The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter Founded 1914 “The oldest continuously operating Amateur Radio Club in the United States” September 2009 Newsletter Upcoming Meetings: October 9: Frequency (and other types of) Calibration techniques Antenna Shoot Out prior to meeting in ITC parking lot. November 13: Signal Propagation with Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA. December 11: Annual Holiday dinner/meeting at Castleton MCL this year! Highlights from the September Meeting: This meeting was held at the Indiana War Memorial, so members and guests of the Indianapolis Radio Club could tour the almost completed replica of the USS Indianapolis Radio Room. The building was open from 5:00 pm to meeting time for casual visits to the room, with formal tours given after the meeting. There were approximately 45 in attendance at this meeting. Ari Kaufman of the Indiana War Memorial gave a short presentation on the history of the War Memorial. He noted that the USS Indianapolis has had a display in the Memorial since July of 2007. Dave Miller, K9RTT, announced some of the upcoming meeting topics. The October meeting will be on calibration practices, with the antenna shoot out preceding the meeting in the parking lot of the ITC. It was noted that this year’s holiday dinner/meeting will be held at the MCL Castleton, at 5520 Castleton Corner Lane. Dave said that among the topics he is hoping to have in the upcoming months is alternative energy. Next, Chuck Crist, W9IH, started the presentation about the USS Indianapolis radio room project. He said that the plan to recreate the radio room of the USS Indianapolis was approved by the Indiana War Memorial administration on April 4th of this year. Chuck then recognized the 30 some folks that had donated their time to work on the project. He made a special recognition of Stan Bryn, AC5TW, of Socorro, New Mexico, for his donation of several tons worth of functioning WW2 era radio gear, as would have been on the USS Indianapolis. For more information on the USS Indianapolis radio room project, point your browser to http://ussindyradio.org/ . At this point the formal meeting adjourned, with those present being shown the radio room. Ham Radio News: 10 M LINK OPERATIONAL ON W9WIN SYSTEM The W9WIN folks have added a 10 meter link on their system. The frequency information for it is: 29.680RX, 29.580TX, with a PL of 136.5. This link is located in Buddha, Indiana in Lawrence County. For those of you not familiar with the W9WIN system, it is a linked repeater system that covers a good deal of central and southern Indiana. Go to http://www.w9win.org to learn more about the system. K9LZJ WINS IRCC TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Long time Indianapolis Radio Club member Hank Wolfla, K9LZJ, was awarded the Indiana Radio Club Council Technical Excellence Award at the Indianapolis Hamfest, in July. According to the IRCC web site, “Hank was cited for his enthusiasm in promoting Software Designed Radio technology. “Since getting his license in 1958, Hank has been a mentor for ham radio operators both young and old. He has always been willing to share his knowledge of developing new antennas and building remote controlled ham stations.” Hank was introduced to ham radio by another long time club member, Bob Osterhous, W9PSE. According to Bob, “He rode over to my house when he was 14 years old and heard me on the air. We have been HAM - friends since about 1953.” Congratulations to Hank, and thanks to Bob for the contribution. W1AW CHANGES DIGITAL MODES On August 17, 2009, W1AW replaced its AMTOR and ASCII transmissions with PSK31 and MFSK16, respectively. In a release from ARRL, they state that RTTY will continue to be the first digital mode used in the transmission schedule, and the frequencies used by W1AW for all it's digital transmissions will remain the same. The W1AW operating schedule -- complete with times and frequencies -- can be found on the ARRLWeb page at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#w1awsked. INDIANAPOLIS VE Testing Schedule for Second half of 2009 Sponsor: Indianapolis Radio Club (W9JP) Where: All testing is at The Indianapolis Training Center, 2820 N. Meridian St, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46107. Liaison: Gale Wuollet (317-849-8449) email: indy33windy@comcast.net When: October 3, 2009 November 7, 2009 December 5, 2009 Time: All testing starts at 9:00 AM; Walk-ins allowed VANITY CALL SIGN FEE INCREASES AGAIN On August 11, the FCC announced that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will increase $1.10, from $12.30 to $13.40. Now that notice of the increase has been published in the Federal Register, the increase will take effect in 30 days, September 10, 2009. The FCC is authorized by the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended, to collect vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that program. The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity call sign for a new 10 year term. For more information, see the recent ARRLWeb article, "FCC Looks to Raise Vanity Call Sign Fees for Second Consecutive Year" at, http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/18/10825/?nc=1 INTERNATIONAL REPLY COUPONS (IRCs) PRICE INCREASE For those of us that occasionally send international QSLs direct, including IRCs for return postage, be advised that the current issue (Beijing 2) IRCs will be sold until October 15, 2009. The new model (Nairobi) went on sale nationally on September 10, 2009. The old ones will expire on December 31, 2009 but can be exchanged for the new ones, less $.01. For additional information, check out pages 11 and 12 of the USPS bulletin PB22267 at http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/2009/pb22267/pdf/pb22267.pdf. TECHNICIAN CLASS IN JOHNSON COUNTY Classes began Monday September 14, 2009 and run from 6PM-8:30PM Location is training room at White River Fire Station #51 on Olive Branch Road at SR 135. Classes are free. Your Technician Workbook will cost $20.00 if purchased through the Mid-State Amateur Radio Club. To sign up call Linda @ 887-2558. WANT TO WORK A MARATHON IN CHICAGO? The Bank of America – Chicago Marathon is a 26.2 mile event to be held on October 11, 2009. The course location will be in downtown Chicago, with the route passing through some of the most exciting and vibrant neighborhoods in the city. The start and finish lines are collocated in Grant Park. A link to the course map can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/pw9afd Numerous amateur radio operators are needed to participate in an important health and safety role. For more information and to sign up, please go to: www.chicagomarathon.com/HamRadioVolunteers and follow the links. WELCOME NEW MEMBERS The club gained a few new members over our summer break. June new members: William Childs, KC9PZA Bob Combs, K9FG August new members: Charles Dawes, KC9OKL Greg Larson, no call Mark Burke, KC9OQV FEEL FREE TO SHARE OUR NEWSLETTER If you belong to any other radio groups, please feel free to share our newsletter with them. They can also sign up to be on our mailing list by filling out the form available at http://www.indyradioclub.org/rqstnewsletter.htm. SEND ME YOUR HAM RADIO NEWS If anyone has any items for the newsletter, please send them to Ken Bandy at kj9b@arrl.net Signals from the Past: >From the June * September, 1950 Amachewer: The approach of the Indiana State Fair time affords one golden chance for we, the Indianapolis Radio Club to spread the word about Hoosier Hospitality far and wide. It is being highly advertised that the famous Tex Beneke and his band (Glenn Miller Band) will appear at the fair for many days and evenings at the Horse Show. Most of us now know that Tex is a ham operating from his car and portable from his hotel room wherever he goes, using the call W2CKD. His wife has the call W2EHR. Let’s contact these folks in person and on the air during their visit among us and let’s make an impression that they will never forget and that they will advertise for us where ever they go. Upcoming Area Radio Events: * October 4: 48th Annual Hoosier Hill Hamfest. At the Lawrence County 4-H fairgrounds, Bedford, IN. Point your browser to http://www.w9qyq/hamfest/ for more information. 2009 Officers: · President: Ron Cooper, WB9DKL - ..EMAIL wb9dkl@sbcglobal.net · Vice Pres.: Dave Miller, K9RTT - ..EMAIL dmiller@ivytech.edu · Secretary: Ken Bandy, KJ9B - ..EMAIL kj9b@arrl.net · Treasurer: Jay Willever, K9LJW - ..EMAIL k9ljw@arrl.net · Chief Operator: Steve Wendt, KB9RDS - ..EMAIL kb9rds@arrl.net · Dir. at large: Tom Chance, K9XV - ..EMAIL k9xv@arrl.net · Dir. at large: Bob Osterhous, W9PSE - ..EMAIL rosterhous@iquest.net · Dir. at large: Bob Begeman, W9KVK - ..EMAIL w9kvk@juno.com · W9JP Trustee: Don Hemenover, N9DOO – EMAIL don9doo@lightbound.com