February 2003 Ground Wave

FEBRUARY MEETING...

Plan to attend the monthly meeting on February 13th, 7pm, in the cafeteria of BAMC Menominee facility. Tentative agenda items include field day, repeaters, by-law updates, upcoming social activities, and any other business that may be brought up by club members.

We had an excellent turnout for the January meeting, and look forward to another good one this month.

CHARTER BANQUET...

KG9GH’s whole family attended Charter Night to see him accept his award.

The club’s annual charter night was held Saturday February 1^st at Schussler’s Peshtigo Highlights of the evening included the presentation of the Ham of the Year award to Eric Janssen, KG9GH, and an informative talk by Eric Lohman, Marinette County’s Emergency Management Director.

W8HKY CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY...

On February 4th, Mike Anuta, W8HKY celebrated his 102nd birthday. He is still active on our Sunday evening net, and is one of the oldest hams in the country. Both he and Marianne, who is 100 years.old, reside at Rennes East in Peshtigo. All of us in the club wish you a most Happy Birthday.

WEATHER SPOTTER TRAINING SESSION SCHEDULED...

We will have a spotter training session on March 13th at the River Cities Chamber of Commerce office in Menominee (corner of 10th and 10th). It will be presented by the Marquette weather office, and is open to all emergency personnel and M&M ARC members. Marge Bramschreiber, the Menominee Co. Emergency Management Director, organized the session and is in charge of arrangements. This is a great time to review general spotter procedures, and learn new ones in preparation for the severe weather season, which can start as early as late March and April.

As always, the local SKYWARN net will be activated upon request from either the Marquette or Green Bay weather office. We will use the 147.000 repeater, with the 444.075 and/or 147.330 as backups. Additionally, the 146.835 Abrams repeater will also be used during SKYWARN activation for weather situations covering Oconto County.

Because of the training session, there will be no club business meeting in March.

CLUB REPEATERS PLAYING WELL…

Both the 147.000 and the 444.075 M&M ARC club repeaters are working very well at the BAMC location. Ever since Noel, K8NB, "tuned" up the receive and various other parameters of the 147 machine, it has improved coverage. The 444.075 has remarkable coverage from 100 feet. KE9S has been able to access it full quieting from west of US141. Its coverage is almost as good as the 147.000 at times. But, we must bear in mind, that with all the foliage off the trees, 440 signals, being more affected by foliage, and other obstructions, travel farther, and we do have an 11db gain antenna to work with. Coverage may drop a bit once warm weather arrives, and leaves appear, but should still be much better than we had before.

DOOR COUNTY ARC PURCHASES NEW REPEATER...

The Door County club who operate several repeaters, including the 147.210 in Sturgeon Bay, have just purchased a new repeater. It may well be up and running by the time you read this. It runs about 50 watts, and replaces a much older one that has been giving them some problems. Running full power again gives that repeater a much greater range, and some additional features.

This is a good time to remind all that the Good Morning net runs daily at 8:00 am Monday through Saturday on the 147.210 repeater. Other Door County repeaters are the 147.180 Sister Bay, the 146.730 (pl 107.2) in mid county, and the 444.000 (pl 107.2) in Sturgeon Bay.

HAM RADIO CLASSES UNDERWAY...

The 2003 Amateur Radio Classes are underway. Tuesday February 4^th, the four students along with instructors WC9E, KG8CX, and K8IR met at the K8IR QTH. Demonstrations of several types of equipment and modes were given. Future sessions will be held at 6:30pm Tuesdays at the Stephenson Public Library in Marinette.

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE…

Jeff, KE9S reports he is selling the equipment from the estate of Mel Marquardt, WD9N of Lena, who passed away in December. The list includes:

Kenwood 440s-AT $400.00
Kenwood MC-80 Microphone $45.00
MFJ Tuner 945-D $40.00
Motorola W810C Power Supply $40.00
MFJ Electronic Keyer 422B $45.00
Conar OHMS Meter Model 211 $10.00
Turner 2 Microphone $15.00
J-37 Key $10.00
Coax switch Avanti $2.00
Midland 4 function Test Meter $ 5.00
Vanco SWR-2 Field Strength and power SWR Meter $5.00
Hustler Mobile Antenna with 10,15,20,40 meter Resonator's $50.00
Hustler 2 meter Antenna $10.00
2 meter antenna Unknown brand $5.00
Kenwood HT it is a Th-215a with a stand up rapid charger Model BC-7
$50.00

If interested in any of the above items you can email Jeff at
ke9s@arrl.net or 146.550 simplex, 147.000 repeater or 146.835 repeater.

CLUB INVENTORY NEEDED

As per the minutes in the January issue of the Groundwave for the November 2002 meeting the club secretary is to compile and maintain a complete listing of all equipment, etc. the club owns and to keep a inventory of current items at all times. ANYONE who has club property needs to provide to the secretary a written listing giving complete details as to what club property they do have in their possession and mail or deliver this information to the club secretary.
This includes all equipment with a detailed listing of what you do have. Please send all information to the secretary to the P. O. Box 1082 Marinette, WI 54143. I also need a complete listing of equipment at both repeater sites. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Gary, KG9AD

FROM THE ARRL LETTER…

We Energies, a Wisconsin gas and electric utility, has given ARES/RACES organizations <http://wi-aresraces.org> in 17 Wisconsin counties a total of $39,000 to enhance their emergency communication capabilities.
"We are excited about this timely award, which will bring needed equipment to several of our counties," said Wisconsin Section Emergency Coordinator Dr Stan Kaplan, WB9RQR, who also serves as RACES Chief Radio Officer in the Badger State. "We thank We Energies for their forethought and generosity."

Kaplan said the grant would help to build an effective statewide packet network for use during emergencies. He also said he hopes the idea will "snowball" and inspire other companies to follow suit.

Counties picked to receive funds were those with at least 5000 We customers, and funds were apportioned according to the number of customers it serves in county. The top grant of $9000 went to Milwaukee County,
while Waukesha County got $6000 and Racine County $3000. ARES/RACES organizations in 14 other Wisconsin counties plus one We-served county in Michigan got $1500 each.

The January 9, 2003 meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by club President Jim Callow K8IR.

A moment of silence was held for SK John Edquist W8NZV and SK Mel Marquardt WD9N. A motion was made by Paul Drees WC9E and seconded by Keith Tonn N9PQV to approve the club donation of $50.00 the officers of the club made to the John Edquist Fund. All in favor motion carried.

The minutes for the November 2002 meeting were published in the January 2003 Groundwave. The President asked if there were any corrections. December 2002 there was no business meeting at the Christmas Party December 12.

beginning balance....................................................271.08
deposits..................................................................517.50

disbursements:
Lynne Rynish - roll of stamps....................37.00
Schussler's Christmas Party.....................369.43
Salvation Army - donation........................50.00
Rose Mary Edquist - memorial
for John Edquist W8NZV.......................50.00
Randy Zandt - Christmas Party refund......15.00
Balance in Checking.........267.15
Balance in Savings............348.88
Total Assets.....................616.03

A thank you letter was received from the Salvation Army for the donation the club gave.

Edward Engleman KG8CX reported the Sunday evening net has been averaging 20 plus checkins. Noel Beardsley K8NB reported the 147.000 repeater is now in top running condition and some members at the meeting reported the repeater is performing much better for distance communications.

Jim K8IR presented congratulations to Eric Janssen KG9GH for his ham of the year award and remarked you need to attend Charter Night to receive your award.The annual Christmas Party was held Thursday December 12 at Schusslers in Peshtigo and enjoyed by all who attended.

Is the club going to have ham radio classes this year? At the present time there are two persons interested. Information will be put in the local papers in the area and also on Cable TV. Contact persons will be Paul Drees and Jim Callow. If any interest possible start date of February 4th.

A weather spotting training session will be held March 13 in Menominee at 6:30 pm. There will be no meeting in March because of the weather spotting training session Thursday night.

A discussion took place about improving coverage of the 147.000 repeater. Brought up was linking it to the 146.835 Abrams repeater. After much discussion over the issue of the 400 foot tower location and the hospital location cost is a major issue for linking. Lynne N8OSK presented some facts on the issues regarding the repeater move from the old CATV tower back to the hospital site. Paul Drees WC9E made a motion to table the repeater linking issue at this time seconded by Lynne Rynish. All in favor motion carried.

Gary Luthardt................................KG9AD
Ed Engleman.................................KG8CX
Jim Callow....................................K8IR
Lynne Rynish................................N8OSK
Dan Wagner.................................N9OWD
Keith Tonn...................................N9PQV
Jeff Rymer....................................KE9S
Mary Rymer.................................KB9TPC
Brandon Rymer
Ashly Rymer
Bill Becks....................................WA8WG
Noel Beardsley............................K8NB
Bob Schrader..............................AA9GZ
Dwight Bosselman.......................W9YQ
Paul Drees..................................WC9E
Eric Janssen................................KG9GH
John Goldschmidt.......................KC9AXH
Earl Andre..................................KB9DSV
Don Conant................................N9GRK
Tom Rynish................................N8LHB