ARRL letter re BPL March 2006

March 2006

Dear Member:

1 am pleased to be able to send you this progress report on one of the most important efforts the ARRL has ever undertaken to protect and enhance Amateur Radio spectrum: the battle against interference from Broadband Over Power Lines (BPL).

Touted by some as the “third wire” for bringing broadband connectivity into American homes, BPL is a massive potential source of radio spectrum pollution. Imagine every power line in your neighborhood radiating RF energy on your favorite ham bands—not line noise, which is enough of a problem in itself but energy deliberately put there!

Imagine that 40 years ago the FCC told cable TV system designers, “Don’t bother using shielded coaxial cable—any old wire will do.” Amateur Radio would be a distant memory. BPL is that kind of threat.

There is good news. Contrary to the predictions of its shameless promoters, 2005 was not a big year for BPL. The number of cities in which BPL service was widely available to consumers was the same at the end of the year as at the beginning two. Nationwide, cable and DSL providers added more new broadband customers this morning than have ever been served by BPL. In October 2005 PPL Corporation of Allentown, Pennsylvania announced that it was ending its residential BPL market trial. In January 2006 it was Boise, Idaho-based IDACOMM’s turn to bail out of BPL Most utilities that have looked at BPL have decided not to pursue it.

But the radio spectrum is a unique, priceless natural resource. We can’t rely on BPL’s likely failure in the marketplace to protect the radio spectrum from pollution.

More than anyone else, the ARRL has raised the visibility of the BPL radio interference issue. We have kept after the FCC to correct ongoing spectrum pollution from BPL, particularly from the much-ballyhooed system in Manassas, Virginia. At the same time we have been glad to cooperate with BPL companies that take the interference problem seriously and design their systems accordingly. The ARRL is not opposed to BPL, but we remain steadfastly opposed to interference caused by BPL systems.

With every passing day since the FCC adopted its BPL rules in October 2004 it has become clearer that the FCC rules do not properly draw the line between BPL systems that can be deployed without serious harm to radio communication and those that cannot. The FCC rules allow both kinds! The ARRL has proposed rules to fix this. If such rules were in place—and properly enforced— we could relax. BPL could be allowed to succeed or fail on its merits. Until then, we won’t let the spectrum polluters and their apologists off the hook.

Using every tool at our command, we will keep after the FCC to do the right thing. The battle against BPL interference is being waged on a number of other fronts. On the technical front, the ARRL Lab has become — reluctantly, but of necessity— the foremost center of technical expertise on radio interference from BPL systems. Our field measurements are accurate. Companies such as Motorola have sought our advice.

To the extent BPL is making any headway at all, the companies that take interference seriously are gaining traction at the expense of those that deny the problem exists. This is no accident. It’s the result of the ARRL’s relentless media relations efforts to keep radio interference at the center of the BPL discussion. Today, only the most slipshod media reports about BPL fail to raise a caution flag about the interference issue.

We have taken the message to Congress. In April 2006 Congressman Mike Ross, WD5DVR, introduced House Resolution 230 to express the sense of the House of Representatives that the FCC “should reconsider and revise rules” governing BPL systems “based on a comprehensive evaluation of the interference potential of those systems to public safety services and other licensed radio services.”

Finally, ARRL is monitoring developments at the state level as BPL proponents lobby state legislatures and public utility commissions for competitive advantages to overcome the economic shortcomings of BPL systems. We make sure that policy makers at all levels of government know the truth about BPL.

BPL has important implications for Amateur Radio’s emergency communications capabilities.

Some BPL proponents actually argue that in an emergency the power will be off anyway, so there won’t be any interference. But if BPL is polluting the radio spectrum in your neighborhood you will never hear the weak signal calling for help from the disaster area.

As important as the BPL issue is, it is just one of many threats to our use of the radio spectrum that the ARRL deals with every day. A dedicated team of volunteers and staff works constantly on your behalf. There are opportunities as well as threats. For example, your ARRL team was able to arrange for amateur access to five voice channels near 5 MHz. Now we are working to extend this toehold, useful as it is, into something more like a traditional amateur allocation.

Your support as an ARRL member is absolutely essential to our continued success. But we must ask you, if you can, to do more. Membership dues alone are not sufficient to fund everything that must be done for the protection, promotion and advancement of the Amateur Radio Service. If you have not done so before, please consider making a voluntary contribution to the Fund for the Defense of Amateur Radio Frequencies. If you have in the past, please renew your support.

Only you know how much Amateur Radio is worth to you, and how much you can afford to contribute to its protection. Please be as generous as you can, knowing that we will use your contribution as carefully as we possibly can to ensure that Amateur Radio is there for your enjoyment tomorrow— and always.

Sincere 73,

David Sunmer K1ZZ

Chief Executive Officer

2006 03 20 Meeting Notes

2006 03 20 MEETING NOTES

PLEASE VISIT OUR EXCELLENT WEB SITE
http://www.imarsflorida.com

Hello all,

We enjoyed Hank (N4TJO) and XYL Dottie's hospitality again today. Dottie even made a cake which we all enjoyed.

We learned that Joe N9ZGU took a fall and broke his wrist since the last meeting. Jack WD8QYU told us of Joe's misfortune and brought a get well card which we all signed.

Bob KG4GFA told us of a great new alternate meeting place which his church has offered for our meetings when we cannot meet at the DeBary EOC. We agreed that we will meet there on April 3rd to check it out. Bob will have the key and I'm sure he realizes that Joey gets there to start the coffee at about 0830 ;-)

We had no program today but we regaled each other with a series of sea stories and, I think, had a great time.

Next week Bud NØIA will have a program relating to public service and, I hope, the Forum reporter will be there to take some pictures and give us a little publicity.

Walt W2DU has sent quite a few pictures to put into our history notebook. Please do the same, we would like to have some photos for each member. I put up an album of Walt's photos, you can take a look at them at:

Link starts here => http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=AC52D13C080&cb=PW <== Link ends here

Photos from today's meeting are at: Click on the Web address link below:

Link starts here => http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=AB088F2C080&cb=PW <== Link ends here

I took some liberties with a couple of these photos, the Devil made me do it ;-)

73

Jerry KØJH

2006 03 13 Meeting Notes

2006 03 13 MEETING NOTES

PLEASE VISIT THE IMARS WEB SITE AT

http://www.imarsflorida.com

Hi all,

I'm really late getting to these notes this week. (insert all of the usual excuses ;-) I scribbled some notes and will try to remember what all went on.

We had an excellent meeting at Hank (N4TJOs) house. Hank and Dottie were gracious hosts. Dottie made some excellent Brownies, we saved half the donuts, put them into the freezer and will bring em back next week. My XYL(Margot) has volunteered to supplement with some cookies.

Hank has a porch that makes a wonderful meeting place, the day was bright and sunny and 17 people found his QTH without any trouble, well maybe a little. Hank put an orange ribbon on his mailbox that helped.

The question of the day, hastily put together on the fly was: Hopalong Cassidy (Wm. Boyd) was a famous cowboy. What was the name of Hoppy's ranch?

The donut fund stands at $417.22.

There wasn't anything mentioned for DX worked, help, parts and equipment wanted or for sale.

We were very happy to see Frank KK4RW, a little tired perhaps, but back among us. We wish him a speedy return to full strength. WELCOME BACK FRANK.

Bill Maxwell, W2WM made the meeting. Bill will talk about his life and times at our next meeting. This is sure to be very interesting.

We were honored by a visitor and, we hope, new member. George Charlick, K2NM, came and, we hope, enjoyed the meeting. George gave us a quick run-down. I was trying to keep up but only got part of it. Here, in a nut shell, is what he told us: He came down to Central Florida in 1979, built a house (two houses? '83 & '84.) His wife passed away in 1987 and he didn't do much with ham radio for a while. One day he got a package of QSL cards from the ARRL Bureau and realized someone was using his call. He worked for Emerson/Harris Corp. in Government Support in Orlando then for UCF repairing analytical equipment in the chemistry department. He retired the first of last year. He lives in the 3rd Area of Deltona on Norvell Court where he has two towers with beams and a couple of G4RVs. He works mainly 40 and 80 meters. WELCOME GEORGE.

Dick, K4ANT was not among us but he had sent some very interesting information about the early history of IMARS. Dick learned some more information in a conversation with John Weber, WB2JIR when he visited John who is presently recuperating from surgery and is undergoing rehab at RidgeCrest nursing home in Deland (800 Stone Street Rm 340.) John would enjoy a visit from his old friends. Ridge Crest is a short distance north on Stone St. from the intersection of Plymouth and Stone, about a half a mile north of the hospital on Stone. Their phone number is 734-4334. Afternoons are best. They keep him busy in the mornings. The history has been revised with the new information added and Joey has posted the updated version on the IMARS web site (http://www.imarsflorida.com)
Please check it out and let Joey know that you appreciate his efforts. A slicker web site will not be found.

We discussed several possible permanent meeting places. Bob Stone KG4GFA mentioned that his church has a room that might be available. Tonight I received a message from Bob saying that his pastor had agreed that we can meet there and Bob has the key. He will tell us more on Monday.

After all of that Hank, N4TJO, our host, spoke for about 30 minutes on Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (or is it Theory of Special Relativity?) We discussed the theory, and several people volunteered examples. A big subject to swallow all at once. Hank had even constructed an easel up on which to illustrate his points. Thank you Hank for volunteering to speak to the group.

I hope more will be encouraged to step up. Please think of something you are interested in that you could use to spin a 30 minute yarn for us. We will promise (means try hard) not to talk over you or amoung ourselves while you have the floor. If you can't think of anything grab a neighbor who would do 30 minutes in return for some coffee and donuts.

DONATED QUESTION OF THE DAY – WHAT'S THE MESSAGE?
(eMail me for the answer)

Walt told this one:



A little later I was working on a project to make an eBook of my old hometown's little newspaper and I came across the same story, almost word for word!

I sent an invitation to everyone, please come and hear Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak speak about DNA and genealogy. It's free. See the R&B BLOG at http://rnbdeland.blogspot.com/

Have a good week, see ya on Monday.

73 & 88

Jerry KØJH

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE DAY: The Bar-20

2006 03 06 Metting Notes

Hello all,

We had a fairly good turnout for today’s meeting. 15 members shared Joey’s coffee and some pastries I brought in. WalMart went from $3.96 / dozen (incl TAX) to $4.50 for a dozen pastries some time in the last 2 weeks. The “Donut fund” after today stands at $417.22.

The question of the day: “What is the difference between a RAMJET engine and a SCRAMJET engine?” (answer below)

The first thing we had to cope with was a notice from Allan Williamson that we would not have access to the DeBary EOC next Monday. He also notified us that he would not be available to open the doors on two other Mondays, I failed to note the dates but have asked him to eMail them to me.

I foresaw this situation and encouraged everyone to be looking around for an alternate meeting place. My experience with the library system let me see that the use of any public facility can be a problem. It would not greatly surprise me to hear that someone has objected to our use of this room in the future, it would be wise to have an alternate meeting place up our sleeve.

Next week we will meet at N4TJO Hank Slauson’s house at 1485 West French Avenue in Orange City. On 17/92, south out of DeLand, north out of DeBary/Deltona, French Avenue is the road to Blue Springs Park. It is identified by a large brown sign for the Park. Turn west and look for Hank’s place on the right just before Valentine Park. If you pass Valentine Park you’ve gone just a little too far. I’ll see if we can get Hank to put something on his mail box so we can easily identify his driveway. I’ll send Joey a map so check the web site if you need better directions. Hank will be right at home with his presentation on the Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and I’m sure the time will fly by at WARP speed ;-)

For future meetings we will return to DeBary EOC. Bud, I and others have volunteered our QTH for meetings but I’m concerned that by moving the meeting place around we’re going to lose a bunch of members. We certainly can’t afford that.

Bob Waterson, KC4LXW and Russ W4ZIP will check out some possibilities but please, each member, think hard about churches, fraternal organizations and any other places that might have a room available. We could not pay for a meeting place unless it was very cheap, $5 or less.

Russ W4ZIP brought his great new IC-7000 and gave a very good account of it which made our mouth water. At $1,500 I probably won’t be getting one any time soon but I sure would like to. One great thing about the rig, and other ICOMS is that they can be run by a computer program. As is true in a lot of our modern gadgets the manual is almost as heavy as the rig. I’m still dealing, when I operate at all, with vintage

Kenwoods, TS-130, TS-930 and TS-50, so I’m really out of touch with the newer generation of rigs. I can’t imagine a rig better than my old TS-930 which is as good a CW rig as was ever made, I think, but too slow in switching to run AMTOR without some modifications. Now the capacitors have dried up and it is DEAD.

Bob Waterson, KC4LXW, mentioned that his 2M rig is in need of repair but, due to its age, the manufacturer (Kenwood) won’t work on it. In QST there are several repair offers, here is one that Bob might be interested in: AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE / ALIGNMENT: Factory Authorized Kenwood, ICOM & Yaseu, Including Amplifiers & Tuners, Beltronics, Inc. Hollis, NH 603/465-2422 hamrepairs@beltronics.net.

Here is another: ALL TYPES OF RADIO REPAIR, alignment, and refurbishing done by FCC commercial licensed technicians. Amateur, Business, Shortwave, Citizens Band and GMRS. Reasonable rates, Fast turn around on most items. Call today for shipping authorization. Call Cook Towers Inc. Toll free 877/992-2665 or eMail at CookTowersInc@aol.com.

Joey sent a neat joke that I won’t repeat here, very funny. I had one too. If anyone would like to have them eMail me and I’ll send you a copy.

March 11, 2006 - pancake breakfast 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the 1^st United Methodist Church, 1045 E. Normandy Blvd. See Keith SØCIAL (386/789-6182) for tickets, $4 advance, $5 at the door. Children under 10 free with an adult.

That takes care of breakfast, now you can head for Daytona Beach for some fun and another great meal.

March 11, 2006 – Polka Blast (2 great MI bands) Polish food and dancing at the Polish American Pulaski Club of Daytona Beach 3621 Int’l Speedway Blvd W. in Daytona Beach 12 noon until 9 p.m. $15.00 per person. Call 386/736-2543, 386/258-7059 or 386/736-3438 for reservations. Location S.R. 92, W of I-95, 1 mile W or I-4, S side. More info – Joey N9LQ (386/740-9900)

Find out whether you’re in good enough condition to enjoy the rest of the calendar ;-)

March 19, 2006 – Health Fair at Fla Hosp DeLand and Fish Mem in Orange City. Have tests done at a minimal fee on March 15^th 7-8 a.m. or March 16^th 8-9 a.m. in the lab at Fish Mem. Review your results with a medical professional (tech or physician.) Tests available are: Comprehensive (14 assorted tests) $25 (fasting 12 hrs required.) PSA ($21,) Lipid Panel (Cardiac Risk Profile) ($15) Cholesterol ($7.) Call 386 917-5170 to schedule the tests.

If you are in good health this place is always a hoot.

March 25, 2006 – St. Patty’s Dinner/dance at the Sons of Italy Lodge 1270 Doyle Rd Deltona beginning 6 p.m. Menu: corned beef & cabbage, boiled potatoes, dessert & coffee. Music by Ernie (this guy is very good.) Donation of $18 per person BYOB Setups available. Reservations by March 18^th. Call 386/574-1122.

April 28, 2006 – Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will simulate two simultaneous train wrecks in Volusia county (Ormond Beach and DeBary.) Bud WØIA was not certain how much participation will be requested of the Ham Radio community. We may be called upon to man the DeBary EOC for a while.

Looking for another hobby? Genealogy is a very good choice, come join us and begin learning how to research your family history.

April 29, 2006 - Genealogy Mini-Conference, Bill Morgan KE4HO keynote speaker “DNA & Genealogy,” eight classes throughout the afternoon (1 – 4:30 p.m.) plus a “Munch and Mingle” snack after the classes. FREE at the Family History Center, LDS Church, 1345 Aquarius Avenue, DeLand 32724 – Register by calling FHC at 386/822-9695. THE FHC MINI-SEMINAR IS ALWAYS GREAT, DON’T MISS IT.

After you’re full of knowledge let’s go have some fun in DeBary

April 29, 2006 – Old Country Hoedown in DeBary. 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. at the DeBary Hall Historic Site (210 Sunrise Blvd) Enjoy country music, dancing and a barbeque dinner. Bring your lawn chair. Tickets $15 advance or $20 at the door. Call 386/666-3840 for more information.

73 see ya Monday at Hank’s house

Jerry KØJH

ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Scramjet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet)

A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variation of a ramjet where the flow of the air and combustion of the fuel air mixture through the engine is done at supersonic speeds. This allows the scramjet to achieve greater speeds than a conventional ramjet which slows the incoming air to subsonic speeds before entering the combustion chamber. Projections for the top speed of a scramjet engine (without additional oxidiser input) vary between Mach 12 and Mach 24 (orbital velocity). By way of contrast, the fastest conventional air-breathing, manned vehicles, such as the U.S. Air Force SR-71, achieve slightly more than Mach 3.2.

Like a ramjet, a scramjet essentially consists of a constricted tube through which inlet air is compressed by the high speed of the vehicle, fuel is combusted, and then the exhaust jet leaves at higher speed than the inlet air. Also like a ramjet, there are few or no moving parts. In particular there is no high speed turbine as in a turbofan or turbojet engine that can be a major point of failure.

A scramjet requires supersonic airflow through the engine, thus, similar to a ramjet, scramjets have a minimum functional speed. This speed is uncertain due to the low number of working scramjets, relative youth of the field, and the largely classified nature of research using complete scramjet engines. However it is likely to be at least Mach 5 for a pure scramjet, with higher Mach numbers 7-9 more likely. Thus scramjets require acceleration to hypersonic speed via other means. A hybrid ramjet/scramjet would have a lower minimum functional Mach number, and some sources indicate the NASA X-43A research vehicle is a hybrid design. Recent tests of prototypes have used a booster rocket to obtain the necessary velocity. Air breathing engines should have significantly better specific impulse while within the atmosphere than rocket engines. However scramjets have weight and complexity issues that must be considered.

The Amateur's Code

Take a look at a comparison between the original Amateur's Code of 1926 and that in practice in the year 2000.

(Source: (thanks W4ANT) http://www.radioranch.biz/amateurscode.htm)

2006 02 27 Meeting Notes

2006 02 27 IMARS MEETING NOTES

Please visit the IMARS web site at http://www.imarsflorida.com/ where Joey N9LQ has put a lot of effort into making this one of the best club sites in the area. Show him you appreciate his effort by visiting the site. Contribute your BIO and whatever else you have of interest.

SEE THE PHOTOS OF TODAYS MEETING AT THE FOLLOWING LINK:

Link starts here => http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=A6ABB32C04E&cb=PW <== Link ends here

We had 20 present at today's meeting at the DeBary EOC. Thank you all for coming out to show Jean and Walt Maxwell (W2DU) how much we appreciate their devotion to each other and to the IMARS group. They seldom miss a meeting while they are in the area. Today they provided two cakes. One was sugar free (for we fat folks ;-) and the other was full sugar for the more healthy troops.

We missed Barbara KD4RAV who, thankfully, is on the mend, and Frank KK4RW. Barbara is at home but Frank is still in the hospital (Rm 133 at Fish Memorial.) We hope they will both be back in the pink soon and back with us on a Monday morning.

We were very happy to see Grant N3CJJ back again and Clarence KD4SQT showed up for the first time at our new venue, thanks to Don KC4UUM who brought him part way.

We had a lively discussion on various topics and then Tom KB2JZX made a presentation about his great new Garmin GPS. Unfortunately I didn't get the model number but the little box speaks to you in a loud clear voice, unlike many of the synthesized voices I've heard. It would be a great thing to have. We should all be so lucky as to have a son-in-law (son?) with deep pockets ;-)

Don't miss next week. Russ W4ZIP has promised to bring his new ICOM 7000 HF/VHF transceiver in and give us a demonstration of this beautiful little rice box. It should be very informative.

Hank N4TJO will talk the following week about Einstein's Theory of Relatively. Hank has been taking a course and so should be “relatively” sharp on the subject. (sorry ;-)

Keith Mattison SØCIAL brought some tickets for a pancake breakfast at the First United Methodist Church. The tickets are only $4 each for the breakfast which will be on March 11^th so plan to pick some up at the meeting on the 7^th.

We didn't sing but wished Carlos WA4ZKV Happy Birthday and remembered Wally KE4LIV who wasn't present but was not forgotten.

Our 'Donut Fund' stood at $400.74 not counting the contributions we received today.

I forgot to mention the 'HOEDOWN IN DEBARY” for which I had a brochure. There will be a celebration at the DeBary House on 29 April from 6 until 11 p.m. Mark your calendar, bring a chair, listen to some music and have a little food. Support the city that has provided us a place to meet.

We discussed the new digital television coming in three years. Here are some additional items, there are many if you GOOGLE the subject.

[SOURCE: Reuters]

http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/952
The House of Representatives on Monday approved legislation to complete the country's transition to new, higher-quality digital television by February 17, 2009. Under a deal negotiated by Republicans in the Senate and House, a .5 billion fund would be created to help some consumers buy converter boxes so existing analog television signals do not go dark when the transition is finished...

See House vote on S. 1932 (passed 212-206) at:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll670.xml

REPUBLICAN SENATORS PUSH THEIR DTV BILL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Five Senate Republicans, four on the Senate Commerce Committee, have written committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to urge him to stick with that committee's version of the DTV transition bill when he conferences with the House Commerce Committee leadership on a reconciled bill. Due to Senate rules preventing legislating on appropriations bills, the Senate version is a stripped-down bill that deals only with the setting of a hard date and the setting up of a funding mechanism to pay for digital converter boxes for viewers with analog sets that would otherwise not work after the transition. Sens George Allen (R-VA), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Norm Coleman (R-MN) don't want the bill that returns from conference to include "extraneous" DTV-related provisions, including one that would allow cable to convert its signal from HDTV to standard DTV or digital to analog. "Complicated policy issues such as these merit extensive review in committee. We urge you to oppose additional digital television provisions beyond the hard date," they wrote.

And at http://www.komando.com see a discussion of another new wrinkle called SED in her free weekly newsletter.

KILLER TIP--THE WEEKLY QUESTION SENT IN FROM PEOPLE LIKE YOU!

Q. Do you have any opinions regarding a new flat panel television called SED being introduced by Canon/Toshiba? It apparently has a picture three times as good as any current HD product on the

market. Know anything about it? When might it be available? (see Kim's answer in the newsletter.)

Here is the lowdown on the technical aspects. A 2004 article but quite informative and interesting:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/answers.htm Many links at the end for further reading if you are interested.

SEE YA MONDAY

73

Jerry KØJH

(for Keith)

DIDIDIDAHDIDAH

Reincarnation

REINCARNATION
Anonymous

What is reincarnation?,
a cowboy asked his friend.
His friend replied,
why, that's what happens
when life comes to an end.

They wash your neck and comb your hair,
and clean your fingernails,
Then put you in a padded box,
free of life's travails

The box and you goes into a hole,
that they've dug into the ground.
Reincarnation starts when you're planted
beneath that mound.

The box melts down,
just like the clods, with you inside,
You've just started on
your transformation ride.

Well pretty soon some rain
is going to fall upon the ground,
Till one day, on your lonely grave,
a little flower is found.

Well say a horse should come along
and graze upon that flower.
What once was you now has become
a vegetated dower.

Then this little flower
that the horse ate up,
along with all his other feed
Goes to make bone and fat and muscle
essential to the steed.

But of course some is consumed
that he can't use,
and so it passes through.
And there it lies upon the ground,
this thing that once was you.

Well, say I should wander by
and gaze upon the ground,
And wonder and ponder
at this object that I've found.
Well this sort of makes me think
of reincarnation, of life and death and such,
And I'm right away thinkin. . .
damn, you haven't really changed that much.

.-.-.

2006 02 05 Meeting Notes

Meeting Notes 2006 02 06

Please visit our web page, Joey 8-toes N9LQ does a great job keeping it updated.
http://www.imarsflorida.com
PLEASE BE ALERT FOR CLUB MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS IN ALL PAPERS

Hello all,

Our first meeting in the new meeting place went very well. We had 14 in attendance, as many as we usually had at the Fire Station so most had no problem finding the place.

Alan Williamson, the DeBary Volunteer Coordinator, was most welcoming and we all felt comfortable in the EOC.

Bud NØIA has set up a station in the EOC and we all had a chance to look that over. We will get more involved with that program in the future I'm sure.

We were very happy to see Grant Everly, N3CJJ, at the meeting. It's been a long time since we saw Grant and hope he enjoyed the meeting and will come back every Monday.

Hank N4JTO brought a trailer load of goodies and invited everyone to take whatever they wanted. Hank called me earlier in the week. He said he had a lot of stuff in his garage that he wanted to get rid of but hated to just throw it away. I got to thinking about that. I gave a lot of stuff away before moving down here from Virginia Beach. In spite of that I've got a big pile again. I remembered something I had heard on the Clark Howard show. I went looking for it and decided I could make an interesting presentation for the club. It took a few hours to put together some slides and talked for about 20 minutes (wasn't it?) about the FreeCycle movement (like ReCycle except FREE, get it?) I was surprised to learn that all of the local cities have a FreeCycle group except Orange City. Give em a try, their purpose is noble and it solves the problem of getting rid of something without adding it to the landfill. Here are the links:

http://www.freecycle.org/
DeBary: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/debaryfreecycle/
DeLand: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DelandFLFreecycle/ Deltona: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/deltonafreecycle/
Geneva: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GenevaFreecycle/
Sanford: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SanfordFlFreecycle/
Seminole County: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SeminoleCountyFreecycle/

Russ W4ZIP presented us with the letter to Fire Station 34 he had composed. He even designed an IMARS letterhead that was very nice. He made the same mistake I did the first time I sent our meeting notice to all the newspapers, he reversed the numbers and called it Fire Station 43. Yesterday I received the corrected letter. Russ gave me the title Chairman. I guess that's good, we needed SOME title for purposes of the letter. I signed it in behalf of the club and got it in the mail today. I posted a copy of the letter along with pictures that Russ took of our first meeting. Here is the link to the photo album:

THE LINK STARTS HERE => http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=A7058D1C027&cb=PW <= LINK ENDS HERE - IF YOU CAN'T CLICK ON THIS LINK THEN PLEASE CUT AND PASTE IT INTO THE ADDRESS LINE OF YOUR WEB BROWSER.

If anyone would like to prepare a presentation, either with PowerPoint or just a group of slides that can be shown using the Windows XP Slide and Fax Viewer, as I did with this FreeCycle presentation, please let me know. I'll bring the projector to the meeting and we will hook it up to your notebook computer. If you don't have a notebook computer but can burn a CD or put your presentation on a Jump/Thumb Drive, I'll bring my notebook too. Having this projector available opens up all sorts of possibilities for the members to create interesting presentations using what they have available or can get off of the internet as I did with this presentation. PLEASE THINK OF SOMETHING YOU CAN DO TO MAKE THE NEXT MEETING INTERESTING. The story of your life, some fiction, both ;-)

I just got the following from Bud NØIA:

Hi, Jerry-

I'll miss the Old Fart's Meeting Monday Feb 13th. We were just notified today that Dillon has been called to active duty at the Guide Dog place and must be there before noon Monday. Because of Hamcation this weekend - we can't take him until Monday AM!

The good news is that we'll get to play with his nine new puppies for a while - and take some pictures - maybe a video! I'll have those to share the following week.

My best to all.

73,

bud N0IA (His phone numbers which I will not publish here.)

Last but not least, I have to thank my XYL for sending the cookies. She was baking cookies on Sunday night. I swear I didn't say a word, she said “Why don't you take these to the meeting tomorrow!” Of course I took her up on the offer immediately. I knew that if I didn't I'd end up eating them ALL myself. Lord knows I don't need them. I think there were 4 left when I got home, I DID eat all of those.

I'm looking for a near recitation about reincarnation that I'll read if I can find it, be warned. Think of something to preempt THAT ;-)

73 / 88

Jerry KØJH

P.S. Somebody asked me how I get the slant zero in my call Ø. Hold the ALT key and press 0216 on the NUMBER PAD (with a notebook you have to hold the CTRL, ALT and SHIFT key all at once because there is no number pad.) You can also get cents ¢, umlauts Ä etc. You can do the same in Word by choosing INSERT > SYMBOL then selecting the symbol you want, but it's a lot easier using the ALT key and remembering the ASCII code for the symbol you want.)

SORRY ABOUT THE EXTRA UNDERLINING, THE 'U' OPTION HAS DISAPPEARED FROM THIS BLOG EDITOR. I'VE ALREADY LOST IT ALL ONCE AND AM AFRAID TO MESS WITH IT ANY MORE.

2006 01 30 Meeting Notes

IMARS Meeting Notes – 20 January 2006
LAST MEETING AT STATION 43

Please check out our web site at:
http://www.imarsflorida.com

Hi All,

Today was a momentous one for IMARS, a sad day in many respects. The club has met at Volusia County Fire Station 43 now for, as near as I can tell, 16 years! It was a great meeting place and very comfortable for us. About six months ago Volusia County began to man the station 24 hours a day. We then experienced a rearrangement of the furniture which upset us a little but we made the adjustment. We were aware that the fire station was primarily for the firemen and we were kind of walking on eggshells and hoping there wouldn't be any changes that would make it impossible for us to continue meeting there.

After last weeks meeting (Jan 23rd) I was the last to leave. After the everyone else left two of the firemen came in and I heard them discussing a problem they were having. It seems that some of the guys would want to stay up, watching TV or playing games, while another wanted to turn in. Their lockers were located out in the truck garage and one guy mentioned that the diesel fumes were making his clothes smell like diesel fuel. They thought they could solve both problems at the same time if they brought the lockers into the meeting room and arranged them to form a room divider. They asked if that would cause us a problem. I said that, yes, it would, but that it was their fire station and we would accept whatever they decided to do.

I intended to check on the place on Wednesday but it wasn't until Sunday afternoon that I finally made it by there. My worst fears were confirmed. I was on my way to Sanford but thought I should try to give the rest of the club a heads up. I picked up my cellphone and realized that I didn't have anyone's number! When I got to Providence I stopped in the shopping center and searched through my day planner. I used to carry the roster but it had somehow gotten lost. After searching my brain for a minute or two I thought of a solution. I called my Granddaughter in Charlotte, NC. I knew she would not be very far from her computer. Sure enough, she was online when she answered the phone. I asked her to go to the IMARS web site and had her read off several phone numbers. Success! Bill N4ZZO answered and I was able to have him start the process of finding a new meeting place. He called Bud NØIA who, we knew, was working with the DeBary Volunteer Coordinator. We decided to go ahead with the meeting at Station 43 this time and discuss our options.

Bud was able to get an answer from Alan Williamson, the DeBary Volunteer Coordinator by meeting time and we are invited to meet at the DeBary EOC every Monday. I went to the DeBary City Hall and met with Mr. Williamson after our meeting. Alan was very cordial and wholeheartedly invited us to meet there. I looked the place over and it will be ideal as a meeting place. Alan even offered to make coffee. I thanked him but said that Joel would arrive with the club coffee pot, if that was OK, and make the coffee. Alan opens the EOC at 8:30 a.m. So Joel will have access about as early as he did at the fire house. At first it will be a little strange but I think we will be very happy at our new home.

There are a few issues we will have to deal with: 1) most important, it IS the EOC so, when there is a crisis the place will be manned by the emergency coordinators. At that time we will have to find another place to meet. Perhaps we would be able to move to the big room where the city coucil meets. Several club members have offered their homes so, if we have to move on short notice, we can meet at Hank's place, or mine or at Bob Waterson's (KC4LXW.) 2) When Monday is a holiday the place is not open. Alan said he could come and open for us anyhow. That's great but I expect there may be a time when he cannot do that. I told him that if he could give us as much warning as possible we could make other arrangements.

Those are the only to problems I see right now. Being a pessimist however, I am a little anxious that some city official may decide, at some time in the future, that letting us meet there is not the right thing to do. We should be thinking about where we would move if that should happen.

I stopped at the Deltona Community Center today and spoke with the man in charge. I told him that we were a community service organization. He wasn't impressed ;-) He said that the city had as many groups meeting as they had room for. He was friendly but firm in stating that any group meeting in any Deltona spaces would have to pay $15 / hour for the space. He suggested that a church might be an alternative. Please be on the lookout for a fall back position, lets not wait until something happens to start.

So, I'll see you all at the DeBary City Hall next Monday morning. I will send Joel a map and post some pictures of the place so you will all find it without any problem. Remembering Joe's (N9ZGU) question I measured the distance from the intersection of Highbanks and US 17/92 to Colomba Road where the City Hall is. It is 0.5 miles. The landmark for your turn onto Colomba Rd is the flags at the fire or police station on the east side and the truck sales lot that Bill (N4ZZO) mentioned, on the west side of 17/92. After you turn east the City Hall is about ½ block on your left. Go just beyond the building and turn in to the large parking lot just east of the building. There is a door at the far end (north) of the building but you can enter through the large glass front doors, bear right past the dias in the main meeting room and up 4 steps into Alan's office. The door to the EOC is on your left, but you'll smell the coffee by then ;-)

Russ, (W4ZIP) suggested that we write a letter to the fire chief expressing our thanks for the many years of accommodation that they have shown the club. Russ agreed to compose the letter. We don't want to burn any bridges.

One of the things that occurs to me is the Christmas party. The setting at the fire station is so beautiful that we might want to consider asking to use the site for our party. We could also have the party in a local park. The parking lot beside the City Hall doesn't look like a good choice ;-)

I completely forgot to thank Jean Maxwell. Last week she gave me two coupons for donuts at the local Dunkin' Donuts shop. I went by there and looked over the situation. Unfortunately they want more for ½ dozen donuts than we pay for a full dozen at Wal-Mart. With the coupon I could get a dozen donuts for $4.99. We're currently paying $3.96 a dozen at Wal-Mart. If you all think the better quality donuts at Dunkin' Donuts would be worth the extra cost let's consider it. After the coupons run out (I've got two more for a total of 4) we would be at about $10 / dozen, still cheaper than we were paying at the shop in DeBary. That reminds me to ask whether anyone would like me to select a certain kind of pastry? I just pick up one of as many different kinds as look good at the moment. I seldom eat them myself so let me know what you like.

73 / 88

See ya on Monday ;-)
Jerry KØJH


PHOTOS OF THE LAST MEETING AND OF THE NEW MEETING PLACE

Link starts here => http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=A3291F1C013&cb=PW <== Link ends here

2006 01 09 Meeting Notes

VISIT JOEL’S IMARS WEB SITE, he works hard to keep it updated and looking very professional, do him the courtesy of taking a look. Send him any corrections but especially additions. We need more personal stories, write a short summary of your life, we’re all interested in the varied background of our members. IMARS is a VERY talented group, let’s make the most of it. SHARE

http://home.iag.net/~gretencort/imars/

Hi guys and gals,

I’m late with this, as usual, plug in the routine excuses.

Monday was a beautiful day. My first day back after the Christmas Holiday. Margot and I had a wonderful time in Concord, NC (just north of Charlotte) with both daughters and their families. Although my grandson did not make it he sent a video tape and I could see my 3 year old great granddaughter for the first time. What a little beauty and looks just like two of my sisters when they were 3. (Why the first time? It’s a long story, you don’t want to hear it!)

I’ll start with a little grousing. I was amazed to find NO DONUTS available on Monday. Wal-Mart and, I believe Publix, sells a dozen donuts for $4.00. Surely SOMEONE could have fronted the $4.00 to be sure the other members had the donuts they expect. Refer to my “Theory of Shakers and Movers,” this is EXACTLY what I was talking about. To have a successful organization you have to ADD something to the mix, not just come by and take advantage of what others have provided. Joey has been a rock in IMARS for a long time, what happens when he can no longer handle the coffee pot every week? Who will step up? If nobody does IMARS will probably cease to exist. It that what YOU want to see happen? I certainly don’t, I very much enjoy the meetings, this is a unique club but you all have to support it if it is to continue to survive. (STEPPING DOWN FROM THE SOAPBOX, HOLD YOUR APLAUSE PLEASE ;-)

Aside from that it was a good meeting. Walt and Jean brought Walt’s son Bill Maxwell of DeLand. Bill is W2WM (Wm Maxwell?) and he is former 5A4TY. He has recently retired and we can expect him to be a regular I think. He will make a presentation to let us know about his life at a future meeting.

Bud NØIA brought us up to date on all of the local EOC activity. He mentioned that there is a new paid volunteer coordinator at DeBary, Allen Williamson. Perhaps Allen will come and talk to us about what he sees as the future for the DeBary EOC.

We had no speaker but we had a good collection of jokes and all had a good therapeutic laugh. Here is how I remember them:


Walt told us about the woman who took her little boy to the doctor. As they were in the waiting room a pregnant woman came in. The little boy said to his mother “why is she so fat?” The mother replied that the woman had a baby in her stomach. The little boy was amazed. He turned to the pregnant woman and said “My Mama says you have a baby in your stomach!” “Yes, it’s true” said the woman. “Is it a GOOD baby?” asked the little boy. “Yes,” replied the pregnant woman, “it is a VERY good baby.” “Well then,” asked the little boy “why did you EAT IT?”

Tom Golding then told about Sean O’Grady who went to confession. He entered the confessional and said to the Priest, as is routine in the Catholic religion, “Bless me Father for I have sinned.” “What have you done?” asked the Priest. “I have been very bad,” replied O’Grady, “I have had sex with a girl.” “Was it Marie O’Shannahan?” asked the Priest. “I cannot reveal her name,” replied O’Grady. “Was it Delores O’Shonnesy?” asked the Priest. “No Father, I cannot tell you her name,” insisted O’Grady. “Well son, was it Megan O’Roarke?” asked the Priest. “I cannot tell you,” replied O’Grady. “Very well son, your penance is that you must say 10 Hail Marys every day and you cannot come back to church for three weeks.” Said the Priest, dismissing O’Grady.

When Sean came out of the confessional his buddy asked him how he had made out. “Great,” said Sean, “I don’t have to come to church for three weeks and I got three new leads.”

Someone else told about the guy who went into a public restroom and occupied a stall. He was sitting and thinking when the guy in the next stall said “Hey, what are you doing?” He thought it was very strange to be addressed while in this position but pleasantly replied “I’m just taking care of business.” “Is everything alright.” Asked the voice from the other stall. “Yes, everything of fine.” Was the reply. “Can I come over?” aked the voice from the other stall. “Certainly NOT!” he replied. Then the other voice said “I’ll have to hang up now, some idiot in the next stall keeps answering everything I say to you, I’ll call you back later.”

Then we heard from Jean Maxwell. This guy was flying and heard a female voice on the intercom welcoming everyone to the flight. At the end of the announcement she said “This is your Captain Judith Campbell, I hope you have a good flight.” The guy was surprised and didn’t quite believe his ears. “Hey,” he called to a passing flight attendant, “did I hear right, is there a woman Captain in the cockpit?” “Yes there is,” replied the foxy stewardess, “and the First Officer is a woman and all of the flight attendants are women . . . and by the way, it is no longer called the cockpit, now it is called the BOX OFFICE.”

Please keep your eyes and ears open for interesting people you could invite to speak to our group. There are no programs scheduled at any time in the future, we need your help to find speakers or other activities.


Margot was cleaning up in the garage and came across a box of VERY old pictures. I scanned some of them and put them up in a photo album on PhotoWorks. Here is the link:

Link starts here => http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=A1DC9F2BFD9&cb=PW <== Link ends here

There are some photos showing the Air Farce MARS station in the barracks in Bremerhaven in 1957. I didn’t have my license but hung out over there while I was waiting for my “CONDITIONAL” license to arrive and tried to learn something. Another picture shows the homebrew radio station a guy built into a table in his room. I was one of the disc jockeys. On Easter Eve I stayed up the whole night, fending off invitations from Margot’s family. I played all kinds of music and said all kinds of clever things. I knew I was going to be a big hit with the guys at work who were listening. At the mess hall in the morning, red eyed and about to drop from exhaustion, I asked them what they thought of the programming I had provided. They informed me that the signal disappeared at 2200 (10 p.m.) and the rest of the time was wasted!

I put in a picture of Margot and I at our wedding reception in 1958. We’ll be married 50 years in 2008 and it looks like we may live to see it! Sad to see how much we’ve changed though.

Another picture shows my Moroccan license CN8IF, my QSL card and a photo of me operating CW from the Navy’s club station on the base at Kenitra (formerly Port Layhatey.) I had learned to copy code on a “mill” so I carried my old Olympus typewriter to the station every time I wanted to operate there. That’s the club that had the Telerex beam on the top of an old broadcast tower. Nobody spoke up when they called for volunteers to climb the tower and fix the antenna. I put up my hand although I had never climbed higher than a hay mow in my life and knew nothing about a safety belt. I showed up on Saturday morning in tennis shoes and went to the top of the tower, jamming my feet between the tower legs and the diagonal cross pieces. My feet were already sore when I reached the top. When I got above the guy wires the top of the tower was moving around in the wind. I was a little frightened but tried not to let on. When I finally got to the top I put my belt around the tower but didn’t trust it and also held on with one hand. It became apparent that I could not do the work with one hand so I made myself let go and rely on the belt. I leaned straight back, reached up and back with both arms and when I looked up the clouds were moving across the top of the tower. I immediately knew the tower was falling and I panicked! I dropped my tools and grabbed onto the tower with both arms as tight as I could (as if that would save me if the tower was falling!) As it turned out it was an optical illusion and after a while I realized that and sheepishly put my head up and looked around. My tools were all on the ground so I had to climb all the way back down, gather my tools, find a messenger line, and go back up the tower. I fixed the antenna so I guess that’s why nobody ever mentioned my panic attack and I was then accepted into the club and made welcome to operate the equipment.
We were at the peak of the sunspot cycle in 1958 and whenever I signed on as CN8IF I had a deep pileup. I remember one of the phone guys having a round table on 10 meters which included all continents. Ahh, the good old days.

Although I could tune and operate the Collins station on base (75A3 and 32A2?) I bought a Heathkit DX-35 from some guy and acquired an (Hallicrafters?) SX-38E cheapy receiver. I never could get that rig to work and finally burned up the transmitter trying, I’m sure, to tune it into a bad wire antenna. How I longed for the Hammarlund SP-600 I used at work. That was, of course, far out of reach for a 3rd class petty officer. Many years later, on Okinawa (KR6BQ) a departing Air Farce officer offered to trade me my National NC-300 (remember the ham’s “Dream Receiver”) which I was still paying for on the installment plan, for a Collins R-390! He was going home and was afraid they would bust him for stealing it. I didn’t say anything, just pulled the plug on the NC-300 and carried it out to his car. Margot about had a fit when she saw me lug that R-390 back into the house. To her it was an ugly boat anchor, to me it was the best receiver that had ever been constructed! The Navy retired their frequency measuring equipment when that receiver (commissioned by the Army Signal Corps) became available. That receiver was absolutely magnificent, trouble is it had 33 tubes and it became prohibitively expensive to maintain so I reluctantly sold it at the same time I got rid of all my teletype gear. I said I didn’t want anything with tubes or gears. The computer had arrived and so who needed a big noisy teletype machine any more?

The last picture is of me as DJ at the AFRTS broadcast station WNAA where I had two programs a day, strictly volunteer without any pay. I was trying to experience any thing that had anything to do with radio.

December 9, 2005 (CNN)
While interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier on his sniper skills, a Reuters News agent asked the soldier what he felt when shooting members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The soldier shrugged and replied, "Recoil."

73 88

See ya Monday

Jerry KØJH

Check out http://www.jerryhale.com it’s very outdated, the pool is now beautiful. I’ll try to get the site updated soon.