DIXIE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
JUNE 2004 NEWSLETTER
The
Dixie Amateur Radio Club meets on the third Wednesday of each month
(with the exception of December) at 7:00 PM
The
June DARC Club Meeting will be held at the
Five County Association of Governments Building.
PLEASE SEE THE CLUB MEETING INFO BELOW
VE
TESTING
A
Volunteer Examiner (VE) test session will be held on Wednesday, June
16,
2004
at 6:00 P.M. at the regular FCAOG Office building location:
1070 West 1600 South, Building B
Tonaquint Center Business Park
St. George, Utah
The
FCAOG building will be open at 5:30 P.M.
for those coming for the test
session.
The VE test fee for 2004 is $12.00.
If
you are a Volunteer Examiner and would like to help out, please contact
Ron Sappington, WI7Z, at 673-4552 or 467-4552.
MARK
THIS DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR:
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
THIS
MONTH'S
MEETING WILL BE HELD AT
7:00 P.M.
AT
THE
FIVE COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS
Tonaquint Center Office Building
1070 West 1600 South, Building B
(Just off of Dixie Drive)
St.
George, Utah
The
June meeting will focus on the upcoming Amateur Radio Field Day coming
up on the last full weekend in
June (June 26-27, 2004).
We have great plans for this year's event that will be held at the
Santa Clara City Park. We REALLY need EVERYONE to help make
this a sucessfull event, including setup, operating, logging,
eating, sitting around talking, elmering, and takedown. Everyone,
including guests,can operate the station and make contacts.
Please come to the June meeting in a spririt of volunteering and sign up to help, even if you are only available for a limited time frame. We should look upon this particular event as one of our prime means of educating the general public and local elected officials as to the capabilities the Amateur Radio community has to serve the emergency communications needs of the area under adverse circumstances.
We will have the Amateur Radio Today tape running on a looped basis on a VCR/TV combo as well as posters so that we can promote the hobby.
In addition to Field Day, our club president Dan Farwell wil l present a slide show entitled "this is how I spent my summer vacation" from last month's CQ WW WPX CW Contest.
Please come to the June meeting in a spririt of volunteering and sign up to help, even if you are only available for a limited time frame. We should look upon this particular event as one of our prime means of educating the general public and local elected officials as to the capabilities the Amateur Radio community has to serve the emergency communications needs of the area under adverse circumstances.
We will have the Amateur Radio Today tape running on a looped basis on a VCR/TV combo as well as posters so that we can promote the hobby.
In addition to Field Day, our club president Dan Farwell wil l present a slide show entitled "this is how I spent my summer vacation" from last month's CQ WW WPX CW Contest.
Everyone is
encouraged to attend the DARC Meetings! Let's have a great
turnout for our meetings!!
CLICK HERE for a link to a printable map with
driving directions to the meeting.
CLICK HERE for a link to a printable map with
driving directions to the meeting.
APRIL LETTER FROM THE
PRESIDENT
DAN FARWELL,
W8EQA
Dear DARC Members:
We
will kick off the Field Day weekend Saturday morning June 26th at 7:30
AM with donuts and drinks for the antenna and site assembly volunteers
at Santa Clara Park. We need your support!
We will have from 8:00 AM until 12:00 PM Saturday to prepare our 2A-UT station setup. The ARRL allows us to add one other VHF-UHF Station without changing our 2A status. We will operate that VHF station on 146.70MHz FM (simplex) and we invite all club members to look for W7DRC active on Saturday or Sunday and give us those much-needed extra points (as long as you are NOT also an operator at the DARC Field Day station we can count the contact).
There will be a BBQ at the Park at 6:00 PM Saturday for DARC members and non-members to enjoy. There will be further planning and discussion at the next DARC meeting on Wednesday June 16th, 2004 at 7:00 PM. Please come to the meeting and sign up on our operating roster that will assure you an opportunity to operate one of the Field Day stations.
We look forward to seeing you all there!
In another matter, I have consistently received a handful of e-mails a month from new and prospective hams who are moving to our area or have decided to take the plunge and join the ranks of amateur radio. The most frequently asked questions are regarding DARC club meetings and VE schedules. I often get responses like: "OK I have my license but I don't hear much activity on the local repeaters.
How else can I get involved and what else should I be studying and learning to help move forward with my ham radio experience".
I usually start by offering them to visit my station and get a demonstration of some of the modes available. And invite them to check into the Sunday evening net. They may need some direction on what handheld to purchase and how to program it. I also always direct them to this web site: www.ac6v.com/ It has a wealth of knowledge.
I may suggest that they utilize the on-line license tests there for practice or to become familiar with things like "Q" signals and the International Phonetic Alphabet or just plain ham vocabulary. The new book "Ham Radio for Dummies" is a good place to start too.
The main thing is to gain their trust and be available to answer their questions. I always introduce them somewhere along the line to the ARRL and its membership benefits. I love meeting and helping new hams and I'll bet there are some other members out there who would like to get
involved in this aspect of our hobby and help give something back. If you'd like to be part of this ongoing Elmer program please drop me a line at w8eqa@infowest.com
Finally, I just returned from Hurricane City Council meeting. Duane Beecher is a member and had gotten me on the agenda to show the Amateur Radio Today video. After a short verbal presentation we showed the video- it was very well received. Immediately afterwards I was approached by Hurricane Chief of Police Lynn Excell who wanted to get together and show me their new emergency command and control unit and wants to know how he might utilize our Ham resources within that project. I'll keep the club informed on what goes on with this opportunity.
That is it for this month's letter.
Vy 73, Dan W8EQA We will have from 8:00 AM until 12:00 PM Saturday to prepare our 2A-UT station setup. The ARRL allows us to add one other VHF-UHF Station without changing our 2A status. We will operate that VHF station on 146.70MHz FM (simplex) and we invite all club members to look for W7DRC active on Saturday or Sunday and give us those much-needed extra points (as long as you are NOT also an operator at the DARC Field Day station we can count the contact).
There will be a BBQ at the Park at 6:00 PM Saturday for DARC members and non-members to enjoy. There will be further planning and discussion at the next DARC meeting on Wednesday June 16th, 2004 at 7:00 PM. Please come to the meeting and sign up on our operating roster that will assure you an opportunity to operate one of the Field Day stations.
We look forward to seeing you all there!
In another matter, I have consistently received a handful of e-mails a month from new and prospective hams who are moving to our area or have decided to take the plunge and join the ranks of amateur radio. The most frequently asked questions are regarding DARC club meetings and VE schedules. I often get responses like: "OK I have my license but I don't hear much activity on the local repeaters.
How else can I get involved and what else should I be studying and learning to help move forward with my ham radio experience".
I usually start by offering them to visit my station and get a demonstration of some of the modes available. And invite them to check into the Sunday evening net. They may need some direction on what handheld to purchase and how to program it. I also always direct them to this web site: www.ac6v.com/ It has a wealth of knowledge.
I may suggest that they utilize the on-line license tests there for practice or to become familiar with things like "Q" signals and the International Phonetic Alphabet or just plain ham vocabulary. The new book "Ham Radio for Dummies" is a good place to start too.
The main thing is to gain their trust and be available to answer their questions. I always introduce them somewhere along the line to the ARRL and its membership benefits. I love meeting and helping new hams and I'll bet there are some other members out there who would like to get
involved in this aspect of our hobby and help give something back. If you'd like to be part of this ongoing Elmer program please drop me a line at w8eqa@infowest.com
Finally, I just returned from Hurricane City Council meeting. Duane Beecher is a member and had gotten me on the agenda to show the Amateur Radio Today video. After a short verbal presentation we showed the video- it was very well received. Immediately afterwards I was approached by Hurricane Chief of Police Lynn Excell who wanted to get together and show me their new emergency command and control unit and wants to know how he might utilize our Ham resources within that project. I'll keep the club informed on what goes on with this opportunity.
That is it for this month's letter.
If
you haven't paid your dues yet for this year, please help support the
club!
Please
make your check payable to "DARC" and bring it to the meeting
or mail it to the club address:
Dixie
Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 422
Santa Clara, UT 84765
DARC IS AN ARRL AFFILIATED CLUB
2004 Board of DirectorsPresident: Dan Farwell W8EQA
Vice President: David Owens KD7VNH
Secretary: Gary Zabriskie N7ARE
Treasurer: Gordon Shipley KD7SGN
Board Members:
Casey Lofthouse KD7HUS
Chuck Hardy KD7RZF
Mark Sherbert KM7DX
GUEST EDITORIAL
KNOW CODE
By Dan Farwell, W8EQA
Everybody
is intitled to their opinion- here's one of mine!
Give me the old days. About 1958 will suffice nicely. Chevy made a beautiful Impala. We were standing on the door step of space and reaching out in awe. Elvis was the King. I was eleven going on eighteen. I learned the International Morse Code on a WWII Instructo-Graph. Every afternoon I couldn’t wait to get home from school and put on those old headphones and play those Morse Code tapes. My brain ached as I strained to keep up with the impossible 5 word per minute pace.
One day at a friends house I sat down in front of an HRO-50 receiver. I marveled at how it seemed to spread out 40 meters as though it went on forever. The owner watched intently as I copied the dots and dashes into an occasional word.
He said, “Put down that pencil and paper son…close your eyes and try to see the code in your mind.” He was right it worked, slowly at first, and later whole words and thoughts came through with ease and clarity because I wasn’t distracted with writing it down.
I operated through High School always preferring the code and my speed skyrocketed. Morse Code has been my buddy, my comforter- yea my salvation as an operator.
Today some 40 years later I treasure this talent. Morse Code IS Ham Radio to me! Some say it’s time to do away with the code as a licensing requirement. We’ve become a people who would rather have a freedom from the code rather than embrace and treasure that legacy for the operators who will follow. We fail to comprehend where we’ve come from and loose our direction as to where we must go.
Morse Code is our Ham Radio Heritage. It’s who we were and who we are and it must NEVER be discarded.
Give me the old days. About 1958 will suffice nicely. Chevy made a beautiful Impala. We were standing on the door step of space and reaching out in awe. Elvis was the King. I was eleven going on eighteen. I learned the International Morse Code on a WWII Instructo-Graph. Every afternoon I couldn’t wait to get home from school and put on those old headphones and play those Morse Code tapes. My brain ached as I strained to keep up with the impossible 5 word per minute pace.
One day at a friends house I sat down in front of an HRO-50 receiver. I marveled at how it seemed to spread out 40 meters as though it went on forever. The owner watched intently as I copied the dots and dashes into an occasional word.
He said, “Put down that pencil and paper son…close your eyes and try to see the code in your mind.” He was right it worked, slowly at first, and later whole words and thoughts came through with ease and clarity because I wasn’t distracted with writing it down.
I operated through High School always preferring the code and my speed skyrocketed. Morse Code has been my buddy, my comforter- yea my salvation as an operator.
Today some 40 years later I treasure this talent. Morse Code IS Ham Radio to me! Some say it’s time to do away with the code as a licensing requirement. We’ve become a people who would rather have a freedom from the code rather than embrace and treasure that legacy for the operators who will follow. We fail to comprehend where we’ve come from and loose our direction as to where we must go.
Morse Code is our Ham Radio Heritage. It’s who we were and who we are and it must NEVER be discarded.
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...-- -.. .
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HAPPENINGS
AND OTHER DARC NEWS
Last Month's May 2004 Club Meeting
The Dixie
Amateur Radio Club would like to express its sincere thanks to Utah American Radio Relay League
Section Manager Mel Parkes, AC7CP for attending the
May 2004 meeting of the club and providing those in
attendance with information on where the ARRL is
heading on many issues confronting Amateur Radio at
this time.
The meeting was educational to all of us.
Ogden Hamfest
The Ogden ARC will Sponsor a Hamfest this summer
on Saturday 14 August 2004. It will be held at the National Guard
Armory in South Ogden. This will be the first time in many years
that a Hamfest will be held along the Wasatch Front Area and I would
like to encourage everyone to make plans to attend and support this
event. Please note that the Utah Hamfest (Usually held at Bryce
Canyon will not be held this year but will return in 2005). I
will provide more information as it becomes available Please feel free
to contact Mel Parkes, AC7CP, Utah Section Manager at AC7CP@aol.com if you have any
questions.
CLUB MEMBER PROFILE
Richard Caulfield
KLØQL
I was born and raised in Alaska, up in the interior (Fairbanks
area). I first became aware of hams during the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake.
At that time, most of Alaska depended on under seas phone lines for all
news, radio and telephone service to the rest of the world. We all felt
the earthquake in Fairbanks which was over 260 miles from the
epicenter. During church services that night (Good Friday) most of us
became aware of the devastation of the South central parts of Alaska
because of ham radio operators. In fact, the only way the rest of the
world found out about the strongest earthquake ever to hit North
America was because of the hams in Alaska.
I became a Red Cross Disaster Volunteer in 1986. Our Red Cross
Chapter in Anchorage had a few hams who helped with long range
communications on Spring Floods and winter storms with the outlying
areas of the chapter and state. I became a Tech in 1998, thanks to a
program the local club, Anchorage amateur Radio Club KL7AA, had with
our chapter. When the chapter bought a new building for their offices,
the Ham club was asked to set up a radio shack in the disaster office
area and prewire a classroom for use as an operations office. In
return, the ham club used the classrooms for conducting ham classes and
the shack for weekly net events throughout Alaska or even just chatting
with the world. The shack was open during office hours to any ham club
member to use. this gave the office staff and volunteers a chance to
see amateur radio on all frequencies begin used. Partly because
of the interat\ction between the club and the Red Cross, the local
Emergency Manager became reacquainted with the usefulness of immature
radio and his new center has stations for ham radio operations and
equipment and towers in place.
Some of the events I was able to work in Alaska before moving down
here to St. George, were the annual winter car races and sled dog races
during Fur Rhondevous and the Iditarod Dog sled races. I was also
engaged in being a mobile base for a couple of disaster operations.
These were an avalanche and climbing class fatality accident. In both
cases, Hams were used to provide cross channel communications between
various city, state and federal agencies involved who could not match
their assigned frequencies up for vital communications. I was able to
work both events passing traffic back and forth to the various
agencies, and involved aircraft from my mobile rig in my car and on the
climbing accident and fellow hams rig in his camper.
I am presently, the office manager for the local office of the Red
Cross, here in St. George, and also work with the city and county
Emergency Managers on hazmat preparedness and response.
REPEATER INFORMATION:
Please see the repeater information link on the DARC home page for information on area repeaters
NOTE: If
you have more current information on repeaters in the area, including
surrounding areas such as
Cedar City, Mesquite, etc. please e-mail that information to the Webmaster
Cedar City, Mesquite, etc. please e-mail that information to the Webmaster
THERE IS NO BETTER TIME TO JOIN THE ARRL!
|
It's the only organization that
represents hams at the government level. The current resources
available to us through the ARRL are astounding. Check out their web
site and find out what's going on! Click HERE for the ARRL website. |
ARRL Trademark and logo courtesy ARRL
Amateur
Electronic Supply Swapmeet
4640 S. Polaris Ave., Las Vegas, Nevada
First Saturday of every month
Starts at 7:00 AM Pacific Time (8:00 AM Mountain Time)
Don't forget the DARC Sunday evening net!
 |
THE SUNDAY NIGHT NET MEETS AT 8:00 P.M. MDT ON THE 146.91 REPEATER |
The DIXIE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB call sign is W7DRC.
In the
event that the 146.91 repeater is not operational we will conduct the
Sunday evening net on 145.49.
If none of these repeaters are operational we will conduct the DARC
Sunday net on 146.91 Simplex.
HAM RADIO CARTOON
Please send your questions, complaints, newsletter articles, ham gear, money, accolades,
and anything but your troubles to: Gary Zabriskie, N7ARE