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: Jim Callow K8IR
Vice President: Ed Engleman KG8CX
Treasurer: Lynne Rynish N8OSK
Secretary: Gary Luthardt KG9AD
The MMARC Newsletter March 2003
WEATHER SPOTTERS TRAINING
REPLACES MARCH MEETING…
There
will be no club business meeting this month. Instead all members are
encouraged to attend an official weather spotters training session conducted
by meteorologists from the NWS office at Marquette, MI on
Thursday, March 13th, 2003, 7:00 p.m. at the River Cities Regional Chamber of
Commerce Building at the corner of Tenth Avenue and Tenth Street, Menominee,
Michigan.
The session is open to the amateur radio operators, law
enforcement, fire fighters, first responders and anyone else interested in
becoming a trained weather spotter.
Due to space limitations, anyone attending must be at least 18
years of age.
For further information, please contact Marge Bramschreiber,
Menominee County Emergency Coordinator at 906-863-9817.
Persons
who are unable to attend the Menominee County Weather Spotter Training will
have an opportunity to attend one of two sessions scheduled for Marinette
County.
These
sessions will be held on Thursday, April 10 at the Niagara City Hall, Council
Chambers beginning at 6:00 p.m. or Friday, April 11 at the Peshtigo City Hall,
Council Chambers beginning at 6:00 p.m.
ON-LINE SPOTTER REPORTING SYSTEM…
Anyone
who is a trained weather spotter and has Internet access is invited to
volunteer to participate in the new "On-line Spotter Reporting
System".
Jeff
Last of the Green Bay NWS Office put out the call for spotters to participate
all year round for snow, fog, tornado, rain, hail, anything of a severe
nature.
If
you are a trained spotter with Internet access and would like to participate,
please send an e-mail to: Jeff.last@noaa.gov
as soon as possible. This is open
to both Michigan and Wisconsin spotters.
If
you have questions, please contact Lynne N8OSK.
NEW CLUB MEETING SITE NEEDED…
Due
to the the phasing out of the security service at BAMC, Menominee which
means that the building will no longer be covered at night by security and
custodial personnel, our use of the building for club meetings will be
terminated by June 1. Our April and May meetings are ok. Lynne
Rynish, N8OSK has been checking out other options, where we can meet on a
regular basis. There are some promising leads. We'll let all know
when a location is finalized.
During
the coming year, it appears our club may have the opportunity to participate
in a RACES HAZMAT exercise with the Michigan State Police.
Persons
who participate and wish to become RACES members will be required to complete
and sign a form to undergo a criminal background check.
Anyone who refuses to undergo the check will not be allowed to
participate in the exercise or join the RACES team.
The
criminal background check will be done through the EIN/NCIC System.
This
is just one more example of the entire country gearing up for homeland
security.
As
information becomes available, it will be published in the Ground Wave and
announced at the monthly club meetings.
If
you have questions, please contact Lynne N8OSK.
Currently,
there are three persons enrolled in classes held Tuesday evenings at the
Stephenson Public Library in Marinette. If you know of someone who would
be interested in working toward their ham license, we would welcome their
attendance. Classes will continue through late March or early April with
a VE test session possibly on our April meeting night.
Jim
K8IR, Paul WC9E and Ed KG8CX are instructing the group. Anyone is
welcome to sit in, or assist with some of the material.
ABRAMS REPEATER PROJECT ON SCHEDULE…
According to Bill, WA8WG, frequency and site coordination for the new Wausaukee repeater has begun. The repeater will be located on the Century-Tel tower in Wausaukee at the 100 foot level, and be linked up to the Abrams, 146.835 repeater. Current plans are to also have a remote receive site in Marinette to allow hand-held access to the system. Once operational, the system will allow for coverage from south of Green Bay to include most of Brown, Oconto, Marinette and Menominee (MI) counties, as well as portions of adjacent ones. Hopefully the system will be on the air by summer or sooner. The expanded coverage opportunities will be helpful in situations such as severe weather or when activated by county emergency government for situations involving the need for reliable communications and personnel. Additionally, all area hams will enjoy the capability of extended communications throughout a four county area, including the greater Green Bay area.
This
system will complement our local repeaters, and give us greater flexibility in
2 meter / 440 communications.
Earl,
KB9DSV is the owner and trustee of the Abrams repeater, and wants to remind
everyone that the current 146.835 repeater, and eventually the expanded
system, is open for the use of all ham operators, for any
legal purpose.
It's
that time of year that many Wisconsin hams look forward to. March 9th is
the date, and locally, the QTH of K0SN, Tom is the place. Tom will the
coordinator this year, and host a multi op, multi transmitter site at his
location in Porterfield. Some members will also be operating from their
home stations. For details on the contest, see: http://www.warac.org/wqp/wqp.htm
George
Thurner of the Copper County Amateur Radio Club has announced the 2003 version
of the U.P. Ham Directory will be available on April 26th.
If you are planning to attend the Copper Country Amateur Radio Club
Swap-N-Shop on April 26th, directories will be available for $3.00 per
directory.
If
you wish to order a copy, please e-mail George at W8FWG@ARRL.NET
to reserve a copy and have it sent to you for $3.00 for the directory, plus
shipping. (George will let you
know what the shipping charge will be for the directory)
Only 150 copies of the directory will be printed and the club has already received orders for 40 of the new directory. If you are interested, please contact George as soon as possible.
FROM JIM WEAVER, K8JE
Newly Elected Director, Great Lakes Division
I,
first of all, thank the many of you who made it possible for me to hold this
important position with the ARRL.
My goal is to represent the members and the best interests of Amateur Radio
throughout my term in this office. I congratulate Vice Director Dick
Mondro, W8FQT for remaining Vice Director and look forward to continued
cooperation with him as we strive mutually to advance Amateur Radio and ARRL.
I also thank former Great Lakes Division Directors Gary Johnston, KI4LA and
George Race, WB8BGY, and former Director and ARRL Past President George
Wilson, W4OYI for sharing their time and consultation so freely with me.
The assistance of Dick and these former leaders in our Division has been
extremely helpful to me, a true newbie on the Board.
GENERAL THOUGHTS
The ARRL Staff members as directed by the Board are working their tails off to
improve the position of Amateur Radio through state and national government
action, FCC action and International Treaty. The single most major
activity on the international front at present is the strong involvement of
the Staff to achieve “harmonization”; of the 7 MHz band and removal of
shortwave broadcast stations from it. This effort is quite costly,
requiring much overseas and US travel for meetings in foreign countries with
treaty delegates and representatives of Amateur Radio organizations in foreign
countries. ARRL negotiations internal to the US and internationally is
augmented by staffing and financial support it gives to the International
Amateur Radio Union and its overseas member organizations. In turn, IARU
member organizations are working aggressively with government agencies and
treaty delegation in their respective countries so Amateur Radio can present a
unified position at coming treaty negotiations. Your ARRL dues dollars
are very truly hard at work to benefit you.
Another major Staff activity is the ongoing battle to protect our frequencies
-- from throughout essentially the entire radio wave
spectrum -- from encroachment by commercial and other interests, and from
interference caused by devices that do not require specific licenses to
operate.
In the case of devices of the latter type, any of these that are authorized to
operate in Amateur Radio bands are required to transmit at such low power as
not to interfere with our operations. Not all of the devices sold by
these manufacturers comply with this limit. Many of them are causing
interference to repeater and other amateur operations. Be assured that through
your membership dollars, the HQ technical lab folks are constantly on guard
against such devices and along with the HQ
regulatory folks are working diligently to ensure FCC takes appropriate
actions against these devices and their makers.
Marinette
and Menominee Amateur Radio Club Minutes for the month of February 2003
The
February 13, 2003 meeting of the Marinette and Menominee Amateur Radio Club
was called to order at 7:07 pm by President Jim K8IR.
Moment
of silence for Howard Sorenson W8ZPU. A $50.00 donation for the
Memorial
Fund for Howard Sorenson lifetime member of the club was made into a motion by
Paul WC9E and seconded by Earl KB9DSV. All in favor.
Secretary's
report for the minutes of the January meeting stood has printed in the
February Groundwave per K8IR. There was no Treasurer's report this month.
Ed
KG8CX reported both repeaters are up and running and for the Sunday night net
20 to 22 people checking in.
OLD
BUSINESS:
There
was a good turnout for the Charter night banquet and Eric Janssen KG9GH was
honored has ham of the year along with his family attending the celebration
with a nice picture in the February Groundwave.
NEW
BUSINESS:
KG9GH
reported no revisions yet to be made on the by-laws.
WC9E
reported ham classes are being held at the library in Marinette and at the
present time there are three students. Classes start at 6:00 pm Tuesday night.
Please feel free to stop in.
Next
month there will be no meeting as there will be weather spotters training on
March 13 in Menominee.
A brief discussion took place on field day plans as to where to have this but nothing for sure basically decided to try to have it at a public place like a park. More discussion on this in April at the next business meeting. The main idea is to have it where the public can see amateur radio in operation.
Everyone
is reminded about the Wisconsin QSO Party on March 9 and the Michigan QSO
Party coming up on April 19.
A
discussion took place about the Skywarn season approaching and the use of the
147.000 repeater and backup repeaters 146.835, 147.330, 444.075, and
146.550 simplex.
A
presentation was made by Earl KB9DSV and Dave NS9R on what improvements will
be made on the Abrams repeater in the future.
A
new member WA8WG Bill Becks was approved and voted on by the members attending
the meeting.
Motion
made by Kurt K8BKA and seconded by Larry N9OSF to adjourn. All in favor.
Meeting
adjourned at 7:44pm by President Jim K8IR.
Submitted
by Gary W Luthardt KG9AD,
Secretary
In
attendance at meeting:
Jim
Callow...........................K8IR
Larry
Buchholz…………N9OSF
Ed
Engleman........................KG8CX
Amy Buchholz
Gary
Luthardt.......................KG9AD
Kurt Berge………………K8BKA
Nancy
Buchholz...................KA9UZC
Dave Arnold…………….W8DXX
Anne
Buchholz
Eric Janssen……………..KG9GH
Aaron
Buchholz...................KC9CTJ
Paul Drees………………WC9E
David
Cunningham………..NS9R
Earl Andre………………KB9DSV