THE INDIANAPOLIS RADIO CLUB - FOUNDED IN 1914 (The oldest continuously meeting Amateur Radio Club in the United States) THE AMACHEWER FOR MARCH 2001 NEXT MEETING IS MARCH 8, 2001 @ 7:00 P.M. THE HOLCOMB OBSERVATORY ON THE CAMPUS OF BUTLER UNIVERSITY. (Read more about this meeting below) 2001 IRC Officers: Pres. Bill Goodall (K9DBY) 255-4749 V. Pres. Chuck Crist (W9IH) 787-6674 Director Bruce Woodward (W9ZY) 251-5606 Secy. Tom Chance (K9XV) 783-1093 Treas. Wade Kingery (W9JGZ) 255-5191 Chief Op. John Lee (W9GRE) 251-3793 Editor Gale Wuollet (AA9WU) 849-8449 ** Our February Meeting Minutes: The minutes are not available at this writing. They'll have to sent at a later time. ** Our March meeting: What: A trip to the Butler University observatory. When: THURSDAY, March 8, 2001. (One day sooner than usual) Location: On the Butler University campus at the corner of 46th St & Sunset Ave. GPS users data: N39 deg. 50.361' / W 086 deg. 10.166' Help/Talk-IN frequency: 146.70/r Details: This is a special TOUR event and the Day of the week is Thursday for this meeting only. Everyone should arrive between 6:45 and 7:00 PM so our group can enter together. Butler University is home of the Holcomb Observatory & Planetarium; where the largest TELESCOPE in Indiana is housed . There is a $1.00 per/person charge for this event, Children under 12 yrs. of age are free.(pay at the door) Why not plan on bringing along a spouse, friend, child, etc.? There is plenty of Parking right in front of and adjacent to the Observatory. SPECIAL NOTE: For anyone that needs to park closer to the building you should consider parking on the West side of the facility. ** Our April meeting: Herb Caldwell (KB9YOF) will be with us this. His subject will be "Knot tying for Field Day." ** Local News: CODE TRAINING CLASS The American Red Cross Disaster Radio Group has scheduled a code training class. The class will meet each Thursday evening starting on March 22, 2001 and ending on April 26, 2001. Class hours each night will be from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. An official test session will be held on Thursday evening, May 3, 2001. All sessions will be held at the Red Cross Chapter House, 441 East Tenth Street near to downtown Indianapolis. The only charge for the class will be for the ARRL audio code CD that sells for $14.00. The CD is required as it is the basis of the class instruction. Sign-up for the class can be made by contacting one of the following individuals: John Lee (W9GRE) at (317) 251-3793 - email - jjlee@prodigy.net or, Gale Wuollet (AA9WU) at (317) 849-8449 - email - aa9wu@arrl.net. THE TALE OF THE RADIO TOWER (This story was provided by one of our esteemed members and I'll let him vouch for the accuracy of the tale. Thanks to Wade Kingery for this story that ought to be good counsel to those of us that should stay earth-bound) "On the day of the situation I was working alone on the top-most section of my 80 foot antenna tower. When I had completed my work, I discovered that over the course of several trips up the tower, I had brought up about 300 pounds of tools and hardware that I had to get back to ground level. Rather than carry them down in small groups, I decided to use a small barrel that I had available and lower them all to the ground in one trip by using a pulley system. I secured the rope at ground level and climbed to the top of the tower and loaded the numerous items into the barrel. I then went back down the tower, gripped and untied the rope and then while holding it very tightly, let the barrel start downward in a slow descent. By the way, I'm no small fellow weighing in at 205 pounds so I felt that I could handle this final part of the project by myself even though I knew that there were about 300 pounds of items in that barrel. Then suddenly, I was virtually jerked off of the ground! In the shock, I should have let go of the rope but I didn't and as a result I started a very rapid rate of ascent up the side of the tower. In the vicinity of the 40 foot level I met the barrel coming down. This explains the concussion and fractured collarbone that I received. As I neared the top I slowed slightly but not enough to prevent a couple of my knuckles from going into the pulley. Fortunately, by this time I had regained some presence of mind and in spite of the pain I didn't let go of the rope. At approximately the same time; however, the barrel hit the ground with enough force so that the bottom of the barrel became dislodged and fell out on the ground. All of the tools, parts, etc. fell out and only the weight of the barrel (about 20 pounds) was left at the end of the rope. As one might guess, I began a rapid descent down the side of the tower. Again in the vicinity of the 40 foot level, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles and numerous lacerations on my legs and lower body. The good news at this moment was that my encounter with the barrel slowed me down enough to lessen my injuries when I fell on the pile of tools and parts and fortunately I had only cracked three vertebrae at this time. The bad news was that at the moment of impact, I again lost my presence of mind and LET GO OF THE ROPE!!! ** News from the ARRL: ARRL OFFERS NEW FIVE-YEAR MEMBERSHIP PLAN With a membership dues increase going into effect July 1, 2001, the ARRL is offering a special five-year membership plan until then, so members can lock in at the current, lower dues rates. Effective immediately, current or prospective ARRL members in the US and US possessions can obtain a five-year renewal or membership for $146 ($122 for those 65 or older)--a saving of $24 ($18 for those 65 or older) from the cost of year-to-year renewal at current rates! Due to postal considerations, this offer cannot be extended to those living in other countries. The special five-year membership offer expires June 30, 2001, the last day the present dues schedule is in effect. After that, annual dues will increase to $39 for individuals ($34 for those 65 and older). Another option is to apply for an ARRL Life Membership for $850. Special discounts apply to senior and visually impaired applicants. A complete rate schedule and application form is available on ARRL Web, http://www.arrl.org/join.html . ARRL OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS CLUB STATION CALL SIGN ADMINISTRATOR The ARRL is open for business as an FCC designated Club Station Call Sign Administrator. ARRL-VEC Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, reports that the ARRL CSCSA has received 10 club station applications to date since the program officially began January 22, the date the FCC stopped accepting club station applications. "Beginning this program has been a relatively painless and very straightforward process," Jahnke said. "Keeping the procedures simple has played a big role in how smoothly things have gone." Once an application is received at the ARRL-CSCSA, processing typically takes two business days, Jahnke said. All but one of the applications received by the ARRL CSCSA have been processed and granted by the FCC. "The remaining application was faxed to us, and we need the original signed application rather than a fax in order to process such requests," Jahnke pointed out. Last month, the FCC designated the ARRL-VEC, the W5YI-VEC and the W4VEC Volunteer Examiners Club of America as Club Station Call Sign Administrators. Club station applicants may file via any of the three FCC-designated CSCSA's using either NCVEC Form 605 or W4VEC Form CSCSA to file. The new CSCSA's receive and process hard-copy applications and submit the information electronically to the FCC. The three FCC-designated Club Station Call Sign Administrators do not charge for their services. Club Station Call Sign Administrators do not handle requests for vanity call signs. Amateurs may seek a new club or military recreation station license, or may file for modification, renewal or duplicate (requesting another hard copy license, if the original was lost) of a club or military recreation station license using NCVEC Form 605 or W4VEC Form CSCSA. NCVEC Form 605 is available from the ARRL Web site, RACES stations may file modification or duplicate requests, but RACES licenses may not be renewed, and the FCC is no longer granting new RACES licenses. The FCC requires applicants to obtain and use an Assigned Taxpayer Identification Number--or ATIN on their club station applications--although a club that already has registered with the FCC's Universal Licensing System may use its Licensee ID Number instead of its ATIN. If a club has its own IRS-issued Entity Identification Number, or EIN, that number also may be used instead. ** Miscellany I recently had another request asking how one might get "registered" with the FCC. As you may already know, the FCC initiated the move to the Universal Licensing System (ULS) in mid-1999. Some hams signed up under that system and got a serial number that was used to replace the use of their Tax Identification Number (TIN). Then several months later it was announced that the FCC would use the "CORES" system instead. So today a ham can register into the CORES system by using an Internet connection. This is the Internet URL: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cores/CoresHome.html All of us that registered in the ULS system should have had an automatic change of registration from the ULS to the CORES system so that additional work on our part would not be required. For those that haven't registered to date, they will have to acquire a CORES number before they can make any renewal or change to their license in the future. Thanks to Wade for sending in "Tower Tale" this month and I continue to remind that I need your input so PLEASE send me your stories, ideas, etc. I can be reached at: Gale Wuollet 3423 Admiralty Lane Indianapolis, IN 46240-3566 Phone: 849-8449 Email: gaw3423@prodigy.net Thanks and 73, Gale AA9WU