July 2004 Ground Wave

The 2004 W8PIF Field Day Site

THE BEST FIELD DAY EVER…

Hours of planning and hard work paid off with over 1400 contacts in the log for Field Day 2004 at W8PIF. The team, headed by AA9PB, wanted to be loud, and went with gain wire antennas and amps on the low bands, and a tribander for 20 and above. Although Murphy, in the form of inter-station interference, prevented having all the available stations on the air at the same time, the antennas played as expected.

The 40 Meter CW setup

The 40 CW station alone logged over 600 contacts, and the 80 meter CW station was busy all night long. The two phone stations added nearly 300 QSO’s.

Tyler, KC9FKE tunes RTTY
with Jim, K8IR.

Twenty-seven hams and fourteen guests attended all or part of the weekend, for a total of forty-one in all. Most of the attending hams and several of the guests gained some operating time at one of the five stations. Thanks to N9LLA, we had a 2 meter FM/SSB station in operation for the first time, and K8IR made a handful of RTTY contacts before getting down to business on 20 CW.

Dave, W8DXX shows off the big rig.

The list of those who contributed to the effort is too long to list here, but special thanks have to go out to Earl, KC8WJN who is the best host you could ask for, and who served up a Friday night fish boil that many said was the best they had ever tasted, to Dave, W8DXX who let us give his 10KW Tractor powered generator it’s first big workout, and to Jim, AA9PB, who enthusiastically led the team.

AA9PB’S kid-size Jeep was a hit with the junior ops.

Most of all, it was a lot of fun for all involved, and we’re looking ahead to 2005.

FIELD DAY VE TESTING …

For the second year in a row we had a test session on Sunday at Field Day. Three hams participated. Gaining an upgrade to General class was KC8YZA, Jim Pearson, with his successful passing of both the CW and written segments. KC8YZB, Paul passed the 5 wpm code, and is now a Technician with HF. Congratulations to both Jim and Paul.

We also welcome two new VE's to the team, who gained their first test session experience at the FD session: K8IR and AB9PJ. Welcome guys. We now have 12 volunteer examiners on the M&M ARC testing team, headed up by Paul, WC9E.

SKYWARN NETS…

Two weather related activations occured during the month of June...

#1 June 13 on the 147.000 repeater with 12 fixed and 4 mobile stations participating. This was the one which occured during the Sunday net, and featured very unusual, colorful, and ominous cloud formations.

# 2 June 23 on the 146.835/146.880 linked system with 6 fixed and 5 mobile stations participating. This was the one which produced a number of tornados in the Fox Valley and Waupun area, and which threatened Oconto Co. as well.

Thanks to all who participated.

THANKS, JOHN…

John Weiterman, KB9VXJ of Sturgeon Bay has donated a Kenwood TM241A 2 meter transceiver to the club, along with a 2001-02 repeater directory and about a 12 ft. length of RG-8 coax. He wanted to make these available for anyone who gets their ticket and doesn't have a radio, or someone who may be without the use of a rig.

WATERFRONT FESTIVAL…

The M&M ARC will again being setting up a special event station at the Menominee Waterfront Festival on Saturday August 7^th from 10am to 3pm. It’s the National Lighthouse Weekend and the station will be activating the Menominee Pierhead Lighthouse USA-490. So far AA9PB, W9YQ, AB9JF, KC8ZVC, and WA8WG have volunteered to help. Any other members are encouraged to help out if you can.

MORE LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY…

From the Ohio DX Bulletin

Special event station, N9L, will be operating from several lighthouses along the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin from August 5-14th, including activation of the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse (USA-252) during the National Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, August 7-8th. Jim/W5AZN (ARLHS #484) and Patty/W5AZO (ARLHS #485) will be active at a different lighthouse for a few hours each day between 1400-2100z. Frequencies will be centered on 14270 or 7270 kHz (+/-). A QSL for each lighthouse as well as a certificate representing all of the lighthouses will be available to confirmed contacts and SWLs. QSL direct to W5AZN. For complete details of the N9L Lighthouse Expedition, visit the Web page at: http://www.w5azn.com

A SMALLER DAYTON STILL THE BEST…

By Jim Callow, K8IR

This year’s Dayton Hamvention was noticeably smaller, in attendance, commercial vendors, and the flea market, but it’s still the king of ham gatherings. The Hamvention attendance ahs been sliding for a few years now. Some of the cause was it had grown bigger than the venue could comfortably handle. The bus service in particular was terrible the last couple of years. This time around, the Hamvention organizers went back to an all-volunteer staff, and they fixed the bus problem. Last year, we stood in line Friday morning for an hour even before a bus showed up. This year, there were almost a dozen buses waiting at the Salem Mall parking area, and I walked right onto the bus. In fact all weekend, I never stood in a bus line. For that matter, I never stood in a bathroom line.

There was still plenty to see, although there were not a lot of new products. The Yaesu booth drew some interest with their “introduction” of the FT DX9000 radio. The sticker price for Yaesu’s answer to the Icom 7800 is $11,500 for 200 watts or $13,500 for 400 watts. I don’t expect too many to show up in local shacks at that price. Actually the mock-up on display is not yet a working radio, just as the Icom 7800 wasn’t working last year, but Yaesu promises it will be available by the end of the year.

I didn’t buy anything “big” this year, but picked up a lot of little items and accessories.

There were plenty of interesting forums to attend. Friday afternoon it was the antenna forum. It rained all day Saturday, but it didn’t affect me, as I spent the day at the Contesting and DX forums, three hour each. The main gripe of the weekend was the small rooms allocated to those highly attended forums.

Saturday night I attended the Contest Dinner. To my left were K8UP and K8KHZ, a couple of lower peninsula contesters, and to my right were a couple of hams from Germany, who were on their first trip to the USA. Later on I ended up in the Florida Contest Group suite, where I met a number of contesters I work regularly on the weekends.

Overall, it was a fun weekend, well worth the 11 hour drive each way.

And for those of you making plans for next year, yes, Hamvention will be at Dayton again next year, on May 20-22.

MINUTES OF THE M&M AMATEUR RADIO CLUB MEETING JUNE 10, 2004

The meeting was called to order at the Henes Park Third Pavilion at 7:01pm by President Dave, NS9R.

Guests Dan Nyman, W9DLN and Jack Hudson, W9MU, were introduced.

The minutes of the May meeting were accepted as printed in the Ground Wave.

There was no Treasurers report.

There were no communications.

There was no repeater report.

NET REPORT

Ed, KG8CX reports “excellent” with an average of 24-25 checkins.

MARINETTE/OCONTO COUNTY ARES/RACES REPORT

Bill, WA8WG reported on the meeting scheduled for Saturday, June 12^th at the Stiles Town Hall.

SKYWARN REPORT

Ed, KG8CX reports an average of 16-17 checkins to the Monday 7pm net. Checkins come from as many as 6 counties, from Manitowoc to Dickinson and Delta. There are plenty of people ready to respond to a Skywarn call-up.

OLD BUSINESS

FIELD DAY-Jim, AA9PB reported the Porta-Potty will cost $40. A motion was made by Bill, WA8WG, and seconded by Pete, AB9JF that the $150 budgeted for Field Day last month be used for groceries, fuel, and other Field Day expenses. Motion passed.

REPEATER-NS9R reported he had not contacted KC8DOA regarding his tower plans. AB9JF and KG8CX said they would see KC8DOA tomorrow.

VE TESTING- Paul, WC9E reported he had received the materials for a testing session at Field Day, Sunday June 27^th. Registration at 10:30am, testing at 11am.

PICNIC-Jim, K8IR reported on plans for the July 11^th picnic. At the suggestion of Earl, KB9DSV, the club will not provide beer this year. The menu will include chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs. The club will also provide soda and table service. W8DXX and XYL Jeanne will bring back Radio Bingo.

WATERFRONT FESTIVAL-K8IR reported a tent on the South end of the park will be available for the station. The schedule will show 10am to 3pm for the times. Those volunteering to help set up and operate the station include AA9PB, W9YQ, AB9JF, KC8ZVC, and WA8WG.

At this point, NS9R handed the gavel over to K8IR.

REMOVAL OF PRESIDENT- A motion was made by WA8WG, and seconded by AA9PB, that the motion made at last month’s meeting regarding the removal of the president be found to be baseless in that no club bylaws were violated, and that the previous motion be dismissed. WA8WG’s motion was approved on a unanimous voice vote.

K8IR returned the gavel to NS9R.

NEW BUSINESS

NEW MEMBER- The membership application of Jason Lauzer, KC8ZVC was approved.

REPEATER-KB9URW reported he thought the 147.000 repeater was harder to get into. There was a discussion regarding the transmitter being slightly off frequency, and possible solutions, including purchasing a crystal unit with better temperature compensation. The issue was referred to the Repeater Committee.

ANNOUNCEMENTS-Marge Bramschreiber, Menominee County Emergency Coordinator reported she is setting up CERT (Citizens Emergency Response Team) training on a date to be announced.

Jim, KC8YZA, reported a new ham in the Daggett area, Gabe, callsign now K8MML.

There will be a Field Day work session Sunday June 13^th at 10am at KC8WJN’s QTH.

A motion was made by AA9PB, seconded by KC8WJO to adjourn. Motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 7:36pm. Members then worked on Field Day antennas.

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Callow, K8IR
Secretary

Those in attendance:

David Cunningham, NS9R                                Dwight Bosselman, W9YQ
Ed Engleman, KG8CX                                     Earl Andre, KB9DSV
Jim Callow, K8IR                                             Jim Pearson,KC8YZA
Lou Parkansky, AA9JH                                   Peter Johnson, Sr. AB9JF
Rebecca Gondek, KC9FSE                             Dan Nyman, W9DLN
Kurt Berge, K8BKA                                        Dave Arnold, W8DXX
Jim Mans, AA9PB                                           Jim Voss, KC8WJO
Paul Drees, WC9E                                           Bill Peterson, KB9URW
Jason Lauzer, KC8ZVC                                   Peter Johnson, KC9FSF
Bill Becks, WA8WG                                        Earl Bramschreiber, KC8WJN
Tom Hellem, K0SN                                         Jack Hudson, W9MU
Marge Bramschreiber                                       Nate Luthardt KB9NNV

NO REGULAR MEETING…

THANKS, JOHN…