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: Paul Drees, WC9E
Secretary: Valerie Hallam, KC8WAI
The MMARC Newsletter June 2005
Our
June meeting will be held on Thursday, June 9th at 7pm at Henes
Park in Menominee. We’ll use the third pavilion if it’s available. Since
Spies Library closes at 6pm during the summer months, we must move our meeting
site during June, July, and August. Come
early and bring a picnic dinner. The
agenda will include Field Day plans and updates on other issues currently
before the club.
WC9E
reports a PK 88 donated by a SK along with several other amateur radio related
items will be raffled at the meeting. Tickets are still only $1 or 6 for $5.
Any other donations for future meetings are certainly appreciated.
We
hope to see you there.
The
complete agenda is included with this newsletter.
FIELD DAY HERE AGAIN…
By Jim Mans, AA9PB
Hello
all:
This
year’s field day will be a bit different from past but still promises to be
a great time for all at the usual KC8WJN site.
I
am still looking for volunteers to bring stations to operate from. Please
contact AA9PB to let me know what to expect for rigs and equipment as well as
what will be needed. It's time to step up to the plate, guys!!
The
theme this year is Operating and Elmering. To go along with the theme, the
normal field day routine of showing up and using a preset radio station will
be abandoned. All stations will be set up with the "HELP" of the
usual field day station providers. The stations will be set up as early Friday
evening or as late as Sunday morning. The idea being everyone will learn to
set up a complete station in an emergency situation and operate from it
(including antenna design, construction and erection). This is a very
important step in elmering anyone who is interested in setting up in an
emergency situation or portable location.
The Bay
Area Wireless Association will be putting dinner on Saturday evening as a fund
raiser to help offset some of the costs incurred this winter with the purchase
of their communications trailer, (that will be provided for an operating trailer
and Field Day Headquarters.)
A
good time is expected to be had by all, so don't miss out on all the eyeball
QSO's as well as good food and camaraderie. Of course there will be a
bonfire Saturday night!!
See
you at Earl's Field Day site, (check w8pif.com for a link to a map)..........
de AA9PB
The
M&M Amateur Radio Club picnic will be held at Red Arrow Park in Marinette
on the shores of Green Bay on Sunday August 14th. We will gather at noon or
before, and lunch will be served by 1PM.
As
in previous picnics, this will be a potluck, contact Paul, WC9E, or Maxine, at
735-7397 or pdrees@new.rr.com to
coordinate a dish to pass.
Dave,
W8DXX, and Jeanne, will again sponsor radio bingo, this time with a "new
twist."
With
so many drink options available, we thought each participant could bring his
own favorite. The club will furnish the barbequing of whatever. Your
suggestions will be appreciated. At least, the club should offer water and
coffee if requested.
Please
send your reservation , with $5 per participant, to our POB 1082 in Marinette.
So,
register your family and friends for the ambiance of Sea Gull Bar. Enjoy the
sandy beaches, swimming, and sand castle building.
W9JTL NAMED MENOMINEE COUNTY ARES/RACES EC…
Our
congratulations to Jason Lauzer, W9JTL, who has been appointed Menominee
County EC by the ARRL. Jason has
called a meeting for Sunday June 12th at 11:30am at the Mellen
Township Hall in Wallace. A letter has been sent to all licensed hams in
Menominee County inviting them to join. Amateurs
from adjoining counties, especially those already involved in ARES/RACES are
also invited. For more
information, contact Jason at w9jtl@arrl.net
.
The Yo-Yo ham group's annual picnic will again take
place at Holtwood Park in Oconto on Saturday June 18th, starting at 11am. John,
KB9VXJ, has again spearheaded the picnic plans, and has reserved the park
and covered shelter for the day.
Each person should bring their own food and soda,
and grills will be available. KS8O will be attending along
with his portable HF station (the one he used for the Door Co. K9L lighthouse
event) and "Buddi-Pole" antenna, along with VHF gear.
Since the 18th is also the ARRL "Kids Day" event, round up
some youngsters who, in addition to making some "QSOs" with
other kids around the country via amateur radio, can enjoy a fun day at the
expansive park facilities.
The Yo-Yo group is a very informal group of hams who
meet every Saturday evening on the 145.470 repeater at 8pm.
All are welcome for a day of fun and ham radio activity.
John, KB9VXJ of Sturgeon Bay checks in to the M&M
net every Sunday evening, and will keep all informed on picnic progress.
Talk in will be on the 146.835/146.880 linked repeater system.
T-34 FLYIN…
The local EAA
Chapter will be hosting a Fly-in of a squadron of at least 15 T-34 Warbirds at
Twin County Airport July 22-24th. The pilots of the vintage
trainers will be practicing at the airport the weekend before they head to the
EAA Airventure in Oshkosh. The
public will be invited to watch the maneuvers, and participate in a series of
events on Sunday July 24th. Arde,.
KA9WAR, who is a member of the EAA Chapter, along with KG8CX and K8IR attended
a planning meeting at the airport June 2nd and offered the help of
local hams with any communication needs for the event. Arde suggested a
net-control station in the airport terminal building along with amateurs
located at other locations around the airport.
Anyone wishing to help should contact Arde. We’ll have a better idea of the needs as the planning for
the event continues over the next few weeks.
LIGHTHOUSE
EXPEDITION…
by KS8O and
KC8ZVD
Well,
we planned and prepared for this expedition for the last three months and I
must say, it went off without a hitch and made many QSO’s.
On
May 19th 2005, we departed the Menominee area at 8:00 A.M. en route
to the Cana Island Lighthouse and arrived at about 11:00 A.M.
It was rainy, cold, and windy on the shores of Lake Michigan but we
were able to get the Buddy Pole antenna up on the roof of the car and began
the special event station under the call sign of K9L. We made only 56 contacts
that day not including the 2 meter repeater contacts. The cold and rain is
something that we were not completely prepared for so we ended up shutting
down the operation at 4:00 P.M.
On
Friday, we set up station at Eagle Bluff Lighthouse and proceeded to make
contacts all around the world. The
sun was shining and it turned out to be a fantastic day. P.J. (W9lPJ ) arrived at our station and helped operate for a
good part of the day, but the bands were very tight and we only made a total
of 39 contacts that day on HF.
The
big event came on Saturday the 21st. This was the day of the Door
County Lighthouse Walk. We set up station at the Sherwood Point Light house
and began operation at 8:00 A.M. There were hundreds and hundreds of people
walking right by our station and we had the opportunity to speak with many of
them about what we were doing there and about what ham radio is all about.
Pete Johnson (AB9PJ) was in charge of the Naval Sea Cadets that were there for
crowd control and security. What a great sight with all the Cadets in there
dress whites and their military manner working with all the visitors at the
lighthouse. Total contacts at
this lighthouse was 167 HF QSO’s. We talked to people from Menominee and
Marinette, all the way to the Azores Island and Hawaiian Islands.
On
Sunday, we started early at the Coast Guard Station where we set up again on
the cold shores of Lake Michigan and spent only three hours there. The bands
were in bad shape that morning and we decided to get an early start at the
Peshtigo Reef Lighthouse. We did make 10 HF contacts at the two lighthouses
from the coast guard station.
We
arrived at the Peshtigo Reef Lighthouse location at about 12:00 noon and set
up. It did not take long to start
making contacts. We were on 20 meter most of the time and made 96 contacts
there while operating. It was a great day there, but still a little cold. We
ran out of fuel for the generator at 4:00 PM and shut down the HF portion of
the operation.
The
equipment used for the expedition was the Kenwood TS-2000, the Buddy Pole
antenna, a 12 volt deep cycle Battery, and a Honda 3000 watt generator.
We only used the generator on the last day as the battery had begun to
get weak.
All
in all, it was a great success for Liz (KC8ZVD) and Jim (KS8O). We plan on
doing much more of this type of event in the future. It was a great time and
we were around great and interested people at many of the locations.
Grand
total of 398 QSO’s with many club members contacting us. Please remember, as
a club member you do not need a SASE. The Certificate will be distributed at a
future club meeting.
I
would also like to thank the Door County residents for their great hospitality
and for the use of their repeaters while we were there.
73’
All. Thanks for your participation and good wishes.
Jim
and Liz Pearson
KS8O
& KC8ZVD
YAVAPAI, NATCHITOCHES, PASQUOTANK AND SCHUYLKILL??????????????????
What the heck is a
Yavapai, Natchitoches, Pasquotank, or Schuylkill? They are all U. S. counties.
Being a county hunter you become familiar with names like these as they
are all part of the political structure of the U.S. being distinct political
entities of the country. There
are 3,078 counties in the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii.
In Louisiana they have parishes instead of counties, but they are the
same divisions as counties as in the balance of the United States.
Alaska is divided into districts and Hawaii has one island
(uninhabited) which is also designated with county status.
This county is run (put out for hams to have a QSO with) when the radio
operator, charters a boat, packs provisions for the day, takes an arm full of
batteries and spends the day on the island making it radioactive.
The island has no habitation, no commercial power supply, no
restaurants and no hotels. So
when someone announces that they will be putting out Kalawaeo, Hawaii on a
specific date you make every effort to be on frequency if and when he comes
up. Sometimes the
propagation stinks and you need to be very resourceful and use the full band
of frequencies available to your class license to be able to make that QSO. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out and you sit for several
hours and gnash your teeth. That
is why garnering all 3,078 counties can take years to accomplish and be quite
aggravating at times. I have been
at this goal for eight years, but have enjoyed each hour sitting and
monitoring the county hunters nets on 20 and 40 Meters.
When propagation for SSB makes
the 20 and 40 meter frequencies unworkable CW is the answer.
These guys while driving down the freeways are putting out counties
using a telegraph key and are very proficient at it.
Sometimes the mobiles who
are driving from county to county and state to state will work hundreds of
hams wanting the particular county the mobile is putting out and it is one
that they desperately need to complete a state in its entirety will respond to
his written QSL card sent to him for confirmation of a contact with a
“sorry, not in the log”. And
that is very frustrating because you know you worked him, but he was not able
to confirm your contact. In which
case, you wait for someone else to drive into that county at a later date and
try to make contact and get a confirmation. A driver driving down the freeway
at 70 MPH cannot be expected to log his contacts by hand and so a small tape
recorder is used which the ham at the end of his trip transcribes to a log to
enable him to respond to QSL requests. At
times mistakes are made and hence a “not
in the log” response is issued.
Each QSO must be confirmed
via QSL card stating the time, call, date, county and have your call on it.
I have a shoebox full of confirmations with all the information on
cards. The awards manager who issues numbers to hams who have
completed all counties after checking to see that they have complied with all
the requirements for the award will request proof of contact by having
five cards of counties of his choosing submitted for his perusal. In
other words the integrity of the award is maintained by careful monitoring to
keep all on the up and up.
So now you know all about
county hunting and the way it
works.
And I must mention that
after “going around once” there are people who are working on the “fifth
time around”. That is, doing
all 3,078 counties completely five times around!
That makes me wonder if they are still married? As it does require lots
of time and it is very infectious.
Don’t start if you are not serious about completing your goal.
I have submitted all my
paper work and am awaiting a sequential number from the awards chairman which
I will proudly display in my shack
I should tell you that
there are only 1,118 hams in the U.S. and Europe who have accomplished the
task so it is somewhat of an exclusive fraternity.
Bob Schrader, AA9GZ
(County Hunter)
June
25th has been proclaimed Amateur Radio Day in Wisconsin. The
proclamation was signed in Madison on May 20th by Governor Jim
Doyle, with ARRL Wisconsin Section Manager Don Michalski, W9IXG,
Section EC Bill Niemuth, KB9ENO, and other hams in attendance.
The proclamation recognizes the public service provided by amateur
communications during times of emergency.
Amateur Radio Day coincides with Field Day 2005.
Congratulations
to Joey Callow, formerly KC9HJR who is now sporting a new call reflecting his
initials…W9JJC.
Our
sympathy to Marty and his family on the passing of his father on Sunday , May
29, 2005. As a member of our Club, Marty is a resident of Franklin, Wisconsin
and Marinette on the shores of Green Bay.
JUNE ANNIVERSARIES/BIRTHDAYS...
Congratulations
to Larry and Nancy Buchholz on their June 20th anniversary.
Birthdays
celebrated in June are: Larry N9OSF, 10th... Tim
Mellenthin, KB9ZKN, 13th… Tom, K0SN, 26th...Al KG9BI,
27th.
THANKS…to
all who contributed to this issue. This may be our best Ground Wave ever. Newsletter stories are always welcome. Email to jcallow@mari.net …K8IR
June
9th, 2005
1.
Call meeting to order
2.
Pledge of Allegiance
3.
Recognize guests and/or new members
Members
introduce themselves with their call sign and talk about their HAM Radio
activities in the past month. DX Stations worked, Antenna Projects, Contests
worked, etc.
4.
Approve Secretary's report as printed in the Ground
Wave
5.
Treasurer's Report (Paul)
6.
Communications to read (any club officer)
7.
Repeaters report
Update on the W8PIF repeater operation.
8.
Net report (Ed)
9.
Old Business....
Picnic updates. WC9E
Field Day progress. AA9PB
Boys & Girls Club update. WC9E
Club insurance / Repeater Committee report.
10.
New Business...
- Open to any member.
-
11. Field Day discussion.
MINUTES OF THE
M&M AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
May 12,
2005 Spies Library
Meeting
called to order by NS9R
Pledge
to the flag.
Individual
intros and radio activity
K8IR
and KG8CX did 17 counties in 24 hours
AA9GZ
Has completed his quest for all counties
New
Member: Dave Goddard KC9HOR
Secretary's
minutes stand as published
Treas.
Report $628.45 Checking $678.21 Savings Total
$1306.66
Repeater
Report: Reception was bad for the net on Sunday Static
WA8WG
reported he has a climber who will moonlight ...when moonlighting
he will have no insurance and the club would be responsible for
liability...injury and damage to property Can we buy insurance for a day???
There
are tower crews working in the area Bill will call and see if they could
spare an hour or hour and a half of time.
The
cost of insurance for the club will be looked into . K8IR will
call and call Jim Swanson to find exact needs. KG9GH will climb the tower with the assistance of KO9N.
The
cost of the insurance is not to exceed $450.00..with the original figure of
$300.00 to be held in abeyance. That motion was carried
Net
Report: 27 check ins suggested to change the repeater from 147.00
Bill offered his repeater link system. Everyone must be informed about
the change.
By-laws
committee...No report
Education:
Suggestions:
Classes at the DAR;
New HAM procedures and techniques
The
director of DAR is interested in having classes. Suggested the Education
Committee meet with him for an exploratory session.
KC8WJO
topic...radio etiquette break in procedures ..emergency break in
etc.
Do
this on the Sunday net or Instructors net?? Will be looked into
PICNIC:
August 14 noon at Red Arrow Park in Marinette
More
details next month.
Next
meeting MMARC June 9 Pavilion #3 at Henes Park. This is because the
library has switched to their summer hours and is only open to 6p.m.
New
Business:
Arde
KA9WAR the EAA will be for 4 days before the EAA in Oshkosh to practice
formation flying. There should be 20-30 air craft vintage 1955. July 23
and 24.
A
total of 6 people will be needed:
Net
control 3-4 one in a car at the end of the runway.146.55 will be the
frequency used.
There
may be an airplane ride available .
Liaison
to announce next EAA meeting at the airport...watch your e-mail.
Jim
K8IR gave a presentation on the log book of the world, a data base for
logging contacts.
Breakfast
at Schloegel’s Sunday.
Attendance:
David
Cunningham NS9R
wight
Bosselman W9YQ
Paul Drees WC9E
Larry Bucholtz N9OSF
Ed Engelmann KG8CX
Pete Johnson AB9PJ
Bill Becks WA8WG
Jim Voss KC8WJO
Eric Janssen KG9GH
Tyler Lehman KC9FKE
P.J.Johnson Jr. W9LPJ
Joey Callow KC9HJR
Jim Callow K8IR
Bob Schrader AA9GZ
Tom Hellem K0SN
Dave Goddard KC9HOR
Valerie Hallam KC8WAI
4-5 Hamfest
Starved Rock Radio Club, IL http://www.qsl.net/w9mks/hamfest.htm
4-5 IARU Region 1 Field Day, CW
4-5 WorldRadio Friends' Day QSO
Party
11-13 ARRL June VHF QSO Party
12 Hamfest Wheaton, IL
http://www.qsl.net/k9ona
18 Kid’s Day Contest
18-19 WV QSO Party
18-19 Quebec QSO Party
25-26 ARRL Field Day
1 RAC Canada Day Contest
9 SMARC Swapfest Oak Creek
http://www.qsl.net/wa9txe/
9 Fists Summer Sprint
9-10 IARU HF World Championships
10 Hamfest FRRL Batavia, IL
http://www.frrl.org
14 MMARC Meeting – form
nominating committee
16-17 North America RTTY QSO
Party
16-17 CQ WW VHF Contest
17 Hamfest Kankakee, IL
http://www.w9az.com
23-24 Great Lakes Sweepstakes
4-7 Waterfront Festival
6-7 NA QSO Party CW
6-7 Ntl Lighthouse Wkend QSO
Contest
6-7 10-10 Summer Contest SSB
11 MMARC Meeting
13-14 MD QSO Party
14 MMARC Picnic
21 Hamfest BARS Joliet, IL http://www.k9bar.org.
20-21 NA QSO Party SSB
20-21 NJ QSO Party
27-28 HI QSO Party
27-28 OH QSO Party
27-28 KY QSO Party
8 MMARC Meeting (Officer
Elections)
11 NA Sprint CW
10-12 ARRL September VHF QSO
Party
10-12 AR QSO Party
11-12 TN QSO Party
16-17 W9DXCC Convention
Northern Illinois DX Association
http://www.w9dxcc.com
17-18 Hamfest Grayslake http://www.chicagofmclub.org/
17-18 QCWA Fall QSO Party
18 NA Sprint SSB
24-25 CQ WW DX RTTY Contest
24-25 TX QSO Party
MMARC
Hamfest / Campout
1-2 CA. QSO Party
8-9 PA. QSO Party
8 Fists Fall Sprint
9 NA RTTY Sprint
10 10-10 Int. 10-10 Day Sprint
13 MMARC Meeting (New
Officers)
16-17 IL.
QSO Party
29-30 CQ WW DX Contest SSB
29-30 10-10 Int. Fall Contest CW
30 FISTS Coast to Coast
5-7 ARRL November CW SS
6-8 ARRL CW Sweepstakes
6 Hamfest Menasha, WI http://www.w9zl.org/
20-22 ARRL SSB Sweepstakes
27-28 CQ WW DX Contest CW
3-5 ARRL CW 160 Meter Contest
10 – 11 ARRL 10 Meter Contest
11-12 ARRL CW/SSB10 Meter Contest
27 RAC Canada Winter Contest