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

JUNE MEETING…

Our June meeting will be held on Thursday, June 9^th 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

 

PICNIC PLANS…

By Paul Drees, WC9E

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 12^th 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 .

 

ANNUAL YO-YO PICNIC…

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 22-24^th. 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 24^th.  Arde,. KA9WAR, who is a member of the EAA Chapter, along with KG8CX and K8IR attended a planning meeting at the airport June 2^nd 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 19^th 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 21^st. 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??????????????????

By Bob Schrader, AA9GZ

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) 

 

AMATEUR RADIO DAY…

June 25^th has been proclaimed Amateur Radio Day in Wisconsin. The proclamation was signed in Madison on May 20^th 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.

 

VANITY CALL UPDATE…

Congratulations to Joey Callow, formerly KC9HJR who is now sporting a new call reflecting his initials…W9JJC.

 

CONDOLENCES TO KB9NNW…

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 20^th anniversary.

Birthdays celebrated in June are:   Larry N9OSF, 10^th... Tim Mellenthin, KB9ZKN, 13^th… Tom, K0SN, 26^th...Al KG9BI, 27^th. 

 

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

 

 

AGENDA for M & M AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

 

June 9^th, 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