The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter Founded 1914 “The oldest continuously operating Amateur Radio Club in the United States” January 2010 Newsletter Upcoming Meetings: February: Legacy Radio with emphasis on CW. Also CW contest. March 12: Software Defined Radio developments. April 9: Homebrew night, with kit building. May 7 (Note different date due to Dayton): Antenna meeting June 12: Annual Auction Highlights from the January Meeting: The meeting was called to order at 7:25 by club president Ron Cooper, WB9DKL. Ron started with self introductions. There were 54 in attendance, including several visitors. Jerry Skoll, KC9DTB, announced that Jerry, K9TCJ, has 3 Hammerlund HQ 170s for sale. Jay Wright, KK9L, announced that on Wednesday, January 27, ham classes will be starting in Hendricks county, at the Senior Services Center, just north of the hospital in Danville. Classes will meet from 7 to 9 pm for 8 weeks, with testing afterwards. No cost except for book and test. Next, Mel, KJ9C, talked about the Indiana QSO Party coming up May 1, noon-midnight local (1600-0400Z). Mel said there were a record 208 logs entered after the contest. This year there will be another class added: Rover. A rover will be a station that moves from county to county, setting up “field day style”. Mel stressed that if operating the contest mobile, to have a non-operating driver. For more information, point your browser to www.hdxcc.org/inqp. For information on the “Worked all Indiana” award (60 verified counties), point your browser to www.hdxcc.org/wai. At this point Dave Miller, K9RTT, took votes to determine the winner of the chili contest. There were three contestants. KC Corbin, KC9MTL, was the winner. Ron Cooper announced that there would be a new hamfest coming up in April. It is being called the “Indianapolis Radio Club’s Spring O-dark thirty swap meet”. It is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 17, 2010, from 6 am to noon on the northwest corner of Southport Road and Madison Avenue. This location offers plenty of free parking, and there will be no charge for set up or admission. There will be free donuts and coffee at 6:30 am and a pitch in picnic at 11:00 am. Ron also announced that the club’s May meeting will be on the first Friday of the month (May 7), rather than the normal second Friday to avoid conflicts with the Dayton Hamvention. Dave announced that next month's meeting will be on legacy radio, featuring CW. There will be a CW contest also, starting at 30 wpm. March meeting will be on SDR radio, with Hank Wolfla. April will be home brew, and kit building. The club will be hosting a bus trip to Dayton again this year, with a round trip for $30. Next, Dave introduced the evening’s speaker, Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, and wife Vicky, AE9YL. Carl was originally from Hammond, then moved to Texas, where he met Vicky at Motorola. They later moved to Fort Wayne. Carl gave a Cycle 24 preview, as well as a review of Cycle 23, which started in 1996. Cycle 23 reached it’s first peak in 2000, and it’s second peak in 2001. He explained how sunspot numbers are calculated. The numbers are probability numbers. Cycle 23 was about average in terms of the past few cycles. It has lasted longer than the past few, though. 23 has lasted 14 years, and reached a lower minimum than the past ones. When compared to ALL solar minimums, 23 is not off that much. He said that solar activity had been compared back to 800 AD, by using Carbon 14 analysis from tree rings. The simple prediction is for a low Cycle 24. Cycle 24 started in January of 2008. NOAA predicts that the minimum was in December of 2008. The maximum of around 90 is predicted to be in mid 2013. Carl estimates that 15m to Europe will achievable in early 2010, and 10m to Europe will be the late part of 2010. He said the ionosphere is being affected by events other than solar, such as terrestrial geo-magnetic events. Jeff Hammer, N9NIC, made a MARS announcement. MARS is now Military Auxiliary Radio Service. DOD has re-aligned MARS. Jeff asked that anyone interested in becoming a MARS operator contact him at n9nic@arrl.net. Next door prizes were awarded. Ham Radio News: ARRL VE TESTING SCHEDULE FOR MARION COUNTY Sponsor: Indianapolis Radio Club (W9JP) Where: All testing is at The Indianapolis Training Center, 2820 N. Meridian St, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46208. Liaison: Gale Wuollet (317-849-8449) email: indy33windy@comcast.net When: January 16, 2010 April 3, 2010 June 5, 2010 Time: All testing starts at 9:00 AM; Walk-ins allowed CLASSES STARTING IN HENDRICKS COUNTY Beginning on Wednesday, January 27, there will be Amateur Radio Classes in Hendricks County, at the Senior Services Center just north of Hendricks Regional Health in Danville. Classes meet from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, and will be available for Technician through Extra class licenses. Classes will meet for 8 or 9 weeks, with testing either on the last class meeting, or the Saturday following the last class. Contact Dr. Jay Wright, KK9L, with any questions. NCVEC RELEASES NEW TECHNICIAN CLASS QUESTION POOL The Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) released the new Technician class (Element 2) question pool on Monday, January 4. This new question pool will become effective for all examinations administered on or after July 1, 2010; it will remain valid until June 30, 2014. The current Technician question pool that became effective July 1, 2006 will expire June 30, 2010. The new Technician pool contains approximately 400 questions, from which 35 are selected for an Element 2 examination; it will contain graphics and diagrams, something new for this element. The current General class question pool was effective July 1, 2007 and is valid through June 30, 2011. The current Amateur Extra class pool was effective July 1, 2008 and is valid until June 30, 2012. NEWS FROM THE INDIANA REPEATER COUNCIL The Indiana Repeater Council is still updating the coordination of all repeaters. If you have a repeater that was coordinated and have not completed an update, then it must be coordinated again in this current update. You need to go the website http://www.ircinc.org/node/9 and complete an updated on-line coordination application. There are some SK's that have repeaters. These repeaters need to be identified so those frequencies can be re-assigned to new repeater owners. Our next project will be to de-coordinate those repeaters that did not update. A NOTE FROM IN-ARRL REGARDING HB1060 We are writing to let you know that it is time to write our Indiana State Representatives and let them know that we need to be exempt from House Bill 1060 (HB1060) concerning the use of handheld communications devices. We need all hams that are represented by the members of the State Public Policy Committee listed below to email their respective representative. HB1060 basically reads: "Use of telecommunications devices while driving. Prohibits the use of a handheld personal communications device by a motor vehicle operator...." This means our handheld radios and even microphones would not be allowed for our use. If your State Representative is listed below then they are on the committee that decides the fate of this bill. Please email them and tell them they need to exempt Amateur Radio Operators from this bill. They will listen to you if you are in their district because you vote for them. If you are not in their district, they will probably not listen, so only email your representative. Simply ask them to please add an exemption to HB1060 for Amateur Radio Operators on the basis of our continuing support to Indiana communities and governmental agencies in time of emergencies. Whether or not you are an ARES/RACES member makes no difference, as this bill will affect all hams using a radio while driving. Please write your representative and ask for the exemption of Amateur Radio Operators. Their email address is listed at the end of their respective listing. If you don't know who your State Representative is, then use this easy link to find out: http://district.iga.in.gov/DistrictLookup Indiana Public Policy Committee: Trent Van Haaften, Democrat, District 076 (Evansville area) - h76@in.gov Vanessa Summers, Democrat, District 099 (North and Central Indianapolis area) h99@in.gov Terri Austin, Democrat, District 036 (Anderson area) - h36@in.gov Phil GiaQuinta, Democrat, District 080 (Ft. Wayne area) - h80@in.gov Earl L. Harris, Democrat, District 002 (East Chicago area) - h2@in.gov Scott Pelath, Democrat, District 009 (Michigan City & La Porte area) - h9@in.gov Mary Ann Sullivan, Democrat, District 097 (South central Indianapolis area) h97@in.gov Matt Bell, Republican, District 083 (Ft. Wayne area) - h83@in.gov Wesley Culver, Republican, District 049 (Goshen & Bristol area) - h49@in.gov Thomas Knollman, Republican, District 055 (Fayette & Union counties area) - h55@in.gov L. Jack Lutz, Republican, District 035 (Delaware, Hamilton, Madison and Tipton counties area) - h35@in.gov Jackie Walorski, Republican, District 021 (South Bend, Elkhart, and Saint Joseph county area) - h21@in.gov Thank you for the support. We, as your ARRL representatives, will be writing all of them to express our concern at the state level. But none of them are our representatives, so they may not listen. John, W3ML ARRL Indiana Section Manager David, N9KT ARRL Indiana State Government Liaison WELCOME NEW CLUB MEMBERS David Derry, N9QKG John Occolowitz, KB9MIE 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 January-February, 1952 Amachewer: Last issue we stated that the actual date of the start of the Indianapolis Radio Club would appear in this issue. At the time of the last printing ye ed did not have the exact date but contacting D. J. Angus, W9CYQ he was supplied with the date. It follows. August 28, 1914. Yes, that is the date and we make claim that we are the oldest radio club composed of amateurs to hold continuous meetings. We state this as being the oldest in the US but maybe it could as well be the world. Upcoming Area Radio Events: * January 16: Kokomo Amateur Radio Club Mid Winter Radio Party. Activities begin at noon at the Kokomo/Howard County new EMA facility on Berkley Road. * February 27: Cabin Fever Hamfest, 7 am to 1 pm at the LaPorte Civic Auditorium, 1001 Ridge St., LaPorte, IN * March 27: Severe Weather Spotter Training, starting at 9:00 am at the Indianapolis Training Center. * April 17: Indianapolis Radio Club “O-Dark Thirty” Swap Meet starting at 6:00 am at the northwest corner of Southport Road and Madison Avenue. * May 15: Annual IRC Bus trip to Dayton Hamvention. $30 per person. 2010 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: Tom Chance, K9XV - ..EMAIL k9xv@arrl.net · Dir. at large: Jim Rinehart, K9RU - · 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 ?? ?? ?? ??