Newsletter of the Silverado Amateur Radio Society

W6CO

An ARRL Special Service Club

Updated 9/10/06

Welcome to the Silverado Amateur Radio Society (SARS) online newsletter. We hope to provide you with the latest happenings in the Club and in Amateur Radio in general in a timely manner. Our objective is to provide a "live" newsletter that will be updated throughout the month as events occur. When an item is added it will be flagged with this symbol:

All contributions (news, not monetary) will be gladly accepted. Submit your offerings via email to: John, N6XN's email

Do you have a photograph you'd like to share? An item you want to sell? An announcement of an upcoming event? We'd like to hear about it. Naturally, we prefer Ham Radio oriented material, but other genres might be considered.

Calendar of Coming Events

The next meeting of SARS will be on September 19th, 7:30 PM in the Lee Lounge, at the Veterans Home in Yountville. Bring a friend

The annual ALS bicycle ride will be conducted through the Napa Valley on Sunday September 24th. The Sonoma Valley group will be doing most of the support on this ride but they are in need of help.  They need a Net Control Station, operators to occupy 4 rest stops, and operators for  up to 4 sag wagons.  If you can help with this event, even though it conflicts with the SARS test session, please contact David, KG6YRY's email

Informal Breakfast get-togethers:

Nets:


AUGUST MINUTES BY KO6FR

Meeting called to order by Mark KE6O

Ken WB6IVK gave VIP report and said CDF has 145 foot tower to put on North slope of Mt. STH.  They would like to have 147.180 moved to it, but there would be interference to repeater to south of us.

We would have to go through NARRC again and we would be the new repeater and could not interfere. More discussions to come.

Ken also had pictures of Com-Van RACES bought.

Mark KG6CWU gave RACES report and said there will be an earthquake drill on Aug. 31st and they could use more operators. It will start at 0800 hours, with lunch.

Don AC6LE said Vic K6BYQ is back on the air both on the repeater and on 12 meters, 24.980 around 2100 every week day.

Bill AC6FJ said he took Helen (Wurbs widow) to bus station to go to Washington and when she got there she had a stroke.

Arnie N6APA gave presentation on model airplanes, and it was very good (you should have been there). He was two-time world champion. The first time he won it was held in Russia and after the event he wanted to trade airplanes with the Russian who finished in second place. He had this plane and several others at meeting.

He had pictures of real and model airplanes, that Bill AC6FJ got him off the WEB. There will be event on Aug. 20th at Kennedy Park.

Meeting adjourned for raffle and cookies.

NOTE: TESTING SEPT. 24th AT NAPA SENIOR CENTER.

73 Rich KO6FR

A Tour of New Mexico

I’m just back from a ten day tour of the Southwest where I had the pleasure of visiting with Farrell, K6EZY and his wife Edelle.  They are living in a wonderful old adobe house in Nambe NM just a few miles north of Santa Fe.  Farrell passes along his regards to his friends in Napa.  During my stay we toured Los Alamos and the Manhattan project museum, Bandelier National Monument,  Taos Pueblo, and Santa Fe with all it’s sights and sounds.

Farrell

Farrell and Edelle

West

Taos Pueblo

Continuously occupied for over 1000 years. See more:

Taos Pueblo

<<<>>>

If you are ever in Central New Mexico, a must see is the Very Large Array radio telescope on highway 60 at Datil, west of Socorro.  These antennas are the same one’s seen in the Movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster.  For more information on this amazing place, click on the link below.

Very Large Array

The following is an editorial and in no way reflects the opinion of the officers or members of SARS. 

Upgrading

The Technician class license has long been considered "entry level". In developing the license structure, the FCC assumed that people interested in Ham Radio would naturally want to gravitate to a higher level. After all, if you bought a ticket to a movie would you be content to "stand in the lobby"?

Unfortunately, this theater has an usher who wants to see your 5WPM CW stub before you can get to your seat. As a result many people are either waiting for the rules to change or the usher to go on break. (and the movie has started)

I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense but it could be a long time before the rules actually change. It might be better to bite the bullet and learn the darn code and get it behind you.

On Learning the Code

On a guitar scale of "zero to Segovia", 5WPM is about the same level as Mary Had a Little Lamb using one string and the freedom to miss 3 out of every 10 notes. Just about anyone can do it with a small amount of effort but it does take some effort and like every other thing worth doing, takes some practice to get there. The ARRL, through W1AW has been conducting on-air code practice for years and many Hams have used the practice sessions to upgrade. If you should happen to be without a radio or an antenna at the moment don't despair; the practice files are available on the web. You can download them in an MP3 format and play them either on your computer or a portable player. Visit the ARRL at: W1AW Code Practice files to see the files. Each morse file also has the text as a downloadable file so you can check your progress.

For more specific information on preparing for your test see:

Preparing for the CW test

We're putting together a series of articles aimed at helping prospective upgrades deal with technical issues. We'll start off with Defining dB" and follow up with other articles on antenna gain and the like.

 If there is a particular topic you'd like to see discussed, or better yet, a topic you'd like to present, please let the editor know. Contact me at: John, N6XN's email

Links from the past:

Our Webmaster, KE6O has built a neat matrix containing all the past newsletter that are available. Click on "Newsletters" on the left side of your screen.

W6CO linking codes

(note: The codes will be changing soon, if not already. Watch newsletter for updates)