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: Tom Rynish N8LHB
Secretary: Jim Callow K8IR
The MMARC Newsletter March 2004
MARCH MEETING…
The March meeting of the M&M Amateur Radio Club will
be held Thursday March 11th at Spies Public Library on First Street
in Menominee. The program will be on APRS. We hope to see you there.
HOTY NOMINATIONS…
It’s time to start thinking about who you would like to
see as the Ham of the Year. A nomination form is included in this newsletter.
Fill it out and either bring it to a meeting, or mail it to the
club’s PO Box. We will vote on
those nominated at the April meeting, and will present the HOTY plaque at the
May 7th Charter Night banquet
Click on this link for the HOTY Nomination Form
SKYWARN TRAINING…
Marge Bramschreiber, Menominee County Emergency Director
has scheduled a Weather Spotter training session for Tuesday May 4th
at 6:30pm at the River Cities Chamber of Commerce building in Menominee. The
Marquette office of the National Weather Service will conduct the training.
All club members are encouraged to attend. This is a great opportunity
for our newer hams to learn about weather spotting. Experienced weather
spotters also like to attend these sessions as a refresher course, and say
they always learn something new.
HAMS IN THE NEWS…
One
of our new hams, 10 year old Tyler, KC9FKE, and his Uncle Ed, KG8CX, were
featured in an article in the Feburary 18th Peshtigo Times . The
link to the story is:
http://www.webmediainc.com/54157PT/PeshtigoTimes.taf?function=detail&Layout1_uid2=10294
The
annual Wisconsin QSO Party is scheduled for Sunday March 14th.
This contest is one of the most popular operating events of the year
for local hams. It’s a great
way to get a taste of contesting, since it’s only 7 hours long, from 12 noon
to 7pm Central Time.
For
complete rules check:
http://www.warac.org/wqp/wqp.htm
Jim,
AA9PB, plans to set up a multiple transmitter station at his QTH in
Porterfield. Jim is inviting
anyone interested in operating the WIQP to join in at his station, and is
issuing a special invitation to our new hams to come out and see what HF
contesting is all about. He plans to have a setup day on Saturday March 13th,
the day before the contest. See Jim at this month’s meeting or give him a
call on the air. You can find him most evenings on 146.55 Simplex, or check in
to the Bay Area Wireless net at 8:30pm Mondays on 146.55.
Several
other local stations are expected to be active for the contest as well.
Jim,
K8IR, and Ed, KG8CX will be on the road this year. The K8IR mobile station will activate 14 counties across
Northern Wisconsin, weather permitting. This
will be Jim and Ed’s first mobile venture in the Wisconsin contest, after
spending the last two years mobile in the Michigan QSO Party.
That contest, by the way, will be Saturday April 17th. More
on that next month.
The 10th annual Superfest is set for April 2nd and
3rd at the AES store in Milwaukee. A number of timely forums are
scheduled including those on BPL, and the new ARRL band proposals.
Gordon West will also be there with one of his entertaining programs.
All the major amateur radio manufacturers will be there, including
Vertex-Standard (Yaesu), Kenwood, Icom, Alinco, MFJ, Alpha Delta, and many more.
ARRL and CQ will also have displays as well. All told, over
30 ham radio displays and tables will be set up. VE testing will also be offered
at the AES headquarters. Prizes are given away throughout the day, and
special prices on amateur equipment can be found as well. For those
who cannot make it to the Dayton Hamvention, this is about the closest
you can get to a major hamfest.
LOCAL REPEATER USAGE INCREASING …
Activity on both of our local repeaters, 147.000
and 444.075 has climbed in recent weeks, thanks in part to the newly licensed
group of hams from the January 31st session. That in turn has encouraged
other local hams to exercise their amateur privileges to a greater degree.
We understand there are others who are seeking their initial licenses and will
be on the air within the next several months. The Sunday evening
net has benefited from this recent increase in activity and has recorded no
less than 22 check ins throughout the month of February...the highest being 25
on Feb. 8. It's good to see an active group of hams and an active club
contributing to the amateur radio hobby in the area.
With the addition of the new hams, and the continued
participation of others, we will continue to be one of the most active
groups within the Green Bay weather office 22 county coverage area during
Skywarn situations.
Thanks to Bob, K8RJ for letting us know about the ARRL Central Division Web Site. It has information of interest to hams in the Central Division, which includes Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. Be sure to check out the division news link. Browse to:
The Great Lakes Division, which includes Michigan, Ohio, and Michigan, also has a very useful site at:
http://www.greatlakes.arrl.org/
As of March 2, 2004 the number of U. S. hams totaled 735,657.
In the past twelve months, the FCC issued or updated a total of 128,329
licenses. Here are the breakdowns in Wisconsin and Michigan....
WI -
Total:
11,692 Tech: 4545 Tech+: 910 Novice:
523 General: 2423 Advanced: 1370 Extra: 1794
Club: 127
MI -
Total: 22,782
Tech: 8546 Tech+: 2032 Novice: 1106
General: 4807 Advanced: 2558 Extra: 3456 Club:
277
The current breakdown across the country as of
3/02/04 is as follows:
Tech: 281,376
Tech+: 68,291 Novice: 39,288 General: 145,997
Advanced: 84,706 Extra: 107,103 Club: 8896 for
a total of 735,657 U. S. licensed hams.
Go to the "Ham Data" link on the first page
of the M&M ARC/KG8CX website for current data on all sorts of FCC ham
statistics updated daily. New calls are listed there as well.
MINUTES
OF THE M&M AMATEUR RADIO CLUB MEETING FEBRUARY 12, 2004
The
meeting was called to order by President Dave, NS9R at 7:00pm in the meeting
room at Spies Public Library.
Members
and Guests introduced themselves and told of their recent radio activities.
The
minutes of the January meeting will stand as printed.
Treasurer
Tom, N8LHB reported no transactions in the past month.
There
were no communications.
REPEATER
REPORTS:
KG8CX
reported the club repeaters were operating OK.
WA8WG
reported nothing new with the Abrams-Wausaukee linked system.
OLD
BUSINESS:
There
was no report from the Repeater Committee
Charter
Night will be held on May 7th at the Best Western Riverfront Inn.
NS9R asked for volunteers for a
Charter Night committee.
Ham
of the Year nomination forms will be in the March Ground Wave. Voting will be
at the April meeting, and the award will be presented at Charter Night.
NEW
BUSINESS
Paul,
WC9E reported that a Fastscan ATV transceiver owned by Marinette High School
has been lent to the club by Terry, N9JFC, for instructional purposes.
WC9E used the transceiver for a demonstration during the recent
Technician License Classes. Paul
reported Terry was trying to locate other equipment which may also be loaned
to the club. We may be asked to help remove antennas from the school roof.
PROGRAM
Tom,
K0SN, and Bill, WA8WG gave a program on computer modeling of antennas using
the EZNEC program.
A
motion to adjourn was made by Bob, K8RJ, and seconded by Paul, WC9E.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
Jim
Callow, K8IR
Secretary.
Those
in attendance:
Jim
Callow K8IR
John Goldschmidt, KC9AXH
Ron D’Olvio, KC8YZC
Earl Andre, KB9DSV
Bob Jaruntowski, K8RJ
Paul R. Drees, WC9E
Tom Hellem, K0SN
Bill Becks, WA8WG
Allen R. Urbaniak, KC9FKD
Jim Voss, KC8WJO
Dave Arnold, W8DXX
Pete Johnson, KC9FKC
Tyler Lehman, KC9FKE
Edward Engleman, KG8CX
Dave Cunningham, NS9R
Tom Rynish, N8LHB
Jim Mans, AA9PB
Marge Bramschreiber
Earl Bramschreiber, KC8WJN