The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter Founded 1914 “The oldest continuously operating Amateur Radio Club in the United States” January 2008 Newsletter Upcoming Meetings: February 8: Legacy Radio. March 14: Home Brew Radio April 11: Antenna Building Class May 9: Emergency Communications June 13: Annual Auction Highlights of the January 11, 2008 meeting: Club President Tom Chance, K9XV, opened the meeting with self introductions. There were just over 50 in attendance at the meeting that evening. Announcements from the floor included Bob, N9FIM, announcing the upcoming Marion County Severe Weather Spotter Class coming up Saturday, February 16 at 9:00 am in the second floor auditorium at the ITC. This class will be presented by the National Weather Service. Jay, KK9L, announced that W4VEC would be conducting testing sessions on February 2 and March 1 at the ITC, so there will still be monthly testing in Indianapolis, divided between ARRL VEC and W4VEC. Tom asked the assembled crowd if they enjoyed the Christmas Dinner. The consensus was that it was “a hit”. Tom stated that there has been no word yet from Gerry Skoll, KC9DTB, from the Arabesque. As soon as any word is received, it will be posted to the newsletter group and the IRC web site. Tom said that there appeared to be sufficient interest to continue the bus trip to the Dayton Hamvention. This year’s trip will be on Saturday, May 17. Details will be forthcoming. Steve Wendt, KB9RDS, as the club’s new Chief Operator announced the “Radio Room Extreme Makeover”. His plans are to separate the room, with a curtain, so the radios would be separated from the copier. He has received 2 gallons of donated paint to repaint the room, and also plans on putting up some shelves and be able to secure the storage closet. He also plans to upgrade the current PCs so they can be used for logging and digital modes. Steve is looking for volunteers to assist in the project on Saturday and Sunday, January 26 and 27. Plans for the future include operating some contests using the W9JP call, starting with a CW contest that Sam, WA9VBG, is going to run. The plan is to also use the station for special events, and such. Tom asked for new ideas on how to keep the club active. Also, a volunteer is needed for refreshments, to procure cookies, water, and sodas for the meetings. Dave Miller, K9RTT, took votes for the 2 chili contestants. The winner was Dave Jarvis, N9KZJ. K9RTT then went over the plans for upcoming meetings. (These are listed above in the newsletter.) Dave would also like input from the membership regarding upcoming program topics. Next, Jim Rinehart, K9RU, was introduced for his presentation on Digital Television. He started it out saying that the Land Mobile Radio folks have wanted the spectrum occupied by TV channels 14 to 20 since back in the 60s. In 1986, the NAB was trying to justify it’s use of TV spectrum. NHK, of Japan was working on demos of digital TV as early as 1977, in 1986 they were ready to go. In January of 1987, the NAB arranged for a demo by NHK in Washington DC, it was lightly attended. In October of 1987, a second demo was arranged as part of a congressional hearing, so it was better attended. At this point, the FCC still favored giving some TV spectrum to the Land Mobile folks. The NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) came to the rescue, saying that “DTV would save the world”. At this point, Congress wanted the US to have it’s own DTV system. RCA developed the ACTV system that was compatible with the NTSC system that was currently in use, it would use basically two “channels” for a complete picture (standard 4:3 picture plus “side panels”). Also at this time Zenith was working on an analog/digital system, and a partnership between General Instrument and MIT was working on a digital system. GI got their system down to requiring only a 6 MHz channel. The FCC started granting DTV licenses in 1997, and at that time Congress set a deadline of December, 2006 for the transition from analog to digital to be completed. The present deadline is February 17, 2009. This date was set around the date of the Superbowl. After June, 2006, new TVs were required to have a digital tuner built in. If they didn’t have a digital tuner, the store was required to post a conspicuous sign stating this. There were several substantial fines charged to retailers who did not meet this requirement. There is also a “coupon box” available. This is the DTV receiver “set top box” that has been mandated to be available to those who don’t or can’t upgrade their TVs to digital units. This box would be usable only for “Over the Air” reception, with antenna. After the analog cut-off date, the new core TV channels will be 2 through 51. There are currently 1756 Full power DTV stations operating in the US. 517 stations will give up their current analog channels, and 117 will move to a new channel. Ham Radio News: INDIANAPOLIS VE Testing Schedule for the first half of 2008 Saturday, February 2 (W4VEC session) Saturday, March 1 (W4VEC session) Saturday, April 5 (ARRL session) Saturday, June 7 (ARRL session) 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: ARRL sessions liaison: Gale Wuollet, AA9WU (h) 317-849-8449 W4VEC sessions liaison: 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. CLASSES STARTING IN HENDRICKS COUNTY Beginning on Wednesday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m., amateur radio classes will be held at the Danville Senior Services Center, 1201 Sycamore Lane, Danville, IN. Technician classes, as well as General and Extra upgrade classes will be available. LISTING OF YAHOO GROUPS FOR HAMS Special thanks to Mike Palmer, N9FEB, who compiled this listing: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AREC Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Yahoo Group (KC9EEL) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hchamteam Henry County Ham Team (W9MKA) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indyhamradio Indy Ham Radio Misc. Stuff (W9DEW) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CentralIndianaHams Central Indiana Hams Misc. Stuff (KC9LGZ) 2008 CENTRAL INDIANA SEVERE WEATHER SYMPOSIUM 2008 Central Indiana Severe Weather Symposium The 2008 symposium will be held on Saturday, March 1st, 2008, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, at the Valle Vista Conference Center , 755 East Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana, and is cosponsored by the Central Indiana Chapter of the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Service Indianapolis. Confirmed speakers as of this time include: Dan McCarthy Meteorologist-in-Charge, NWS Indianapolis John Kwiatkowski Science and Operations Officer, NWS Indianapolis Paul Sirvatka Professor of Meteorology, College of DuPage Angela Buchman Broadcast Meteorologist, WISH-TV 8 Bill Gosnell Emergency Manager, Delaware County, Indiana Logan Johnson Meteorologist, NWS Indianapolis Joseph Nield Meteorologist, NWS Indianapolis A student poster presentation is also planned for the symposium. Students presenting posters will be able to register at a discounted rate. Watch this site for further information and updates. Symposium planning is still ongoing, so check back at this website for updated information as the symposium date approaches: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=ind&storyid=11135&source=0 SOLAR CYCLE 24 BEGINS >From http://spaceweather.com/ : Solar physicists have been waiting for the appearance of a reversed-polarity sunspot to signal the start of the next solar cycle. The wait is over. On January 4, a magnetically reversed sunspot emerged at solar latitude 30 N. For reasons explained in a recent Science@NASA story, this marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 24 and the first step toward a new solar maximum. Intense solar activity won't begin right away. Solar cycles usually take a few years to build from solar minimum (where we are now) to Solar Max (expected in 2011 or 2012). It's a slow journey, but we're on our way! W1AW 2008 WINTER OPERATING SCHEDULE Morning Schedule: Time Mode Days ------------------- ---- --------- 1400 UTC (9 AM EST) CWs Wed, Fri 1400 UTC (9 AM EST) CWf Tue, Thu Daily Visitor Operating Hours: 1500 UTC to 1700 UTC - (10 AM to 12 PM EST) 1800 UTC to 2045 UTC - (1 PM to 3:45 PM EST) (Station closed 1700 to 1800 UTC (12 PM to 1 PM EST)) Afternoon/Evening Schedule: 2100 UTC (4 PM EST) CWf Mon, Wed, Fri 2100 " " CWs Tue, Thu 2200 " (5 PM EST) CWb Daily 2300 " (6 PM EST) RTTY Daily 0000 " (7 PM EST) CWs Mon, Wed, Fri 0000 " " CWf Tue, Thu 0100 " (8 PM EST) CWb Daily 0200 " (9 PM EST) RTTY Daily 0245 " (9:45 PM EST) VOICE Daily 0300 " (10 PM EST) CWf Mon, Wed, Fri 0300 " " CWs Tue, Thu 0400 " (11 PM EST) CWb Daily Frequencies (MHz) ----------------- CW: 1.8175 3.5815 7.0475 14.0475 18.0975 21.0675 28.0675 147.555 RTTY: - 3.5975 7.095 14.095 18.1025 21.095 28.095 147.555 VOICE: 1.855 3.990 7.290 14.290 18.160 21.390 28.590 147.555 Notes: CWs = Morse Code practice (slow) = 5, 7.5, 10, 13 and 15 WPM CWf = Morse Code practice (fast) = 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 13 and 10 WPM CWb = Morse Code Bulletins = 18 WPM NEW DXCC ENTITY The ARRL DXCC Desk is pleased to announce the addition of St Barthelemy (FJ) to the DXCC List, making the island entity number 338 with an effective date of 14 December, 2007. Cards with contacts dated December 14, 2007 or after will be accepted for DXCC credit. The "event date" that caused St. Barthelemy to be added to the DXCC list was December 14, 2007, the date the US State Department Fact sheet was updated by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. This update added St Barthelemy to the List of Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty with its Administrative Center in Gustavia, qualifying it under DXCC rules in Section II -- 1 Political Entities (c). French St Martin (FS), while also added to the List of Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty, will remain on the DXCC List, but it is now considered a Point 1 Political Entity under the same classification as that of St Barthelemy. Please direct any questions you may have about St Barthelemy, St Martin or the DXCC program to the ARRL DXCC Desk at, dxcc@arrl.org. WELCOME, NEW MEMBER Don West, W9DEW 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 January/February, 1954 Indianapolis Radio Club Amachewer: A recent newspaper article states that the US Navy has been making tests suggested by a Marine Corps officer, on a new style of code for radio transmissions. This officer proposed eliminating the dashes as they wasted transmitter power, and the new code consists of all dots. To which one local would be ham retorts that they should eliminate both dashes and dots so he could get a license so he could get automobile license plates with a call sign on them. Hi. Upcoming Area Radio Events: * Sat., Feb. 16 – Marion County Severe Weather Spotter Training Starting at 9:00 am at the Indianapolis Training Center, 2820 N. Meridian Street, Indianapolis * Sat., March 8 - Wabash Valley ARA Hamfest Wabash Valley Fairgrounds, Terre Haute Go to http://www.w9uuu.org for more info. * Sat., March 29 – Columbus Amateur Radio Club Columbus 4-H Fairgrounds Community Building Go to http://www.qsl.net/carc for more info. 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: Judy Gardner, AA9GW - ..EMAIL aa9gw@juno.com · Chief Operator: Steve Wendt, KB9RDS - ..EMAIL kb9rds@juno.com · 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