Minutes of the September, 2014 general meeting of the Fort Wayne Radio Club are available on this website using the link below.
{jd_file file==85}
Photos (like the one below) of FWRC’s participation in the 2014 Maker Faire at Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne are avaible in a new section of this website’s photo gallery.
As summer wanes and we start getting into fall, the weather remains delightful with warm days and the leaves still on the trees. But it won’t be long. Sooner or later the leaves will start falling as the cool breezes give us a hint of what’s to come. But for now all of our stalwart foxhunters are enjoying this weather and so meet at Krueger Park on the 7th of September to commence another search for their ever elusive quarry. The hunters consisted of the team of Steve & Linda Nardin, W9’s SAN &LAN plus their grandson Alex, the team of Jim & Kim Machamer, KB9’s DOS & DOT, the team of Jim & Annie Pliett, K9OMA & KA9YYI plus Carole & Al Burke, WB9’s RUS & SSE, and lone hunter Bob Dean, KC9UHU.
Now the fox for this hunt was implemented through the devious services of Charles Ward, KC9MUT, Fred Gengnagel, KC9EZP & Ben Myers, N9IRX. These guys obviously watched too many Rambo movies cause they humped about two hundred pounds worth of battery, Yagi, feedline, base-station, tables, chairs, an SA-7 missile system, a Jacuzzi and various other accouterments well over a mile into the abyss known as the Eagle Marsh Nature Preserve south-east of the intersection of I69 and West Jefferson Blvd on the city’s south-west side. Specifically they were located beneath a high-tension tower on Trail 2 of the preserve and from there operated as the high power fox. The low power (microfox) was located another 1000′ into the preserve beneath another high-tension tower. The microfox fed a Yagi pointed straight up at the center of the tower. This seems to have caused some interesting effects regarding micro-fox signal strength during the hunt. More on that later. The fox emitted on 146.340 MHz, the input frequency for the Ft. Wayne Radio Club’s 146.940/340 repeater.
The foxhunters meet at Kreager Park out by New Haven and swapped lies while waiting for the fox to erupt. It did so promptly at 13:30 hours and everyone heard it to the south-west, so off we went. By the time we got down to the corner of Lake and Coliseum, all of the other hunters seemed to have disappeared.
ARRL Central Division Director George R. (Dick) Isely, W9GIG, sent an email message today to all ARRL members in his division (which includes the Indiana section), urgently asking members to encourage their congressional representatives to co-sponsor HR 4969, the “Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014.” Isely’s message appears below.
Subject: URGENT – More HR 4969 Co-Sponsors Needed
September 3, 2014
URGENT – We Need More HR 4969 Co-Sponsors
The ARRL is making good progress on obtaining U.S. House of Representatives Co-Sponsors for HR 4969. However, we still need more so that we can press the FCC into extending the provisions of PRB-1 to include private Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) attached to private residential property. We need many more ARRL members sending electronic letters, email messages, etc., to their Representative requesting their co-sponsorship NOW. The U.S. House of Representatives has returned from its August vacation and this session will last about a month until they adjourn in October for election campaigning in their respective districts.
For an in-depth discussion of the rationale for submitting HR 4969, including a brief history of ARRL’s struggle to obtain a level playing field for Amateur Radio Licensees living in CC&R restricted communities, please access the HR 4969 link in the horizontal scrolling portion of the ARRL website homepage.
If you do not know who is your representative, this information is available here. You will also find detailed instructions on how to communicate with your Congressman / Congresswoman.
Due to the short remaining best time (rest of September) for making your request, please send email copies to me and our new lobbying firm – The Keelen Group – in Washington, DC. The Keelen Group’s email address is: help@keelengroup.com. Please put HR 4969 as the first word in your email Subject line.
On Monday, Sep 8th, I am flying to Washington, DC to personally lobby for this very important issue on behalf of all U.S. Amateur Radio Licensees. A very large quantity of individual, well-documented, polite but firm, email requests will greatly enhance my efforts.
For the first time in the 12 plus years I have been your ARRL Division Director, I believe we have a pretty good chance to get the FCC to extend PRB-1. The more individual messages sent to the U.S. House of Representatives, the better our chances of success.
Thank You –
George R. (Dick) Isely, W9GIG
ARRL Central Division Director
——————————————————————–
ARRL Central Division
Director: George R Isely, W9GIG
w9gig@arrl.org
——————————————————————–
August 30 and 31, members of the Allen County Amateur Radio Emergency Service provided communications for the 2014 Midwest Tandem Rally, which was based in downtown Fort Wayne and included rides toward Ossian on Saturday and Columbia City on Sunday.
Some still photos from the event are available in the website’s photo gallery and a short video appears below.
{vimeo}104887333|600|337{/vimeo}
Several things:
1.) the FWRC on line auction will conclude tomorrow night (Thursday) at 8:00 pm. Be sure to get your bids in time! We will annouce the winners as soon as we can. Items can be paid for and picked up at the Friday Tail Gate Hamfest.
2.) The FWRC August Tail Gate Hamfest is this coming Friday night, at 6:30 pm, in the parking lot of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church at 4700 Vance Avenue in Fort Wayne, just south of Snider High School. The Ham Fest is free to buyers and sellers. Extra items from the estate of KA9QMI will also be on sale, plus some leftovers from the previous auction.
There will be a wedding at the Church that same night, so please park in the North and West parking lots to avoid the other activity at the church.
3.) The ACARTS summer picnic is this coming Saturday, the 16th, at 1:00pm at the QTH of Jim, KB9IH. Please RSVP to Jim if you are going to attend. This is a carry in, so bring a dish or dessert to share.
4.) There is a Fox Hunt this Sunday, the 17th, in Auburn. It starts at 1:00 pm at the Cracker Barrel parking lot. Contact person is Jack, W9OWO. (JACK@W9OWO.COM) Robert and Dave, KC9UHU & N9NDU are the Foxes.
Whew! Lots o’ fun with Amateur Radio this summer!
Be Radio-Active, and we’ll see you at these events.
In June, 2014 with Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) as the sponsor and Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) as co-sponsor, HR 4969 – the “Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014” – was introduced into the 113th Congress. This bipartisan effort would direct the FCC to extend the “reasonable accommodation” provisions for amateur radio antennas to include all types of land-use regulation, including deed restrictions and restrictive covenants.
If enacted, HR 4969 would direct the FCC to extend the the reasonable accommodation protections to those amateurs who are living in deed-restricted communities. Known as “CC&Rs” (covenants, conditions and restrictions), these are the prohibitions and limitations placed on properties by builders or home-owner associations (HOAs) which prevent licensed amateur radio operators from erecting even modest antennas.
The ARRL is asking all members to contact their members of the US House of Representatives to state their support for HR 4969 and to ask their representatives to sign on as co-sponsors of the bill.
The ARRL asks that letters be mailed to ARRL for delivery instead of simply mailing them directly to the Congressional offices, for two reasons: First, since the 9/11 attacks and subsequent security threats, all incoming mail to Congressional offices is first diverted to a holding area outside of Washington DC. Once at that facility, it undergoes a series of scans to test for a variety of problems. Only after it passes the security tests is it forwarded on to Capitol Hill for delivery. The delay in delivery is generally in the five- to seven-week range. The ARRL will hand-deliver to various congressional offices all letters mailed to the ARRL.
Second, when the ARRL’s Washington team delivers letters to a congressional office, it provides them an opportunity for at least a brief face-to-face meeting with some of the key staff members in each congressional office they visit. Each in-person meeting is another opportunity for the ARRL’s story to be told – and is another chance to answer questions that may arise.
Learn more about the bill and how to support it and see a sample support letter on the ARRL website.
THE AUCTION IS OFFICIAL! THE WINNERS ARE LISTED BELOW:
ITEMS WERE ALMOST ALL PICKED UP AT THE FORT WAYNE RADIO CLUB TAIL GATE HAMFEST ON FRIDAY THE 15TH. If you have not picked up your win, please contact Steve at W9SAN@ARRL.NET to arrange pick up times.
Results are shown below. (D&P= delivered and paid)
ITEM DESC MODEL
1 RS DMM NOT WORKING W9NUZ D&P
2 STEED PS-1210 10A PWR SUPPLY UNTESTED K3HZP D&P
3 KENWOOD 7400A 2M FM XCVR GOOD W9QHY
4 ASTRON RS-35M 35A PWR SUPPLY GOOD N9ZI D&P
5 ASTRON RS-50M 50A PWR SUPPLY GOOD W8JER
6 KENWOOD TR3600A 70 CM HT UNTESTED WB9AA D&P
7 KENWOOD TR2600A 2M HT UNTESTED WB9AA D&P
8 RS SCAN ? DIG TRNK SCANR UNTESTED N9TB D&P
9 RS SCAN PRO39 SCANNER HH UNTESTED N9TB D&P
10 UNIDEN BC50XL SCANNER HH UNTESTED W9NUZ D&P
11 SeeMORE VIDEO SWITCH
12 PANASONIC VIDEO VID/CABLE BOX
13 KENWOOD TS-440S W/PS; MIC; KEY (DO NOT BID; FWRC RAFFLE @ FWHF)
14 2 POS COAX SWITCH UNTESTED K9BLI D&P
15 KENWOOD TM401A UHF FM XCVR UNTESTED JOE D&P
16 YAESU FT311RM 222 MHZ FM XCVR GOOD KU8T D&P
17 KENWOOD TM-211A 2M FM XCVR INTERMITTENT JOE D&P
18 KENWOOD TM241A 2M FM XCVR GOOD KC9SKE D&P
19 ALLIANCE ROTATOR CONTROL ONLY POWERS UP W9SAN D&P
20 MIRAGE B3016 160W 2M AMP UNTESTED N9TB D&P
21 KENWOOD SWR-100 METER W/PICUPS UNTESTED JOE D&P
22 KENWOOD TS-520SE 160-10 XCVR W/MC50 MIC GOOD JOE D&P
23 YAESU FC-707 80-10M TUNER UNTESTED WB9AA D&P
24 MFJ 624 PHONE PATCH UNTESTED W9NUZ D&P
25 ZENITH AM/FM CLOCK RADIO
26 HEATHKIT SB-200 80-10 AMP UNTESTED K9EA D&P
27 DRAKE MN-2000 80-10 TUNER UNTESTED WB9FTW D&P
28 MFJ 1274 TNC UNTESTED W9NUZ D&P
29 KENWOOD TM-2570A 2M FM XCVR NOT WORKING N9TB D&P
30 KENWOOD ? SPEAKER UNTESTED N9NBA D&P
31 MFJ 723 CW NOTCH FILTER NOT WORKING W9NUZ D&P
32 KANTRONICS INTRFACE FSK/RTTY
33 SOUND DESIGN PORTABLE CASS RECORDER
34 JC PENNEY 6218 CB+SUPPLY 40 CH GOOD JOE D&P
35 KENWOOD VB-2530 2M FM AMP 40W UNTESTED N9TB D&P
36 KENWOOD MC 85 BASE MICROPHONE GOOD KK9U (@ w9san’s QTH)
37 HP COMPUTER SYSTEM TESTS GOOD; WINDOWS 98; SCANNER; PRINTER; MONITOR
38 COMPUTER DESK 4′ GOOD W9NUZ PAID
39 COMPUTER DESK 4′ GOOD
40 3 POSITION COAX SWITCH UNTESTED KC9SKE D&P
41 PARA DYNAMICS LOW PASS FILTER 1KW 0-30 MHZ W9NUZ D&P
THESE ARE OFFICIAL RESULTS AS OF 7:15 ON AUG 17TH. THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE!!
73, STEVE, W9SAN
Remember the Kenwoos TS-440S & PS-50 with MC-50 Mic and key will be the raffle rig for the FWRC early sign up 2015 dues to be given at the Fort Wayne HamFest! More details to follow.
******************************************************************