March 2003 Ground Wave

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.

MARINETTE CO. TRAINING…

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.

MICHIGAN RACES NEWS…

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.

HAM CLASSES IN PROGRESS…

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.

WISCONSIN QSO PARTY TIME…

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

NEW U.P. HAM DIRECTORY…

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 26^th. 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