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
Officers
President: Jim Callow K8IR
Vice President: Ed Engleman KG8CX
Treasurer: Lynne Rynish N8OSK
Secretary: Nathan Luthardt KB9NNV
The MMARC Newsletter June 1999
JUNE
MEETING...
Our
next regular meeting is on June 10th, in the cafeteria of BAMC in Menominee
starting at 7pm. We will finalize Field Day plans, and begin preparations
for our special event station.
AUGUST
PICNIC...
The summer picnic is scheduled for Sun. Aug. 22 in the new pavilion at Henes
Park. Plan now to attend this 50th session. Reservation forms and
details in the July newsletter. We will also extend an invitation to our
friends in Door county and to all former members of the M&M ARC. Hopefully
we'll have a good response for this event.
FIELD
DAY PREPARATIONS...
This
year FD will take place at the QTH of Tom Hellem, K0SN. He is located on
Two Mile Road just off County Trunk
W, going
northwest towards Crivitz. Both groups, BAWA, and
M&M ARC will be set up there. Each group will have a separate
location so as to minimize QRM. The BAWA station will be “competitive”
and run for the full 24 hours. Our club station will be the “fun” type
social operation, and probably only run daylight hours. Plenty of
cameraderie will exist during this operation, not to mention the proper field
day food. Let us know if you can work the M&M ARC station. It
should be lots of fun. We will be under cover in case of bad weather. We
certainly appreciate K0SN's offer to use his large spread this year.
Thanks Tom!
ANTENNA
BUILDING / STEAK FRY....
We
will be holding an antenna construction session at the Field Day site on Sunday,
June 6. Both groups (M&M
ARC and BAWA) will be building and testing FD antennas. Following that, a
steak/hamburger cookout will be held. All M&M ARC members who are NOT
members of BAWA are asked to bring along their preferred meat and eating
utensils. Remember, the location is at K0SN's QTH on Two Mile Rd, just off
county "W". Watch for the road sign after you turn off Hwy 64 on
to "W" (Several miles on your left coming from Marinette or
Peshtigo.) See you there for yet another of our numerous club social
gatherings.
MAY
FISH FRY HELD IN LENA...
This
month the club fish fry was held at "The Barn" in Lena with a number
of family members attending. Thanks to Larry, N9OSF, for making the
reservation for us. We probably will not have one in June, as we already
have a steak fry and Field Day scheduled. It's
possible one will be scheduled for July, but we realize summer is a very busy
time for many members, and we may wait until fall.
REPEATER
NEWS...
The
147 repeater works well with excellent range. The wind static continues to
plague us though. Many members have commented on this problem, which mars
an otherwise great sounding system. However, a solution is not too far
off. We expect to have the problem corrected soon, and have everything
back to snuff. Noel, K8NB is well aware of this and is working to have it
corrected. We also have a good chance of upgrading the 444.075 machine
this summer, by moving the antenna to the main tower, and changing to a
different repeater with greater power. The present repeater runs at 8 watts out
with the antenna at only 80 feet. At UHF frequencies, height is
everything. So a move to an antenna at even twice the height would make a
big difference. There are many hams in the area with 440 capabilities who
would probably make use of a system that had decent range. More on this in
future newsletters.
DAYTON
REVIEW...
The following made the
trek to Dayton, Ohio recently: KG8CX,
KG9AD, KB9NNV, KB9SPL, N9PQU, K0SN, and WC9E. While there we also met with
Tom, N4XP. Also joining us were Jim Painter, AE1W, Cole's grandfather, and
Joanne, his grandmother. They had their mobile home at Dayton for the
week. It was great to have Jim and Joanne join us. They are some nice
folks. Weather was good, no rain and moderate temperatures. Three of
the group made a rather unique purchase....the tiny Alinco credit card sized 2
meter HT. You must see it to believe the size. It was on sale at the
AES booth for $39.95. What a bargain! It only puts out 1/3 watt, but
enough to get into the repeater and to use simplex for several miles. Ask
KB9NNV about his "prize acquistion". Talk about luck. KB9SPL
picked up two 2 meter HT's, so he should be heard now on a regular basis.
Several of us also had the chance to hear Riley Hollingsworth, the top FCC
amateur radio enforcer, speak, as well as astronaut Owen Garriot. Many
young hams were in evidence this year.
On
Friday. May 28, four members met with the new Marinette county emergency
government coordinator, Renelle Schaffer. Attending the meeting were Jim,
K8IR, Lynne, N8OSK, Ed, KG8CX. and George, N9UGG. The meeting was called
by the EC in order to get to know the scope of amateur radio in the area and how
we could help them. It was a productive meeting, and
we all came away with a positive feeling. She is considering obtaining her
ham license, possibly after first attending our winter classes. It appears
that we finally are being recognized in both counties for the communications
help we can provide in times of need. We will invite
her to a future meeting. Thanks to George for being instrumental in
getting this meeting set up.
SKYWARN
SYSTEM...
W e
have as yet, not had a severe weather situation where the local system was
called up to provide reports to the NOAA office in Green Bay or Marquette.
However, you can expect one at any time when severe weather threatens. The
Northeast Wisconsin Skywarn Network of which we are a part, is directed out of
the Green Bay weather office, where a complete amateur station is located.
New antennas are being located at the tower there to access the Wausau area, and
allow that area to become a part of the system, as well as using the 145.110
linked repeater at Wabeno, to reach into north central Wisconsin. When
severe weather is expected, quite a large area can be called up from Green Bay
to allow spotter reports to be passed along to the meteorologists.
We are a part of that system, and represent Marinette County, as well as
Menominee County, Michigan. Your spotter reports are very valuable whether
they be fixed or mobile, and are greatly appreciated by the staff at NOAA
weather.
DAYTON
AND SUMMER READING…
By Paul Drees, WC9E
While
strolling through the flea market Friday morning, I came across Cindy Wall,
KA7ITT, and famous amateur radio author. Without any hesitation, I dished out
six dollars for her recent book “A
Spark to the Past.” She nicely
autographed it, and as I walked away to view the next booth, I recalled last
year when KB9NNW had a discussion with Cindy:
“How about a story about the midwest, The Upper Great Lakes, Marinette
and Menominee County, the Peshtigo
Fire, the UP, and...and.. ” “But I’m only familiar with the Oregon area
and the far west.” Marty chimed
in, “Well , Paul and his brother Larry and I can provide the necessary
background information; we would
make it a team attempt.” “Nice
idea,” Cindy replied, “let me know.”
After
viewing another 120 flea market sites, I remarked to KB9NNW, an assistant
principal at Starbucks Middle School in Racine, and whose cottage is on the
shores of Green Bay just south of Marinette,
“ Marty, we need, if we are serious, to do our own thing. We need to
round up research people from our area and publish our own book.” Marty, with
his feet already aching, and edging toward the arena for a comfortable seat in
the upper deck, replied, “Yes with typists and help from our club, we could
make it a club effort, a club
project, a kind of aftermath to the
club’s 50th year”. “Let’s
do it!” the two of us shouted together.
Back
to the present. I have four of
Cindy’s books available to any member. The characters are Marc and Kim, a
couple of teenage Hams. They start out in high school in the early series
and mature into college students as the series progresses.
They will make for relaxing reading as you swing in your hammock during
the lazy, hazy days of summer.
I
also have a couple of Walter Tomkin’s paperbacks
- more adventure stories centered
around amateur radio.
If interested, call Paul at 735-7397 or e-mail Pdrees@webcntrl.com.
CHECK OUT COPPER COUNTRY NEWS...
For
those of you with internet capabilities , check out the CCRAA web
site at:
http://w8yy.resnet.mtu.edu/~ccraa/
We
will have a news item in the June issue of their newsletter, as we did last
month. This gives us even greater coverage than what we could get via the
net or our own newsletter. We appreciate the great cooperation from
their editor in allowing us to submit items to their paper.
This month’s GROUNDWAVE is printed courtesy of Peninsula Office Equipment of Menominee on a Minolta Dialta Digital Copier.
PRB-1 bills active in several states:
Bills to incorporate the essence of the limited federal
preemption known as PRB-1 into state law are active in several states. A bill in
Maine has just been signed by the Governor there.
Oregon's PRB-1 bill, Senate Bill 879, just cleared the state Senate by a 26 to 3
margin and has been sent on to the House of Representatives for action. Oregon
hams are being urged to contact the Chair of the House Rules, Elections and
Public Affairs Committee and their own Representatives to urge speedy and
positive action on the measure. In Louisiana, HB 2088 has passed the House is
headed for the Senate. It would limit the authority of local governing bodies to
regulate amateur radio antennas.
Wisconsin, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, and Mississippi are in the planning
stages of similar measures. States that already have this type of legislation
include Texas, New Hampshire, Florida, Massachusetts, Wyoming, Virginia and
Washington.
We
are fortunate this has not been much of an issue around here…yet.
JUNE
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES..
Congratulations
to the following:
Anniversary
wishes go to George and Barb Benoit on the 19th, and Larry
and Nancy Buchholz on the 20th.