May 2004 Ground Wave

MAY MEETING…

The May meeting will be held on Thursday May 13^th at Spies Public Library in Menominee. The program will be a video, “Getting Started in DXing” from CQ Magazine. We hope you can attend.

HAM OF THE YEAR AA9JH…

Congratulations to Lou Parkansky, AA9JH, who was voted Ham of the Year by M&M ARC members. His three nominations cited the help Lou has given many hams over the years. Lou will receive his award at the Charter Night Banquet on Friday May 7^th at the Best Western Riverfront Inn.

CHARTER NIGHT BANQUET…

A total of 43 members and guests made their reservations for the club’s annual charter night banquet scheduled for Friday May 7^th at the Best Western Riverfront Inn in Marinette. Wisconsin State ARRL Emergency Coordinator Bill Niemuth, KB9ENO from Hortonville will be our guest speaker. The program also includes the presentation of the Ham of the Year award to AA9JH.

WEATHER SPOTTERS' TRAINING SESSION WELL ATTENDED…

The weather training session held on Tuesday May 4th, was attended by a crowd of over 30. About half were ham radio operators and members of the M&M ARC.

Many thanks to Robin Turner, the Warning Control Meteorologist from the Marquette office of the National weather service for a most informative session. He mentioned that ham operators are a vital link in the spotting network, and are one of the three most important ways to get severe weather information to the weather service. All new spotters will receive a personal spotter ID to use when relaying to Marquette, and everyone will receive a certificate to indicate their completion of this year's training.

Among the many participants were four young people, which included new club members KC9FKE, KC9FSF, and a future ham planning to test at our May 22 session. Also in attendance were three of our newest hams, who are very interested in becoming actively involved in this aspect of ham radio.

SKYWARN SPOTTERS NET…

A weekly net has been started on the Abrams - Wausaukee link system of interest to any ham involved in weather spotting. It is held Mondays at 7:30pm, and runs for about 30 minutes. The basic purposes of the net are:

(1) to pass along weather related information
(2) to discuss weather related concerns and experiences
(3) to evaluate any recent Skywarn response
(4) to enhance, improve, and maintain our communications and Skywarn reporting skills
(5) to develop, enhance, and maintain cooperation and communications between NOAA weather, local emergency response groups, units of local government, and participating hams

Persons checking in may, in addition to their callsign and location, provide current temperature, wind conditions, precipitation, and other weather conditions prevalent at their location. This will allow each ham to utilize and maintain their weather reporting skills.

The first net, on April 26, had 14 check ins from five counties; Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, and Delta. The second week had 17 check ins from six counties: Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Kewaunee, Brown, and Dickinson County MI. A highlight of the net was Andy, KB9ALN, of Green Bay, who generally handles all official Skywarn traffic from the Green Bay weather office via ham radio. He gave some relevant information pertaining to weather spotting. He has indicated he will check in quite often to the net and offer additional weather related comments of value to all spotters.

WISCONSIN TORNADO AWARENESS WEEK MOCK DRILL…

In conjunction with Tornado Awareness Week, a simulated drill was held on many repeater systems through the state. In our area, we brought up the Abrams-Wausaukee link, and the 147.000 M&M ARC system. Ed, KG8CX, was the net control, as well as the county liaison for Oconto and Marinette counties, with direct radio communications with NOAA weather in Green Bay. A number of stations from Menominee County (MI) also checked in.

A successful response was again provided from our area. Twenty hams responded in the afternoon drill... ten on each repeater system. Another mock drill was held at 7pm, and eighteen checked in... ten on the link, and eight on the 147.000. Many who checked in were mobile. Needless to say, personnel at the Green Bay weather office were impressed and very appreciative of the excellent turnout.

In the event of an actual severe weather event, tune to either the 146.835/.880 linked repeaters, or to the 147.000 Menominee repeater.

CODE CLASS CONTINUES/VE SESSION SCHEDULED…

After four weeks, the class continues with good participation. Jim, AA9PB, is the instructor. The class will continue for several more weeks, with a VE session scheduled for Saturday May 22, at Stephenson Public Library in Marinette. Preliminary reports indicate a "full house" of new people and upgrades. As many as a dozen people may be on hand for testing. Paul, WC9E, is the local VE coordinator. Contact him or KG8CX for further information.

CONGRATULATIONS TO PETE AND JIM…

KC9FKC, and KC8YZA that is. Pete passed his General and Extra written within the past several weeks, and now only has to ace the 5wpm code. Jim, finished his Firefighter I & II classes, and is now a full fledged trained firefighter. Jim is also looking forward to getting his General written and code completed at the May 22 session.

MICHIGAN QSO PARTY…

Menominee County was well represented in the 2004 Michigan QSO Party held Saturday April 17^th. The W8PIF Multi-Op station was again on the air from a mid-county deer camp. Operators included KC8WJN, KC9FSF, AA9PB, NS9R, KE9S, W9YQ, and K0SN. The team ran four radios with amps. They recorded 1051 QSO’s for 311,605 points.

Meanwhile, Jim, K8IR and Ed, KG8CX made their third mobile run through the UP, hitting all 15 counties for the first time. They recorded 613 QSO’s and 101,638 points using K8IR’s new Yaesu FT-857 rig. After last year’s fog and rain, the team was pleased to have a beautiful spring day to traverse the UP. The drive home from Watersmeet after the contest proved interesting as the sky lit up with lightning from a line of storms moving across northern Wisconsin. They hit the rain just south of Iron Mountain, but managed to avoid any severe weather.

Noel, K8NB was also on the air, as well as several club members who operated from Wisconsin as Out-State entries.

Final results should be posted at

www.miqp.org by August.

FROM THE PRESIDENT…

This week we celebrate our clubs 55^th year of existence as a charter club in the ARRL. I was flipping through a booklet created for our 50^th anniversary and came across a page entitled "The Future" with the following

"As the club begins the new millenium, we look forward to:
Continued community service;
preparing for emergencies, with the hope we do not have any emergencies to test our skills;
understanding employers who allow us to participate in emergency exercises;
growth in the number of amateur operators in our community and throughout the world;
dedicated instructors and VE's for those wishing to join our ranks;
preservation of our amateur bands; happiness and new friends through our contacts;
numerous contacts for those who collect "wall paper" and enjoy "contests";
band openings;
beautiful weather for field day weekend;
numerous swap fests and ham fests;
equipment that never fails and batteries that never die;
understanding spouses/families for all of us with a microphone rooted to our hand and earphones implanted on our ears;
friendship;
social activities;
relaxation and enjoyment from one of the most wonderful hobbies in the world;
health and happiness to all;
world peace!"

Many worldly events have taken place since this was published in 1999, and the underlying message is still clear: "Our wish to all: Friendship, happiness, peace, love and numerous filled logs".

73 de ns9r

The April meeting of the M&M Amateur Radio Club was called to order at 7:00pm at the Spies Public Library meeting room by President Dave, NS9R.

Members moved to the library parking lot to see a demonstration of the K8IR mobile contest station.

Back in the meeting room, the minutes will stand as printed in the March Ground Wave.

CHECKING ACCOUNT BEGINNING BALANCE                $864.95
DEPOSITS OF DUES                                                               $135.00
ENDING BALANCE ON CHECKING
AS OF 3/31/2004                                                                    $999.95

Tom, N8LHB requested permission to pay the $38 P.O. Box dues. It was moved by KG9GH and seconded by AA9PB to approved the request. Motion approved.

KG8CX read from Don, W9IXG’s ARRL Wisconsin Section Newsletter regarding an article on our newest hams..

Ed, KG8CX, reported the repeaters are still working. Although the frequency is slightly off on the 147.000 machine, according to Ed’s radio.

Ed, KG8CX, reported checkins as high as 28, with over 20 each week during the past two months.

Jim , K8IR, Assistant Marinette County EC, reported the Marinette/Oconto County ARES/RACES net continues to meet Monday nights at 8:15pm on the 146.835/146.880 system.

The Wisconsin statewide Simulated Tornado Test will be held on April 22^nd between 1 and 2pm, with possibly another test at 7pm. Nets will be called on both the 147.000 repeater and the 146.88/146.835 linked system.

The Marquette County NWS office will hold weather spotter training on May 4^th at 6:30pm at the River Cities Chamber of Commerce building in Menominee.

The Charter Night Banquet will be held on May 7^th at the Best Western Riverfront Inn in Marinette. Bill Niemuth, KB9ENO, Wisconsin State ARES/RACES EC will be our speaker.

K8IR reported he spent $4.47 on postage for W8PIF QSL card requests. Moved by AA9PB, seconded by KG9GH to approved the expenditure. Motion approved.

Ham of the Year nominations were received. NS9R was nominated by AA9PB, but declined the nomination.

Ballots were received from those in attendance. Ballots will also be accepted from others until April15th. KG8CX will announce the nominees on the 4/11 net and the winner on the 4/18 net. W9YQ will be the official vote counter.

There was a discussion of BPL and other topics discussed at the AES Superfest on 4/3 in Milwaukee.

Field Day will be held on June 26-27 at KC8WJN’s QTH. AA9PB and KC8WJN volunteered to co-chair Field Day.

A Special Event station coinciding with National Lighthouse Weekend on August 7 was discussed. K8IR will talk to the Waterfront Festival Committee about setting up a station on the Festival Grounds.

The annual picnic will be held July 11^th at Henes Park. Joan Callow and Maxine Drees will co-chair. The picnic will take the place of the July meeting.

The June meeting will be held at Henes Park due to the library not being available during the summer months.

Bob, K8RJ, presented a program on collecting and restoring the R390A/URR receiver.

David Cunningham, NS9R                                            Jim Callow, K8IR
Dwight Bosselman, W9YQ                                           Pete Johnson, KC9FKC
Rebecca Gondeck, KC9FSE                                       Marge Bramschrieber
Earl Bramschreiber, KC8WJN                                     Paul Drees, WC9E
Jim Mans, AA9PB                                                       Jim Voss, KC8WJO
Bob Jarnutowski, K8RJ                                                Lynne Rynish, N8OSK
Tyler Lehman, KC9FKE                                              Peter Johnson, KC9FSF
Bill Peterson, KB9URW                                               Louis Parkansky, AA9JH
George Benoit, N9UGG                                               Bob Osier, AA9IB
Allen R. Urbaniak, KC9FKD                                       Eric Janssen, KG9GH
Kurt Berge, K8BKA                                                    Dave Arnold, W8DXX
Tom Rynish, N8LHB                                                    Ed Engleman, KG8CX