The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter
Founded 1914
The oldest continuously meeting Amateur Radio Club in the United States

The AMACHEWER NEWSLETTER for December 2004 

Reporting news from the Annual Indianapolis Radio Club meeting held on Friday, 
December 10th, 2004, and other items of possible interest to amateurs.

The Annual Meeting and Dinner of the Indianapolis Radio Club was held on Friday, 
December 10th , 2004 at the Southside MCL Cafeteria, 3630 S. US 31. In spite of 
the cold weather, a group of 62 members and spouses gathered at the announced 
time and place for an enjoyable meal, presentation of achievement awards and sponsor 
awards, prize drawings, and a wonderful sharing of fellowship and good cheer among 
all those gathered. The club president, Chuck Crist (W9IH) called the meeting to order 
at 7:30pm and thanked the group for their interest and support of the club meetings, 
programs, and activities during the past year. He then began describing the highly 
coveted club awards that were created during the past year. This built a great sense 
of anticipation among the group as the final awards for the year, described below, 
were announced. The program for the evening was provided by Sharon Oliver from the 
Eiteljorg Museum on the topic of the Miami Indians, as reported in more detail later in 
this newsletter. Sharon was assisted by Nick Longworth, also from the museum. The 
club Secretarys report and the club Treasurers report were postponed until the next
 meeting, in the interest of time.

At the conclusion of the Annual Meeting, President Chuck Crist (W9IH) and his wife 
Barbara (KB9BSV) were applauded for their effort and hard work in strengthening the 
club through their leadership and untiring service. Chuck, in turn, thanked all the club 
officer for their work throughout the past year.

Next Meeting: 

Friday, January 14, 2005 at 7:00 PM on the 13th floor (East End) of the ITC for chats and
 coffee. The meeting will begin promptly at 7:30pm. The program for the next meeting will 
be .A Brief Introduction to the Linux operating system 
with Amateur Radio Applications, by members Brian Stone (KC9GSA) and Tom Price 
(WB9UNG). A limited number of CDs containing the Mandrake and Knoppix Linux systems
 will be available following the program.

New Club Members:
Jerry Anderson (KC9GVU), Tom Gray (KC9GQM), Estel Hines (KC9GMV), and 
Tom (N9JQH) & Marty (N9JQG) Frank applied for club membership. 
Action on these applications was postponed until the next meeting.

Year End Club Awards:The monthly club DX award and trophy for December was won by 
Don Hemenover (N9DOO) for his 20m contact with Portugal; the QRP award was won by 
Steve Wendt (KB9RDS) for his contact with K4DUP in Waterville, TN on 18.432MHz; 
the Digital mode award was won by Bob Osterhouse (W9PSE) for a PSK31 contact with 
Cuba on 20m; and the 
Mentor award for his yearlong work promoting ham radio in the Indianpolis Area  was 
awarded to Ed Conder (N9IZN).

Sponsor Awards:

Sponsor Awards were presented to the following groups for their valued support of the 
Indianapolis Radio Club over the past year:
-Indianapolis Training Center for hosting our club meetings and providing delicious  coffee;
-Web Navigation (Jason Spangler) for support of the club web site;
-Curan Electronics, for donating valuable prizes and support during the past year;
-MAI Prime Parts, for prize donations and advice provided over the past year.

Other Special Awards:

-Ed Conder (N9OZN) for his great digital club meeting pictures during the past year;
-Bob Osterhouse (W9PSE), for recruiting prize donors and the prizes used during the 
giant prize giveaways at each of our club meetings;
-Tom Price (WB9UNG), for serving as temporary club newsletter editor
-Steve Heininger (N9OI), Tom Chance (K9XV), and Bob Blake (N9FIM).

Young Hams of the Year:
Three handsome trophy awards were presented to 
-Heather Heininger (KB9ZLB), 
-Adele Brown (K9OOC), and 
-Trevor Fulk (N9YM), for being Outstanding Young Hams of the Year.

IRC Marconi Award for Technical Excellence: 
This first and NEW IRC award was presented to Jim Keeth (AF9A); 
who had other dinner arrangemnets.

IRC Award Amateur of the Year:
The IRC Award Amateur of the Year was presented to 
-Steve Wendt (KB9RDS) for his work with young hams throughout the year.

 Hamfest and Special Events Calendar:
 Check the IRC website under events and Hamfest for 2005.

Club Hats Available:
In celebration of the IRCs 90th Anniversary, club hats with an embroidered club 
logo are available for purchase for $20. The articles seen by this reporter were 
baseball style hats in several available colors, with black lettering, and appeared 
to be very well made. If you wish to purchase one of these hats, be sure to come 
to the next club meeting and bring some extra money! You will be helping to 
support your club if you buy one of these hats.

Amateur Radio Classes:
-Indianapolis Radio Club;No-code Tech license (express) class..2005  Class dates 
are : April 11,13 & 15th (Mon , Wed, Fri.);location will be Scottish Rite Cathedral , 
650 N. Meridian St. Indianapolis IN. (More details see http;//www.IndyRadioClub.org/indyclasses.htm)
-The Red Cross of Indianapolis Radio Club is well into a 10-week class for prospective 
amateurs. See the IRC web site (www.indyradioclub.org) for more details.
-A Radio Study Group has been meeting at 10:30 AM on Wednesdays at the McDonalds 
at 116th and I-69 to discuss questions and answers on amateur radio. 
For more information, contact Tom Price (WB9UNG) at 849-6550.

Door Prizes:
A number of fabulous door prizes, including another Sears Frequency Counter, 
a portable radio mounting bracket, a level and tape measure, and other prizes and 
were distributed to randomly selected members of the IRC who were in attendance 
using a timeless classical prize gathering and distribution algorithm perfected by 
award-winning Bob Osterhous (W9PSE). To learn more about the potential benefits of 
the door prize distribution process, be sure to attend the next IRC meeting! Bob continues 
to do a great job locating interesting prizes for this portion of the club meetings.

 IRC Grand Prize Drawing Winner:
The Grand Prize of the Annual Meeting for 2004 was a 2m HT. This spectacular prize was 
won by Dave Jarvis (N9KZJ) in the final drawing of the evening. Congratulations, Dave! 

 Eiteljorg Program (by Sharon Oliver, assisted by Nick Longworth):

Sharon Oliver, a volunteer guide at the Eiteljorg Museum, introduced her program on the 
Miami Indians by first presenting a brief history of the Eiteljorg Museum. The museum was 
gift of Industialist Harrison Eiteljorg, whose travels throughout the West allowed him to 
acquire thousands and thousands of Native American art and artifacts. Many early 
American wildlife artists traveled with surveyors and were thereby afforded rich 
opportunities to depict early life in America. Slides of work by these early artists 
included paintings by George Winter, an Indiana artist who painted scenes from t
he NW Territory; Alfred Jacob Miller, who painted the Traders Bride; Georgia O
Keef and Victor Higgins (from Shelbyville), who painted Pueblo buildings. 
The museum sponsored an exhibit of art from the Indian marketa juried show
during the summer of 2004, as illustrated by a slide of a dancer shown during the program.

The Eiteljorg museum is located at the corner of Washington and West Streets in 
Indianapolis. It is surrounded by three acres of gardens that feature assorted animal 
sculptures by Kenneth Bunn. The museum is beginning its 15th year with an ambitious 
expansion program to add display space and other facilities, in addition to selected 
named galleries and spaces such as the Pulliam State of Indiana Art Center and the 
Close Auditorium. 

 The early Miami Indians occupied the eastern portion of the NW Territory, and were 
first contacted by French and British traders in the 1600s. The Miami later pushed north 
to Michigan. Near the 1700s and at the end of the Fur Trading Wars they began moving 
back to the Wabash Valley, where they farmed during the summer and migrated during 
the winter. The Indian Removal Act of 1840 initiated moving the Deleware, Pokagon, and 
Shawnee tribes to Kansas. In 1846, the Miami Indians left this area, except for four families 
that were centered in Peoria. These were the Francis Slocum family, and 3 other small families. 
The Miami tribal headquarters and mound cemeteries were located in Peru, Indiana. 

 The Treaty of Wabash (1840) took back lands from the Indians. This act also allowed the 
counties to tax land held by the Indians, sometimes as much as $100,000. Moving on with 
this history quickly, the Miami Indians were awarded US citizenship in 1925 and can vote in 
Federal elections. There is a Federal Tax on their land, but no state tax. The last native Miami 
speaking Indian died in 1993. Currently, the original language spoken by Miami is being revived 
by the Miami Indians of Oklahoma and the Miami Nation of Indiana. The Indiana Legislature 
voted in 2004 to create a commission to look after the Miami recognition program. Recently, 
Stan Calbert, a land owner at Racoon Lake, donated 150 acres to the current Chief of the Miami Indians.

The Eiteljorg Museum and the Miami Indians have now formed a joint permanent exhibit at the museum. 
 A CD containing more detailed information about the Eiteljorg Museum and its unique exhibits was 
distributed following the program.
On behalf of all those in attendance at the Annual Club meeting, we would all like to thank Sharon Oliver 
and Nick Longworth for preparing and presenting such a fascinating program about the Eiteljorg 
Museum and the Miami Indians.

 Puzzle/Solution #1 (As yet unclaimed):
What is the longest rectangular board 1 ft wide that can be placed flat on the floor of a 
rectangular room that is 5ft. by 10 ft?
If you can show why the answer is 10.439325+ ft, please contact the newsletter editor 
(Tom, WB9UNG) for a free lunch, or to participate in a free lunch drawing in the event there
 is more than one entry. 

Puzzle/Solution #2: (New)
What is the diameter of the spherical ball that will just fit in the corner behind a 1ft. diameter 
ball that touches the two walls and floor that all meet at right angles? If you determine this answer, 
please contact the newsletter editor for a free lunch, or to participate in a free lunch drawing in the 
event there is more than one correct entry. 

Any Additional News Items:
If you have news that should be reported in the next issue of club newsletter, please feel free to 
send it to your temporary newsletter editor, Tom Price (WB9UNG), at the email address pricetr@comcast.net.