1 MAY 2013 Vol. 38, # 5 WACOM President’s Message—2 WACOM General Information—3 WACOM Meeting Minutes - 4 Upcoming Events—5 WACOM DX Corner—6 The WACOM Club Shack! —7 Operating on the Non-Ham bands - 8-9 Red Cross Exercise—10 New WACOM Trailer! - 11 WACOM Library & Events—12 The Run for Alex—13 Possible New DXCC Entities—Ron Notarius 14-15 WACOM Field Day Flyer—16 Field Day Sign-up Sheet! –17 WACOM Hamfest Flyer - 18 WACOM Renewal Form - 19 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Get Ready for Dayton! Red Cross Exercise The New Club Shack! THE WACOM HAM Washington Amateur Communications Inc. VISIT WACOM AT DAYTON! 17-19 May 2013
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THE WACOM HAM · 2013. 5. 8. · 1 MAY 2013 Vol. 38, # 5 WACOM President’s Message—2 WACOM General Information—3 WACOM Meeting Minutes - 4 Upcoming Events—5 WACOM DX Corner—6
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1
MAY 2013
Vol. 38, # 5
WACOM President’s Message—2
WACOM General Information—3
WACOM Meeting Minutes - 4
Upcoming Events—5
WACOM DX Corner—6
The WACOM Club Shack! —7
Operating on the Non-Ham bands - 8-9
Red Cross Exercise—10
New WACOM Trailer! - 11
WACOM Library & Events—12
The Run for Alex—13
Possible New DXCC Entities—Ron Notarius 14-15
WACOM Field Day Flyer—16
Field Day Sign-up Sheet! –17
WACOM Hamfest Flyer - 18
WACOM Renewal Form - 19
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Get Ready for Dayton! Red Cross Exercise The New Club Shack!
THE
WACOM
HAM
Washington Amateur Communications Inc.
VISIT WACOM AT DAYTON!
17-19 May 2013
2
WACOM President’s Message
May 2013 Finally it is warm.....
No I will not be talking about time to put up your antennas.... because first we need to do all the
stuff around the ranch. I start to become overwhelmed at all the things I'd "like" to do ....verses
all the things I need to do. I know we all have the same 24 hours, but it is truly amazing how
some folks get many things done....I mean finished in the time I seem to just get started. We have
a club member who not only works all day long, runs several nets, works DX on HF and still
manages to get the lawn cut. I mention this to get myself energized to find my to-do list..and
"get'r done."
We have so many things to be tended to .... the WACOM radio room, which very close to com-
pletion, final preparation for our participation in the Boy Scout Search & Rescue (SAR) Cam-
poree, gathering together stuff to sell for Dayton, get my own NBEMS configuration together,
and the grass .
Our club has about 110 members although on our club WACOM reflector we have only 40
'members'. It makes for a great way for you to address the membership easily when you are on
this email reflector. Once you are setup, Just send an email to: [email protected]
and you message magically goes to all the members. If you should decide that you do not enjoy
the information shared, just go in and discontinue. Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
wa3com/ and sign up. One can also read all the messages posted on that same website. There
is a link on our WACOM website also .
Still time to remind you to GO TO DAYTON, while you can! I say this as yesterday I lost a
friend back in Chicago. This guy ( W9JUV) sponsored my membership in the NIDXA, the Chica-
goland DX club. He also was the trustee of the W9AP repeater, upon which I've been active
since 1976! You just read about Joe in the last issue of QST, being one of three very famous
DXers. SO GO TO DAYTON NOW. Take a vacation. Buy that nice radio you can afford... or
fund your money pit of choice. My good friend Art N9JKK finally decided to buy a new Ten-
Tec Omni. At 94 years old , he decided it would be ok.
Our May meeting will NOT be on the First Thursday but the second Thursday of the month,
May 7th. Subject of the program : AMPLIFIERS 101....
Present: Sam (W3CYO), Dave D (N3IDH), Paul (W3PLP), Patty (N3XAR), Frank (KB3AAG), Jim B (KC3HW), Kevin (KN4AA), Sally (KK4YL), Adam (N3ZS), John Q (N3GHR), Fay (KA3VOM), Bob Ke (KB3IN), Tom (K3PLM), Joe F (WA3WBM), Joe B (KB3QQT), Don (KB3YLR), Karen (KB3ZJW), Ken(AA3GM), Mark (N3IQS), Wendy (KB3DNP), John M (WA3VKC), Rob F, Woody WACOM VP Don (KB3YLR) called the meeting to order at 19:28 hours. Reports
Minutes – Dave moved to approve minutes as they appeared in the newsletter, Bob seconded, motion ac-
cepted
Treasurer – John read Norma’s treasurer’s report; Joe moved to accept treasurer’s report, Woody seconded,
motion accepted
Old Business
Radio room – doors are on; big freezer gone; fire department approved new hot water tank; toilet fixed;
need to run 220V to panel box; working on antennas; Karen moved to allow Dave to have keys made for
room, Joe seconded, motion accepted
Nets –Dave – 20 people on 2 meter net; Elmer, 10 people; 10 meter, 4; YL, 7 last week, 3 this week
NBEMS class to be held April 20 at 11:00 AM
Candy bars – club will be selling candy bars at Tractor Supply
Dayton – plans under way
Field day – Ken presented plan for field day
Field day will be at firehouse; we will have broadband available; forms are available to let Ken know what
radios people will be bringing and who wants to participate; Joe F will bring generator; need someone to do
PR (news releases, etc.); combine GOTA station with YL?
Scouts will be having search and rescue event on May 4; WACOM will be participating; Rob has a unit for
portable, remote usage if needed
Classes – talk to Bill about a General class
There being no further business, Kevin moved to adjourn, Dave 2nd, meeting adjourned at 20:05
5
2013 WACOM Upcoming Events Calendar Meetings, Contests & Other Significant Club Events (Subject to Change)
This band can be a lot of fun for the whole family
either by itself or in conjunction with the Family
Radio Service.
Family Radio Service: (462 Mhz-467 MHz;
500 milliwatts, FM)
This is a license free band in which operators may
use up to 500 milliwatts of talking power for per-
sonal use.
These are low cost handheld or base radios that
may not have a detachable antenna. 7 frequencies
are shared with GMRS to allow communication
between the two services. GMRS operators may
use up to 5 watts on the shared channels, but FRS
users are limited to FRS approved radios at 500
milliwatts! This service is a lot of fun for the
whole family and young children can enjoy this
band.
Well that is it in a nutshell. Looking to try some-
thing new? Give the other personal radio services
a try!
Operating on the Non-Ham Bands (Con’t)
10
The Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Red Cross along with Allegheny ARES jointly conducted a simulated emergency drill where the scenario was wide spread flooding from a storm. Bud Plants, N3TIR and I were assigned to Ringgold High School along with elements of local Red Cross and Salvation Army volunteers. The Ringgold site was set up to serve as a shelter for individuals evacuated from nearby flooded areas. Mark Stabryla, N3RDV was located at the Heidelberg VFD and a lot of traffic from our site at Ringgold both verbal and digital was passed to there or to net control.
At one point during the drill our site was told to expect between 75 and 100 evacuees within the hour. While beginning to practice pro-cedures for receiving these evacuees a crew began to pull cots from the Red Cross trucks only to find that several nests of mice were liv-ing in the cots. Two Red Cross observers indicated that the entire truckload of cots were unusable, that the capacity of the shelter was now affected and this fact had to be relayed to headquarters. So some unexpected reality was injected into the site’s simulation.
On the Amateur Radio side Bud Plants. N3TIR handled all of the communications while I relayed information. In most instances we knew relevant information before the Red Cross/Salvation Army people operating the shelter. This I felt was because ARES was better prepared than our Red Cross/Salvation Army counterparts. There was an impressive link of repeaters that provide broad coverage. Reports could be heard from Cambria and Indiana counties down through Allegheny, Beaver and Washington Counties and included both UHF and VHF repeater systems. The Washington County repeaters included the 146.79 and 147.27 repeaters.
After starting as a traditional voice net the rest of the drill was spent using FLDIGI to pass traffic and I must say it was quite effective. Bud had a little trouble at first with FLDIGI but after resolving the problem he found himself more or less being the digital net control station and he handled it well. All digital transmissions went through the wide area repeater system and toward the end of the drill Bud was using only his hand held radio to transmit and receive. It was a very impressive display of the simplicity and robustness of the FLDIGI mode.
Overall it was a fun Saturday morning but more importantly we practiced our emergency skills and demonstrated again the utility of Amateur Radio in a emergency situation.
2013 American Red Cross Emergency Drill, 27 April 2013
by Kevin Smith, N3HKQ
Bud, N3TIR making digital contacts
during the exercise
A little tough to see the
screen in the bright sunlight!
The Salvation Army at Ringold High
School
Red Cross volunteers inside Ringold
High School
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Presenting…. The newly refurbished and overhauled WACOM Trailer!
12
Dayton Hamvention® 2013!
Hara Arena
Dayton, Ohio May 17-19 2013
QRP ARCI, Four-Days-in-May May 16-19 2013
Holiday Inn at Fairborn
Dayton, Ohio
OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS!
2013 Field Day is June 22-23!
Our new library at the WACOM Radio
Room.... has many great resources.
Third book down in this pile.....200 METERS AND
DOWN.....is a very easy read on the early history of
"wireless"....
This book was written in 1936 by one of the early mem-
bers of the ARRL.
'Hams' were 'given' all the frequencies from 200 meters
and down...in an attempt to get rid of the hams to a
range of frequencies considered to be worthless.
The reliable range of the most powerful spark transmit-
ters at that time was considered to be 50 or 100 miles.
This book describes the ham radio operators of that era
as they changed from spark gap transmitters to those
that used newly invented radio tubes. When they used
these new transmitters to go to the useless frequencies
they were given, they made the astounding discovery
that radio could be used to communicate over large dis-
tances covering the entire earth!
Considerable detail is given to frequencies, power, time
of day, and failures as well as the dramatic successes.
Check it out! Bill—NY9H/3
13
Something WORTHWHILE FOR Saturday 1 June 2013
Field Day is for US... while The "Run for Alex" is for a better cause.!
This year our WACOM support effort is being lead by Bob KB3IN. Bob has indi-
cated that he still is looking for additional volunteers to assist in the amateur radio
communication system provided for the Run's management.
Nationwide, ham radio operators have been able to show the general public our ver-
satility for events just like this one. Not only is John Q Public watching, but local
and regional government agencies notice what we can do, and do well. Many times a
minor effort on our part, such as this, has provided a life saving solution. After all it
IS a practice exercise in emergency communications. And it's fun.
Necessary "training " is provided and radios can be supplied should you not have
DUAL BAND U/V capability. Since there is no repeater coverage, WACOM will set
up a temporary mobile cross band repeater.
Preprogram your radio REGULAR REPEATER USE: 443.800 +.(up 5 MHZ no
PL) - we have tested the course for this repeater, it works well. Hope to see you
there, 8-8:15 AM in south parking lot of the Bentleyville Fire Department/ Mu-
nicipal Building, south of the Social Hall, Main street downtown Bentleyville.