July 2015 - Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach

The Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach, Inc.
W6RO
The Oscillator
Published monthly by the ARALB, Post Office Box 7493, Long Beach, California 90807
A 501(c3) non profit Corporation
Volume LXXXVIII, issue 7
Since 1927
The Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach meets on the first Friday of the month at 7 pm at the Signal
Hill Community Center located at 1780 E. Hill Street just off Cherry Avenue. All are welcome to attend.
At the meeting Dennis Kidder will be speaking on his new book A rduino Projects for A mateur Radio,
which introduces hobbyists with no Arduino or programming experience to the exciting possibilities that microcontrollers offer to the amateur radio operator. It starts with a simple micro-controller LCD display and
moves up to projects that can add hundreds of dollars’ worth of value and functionality to existing equipment. The book features projects that can take an inexpensive, “rock-bound” CW transceiver that costs $75
and make it perform like rigs that cost more than $400 by expanding the range. The book includes:
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Step-by-step instructions for building and programming 17 projects.
How to use Arduino to create Morse code by typing on a standard keyboard and translate incoming
Morse code on an LCD display.
And much more.
And code for each project available for download.
HAMCON 2015
The ARRL Southwestern Division Convention, also known as HAMCON, is coming your way in
Southern California on September 11-13, 2015. HAMCON will be held at the Torrance Marriott
South Bay Hotel, 3635 Fashion Way, Torrance, CA 90503.
For more information go to … http://www.hamconinc.org/
Board Members
Officers:
President
Jeff Irwin KJ6VAP
jsi928@cox.net
Vice President
Endaf Buckley KG6FIY zerosignal@icloud.com
Secretary
Becky Rustuen
bannrism@yahoo.com
Treasurer
Scott Kanzelmeyer KJ6PCC kj6pcc@kj6pcc.net
Directors:
Walter Geist
KG6IKB
wgeisttool43@yahoo.com
Julie Potter
KG6FIA
jpotter998@gmail.com
Jeff Potter
KG6DJK kg6djk@gmail.com
Jim Snow
W6BIG jimsnow@hotmail.com
Robert Hartwig N7RAH rahjr8@hotmail.com
Richard Kitchen KD6UNR kd6unr@gmail.com
Upcoming Contests
International Amateur Radio Union HF Championship
The second full weekend of July, beginning 1200 UTC
Saturday and ending 1200 UTC Sunday (July 11-12,
2015). The objective is to contact as many other amateurs as possible on the 10 through 160 meter bands
(both Single and Multi operator stations may operate).
Ham Jam at HRO
Saturday, July 11 will be a day of ham radio fun at Ham Radio Outlet in Anaheim from
10AM-5:30PM.
Join us and various manufacturer representatives, Gordon West, the Red Cross, Orange
County RACES, Hospital Disaster Services, local clubs, and other experts who will be
showing us “what’s new in ham radio” from C4FM digital to an antenna analyzer with a
full color TFT LCD screen. See a 200w mobile HF installation in a Smart Car, and compare notes about what you learned at Field Day this year.
There will be three prize drawings throughout the day, and hot dog lunches to keep you
fortified. We will offer license testing for all classes from 11AM to 3PM (be sure to call
or email the store for reservations.)
Come join us to learn, to see and be seen, to laugh, to eat, and completely enjoy a day
filled with everything ham radio.
Janet Margelli, KL7MF
Manager
Ham Radio Outlet
933 N. Euclid St.
Anaheim, CA 92801
(714)533-7373 Tel
(800)854-6046 Tel
(714)533-9485 Fax
anaheim@hamradio.com
MUSEUM SHIPS WEEKEND REVIEW
On June 6 and 7, the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach and the Queen Mary participated in the Museum
Ships Weekend.
The event is designed to promote and encourage communication with registered ships for a two day period, generally the first full weekend of June. This year, there were 104 ships registered at the time of the event. Ships include
military vessels and some steam operated ships.
We had the privilege of making contact with 16 of the ships, which are listed below:
ST695 ANGEL GATE, LS HURON, SS MILWAUKKEE CLIPPER, SS EDMUND FITZGERALD
MEMORIAL, USS NAUTILUS, USS THE SULLIVANS, TALL SHIP ELISSA, USS SILVERSIDES, USS NORTH CAROLINA, USS TURNER JOY, USS LEXINGTON, PBR, SS LANE VICTORY, USS INTREPID, USS INDIANAPLIS MEMORIAL, AND USS LST235
Along with ship communication, the Queen Mary, station W6RO was on the air offering its service to the event.
Approximately 350 contacts were made, including the following foreign countries, the US Virgin Islands, and 4
Canadian provinces:
CANADA, GERMANY, GREECE, ITALY, JAPAN, MOROCCO, PAKISTAN, POLAND, SWEDEN, AND THE US VIRGIN ISLANDS.
A total of 46 of our 50 states were contacted as well.
Operators of the event included, David Aikens, N6HHR and David Gravel, AG6VH. Contact logs were submitted
to the event coordinator of the event. Although operating conditions were less than ideal, the event was a huge success.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the wireless room operators of the Queen Mary by David E Gravel, AG6VH.
July 2015
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meeting 7 pm
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ARALB Classifieds (note: if you wish your ad to run another month resend it to the editor)
_________________________________________________________________
Denton MT-2000A Antenna tuner - nice shape — $75
Contact Jim, W6BIG, 562-335-2385
______________________________________________________________
For Sale: Honda EX650 portable generator. Delivers 550 watts continuous power, 650 watts peak surge at
120 volts AC. Plenty of power for camping and/or field ham radio. Basic info here: http://
www.aboutgenerators.com/honda-ex650-generator.html . Listing this on behalf of another party. This unit
has been sitting unused for about 3 years, may need a little TLC to get it going. I can refer you to an excellent local power equipment shop. $250. Contact David Akins, N6HHR, at n6hhr@arrl.net.
W1AW/6 Came to Long Beach
by Bob Grubic, NC6Q
I had the honor last year of helping the ARRL celebrate its 100th birthday by operating W1AW portable 6. For a
couple of hours I operated CW on 40 meters from the Wireless Room on the Queen Mary as W1AW/6. A few
days ago I received this surprise in my mail box:
LONG BEACH REPEATER UPGRADE
The Long Beach Repeater Associates would like to announce that the 2 meter and 70 centimeter repeaters have
been replaced with Yaesu System Fusion DR-1X repeaters. The new repeaters are capable of C4FM/FDMA digital
communications using the Yaesu FT1DR handy talky and the FTM-400DR mobile or compatible equipment.
With new Yaesu handheld and mobile equipment, a ham can take full advantage of many new functions, such as
group monitoring and data transmission. An optional camera/microphone can be used to take and send photos with
GPS data over the repeater. You will not have to replace your present FM radios to use the repeaters, but if you
wish to go digital with the new features available with this system, you have the option of purchasing the required
equipment. For a description of features, go to YouTube and search for “Yaesu System Fusion Introduction”.
You are invited……
QST QST QST is this frequency open! The ARALB Club Net is held at 8pm,
Wednesday, on the K6CHE 2-meter repeater (146.145 pl + 156.7). Julie Potter,
KG6FiA is your host for this weekly open social net, adding unique and interesting facts from a QST collection spanning 1925 to 1975 also featured are
current events. The Net, coming to you from the Potter Ham Radio Shack, covers Club happenings and Ham radio related news. To send a fun fact, current
news, contest information, Ham event, a Ham radio item for sale or trivia for
the net, here is the address: jpotter998@gmail.com
KG6FIA is looking forward to hearing you Wednesday’s at 8pm
Amateur Radio Testing
The Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach provides amateur radio testing for $5.00 on the third
Saturday of each month at 9:00 AM. The test location is:
The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.
3824 Woodruff Avenue, Long Beach (behind the Dental Building)
Pre-registration is recommended through Louise Chapman, N6ELK, at 562-429-1355 or
n6elk@aol.com. When you pre-register, your GLAARG Form 605X will be ready to sign when you
come in to test.
Walk-in applicants are accepted to the session capacity. On test day bring a picture ID. If you are taking the Technician test you will also need your Social Security Number. If you are upgrading to General or Amateur Extra you must bring a signed copy of your current license or a copy of each Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination element (CSCE) you wish to present for credit. The
copy of your license and any CSCE is turned in with your Form 605X and your test answer sheet. You
will/will not receive the copies back.
2015 ARALB Test Dates:
7/18/2015,8/15/2015,9/19/2015, 10/17/2015, 11/21/2015, 12/19/2015
ARALB Classified Ads
Items for Submittal to The Oscillator
Do you have an item for sale or do you have
something that you are looking for? Do you need
an Elmer? This section will appear monthly. Send
info to KD6UNR@gmail.com
Effective July 1st all ads will run for one month
unless renewed
If you have a question about Ham radio, send it to
kd6unr@gmail.com with the subject “Elmer”
If you have a funny or unusual QSL card, send it
to kd6unr@gmail.com with subject “QSL card”
W6RO, the ARALB Club Station
Join the fun. Become a W6RO Crew Member
and do ham radio from the world famous Nate Brightman
Wireless Room aboard the Queen Mary! We have crew
members from all over Southern California. We especially
need more experienced hams to help bring the newer
licensees up to par. All we ask is a commitment to one
regularly calendared four-hour shift each month.
To learn more about this opportunity, please contact
W6RO Manager David Akins, N6HHR, at n6hhr@arrl.net ,
or Assistant Manager Bob Grubic, NC6Q, at
bobgrubic@gmail.com. Hope to see you on board.