” with QRP again. I had a limited time frame to work the DX contest so I tried a 15 meter single band approach. 150 QSOs and 58 multipliers later I was overjoyed. How could I get worked up over such a paltry result?
Well, I realized I was better than half way to my DXCC QRP award!!
The rest is history. Now I’m hooked. Please, have pity on me.
73 de W8EQA