Circuits
April, 2005
Club Call - K4KSC
| Short
Circuits |
TARC Newsletter
April, 2005 Club Call - K4KSC |
|
Club Officers
| President
Bud Hughes, K4CWG 269-2796 k4cwg@cfl.rr.com |
Vice President
José Ramos, KC4VIO 267-5892 kc4vio@yahoo.com |
Secretary-Treasurer
Becky Lee, KF4HTB 267-9375 lees@titusvillearc.org |
PO Box 73
Titusville, FL 32781-0073 |
| Board Member
Pike Abell, W4EPU 269-4208 pikeetal@digital.net |
Board Member
John Renninger, KE4ZPA 267-9431 ke4zpa@gnc.net |
Board Member
Mic Woltman, KI4CFA 632-4601 mjwoltman@mindspring. com |
Board Member
Bob Farrington, W4YBI 633-5664 bobandlinda3@juno.com |
| 146.91 Repeater Trustee
Les Griner, K4SJC 267-1565 |
146.97 Repeater Trustee
Warren Murray, W4CEL pager - 638-5476 |
444.15 Repeater Trustee
Mike Hensley, W4LOV 639-1553 |
147.775 Repeater Trustee
Ken Denman, KD4HNW 269-5711 |
Next Meeting Tuesday April 26th at 7:30 PM Tutusville Public Library, 2121 South Hopkins Avenue
The President's Page
It is so nice to have such beautiful weather again here in Florida. Now is the time of year that to the North of us the snow and ice has or is melting. This being the case many of our club members have/will end their pilgrimage here in Florida and return to the land and their families who await their return. A few of those departing will be Art KC2ENO and Judy N2JY, Lou N2CTQ and Marie N2USO, Jim W5CIP and his bride Liz, John WB3JBK and Pat KA3AAG, Jim N3OZZ and his lady Pat, Bill N9TN and Kim KC9CTH, Tom K1TJK and Kitty, Tom KG4WTX and his better half Eleanor, Bill W4ITA, and Doris KF4IGN. If I missed any one, and I probably did, please let me know and I will add you to the list of our friends who will be away for a while.
Our thanks to those of you who made the Fox Lake Park and KSC picnic events a huge success.
On the Red Eye Net this past Sunday morning I had the pleasure of chatting with one of our long time members and supporters Bill NK4D. Bill calls the beautiful city of Elmore, Al. his home. Bill asked me why the Club call K4KSC was not on the TARC Newsletter. After much fumbling for a response I could only assure him that this oversight would be corrected. Thanks Bill.
Our good friend Les Griner K4SJC seems to have improved. He is alert, is very talkative, loves company and would welcome your phone calls. He is in room 108 at the Vista long term care just behind the old Parrish Hospital. If you cannot visit him he can be reached at 321-267-1565.
Pike W4EPU and Art KE4ENO are home from the hospital. With the love and care from Clara KE4YQL and Judy N2JY respectively these guys are going to be just fine.
Our next club meeting will be the 26th of April at the North Brevard Library at 7:00PM.
Come join the gang. I just know you will enjoy the camaraderie. 73's Bud K4CWG
The Vice Squad By José Ramos KC4VIO TARC Vice President
Sincere thanks to John, Mic and Taylor for enlightening us about how our repeater system works and what it takes to keep it running smoothly. I am certain they can always use an extra hand so do not be bashful, jump in there and offer your help to keep the repeaters on the air.
Now for our next meeting: How much do you know about bears? There are black ones, some are brown, there are those grislys, polar ones and heaven knows how many more. There is one particular kind that we should all be familiar with since it can make our volunteer hamming easier and more effective. What? Has your Vice-Pres gone bananas? No, not yet. The BEARS I am talking about is the Brevard Emergency Amateur Radio Service. Ray Kassis, N4LEM, the county emergecy coordinator for ARRL and BEARS will be our guest speaker at the next club meeting. Now is the time to learn how TARC fits in the organization and prepare for the upcoming hurricane season emergencies. See you there.
KC4VIO, José
Abell's Anecdotes By Pike Abell W4EPU
As you may recall, the subject of my anecdote last month was about a single wire telephone system used on our family farm,
near Paragould, in Northeast Arkansas. The return path for the signals was earth ground. At the time, in the late 20s and
the 30s, it was the state of the art.
There were a lot of problems associated with that type of system. There was always a high pitch noise on the line and it
was often difficult to get a good ground connection, to name only a couple.
Our Hon Ed, Bob, W4YBI graciously shared an amusing story with me, concerning problems with a similar system. In
turn, without further ado, I shall now share it with you, verbatim:
"An elderly lady phoned her telephone company to report that her telephone failed to ring when
her friends called and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always moaned right before the phone rang.
"The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly lady. He climbed a
nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then
the dog moaned loudly and the telephone began to ring.
"Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found that the dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire
via a steel chain and collar. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose. And the dog was receiving 90 volts of
signaling current when the phone number was called.
"After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate on himself and the ground. The wet ground
would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring. Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by
pissing and moaning."
73 es 88s Pike
DOUBLE HEADER Fox Lake and Kars Park
Members of the Titusville Amateur Radio Club scored a double victory on April 9th when they joined the Kiwanis Club at
Fox Lake Park and NASA at Kars Park on Merritt Island for simultaneous public service events.
Among the hams at Kars Park were Bud K4CWG, Sherry KU4ZO,
John KE4ZPA, Pat KF4LTY, Mic KI4CFA, Taylor KI4GMJ, Gary
AF4LD, Art W2GIT, Bob W4YBI, Linda KG4YFN, Jimmy KF4ZOL,
John WB3JBK, Pat KA3AAG, Carole KC4VIN, José KC4VIO, Bob
K4WSJ, Jay WB4ZWI, Gary W4RBI and Jodi.
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Three complete stations were set up
with a fourth one on standby. Bob,
John Porter and Gary on 20 meters ran
neck and neck with Taylor and Sherry
on two meters for the total contact
leadership. Each of them promised the ham on the other end of the ether a special QSL
card..jpg)
John Renninger and his team on 40 meters were less successful. Their "Bazooka" antenna (shot over two nearby trees
by Mic the marksman) just would not allow their transmitter to put out full
power. Later it was determined that the antenna had changed resonate
frequency for some unknown reason. A full investigation is underway.
More than 9,000 turned out at Kars Park for the All American Picnic and celebration of America's Return to Flight. The roll out of the shuttle Discovery three days earlier was a hot topic.
The following TARC members helped support the Kiwanis' Family Fun Fest at Fox Lake Park: Don Spade AD1S, Jim Renfro W5CIP, Jim's XYL, Liz Renfro, Rob McKiness KI4DYJ, Rob's sister, Stephanie, who is studying to become a Ham! Holland Starkey W4NMB,
Cathy Johnson KI4GMF, Alan Johnson KI4GOB, Hank Phillips AA4HP, and Stephanie Phillips K4MVO.
Although we had a bit of competition with the Hay Rides, the Fire Truck, and the Blue Grass Band, we still managed to get
21 guest operators (kids) to make contact with K4KSC out at KARS Park on 2 meters. All were excited about their first
ever radio communications experience and all are looking forward to receiving their very own special post card (QSL card)
from the Kennedy Space Center team. A big thanks to the KARS Park team for putting smiles on so many faces and for
allowing us an opportunity to explain the hobby to the kids' parents.
I don't know who had more fun, the kids or us. Setting up was a breeze - the Kiwanis reserved a table for us and provided electricity, so all we had to do was set up radios, power supplies, and string antennas. We used my Icom IC 2100 FM, 2 meter Transceiver with a Ringo Ranger 5/8 wave, stuck on an 8 foot pole; and we used Jim's Icom 706, multi-band, multi-mode Transceiver as our HF rig for the event. No amplifiers - we worked barefoot. We put up a 10 meter Di-pole between 2 Palm trees. We also strung up an 40 meter Di-pole, but because of limited real estate we ended up stringing it sort of like an inverted V, but on a horizontal plane - I know, not the optimum configuration, (You can stop laughing now!) but we did manage to check-in to a Coast Guard Net out in Texas on 20 meters. Unfortunately the KARS Park team was in our Skip Zone, and of course we were in their Skip Zone, but we could hear all the many stations they were working on HF.
I want to give a big thanks to all of you who helped make this a fun and informative Public Service Event. And a very
special thanks to Jim, Don, Holland, Rob and Hank, for providing all the gear, and of course to Al, Cathy, Stephanie, and
Liz for helping put it all together. You earned us some very complimentary comments from the event organizers, and they
have asked us to consider participating again next year. I told them I didn't think it would be a problem, so I hope you can
make it! 73's Stephanie Phillips, K4MVO
Congratulations
Cathy Johnson KI4GMF, Alan Johnson KI4GOB and Jimmy Edwards KF4ZOL have completed their CERT training. The
Citizens Emergency Response Team program is designed to provide community authorities with trained volunteers to help
in the wake of emergencies like tornadoes, hurricanes etc.
For Sale Heathkit SB220 KW Amplifier - $300, Kenwood TS-520 Transceiver - $250, and Kenwood TS-700A
Multimode 2 Meter Rig - $200. Contact Roy Hill W6QCM at 453-4865.
EOC Net Moving The EOC net on the 147.135 repeater which has been conducted at mid-week is moving to a new time.
It will now be called at 7 PM on Monday evening All check-ins are welcome.
It's a "puzzlement" Ham Radio Vocabulary Test By Fred McKenzie K4DII
P X Y X M X D R V F N L X X G J O R Y D
D J J J B U K O O H Y K S V A T O Q W H
D V H E X T I C Y T E I Q A O R Y N D R
W T T K W R Q A P M O Y N C U L O A E W
J O D P Y R N J F J O T P E U I T V I A
R E S I S T A N C E E O T A T R I A R T
M T F G T B R G A N E A N A O E R R G V
M O H Y R R Z A N P M N G B C F E E R E
O I A I R R A A M A G A O S O P I Q N N
M T G U T E K N D P P R N H Y U P Y V T
T O K F T J T W S O L A E T P Y N K A R
E R R F R O F T R M R I E C U O I C B C
L D R S A E P P A T I L F O E I R P E W
E P E E E M Q A R B E T Q I E I B C G Y
G B P O W C P U T T X S T E E Z V Q I S
R M E A O O O E E C C V V E L R V E P M
A Q A J C V P D R N H N D Y R O M P R C
P L T E H K O B E E C I H F P D P K C H
H K E F B Y E Q Z Q S Y G B Y H C I E B
U V R B M V O T Z A W Z P Y W W T H D C
Find these hidden words in the above puzzle:
AMATEUR AMPERES AMPLIFIER ANTENNA
AUTOPATCH BATTERY BEAM CURRENT
DIPOLE FREQUENCY MICROPHONE MOONBOUNCE
MORSECODE PACKET POWER PROPAGATION
RECEIVER REPEATER RESISTANCE SKYHOOK
TELEGRAPH TELETYPE TRANSCEIVER TRANSMITTER
VOLTAGE
March Meeting Minutes by Becky Lee, Secretary-Treasurer
After the usual opening ceremonies, President Bud Hughes K4CWG talked about the two opportunities the club has to
promote Ham Radio. Both events take place on the same day. Stephanie K4MVO will have a booth at the Kiwanis affair at
Fox Lake, and another group of members will have a booth at The Return To Flight picnic at KSC. Bud and others
reported on the illnesses of various members. Les K4SJC is at Vista Manor Nursing Home.. Pike K4EPU is at home after a
mild heart attack. Art KC2ENO is ill, and Lou N2CTQ is also very ill.
José KC4VIO talked about the 14th anniversary of the Mosquito Net, and announced there will be a potluck supper at the home of Stephanie K4MVO to celebrate the anniversary. José also announced that he and Stephanie would conduct a code class if enough people are interested.
New members were voted into the club.
It was announced that Warren W4CEL is the Field Day chairman. If not enough people agree to work the event, TARC will
not participate in Field Day.
Mic KI4CFA, Taylor KI4GMJ, and John Isella K1KSC presented a very interesting and enlightening program on "What
Happens After You Key Up The Repeater". A lively discussion followed the program.
TITUSVILLE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
P.O. Box 73
Titusville, FL
FIRST CLASS MAIL
TREASURERS REPORT
Beginning balance 1/1/05 $2894.35
Deposits in 2005 1885.30
Total Income $4779.65
YTD Expenditures 1470.48
Balance as at 4/13/05 $3309.87
NEW MEMBERS
W4SCB BOB WEAVER
KD4LLO DAVID WEBB
KD4JAU MICKEY RAMOS
KD4JYE TERESA RAMOS
W5CIP JIM RENFRO
RENEWALS
KE4AEB JO JORDAN
KE4MXF KAY JORDAN
KG4LOB ERROL STEVENS
KE4BBJ CHARLES PROSSER
KE4BBK ORA PROSSER
KC4RUF THOMAS RAC
KC4HIO RICHARD SWEATT
KC4HIQ SHIRLEY SWEATT
W4RNK ROBERT KEIM
N4NCZ ROD IWAN
WW4G BRIAN VAN ALSTINE
K4JDV JANET VAN ALSTINE
KG4MXJ PEDRO LORENZI
KE4YQF MARY LORENZI
KB4RBU VERN BAUER