The Marinette and Menominee Amateur Radio Club
      GROUND WAVE

Repeater Frequencies 147.00 MHZ & 444.075 Mhz
Club Net: Sunday 7PM 147.00 MHz
Simplex DX Spotting and Ragchew Frequency 146.55
Web Page:  http://w8pif.com
                   Officers
                   President: Dave Cunningham, NS9R
                     Vice President: Dwight Bosselman, W9YQ
Treasurer: Tom Rynish N8LHB
Secretary: Jim Callow K8IR

The MMARC Newsletter                                             December 2003

CHRISTMAS PARTY…

As usual, the December meeting will be replaced by the club’s Christmas Party on Thursday, December 11^th at Schussler’s in Peshtigo. Social hour at 6, dinner at 7pm A total of 26 reservations were received by the December 3^rd deadline. We’re looking forward to another enjoyable evening as we celebrate the holidays.

 

DUES DUE…

Here’s a final reminder that your 2004 club membership dues must be received by December 31^st in order for you to remain on the membership roster. Dues are $15 for individuals, and $22.50 for families.  You can pay at the Christmas Party or send your check to PO Box 1082, Marinette, WI 54143. 

 

HAM OF THE YEAR…

It’s time to start thinking about nominees for the Ham of the Year award.  The HOTY plaque is awarded at the Charter Night Banquet.  Since we are planning to hold the 2004 Charter Night in the spring, a little later than in the past, you have a little more time to think about who you want to nominate.

 

LICENSE CLASS CONTINUES…

Seven enthusiastic students are working towards their Technician License at the M&M ARC license classes being held Saturday mornings at the Stephenson Public Library.  The class will meet again on December 14^th, and then take a break until January.  Testing is planned at the end of January. Anyone wishing to upgrade may also test at that time.

 

W8HKY MAKES THE NEWS…

Congratulations to Mike Anuta, W8HKY, and his wife Marianne, who celebrated their 82^nd wedding anniversary on November 23^rd.  The event was recorded in feature stories in the Eagle-Herald newspaper, as well as TV stations in Green Bay and Marquette.  Marianne celebrated her 101st birthday three days later. Mike continues to be a regular checkin on our Sunday night net.

 

KA9WAR AN ARRL NEWS CONTRIBUTOR…

The current ARRL Letter features this story quoting Arde, KA9WAR:

==>ARRL MEMBER TURNS 100!

The ARRL has conveyed its congratulations and best wishes to League member Cliff Fay, K7BQ, of Peoria, Arizona, who turned 100 this week. Arden Nelson, KA9WAR, reports that K7BQ still is active and recently checked into the Door County (Wisconsin) Amateur Radio Club net on 10 meters.

"He belongs to the DCARC, and for many years has spent his summers on Washington Island," Nelson said. Although the big day was December 2,
Fay's family reportedly celebrated the event November 29--the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

NBC Today show weatherman Willard Scott included Fay among his list of centenarians December 2 and mentioned the fact that Fay was a ham radio
operator and considered himself an active DXer. He's also a regular participant in the Lions Club's annual Hunting Lions in the Air contest.

First licensed as 9ARG in 1919 when he was 16 and living in St Louis, Fay has held his ham ticket continuously since then. That means he's been an
Amateur Radio licensee for 84 years! He's been an ARRL member for more than 35 years.--ARRL thanks Arden Nelson, KA9WAR, and Bob Reed, W2CE, for this information.

The story, along with a color picture of Cliff, also appears on the ARRL Web Site.

 

FROM THE ARRL…

ARLB069 New General Class Question Pool Released

The Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators has released a revised and expanded
Amateur Radio General class (Element 3) question pool into the public domain. The new question pool becomes effective July 1, 2004,
and must be used to generate all General written examinations administered on or after that date.

"The pool has been expanded to 432 questions," said ARRL VEC Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, a member of the Question Pool Committee, who
notes that all subelements grew slightly. "The largest increase in questions this time around was in our Operating Procedures and
Amateur Radio Practices subelements," he said. The General class question pool does not contain any diagrams or symbols.

The new Element 3 question pool is available on the ARRL Amateur Exam Question Pools Web page at
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/pools.html in Adobe PDF and ASCII text format. It includes all questions and answers relating to Element 3.

The Question Pool Committee now is turning its attention to developing an outline for an updated Amateur Extra class (Element 4)
question pool, which will be revised over the next 24 months, Jahnke said. It will go into effect July 1, 2006. The deadline to submit
input to the Amateur Extra question pool syllabus is May 1, 2004.

Commenters may address specific Element 3 questions as well as inputs to the Element 3 syllabus and question pool to the Question
Pool Committee via e-mail at, qpc@arrl.org.

 

ARRL SECTION NEWS…

You can keep up with latest club and ARRL activities around the state with the ARRL Section News pages available on the Internet.  The Wisconsin and Michigan links are listed below:

http://www.arrl.org/sections/WI.html

http://www.arrl.org/sections/MI.html

 

ARRL LOOKING FOR LEADER FOR MICHIGAN SECTION…

ARRL will re-solicit for candidates for the position of Michigan SM,
a post now held by Dale Williams, WA8EFK. Williams was appointed in
June to replace Debbie Kirkbride, KA8YKK, who stepped down.

 

MINUTES OF THE M&M AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

November 13, 2003

The November meeting of the M&M Amateur Radio Club was called to order at 7:03pm by President Dave, NS9R, in the meeting room at Spies Public Library in Menominee.

Members introduced themselves and told of their recent radio activities.

It was moved by AA9GZ and seconded by KB9DSV that the Minutes of  the October meeting be approved as printed in the Ground Wave.

Tom, N8LHB presented the Treasurers report as follows:

Deposits

            Dues                $200.00

 Disbursements

            City of Menominee
            2004 picnic reservation $30.00

            ARRL-BPL Spectrum
            Defense Funds              $35.00

            Postmaster-Stamps       $37.00

 

Checking account balance         $467.99
Savings account balance            $354.93

Total Assets                              $822.92

It was moved by WA8WG and seconded by KB9DSV to accept the treasurer’s report.

 

COMMUNICATIONS:

James Lehman, KA9URI of Milwaukeee, applied for membership.  It was moved by KB9TPC and seconded by AA9GZ to accept the application. The voice vote was unanimously in favor.

NS9R read an email communication from N8OSK regarding contacts of Emergency Directors should be through the respective county EC's.  NS9R commented
that contacts regarding official ARES/RACES business should come through the EC, but he felt it was OK for others to make contacts on other types of
business.  Eric, KB9ZQX, the Marinette County Emergency Director commented that he had no problem with this policy.

A letter from the UP Amateur Repeater Association was received, requesting dues for the coming year.  A motion was made by KG9GH and seconded by WA8WG to send $10.00.  The motion was passed unanimously.

A card from the Wisconsin Valley Radio Association noting a frequency change of their repeater in Wausau was read.  The new frequency is 147.135, PL 114.8.

A communication from Great Lakes Division Director K8JE was read, noting Members of Congress who have signed onto the ARRL Spectrum Protection Act of 2003.  The list includes Menominee Congressman Bart Stupak and Michigan Senator Carl Levin.

 

REPEATER REPORT:

KG8CX reports the pulsing noise was back on the 147.000 repeater, but not too loud.

WA8WG and KB9DSV reported progress on their repeater linking project.  Earl also thanked W9YQ and NS9R for helping to program the controller on his repeater.

 

NET REPORT:

KG8CX reported an average of 20-21 checkins for the Sunday net.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

Christmas Party reservation forms were in the November Ground Wave.

License classes are up and running Saturday mornings at the Stephenson Public Library. There are 7 students and 7 instructors.  Testing is planned for the end of January.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

The repeater committee will report back at the January meeting regarding a new tilt-over base for the repeater tower at the hospital building.

NS9R suggested the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of club meetings.  A motion made by AA9GZ and seconded by KG8CX was passed unanimously.

Eric Lohman, KB9ZQX, Marinette County Emergency Director,  reported the new law enforcement center will open, probably, in January. The EOC at the new building will have a permanent ham station. Eric reported he hoped to have money from a grant coming in January to purchase amateur radio equipment.

Jeff, KE9S, Marinette County EC, brought along vests for ARES/RACES members.  He reported Wisconsin State EC, Stan Kaplan, had stepped down from his post, being replaced by KB9ENO.

 

Following the business meeting, a prize giveaway was conducted by KB9DSV.  Prizes were provided by Tower Electronics of Green Bay.

 

A motion to adjourn was made by N8OSK and seconded by WC9E.