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
As
usual, the December meeting will be replaced by the club’s Christmas Party
on Thursday, December 11th at Schussler’s in Peshtigo. Social
hour at 6, dinner at 7pm A total of 26 reservations were received by the
December 3rd deadline. We’re looking forward to another enjoyable
evening as we celebrate the holidays.
Here’s
a final reminder that your 2004 club membership dues must be received by
December 31st 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.
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.
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 14th, 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.
Congratulations
to Mike Anuta, W8HKY, and his wife Marianne, who celebrated their 82nd
wedding anniversary on November 23rd. 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.
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.
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.
Respectfully
Submitted by
Jim Callow, K8IR
Secretary
Those
in attendance:
Jim
Callow, K8IR
Tom Rynish, N8LHB
David Cunningham, NS9R
Ed Engelman,
KG8CX
Dwight Bosselman, W9YQ
Erik Lowman, KB9ZQX
Lynne Rynish, N8OSK
Paul Drees, WC9E
Eric Janssen, KG9GH
Bob Schrader, AA9GZ
Earl Andre, KB9DSV
Bill Becks, WA8WG
John Goldschmidt, KC9AXH
Jeff Rymer, KE9S
Ashly Rymer
Brandon Rymer
Mary Rymer, KB9TPC
George Benoit, N9UGG