THE OHM TOWN NEWS Voice of the Bridgerland Amateur Radio Club October 2006 >>>>>>>> http://www.barconline.org <<<<<<<< PRESIDENTS MESSAGE HAM PROFILE
There is one thing on my mind this month and that is by Boyd Humpherys W7MOY club officers. It takes a great team of individuals to make things happen in the club. I have had the great If any of you tend to get bent out of shape for any opportunity to serve in many positions over the 15 years particular reason we have the answer, might as well I have been an amateur radio operator. keep it in the family. One of our clan has the expertise Every elected and non-elected position is important. to put things back in place, or at least where they ought Please consider stepping up and running for office. The to be. Jeff Jeppsen, KD7YYS has learned a few tech- office of president as stated in the bylaws must be niques from his pater, Clint, KB7ZOZ. Regardless of someone who has held an office before. Please, please the shape everyone is in, Amateur Radio knows no consider running for an office to keep the club momen- bounds and the tendency to delve into the black art of tum running. I have been president for three years now, electronics afflicts all sorts of the human race. and have really enjoyed it. I have really appreciated the Jeff has sported a Tech license for three years or so, help of all the officers and the board. They have manipulates stepped in and made things happen. A big thanks goes a Yaesu HT out to all of you who help with all the events. We have and a Ken- some of the best events around to participate. wood base We have a great field day, some fantastic public ser- and mobile. vice events, and great activities. Where else will you He confided find a single club that has that some flown experiments on unprincipled high altitude balloons, bounder had supported the longest sin- a bsconded gle day bike race in North with his America, and then a week trunk mount or two later a marathon. antenna, so In addition to all of that, he is in the process of persuasion to purchase a new one helped 3 other clubs with out of the family budget. All gracious offers would be their repeater systems. accepted. Our ARES/RACES group Jeff was born just off highway 89 and a bit south of designed and installed the small Maddox eatery near Brigham City, Perry to communications equip- be exact. He endorses the menu down there. The fam- ment in an incident com- ily shifted shortly to Sauerkraut town where the wheel mand vehicle, and are in- came off the wagon and they decided to stay and pay strumental in the counties emergency communications taxes there. He graduated from Sky View in 79, served plan. Hams are organizing in some neighborhoods a mission for his faith near the windy city in Illinois, along with CERT to be prepared just in case. Others then enrolled at USU & participated on a scholarship in are actively offering VEC exams, and classes to recruit a University entertainment group, traversing a wide other amateurs. The list goes on and one. These are area in persuading prospective attendees to enroll at the some of the things I can remember during my time as a hallowed halls of ivy on the bench east of us. (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 3) OCT 2006 OHM TOWN NEWS Page 1 UPCOMING ACTIVITIES 2006 Club Officers October 14 - BARC Club Meeting President Don Butler, N5LZ, will be giving us the rundown on DX Kevin Reeve N7RXE including why it is fun and what kind of equipment you [email protected] may want to plan on having for your DX station. (435)753-1645 October 21 & 22 - Jamboree on the Air Vice President http://www.scout.org/wse/jota.shtml Jacob Anawalt KD7YKO [email protected] November 11– BARC Club meeting (435)753-9033 Club elections
Secretary December - Club meeting Christmas party, more info later Tammy Stevens N7YTO [email protected] (435)753-2644 BARC Club Meetings are normally on the second Saturday of the month at 10:00 A.M. on the 3rd floor Treasurer of the Cache County Sheriffs Complex on 200 North and 1225 West, Logan, Utah Dave Fullmer N7RRZ ———————————————– [email protected] (435)753-2685 ARES Meetings are usually held on the Third Wednesday of each month at 7 P.M. at the Cache County Sheriffs Complex. Contact Tyler Griffiths for more information. Board Members Ted McArthur AC7II ————————————————
[email protected] The Bridgerland Amateur Radio Club holds a weekly net Tues- (435)245-4904 day nights at 9:00 PM on the 146.72, the 147.26, the 145.31, the 147.20 and the 449.625 BARC Repeater System with a PL Tom Baldwin KD7TRN tone of 103.5. It is a directed net and we invite all licensed [email protected] Amateur Radio Operators to check in and participate. (435)770-6256 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Ken Buist KC7QES (Presidents Message Continued from page 1) [email protected] member of BARC. There are many more I am sure some (435)752-3154 of you can come up with. I look forward to seeing you all at club meeting where Newsletter Editor Don Butler N5LZ from Mendon will present. Don loves Dale Cox KB7UPW the HF bands and contesting. You can read more about [email protected] Don, his station, and interests at http://www.qrz.com/ (435)563-3836 callsign/N5LZ Please join us at club meeting on Saturday the 14th. Web Page Editor Hope you will put your name on the ballot this year. Our Kevin Reeve N7RXE elections will be in November. [email protected] (435)753-1645 N7RXE Kevin Reeve <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Answers to questions on page 8: 1-A, 2-B, 3-B, 4-A, 5-D, 6-D, 7-D Page 2 OHM TOWN NEWS OCT 2006 (Ham Profile Continued from page 1) son will be the immediate focus, she said, adding that He spent about 10 years in an interesting occupation the new MARS-TSA collaboration "is likely to expand that probably few of us have ever known much about, to other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ar- that of harvesting Brine Shrimp eggs out of the Great eas" in the future. "This is an extensive area and will Salt Lake. A rather fascinating tale of long days and require member support across the continental United nights on the Northern tip of Stansbury Island in Great States," Harrison said in a broadcast announcement to Salt Lake. During the months of Oct. thru Jan., the Army MARS participants. "We will need many volu n- brine shrimp lay their eggs, and thus harvested by teers to man teams assigned to specific geographical scooping the gooey stuff (small enough for about 6 on a areas, starting with airports throughout the hurricane grain of sand), into bags for transport to the plant and corridor." She calle d for "physically capable" Amateur headquarters of Ocean Star International, in Snowville. Radio operators to volunteer for the assignment. The There after drying, the eggs are canned and shipped first airport emergency support teams will be located at mainly to firms in Asia, where they are allowed to four airports in the Florida hurricane belt: Miami, Ft hatch, then fed to the commercial shrimp farms and Myers, Jacksonville and Pensacola, Harrison said. She then the new final product is sent back to us to eat at added that recruiting will immediately follow for nine your favorite restaurants. Now that is an interesting tale additional potential hurricane targets from Washington, of a four month field day, ideal conditions, good propa- DC to Houston. In a later phase - but as soon as possi- gation, quiet surroundings, lots of generator power, time ble - additional teams will be recruited for other hurri- to read and twirl the dial on the rig, plenty of peanut cane locations including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Is- butter sandwiches, etc. Rough duty. Incidentally the lands, and after that, the remainder of the continental brine shrimp inhabiting the Salt Lake are only about ½” US. The emergency support teams - each consisting of long at best, not edible unless your supplies run out. four members of MARS - are being assembled under There are some accounts of retrieving some dried joint sponsorship of MARS and the TSA, with deplo y- eggs from 600 year old Indian ruins and still capable of ment assignments determined by the TSA when and if hatching, incredible. the government's communication systems fail. Jeff met his future XYL, Helen Denton, born in "Volunteers should be within a reasonable traveling Ric hfield, at USU, decided to share their parking per- distance to the airport. It will be their responsibility to mits and begin a new Jeppsen generation. They have get to the site when activated," said Harrison. The two daughters, Jenna, now engaged, and Vanessa, who Memorandum of Understanding, which is already in incidentally just returned from Seattle after winning a place, calls for using MARS networks, personnel and spot in a local competition for the American Idol pro- equipment to maintain communication during the first gram. 9,000 contestants must have filled the air with 72 hours of incidents involving aircraft, mass transit the sounds of music. and pipelines. Seventy-two hours is considered the Jeff now drives truck for the Old Dominion trucking maximum time needed for federal response organiza- firm, makes regular nocturnal runs to SLC and other tions to deploy internal emergency communication sys- points in the West. Not many on 2 that time of the tems. The MoU spells out the most extensive MARS morning. support mission since the development of the Essential Unofficial spousal reaction to Jeff’s radio involve- Elements of Information (EEI), which date to the 1994 ment, “Do you have to have that noise going all the Northridge earthquake that devastated parts of Califor- time” Sure we do Helen, who knows, our neighbor next nia's San Fernando Valley. EEIs are alerts to the Penta- door might be on the air today. Glad to have you on gon of a natural disaster or other incident that might the air with us Jeff. 73s. require a federal response. In a memo to MARS per- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> sonnel, Harrison included the following points: The ARRL Letter Vol. 25, No. 32 August 11, 2006 . The Navy-Marine Corps and Air Force MARS or- ==>MARS TO SUPPORT US ganizations are included in the call for volunteers, via TRANSPORTATION SECURITY their separate chains of command. ADMINISTRATION IN EMERGENCIES . Army MARS state directors will be responsible for Amateur Radio operators who are members of the Mili- formation of the joint teams. tary Affiliate Radio System (MARS) will provide back- . All deployments will be by team, each with a combi- up communication for the US Transportation Security nation of equipment and operator capabilities and Administration (TSA) under a formal agreement an- members ready to work 12-hour shifts. Some locations nounced in July by Army MARS Chief Kathy Harrison, may ultimately require more than one team. AAA9A. Protecting airports during the hurricane sea- (ARRL Continued on page 6) OCT 2006 OHM TOWN NEWS Page 3 Bits of a few of the activities this season
Many Hams have been involved and the activities have been a great success!
The weather cooperated well this year
Page 4 OHM TOWN NEWS OCT 2006 Fun was had by all (at least all of our support group)!!! OCT 2006 OHM TOWN NEWS Page 5 (ARRL Continued from page 3) Convention August 26-27, League President Joel Harri- . Required equipment for each team will include HF and HF son, W5ZN, said Amateur Radio has a notable history radios with voice and digital capability, Pactor/Airmail dig ital of riding out stormy weather. Addressing the conven- messaging, phone patching and emergency power. tion banquet, Harrison cited former ARRL staff mem- . Some locations may have TSA radio gear and emergency ber and ham radio historian Clinton B. DeSoto, power supply to augment the hams' personal equipment. W1CBD, who in 1928 expressed the opinion that A particular MARS responsibility will be to provide commu- Amateur Radio is not utopia, never has been and nication interoperability with local, state and national net- never will be. Harrison suggested it's worth looking works, such as the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service at ham radio's past when considering the issues it (RACES) and Shared Resources (SHARES). A separate web faces today, and there are no easy answers. "There is of national and regional HF radio networks, SHARES links no one cure-all for whatever you think is wrong with federal agencies under the DHS's National Communications Amateur Radio," Harrison asserted. Offering a thumb- System (NCS), of which MARS already is a primary partic i- nail review of Amateur Radio's history, Harrison pointed pant. The pact calls for a reliable back-up solution "to ensure out that ham radio has always had to deal with the controver- the continuity of TSA's command and control function during sies and tensions that technological, regulatory and societal the first 72 hours following any incident interfering with nor- changes have sparked over the years. Nonetheless, it's sur- mal communications channels and to provide local, regional vived for nearly 100 years, and some ideas keep resurfacing. and nationwide TSA communications during that time." The For example, a no-code license was proposed in the 1930s, he existing Army MARS emergency communication network said, although it wasn't accepted until about a half-century offers such a solution immediately and at no additional cost later. "But we still can't seem to get beyond that point," he to the TSA, the MoU points out. Under the MoU, the TSA added, noting the more recent controversies surrounding the agrees to provide MARS volunteers with access to its facili- elimination of the Morse code requirement for all license ties and space for radio equipment. It further agrees to inte- classes and license restructuring. "When you look at the his- grate MARS capabilities into its emergency planning and ex- tory of Amateur Radio, you kind of have to wonder: Where ercises. The Army's commitment includes providing are we going?" Harrison said. The ARRL president went on "volunteer MARS radio operators, equipment, and use of the to offer some of his own thoughts on the subject. "Digital is MARS radio networks" and developing "alert procedures and the wave of the future," he predicted. "Our ability to provide a communications support plan" that "will identify specific public service will expand." In any case, he said, ham radio frequencies, call signs, and radio operator level duties." Har- will always be in a storm, just coming out of a storm or head- rison stressed that the decision to volunteer rests with the in- ing into another storm. Where Amateur Radio goes is up to dividual. "The Army has no liability over a member who re- those who enjoy the many facets it has to offer, he suggested. ports to a disaster site; members will be responsible to TSA In closing he quoted ARRL co-founder Hiram Percy Maxim, personnel." Harrison told the Army MARS membership that W1AW: "Make sure everything you do is for the general she's "very excited" about the new agreement. "This will be a good." Harrison said it's up to today's radio amateurs to make fast-moving recruitment/development action, and I request sure that "DX Is" never becomes "DX Was," and that "Public your support in filling these teams." The chiefs of Air Force Service" never becomes "Public? Sorry." Earlier in the day at and Navy-Marine Corps MARS also are onboard with the an ARRL forum, Harrison shared the spotlight with ARRL new agreement and have messaged their respective member- New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and ships to signify their participation and cooperation with Army Vice Director Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF. Much of the discus- MARS. Air Force MARS Chief Don Poquette, AGA3C/ sion dealt with how to reinvigorate Amateur Radio and make KE9XB, has pledged his members' support. "AF MARS will it more enticing to newcomers. "There is an unlimited num- assist to accomplish this mission," he said, pending working ber of possibilities in Amateur Radio," Harrison told the gath- out logistical details. Harrison says she and her headquarters ering. "If you get bored with one thing, there's another you staff met recently with TSA and DHS representatives to for- can look into." Amateur Radio promotion should focus on malize the details of the cooperative arrangement. She said "this buffet of possibilities," and not just on one activity, such MARS area coordinators will provide specific requirements as contesting or public service. Frenaye pointed out that while to state MARS directors to recruit members and equipment Amateur Radio gains some 20,000 new licensees each year, capabilities to support TSA. Signing the MoU on behalf of it's not keeping pace with attrition by up to 10,000 licensees the Army was Col Mary Beth Shively, chief of staff, Network annually. Harris on reiterated his mantra that the Main Street Enterprise Technology Command/Ninth Army Signal Co m- USA of today is much different than the Main Street of 30, mand. James Schear, General Manager, Operational Plans 40 or 50 years ago, when many of today's hams got started in and Programs, endorsed it for the TSA. Headquartered at Ft the hobby. Today's Technician license has proven for many to Huachuca, Arizona, the Ninth Army Signal Command over- be a dead end for Amateur Radio, he said, because it has not sees the Army MARS mission.—Bill Sexton, N1IN provided enough of an introduction to the wider world of ham <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> radio to maintain interest. On the other hand, the old Novice The ARRL Letter Vol. 25, No. 35 September 1, 2006 license, Harrison noted, provided "a connection to the outside ==>AMATEUR RADIO CAN RIDE OUT THE STORM, world" through its limited HF privileges. "Opening up an ARRL PRESIDENT TELLS NEW ENGLANDERS avenue to HF privileges opens up an unlimited number of Making his first visit to the ARRL New England Division possibilities," he said. "It's time to expand the entry-level li-
Page 6 OHM TOWN NEWS OCT 2006 cense." The FCC has turned away proposals to establish a power (ERP). ARRL Member Fritz Raab, W1FR, of Ver- new entry-level license with limited HF privileges. At a sec- mont, will serve as experimental project manager for ond ARRL forum on Sunday, Harrison told one member he "The 500 KC Experimental Group for Amateur Radio" believes the League would always support CW as an operat-
OCT 2006 OHM TOWN NEWS Page 7 Questions for Extra Class License 1. (E1B11) Which of the following amateur stations may meter be coupled with the LC circuit being checked? not be operated under automatic control? A. As loosely as possible A. Remote control of model aircraft B. As tightly as possible B. Beacon station C. First loosely, then tightly C. Auxiliary station D. With a jumper wire between the meter and the circuit D. Repeater station to be checked
2. (E1G01) What does it mean if an external RF amplifier is 5. (E5A23) What is the resonant frequency of a series RLC listed on the FCC database as certificated for use in the circuit if R is 47 ohms, L is 4 microhenrys and C is 20 pi- amateur service? cofarads? A. An RF amplifier of that model may be used in any radio A. 19.9 kHz service B. 17.8 kHz B. That particular RF amplifier model may be marketed for C. 19.9 MHz D. 17.8 MHz use in the amateur service C. All similar models of RF amplifiers produced by other 6. (E5G07) What is the term for an out-of-phase, nonpro- manufacturers may be marketed ductive power associated with inductors and capacitors? D. All models of RF amplifiers produced by that manufac- A. Effective power turer may be marketed B. True power C. Peak envelope power 3. (E2E01) What is the most common method of transmit- D. Reactive power ting data emissions below 30 MHz? A. DTMF tones modulating an FM signal 7. (E6B25) What is the input impedance of a theoretically B. FSK (frequency-shift keying) of an RF carrier ideal op-amp? C. AFSK (audio frequency-shift keying) of an FM signal A. 100 ohms D. Key-operated on/off switching of an RF carrier B. 1000 ohms C. Very low 4. (E4B15) For best accuracy, how tightly should a dip- D. Very high
THE OHM TOWN NEWS PO BOX 111 PROVIDENCE, UT 84332
October, 2006
Some Contents... Presidents Message ...... 1 Ham Profile: Jeff Jeppsen ...... 1 Events Calendar ...... 2 Activity Pictures ...... 4-5 ARRL News ...... 6-7