The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter Founded 1914 “The oldest continuously operating Amateur Radio Club in the United States” Summer 2008 Newsletter Upcoming Meetings: September 12: Come see what the club has planned! Highlights of the June 13, 2008 meeting: Club President Tom Chance, K9XV, started the meeting with self introductions. There were 55 in attendance. Tom asked about interest in doing the bus trip to Dayton again in 2009. There was ample interest to do it again. The Hilltop event will be September 20 this year. The email reflector was discussed. It has been decided to start a second mail list that will only be used for “official” communications from the club, such as newsletters and announcements. The club is sponsoring the Broad Ripple Hamfest on August 2, there will be a drawing at the hamfest. At this point, Tom called for announcements from the floor. Bob, N9FIM, commended Steve, KB9RDS, on his rescue of the victim of a structure collapse on the evening of the tornadoes in Marion and surrounding counties. WA9FDO announced that the IPL Radio Club 6 meter repeater is back on the air, but on a standard 1 MHz split. Now the output is on 52.7 MHz, and input is on 51.7 MHz, no PL. It was also announced that the Indianapolis hamfest only survives by ticket sales, so please attend. KB9RDS announced that the IDHS (Indiana Department of Homeland Security) ham team has been activated to assist with communications regarding the recent flooding in the south-central Indiana. The team has been using the 146.67 repeater locally, and the 224.98 machine in conjunction with a portable repeater deployed to Camp Atterbury. Mike, N9FEB, got some local hams to go to Columbus to assist in staffing their EOC. K9XV mentioned that the Radio Club will have a table at this year’s Indianapolis Hamfest. K9XV said that he needs help setting up for Field Day starting at 10 am. W9JP will be used for the 2A station, while W9RCA will be the GOTA station. KB9RDS mentioned that there will also be a field day site at N9OI’s house. W9IH gave special thanks to those that came out and operated at the USS Indianapolis station. Around 300 contacts were made, including 11 of the other ships participating in the event. The auction was then started, with many pieces of gear and related items changing hands. [][][]Ham Radio News: W9JP/W9RCA FIELD DAY RESULTS Information provided by Tom, K9XV, and Chuck, W9IH: Here are results from each station: Station #1 ICOM IC756 ProII 40CW = 191 Qs 10CW = 2 Qs 40PH = 564 Qs 10PH = 15 Qs Total QSOs = 772 Score = 965 pts Station #2 ICOM IC756 ProII 80CW = 58 Qs 20CW = 300 Qs 80PH = 268 Qs 20PH = 375 Qs 15PH = 57 Qs Total QSOs = 1058 Score = 1416 pts VHF Station ICOM IC746 6m = 134 Qs 134 pts GOTA Station W9RCA 80PH = 17 Qs 20PH = 20 Qs 15PH = 9 Qs Total QSO for the weekend = 2010 FYI for everyone: Chuck W9IH and Ron WB9DKL have tracked down the potential noise issue. They are reporting the issue to IPL. IP&L has verfy the issues noted and working to resolve them for our next field day... Thanks to everyone. HILLTOPS ON THE AIR EVENT COMING UP AGAIN Coming up September 20 will be the 2nd annual “Hilltops on the Air” event. The event will run from 8:00 am to noon, Indianapolis time. According to the IRC web site, the objective of this event is to encourage Amateur radio On The Air (OTA) participation in the Indianapolis and surrounding areas for the purpose of FUN and meeting on the Amateur frequencies. To contact as many of the registered HILL TOP stations as possible. Ops will be on 2, 6, 10, and 40 meters SSB, and on 2, 6, and 10 meters FM. Contact Ron Cooper, WB9DKL, at wb9dkl@sbcglobal.net to register a hilltop. You don’t have to be on a hilltop to participate, though, fixed stations and mobiles can participate also. Point your browser to http://indyradioclub.org/irchilltop2008.htm for all the details. INDIANAPOLIS VE Testing Schedule for 2008 Sept 6th October 4th November 1st December 6th Calling in advance to ensure testing availability is suggested but not mandatory. SPONSOR: Indianapolis Radio Club (W9JP) LOCATION: Indianapolis Training Center 2820 N. Meridian Street. CONTACTS: Gale Wuollet, AA9WU (h) 317-849-8449, or Dr. Jay Wright, KK9L 317-203-3335. All testing at the Indianapolis Training Center starts at 9:00 am and the last test will be administered no later than 11:00 a.m. NOTE REGARDING AUGUST TESTING >From Gale Wuolett, AA9WU: Some of you may recall that I had set an August date for testing. For clarification, I have cancelled that test date so that makes our next session at the Training Center to be September 6, 2008. FYI, testing will be done on that same August date (16th) by the ARRL group in Greenfield, IN. W1AW/KL7 OPERATING FROM ARCTIC CIRCLE W1AW/KL7 to Operate from Arctic Circle -- Just 300 miles south of the Alaskan Arctic Ocean -- where the Arctic Circle crosses the Dalton Highway (66 degrees, 33 minutes north) -- W1AW/KL7 will be on the air (grid square BP56) July 26-August 10 on all bands from 160-6 meters. This ARRL 2008 Alaska State Convention Special Event Station plans to run two HF stations operating CW, SSB and digital, one satellite station and one station devoted to 146.52 MHz. The Alaskan summer skies are ablaze with gray line-enhanced propagation effects, providing six to eight hour spurts of activity to most of the ham radio world. W1AW/KL7 plans to be active from 0600 UTC-1400 UTC to maximize gray line propagation. Information provided by Bill Balzarini, KL7BB ARRL INDIANA SECTION MANAGER POSITION STILL OPEN >From Brian Murrey - KB9BVN, IN-ARRL Bulletin Manager Just a reminder that the nominations for the position of Indiana ARRL Section Manager will be open until September 5th, 2008. If you are interested in making a nomination and/or running for this position, please visit the ARRL website and submit your nomination. The new SM will be installed in January 2009 and will serve for 18 months. The next SM election will then be held in June of 2010. Remember, you must be a current ARRL member to run for any ARRL position, and you must be an ARRL member to be eligible to vote in this, and all ARRL elections. More information on the SM nomination/election process and procedures are found at this link: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/org/smterms.html So far to the best of my knowledge we only have two candidates running: John Poindexter W3ML - Knox Indiana http://www.w3ml.com/ Ray Andrews K9DUR - West Terre Haute Indiana http://www.qsl.net/k9dur/ AMATEUR STATION AT SMITHSONIAN QRT AFTER 32 YEARS After more than 30 years on the air from the nation's capital, NN3SI , the Amateur Radio station at the National Museum of American History -- part of the Smithsonian Institution -- became silent on Thursday, July 31. Originally located in the Nations of Nations exhibit, the station first went on-the-air in 1976 in celebration of the US Bicentennial. The FCC caught the patriotic spirit, giving the station a temporary call sign -- NN3SI -- standing for Nation of Nations, Smithsonian Institution. The Commission later made the call sign allocation permanent. NN3SI has been situated in several different exhibitions in the Museum; it was most recently housed in the former Information Age exhibit. This exhibit chronicled the birth and growth of the electronic information age -- from Samuel Morse's invention of a practical telegraph in the 1830s through the development of the telephone, radio, television and computer. The Museum has been closed since 2006 while undergoing a major renovation and is scheduled to reopen to the public this fall. The station participated in many special events throughout its history. During the dedication of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, station operators made many contacts and taught children visiting the Museum how to spell their names in Morse code. Over the years, operators at NN3SI -- who hailed from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia (and the occasional guest operators from various parts of the globe) -- have logged contacts with amateurs in all parts of the world and with astronauts and cosmonauts in orbit. By operating the station, NN3SI ops promoted Amateur Radio as a national resource for emergency communications, trained operators, technicians and engineers -- as well as an outstanding hobby -- to the more than 4 million people who visit the Museum each year. FEEL FREE TO SHARE OUR NEWSLETTER If you belong to any other radio groups, please feel free to share our newsletter with them. They can also sign up to be on our mailing list by filling out the form available at http://www.indyradioclub.org/rqstnewsletter.htm. SEND ME YOUR HAM RADIO NEWS If anyone has any items for the newsletter, please send them to Ken Bandy at kc9glq@arrl.net Signals from the Past: >From the May, 1979 Amachewer: TRAVEL NEWS Ron Williams, W9JVF, traveled east for a week or so to visit in Virginia, his daughter, Ron liked what he saw around there especially interested in some high spots along the coast where there is nothing between your antenna and Europe, but the ocean. Hi. Upcoming Area Radio Events: * Saturday, August 9: Anderson Tailgate Hamfest sponsored by Madison County ARC and Chief Anderson ARC. Located 2 to 3 miles north of Anderson on SR 9 in the Lectro Communications parking lot. Hours are 8am until noon. Talk in on 145.39 and 444.675, no PL. Go to http://www.w9vcf.org/ for more info. * Saturday, September 6: Greater Louisville Hamfest, 8 am until 2 pm. Being held at the Paroquet Springs Conference Centre, located in Shepherdsville, KY (I-65 off of exit 117). Go to http://critterbob.net/glha/2008flyer.htm for more info. * Saturday, September 20: Indianapolis Radio Club’s “Hilltops on the Air” Event. Go to http://indyradioclub.org/irchilltop2008.htm for all the details. Current IRC Officers: · President: Tom Chance, K9XV - ..EMAIL k9xv@arrl.net · Vice Pres.: Dave Miller, K9RTT - ..EMAIL dmiller@ivytech.edu · Secretary: Ken Bandy, KC9GLQ - ..EMAIL kc9glq@arrl.net · Treasurer: Jay Willever - ..EMAIL k9ljw@arrl.net · Chief Operator: Steve Wendt, KB9RDS - ..EMAIL kb9rds@arrl.net · Dir. at large: Jim Rinehart, K9RU – EMAIL k9ru@arrl.net · Dir. at large: Tom Price, WB9UNG – EMAIL pricetr@comcast.net · Dir. at large: Hank Wolfla, K9LZJ – EMAIL hwolfla@insightbb.com · W9JP Trustee: Don Hemenover, N9DOO – EMAIL don9doo@lightbound.com