CR-2010-01 - Richardson Wireless Klub

The Chawed Rag
January 2010
Volume 40, Issue 1
JANUARY 2010
Meeting-on-the-Air
Monday, January 4, 7:30 PM
RWK Repeater, 2 Meters, 147.12 (No PL Tone)
Monthly Meeting
Monday, January 11, 7:00 PM
Antenna Analyzer Shootout
by All of Us
St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church
1220 West Beltline Road, Richardson, TX
Monthly Breakfast
Saturday, January 16, 8:00 AM
K5RWK Repeater
@ Kel's Kitchen
800 North Coit Road, Suite 550B
Richardson, TX 75080
147.12 / 147.72
(East Side of Coit, South of Arapaho, North of Post Office)
RACES Nets and Siren Test
Monday, January 4, 2009, 9:00 PM (Net)
Monday, January 18, 2009, 9:00 PM (Net)
Wednesday January 6, 2010, Noon - Siren Test
•
RWK Officers, Board Members, and
•
President’s Corner, Secretary's Report 3
•
Other Good Info
4-7
•
Future Events
8
Webmaster:
The Chawed Rag 1
Committee Chairs
Doug Kilgore, KD5OUG
2
Richardson Wireless Klub Officers, Board
Members, and other RWK Committee Chairs
President:
2304 Woodglen drive
Richardson, TX 75082
972-333-9478
K8OCL@arrl.net
Vice President and
Program Director:
706 Lake Highlands Drive
Allen, TX 75002
214-243-7409
Brian.Davis@cor.gov
John Champa, K8OCL
The Chawed Rag is the official publication of The
Richardson Wireless Klub, Inc. Any material contained
herein may be reproduced by any other publication unless
otherwise noted, provided full credit is given to The
Chawed Rag, original author and The Richardson Wireless
Klub, Inc. A complimentary copy is appreciated.
Brian Davis, KT3X
Membership is open to all that are interested in amateur
radio and can be obtained at any meeting or by mail or web
site. Annual dues are $15 individual, $20 family, and $5
student.
There are three regular monthly activities:
Treasurer:
1317 Glen Cove Drive
Richardson, TX 75080
972-231-8539
kd5oug@arrl.net
Doug Kilgore, KD5OUG
Secretary:
16814 Park Hill Drive
Dallas, TX 75248
972-931-7993
K6RAH@arrl.et
Dick Morgan, K6RAH
Director:
7110 Fernmeadow Cir
Dallas, TX 75248
972-233-1233
cdsol@swbell.net
Carl Solomon, W5SU
Director:
1314 Cheyenne Drive
Richardson, TX 75080
972-231-0793
suefor6@sbcglobal.net
Forest Cummings, W5LQU
1. Meeting-on-the-Air, 1st Monday night of each
month, 7:30 PM, 2 meters, RWK Repeater,
K5RWK, 147.12 (no pl tone).
2. Meeting, 2nd Monday night of each month, usually
at the St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church, 1220
West Beltline Road in Richardson at 7:00 PM.
3. Breakfast at Kel's Kitchen, on the Saturday following
the monthly meeting, 8:00 AM. Located on Coit
Road, east side, between Beltline and Arapaho.
RWK Web Page and
E-mail Reflector Information
RWK Web Page: http://www.k5rwk.org/
RWK E-mail:
The club has a Yahoo group mailing list. Go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rwk-ntx/
All club members are encouraged to subscribe. The
Director:
14 Walnut Creek Place
Richardson, TX 75080
972-235-0315
rbattalora@aol.com
Ray Battalora, K5RFF
Director:
2016 Flat Creek Drive
Richardson, TX 75080
972-235-3063
don_bowen@sbcglobal.net
Don Bowen, K5LHO
Past-President:
1805 Auburn Drive
Richardson, TX 75081
972-690-9894
dmruss@tx.rr.com
David Russell, W2DMR
Newsletter Editor:
Ray Battalora, K5RFF
Repeater Chairman:
Doug Kilgore, KD5OUG
email list is intended as a forum for ideas of interest to
club members.
Any club member on the list may post a message to the
group at <rwk-ntx@yahoogroups.com>
RWK Web Host:
John Beadles, N5OOM
Chawed Rag Online
The Chawed Rag is available online at:
http://www.k5rwk.org/crcurrent.pdf
Check for it around the first of each month.
The Chawed Rag 2
Officers for 2010
The Officers of the Richardson Wireless Klub for 2010 are:
•
President - John Champa, K8OCL
•
Vice President - Brian Davis, KT3X
•
Treasurer - Doug Kilgore, KD5OUG
•
Secretary - Dick Morgan, K6RAH
"Charlie's Whistle" Available Online
Charlie's Whistle, authored by Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, is available at the following web link:
http://www.w1ddd.org/whistle.html
You can see the entire archive of issues going back to the first one in 1996.
Upcoming Richardson Siren Test on Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The City of Richardson will test all emergency sirens on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, at noon good weather permitting. The test is not conducted if the weather looks threatening so as to not
confuse occupants. Hams assist each month by going to a designated siren, checking into the net
on 147.12 MHz, watching and listening to the performance of the siren, then reporting results on the
net. Most sirens have an assigned ham, but there are a few unassigned sirens. Please contact
Don Bowen K5LHO if you can assist.
Upcoming Program for January 11, 2010 Meeting - Antenna Analzyer Shootout
This program will allow us to see, touch, and discuss various antenna analyzers.
Cookies
The RWK provides regular coffee and decaf coffee. Volunteers bring cookies and help setup and
takedown the coffee/food. WE NEED YOU FOR 2010.
•
January 2010 - Ray Battalora, K5RFF.
Meet The Member - Corey Minyard - AE5KM
Born: March 10, 1965 in Lubbock, TX.
Grew-up: Dallas; Plano; Mandeville, LA; Humble, TX (Houston area).
Occupation: Software engineer. I work at a company that does embedded Linux, so I'm mostly a
kernel hacker.
Guests at Dream Dinner: I really don't have any. When I have met famous people or people I greatly
respect in the past, I've been at a loss for words, so it seems pointless. I just try to be thankful that I
have dinner on the table.
What's in the Shack: Kenwood TS-180, Small Wonders Lab SW-40+, and Yaesu FT-857, all to a
stealthy G5RV. Yaesu FT-7800 in the car, and a Yaesu FT-60R HT.
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Current Ham Efforts: Working on Linux software to program my Yaesu radios (named yaesuconf on
sourceforge if you are interested). Getting ready for doing communications at a water station at the
Dallas Whiterock Marathon (Anderson Powerpoles, build a portable VHF/UHF mast and antenna,
batteries, etc.). And I'm starting getting involved in RACES. Too much, really).
What Most People Don't Know About You: I play the guitar, mostly for my church youth group and
praise and worship group.
Cool Web Site - Noises
Contribution from Doug Kilgore,
KD5OUG: Are you hearing those
strange signals on the HF bands?
Here's a good summary page of the
various digital modes used in
amateur radio:
http://www.hfradio.org.uk/html/digital
_modes.html
Cool Web Site - S-Meter Web Site
Contribution from Carl Solomon
W5SU.
Welcome to the S-Meter Website.
Check your signal and listen to
others on remote receivers. Read
thousands of pages of ham radio
information. Download virus-free
radio-related design programs.
There is no charge for receiver
usage, any of the information, or
any downloaded computer
programs.
Menus take you to major content
sections. Thousands of other pages
are buried within. Search from the
bottom of any page to find what you are looking for if you don't see it in a menu. This site is updated
frequently, so be sure to Bookmark or add it to your Favorites so you can return easily. (Don't lose
track of this site, because some things here can be difficult to find anywhere else!)
http://www.smeter.net/index.php
The Chawed Rag 4
Cool Web Site - Heathkit Info
Contribution from Carl Solomon W5SU.
I was surfing for something else and
tripped over this grid of information on
virtually all the Heathkit ham equipment.
If you're even remotely interested in
Heathkit stuff, you'll probably find it useful.
It provides spec's, pictures and some
schematics of almost any Heathkit you can
come up with.
http://www.nostalgickitscentral.com/heath/p
roducts/ham.html
SKYWARN WEATHER TRAINING
See the following web site for upcoming SKYWARN Training:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/skywarnsch.php?file=sptrsch
SKYWARNTM Spotter Training Schedule 2010!
Updated: Sun Dec 13 09:30:02 2009
Classes in Bold Type Include Advanced Spotter Training!
TBD = To Be Determined
Schedule by County
Printer Friendly Version
Some classes include:
•
Saturday, January 23, 2010 - Collin County - Plano, Collin County Community College,
Spring Creek Campus: Basic (8:30 AM to 11:00 AM), Advanced (1:00 PM to 4:00 PM).
•
Saturday, February 20, 2010 - Dallas County - Garland, Granville Arts Center: Basic (9:00
AM to 12:00 Noon), Advanced (1:30 PM to 4:00 PM).
HSMM Mesh Networking Seminar
From Kipton Moravec AE5IB
I will be holding a HSMM Mesh Networking Seminar on February 6, 2010 at the Lucas Fire Station
Training Room from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Annex is the building north of the Fire Station, 165
Country Club Road, Lucas, TX 75002
This seminar will cover changing the software in Linksys WRT54GL routers to make them work in a
MESH, and the other hardware and configuration necessary.
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The seminar will be in 3 parts. The first part will be an overview of HSMM in the ham bands. The
second part will be about loading the software into the router. The third part will be about special
configuration of the router.
We hope to have a MESH node on the K5PRK Repeater site operational (weather permitting)
before the seminar, and we will be able to see if we can hit it from the Lucas Fire Station.
The Training room is much larger than the venue for the last training, but I will have to limit the
number of people to 30 because you are encouraged to bring your computer and router so you can
leave with a working mesh node. Anyone with a valid Amateur Radio License is welcome
to attend.
If you would like to attend please email Kipton Moravec (AE5IB) kip@kdream.com with your Name,
Call Sign, and if you plan to bring a computer and router for the programming and configuration part
of the seminar.
See you on Saturday February, 6.
Excepts from EHAM.NET on January 2, 2009
Articles
View More Articles!
Getting Back on HF with Code
KE7WAV encourages others to give Morse code a try
Your Built-In Amplifier Pulser
K6AER provides some useful information
EchoLink Working Everywhere?
Should EchoLink offer port 80 operation?
Home Construction Practices -- EWB's Homemade Circuit Boards
An "eHam Classic" by K0FF
Historic Trivia: The Last Tech Plus
Who will it be?
How About a Little Standardization?
WN3R gives his suggestions -- will the manufacturers listen?
Mail Order Karma (Ninja QSLing)
Which is more exciting, the QSO or the QSL?
Unshackling your Mad Scientist
Wondering what the difference is between hams of yesteryear and hams of today? KL7AJ may
have the answer!
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160 Inverted L, Welcome to Winter
N4JTE encourages you to try out 160 meters
Trends in USA Amateur Radio License Classes Over Three Years
AF6AY breaks down the statistics
News
View More Ham News!
James R. Wilson Jr. W0RRL (SK):
Ham Helps Crews Safely Reach Stranded Men:
Who's Afraid of AR? Tsunami's Heroic Tech Has Few Backers in Sri Lanka:
2009's Sleepy Sun Finally Woke Up in December:
Amateur Radio Supporting Our Troops:
DX News -- ARRL DX Bulletin #52:
Propagation Forecast Bulletin #54 de K7RA:
Donard Steffes (95), KD9WI Looks to Retirement from St. Edward's:
Belmont County's Amateur Radio Emergency Coordinator, W8GBH (SK):
Foundation for Amateur Radio Scholarship Announcement:
Good News D-Star Story from Port Lincoln:
Knut Haugland, SK at 92:
From War to Work, (WA0LUD), a Jim of Many Trades:
Sunspot Update: 2009 Will Fall Short of 2008 Blank Days Record:
ARNewsline # 1689 -- December 25 2009:
Emergency Radio Tower Rises Over Obstacles:
VK5ALE Lower Eyre Peninsula ARC Clubrooms Destroyed:
Dover Boy, (VE3NOA) is Quite the Ham:
Morse Code Still Dashing Through the Cordillera:
Holladay Considers Limits on Towering Antennas:
Ham Radio Operator Helps to Explain How Santa Travels Around the World:
Ham Radio Club Enthusiasts Have Hobby That Also Helps in Crises:
Stephanie is Youngest Radio Amateur in the UK:
US Dept of Defense -- Naval Research Lab Studies Solar Storms:
Bushfire Radio Operator Recognition Day for February 2010:
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Ted Yearsley, W3TY Celebrates 100th Birthday:
Hams Play Key Role in Major East Coast Winter Blast:
Dumbleyung Students Get Space Link-Up:
Radio Amateur Interviewed on ABC Radio:
Jimmie Steele, WB0GNV (SK):
Richard Webb, KD0OA (SK):
Amateur Radio Key in Emergencies:
'Koala Talkers' Dig Ham Radio at DeLand School:
Recognition for Hero Tarry:
Ham Cramwich: $25,000 Of Communications Gear In A $500 Car:
Solar Activity is Picking Up:
Amateur Radio Bill Passes Senate, Moves to the House:
Radio Society Tries to Beat Back Powerline Networks:
PCC Students are Making Contact via Radio:
All Hail OSCAR 1!
HamRadio Magazine Issue Number 2:
New Q and A Website for Ham Radio:
Source of BC-Signal on 7105 kHz Detected:
Ham Radio Operators the Last Line of Defense in East Granby:
The Doctor Is In: Focusing on 10 Meters:
Icom IC-706MKIIG The Final Word!
Deep Solar Minimum: Not Getting Enough Attention?
Ham Radio Fills Cell Phone Signal Gap in Canyon Crash:
The Chawed Rag 8
The Richardson Wireless Klub
P.O. Box 830232
Richardson, Texas 75083-0232
First Class Mail
Future Events
Feb 01 - Monday - Meeting-on-the-Air, 7:30 PM
Feb 01 - Monday - Richardson RACES Net, 9:00 PM
Feb 03 - Wednesday – City of Richardson Siren Test 12:00 noon http://www.cor.net/EM/
Feb 06 - Saturday HSMM Mesh Networking Seminar, Lucas, 8:00AM
Feb 08 - Monday - Monthly Meeting, 7:00 PM
Feb 13 - Saturday - Breakfast at Kel's Kitchen, 8:00 AM
Feb 15 - Monday - Richardson RACES Net, 9:00 PM.
Feb 20 – Saturday - Dallas County Skywarn School – Garland 9:00 AM
Mar 01 - Monday - Meeting-on-the-Air, 7:30 PM
Mar 01 - Monday - Richardson RACES Net, 9:00 PM
Mar 03 - Wednesday – City of Richardson Siren Test 12:00 noon http://www.cor.net/EM/
Mar 08 - Monday - Monthly Meeting, 7:00 PM
Mar 12 - Saturday - Breakfast at Kel's Kitchen, 8:00 AM
Mar 15 - Monday - Richardson RACES Net, 9:00 PM.
Apr 05 - Monday - Meeting-on-the-Air, 7:30 PM
Apr 05 - Monday - Richardson RACES Net, 9:00 PM
Apr 07 - Wednesday – City of Richardson Siren Test 12:00 noon http://www.cor.net/EM/
Apr 12 - Monday - Monthly Meeting, 7:00 PM
Apr 17 - Saturday - Breakfast at Kel's Kitchen, 8:00 AM
Apr 19 - Monday - Richardson RACES Net, 9:00 PM.
The Chawed Rag 9