The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter Founded 1914 “The oldest continuously operating Amateur Radio Club in the United States” April 2010 Newsletter Upcoming Meetings: May 7 (Note different date due to Dayton): Antenna meeting June 12: Annual Auction Highlights from the April Meeting: The evening's meeting was called to order at 7:22 by club president Ron Cooper, WB9DKL. Since this evening’s project activity was going to take place at Ivy Tech, introductions were limited only to the new hams present. Chuck Crist, W9IH, talked about the O’ Dark Thirty swapmeet coming up on Saturday, April 17. It will start at 6:00 am with free donuts and coffee as long as they last. There will be a pitch-in lunch and cookout starting around 11:00 am. The location of the event is at Madison Square Plaza at Southport Road and Madison Ave. There will be a talk in on the 146.67 repeater, which is linked to the 224.8 machine located downtown. Tom Chance, K9XV, talked about Field Day. The club’s Field Day site will be at the Marion County Fairgrounds again, but there is a 1000 person event going on that weekend at the Fairgrounds. Will be in the Sheriff’s building. Tom said folks are welcome to camp out. There is a $10 charge for a tent and a $25 charge for an electrical hookup if desired. Tom also talked about the May meeting, which will be on the first Friday in May due to the Dayton Hamvention taking place on our normal meeting weekend. The topic for the May meeting will be antennas. Email Tom at k9xv@arrl.net if you have any projects you would like to share or discuss. Tom will talk about vertical antennas. At this point, there were some homebrew projects displayed and discussed, including Bob Osterhous’ (W9PSE) Antenna Slingshot Launcher System, which he will have for sale at the O’ Dark Thirty event. Chuck Crist (W9IH) announced that Mike Koss (W9SU) and the W9IMS group had received permission to clean and restore the USS Indianapolis Memorial on the Canal. Some of the participants in the project that were present at the meeting were recognized. Next, the meeting moved to IVY Tech. Bob Osterhous demonstrated how to assemble PL-259 connectors utilizing a tool that he had crafted. Tom Chance then showed two techniques for stripping cable and prepping it to put on a PL-259 connector utilizing Bob’s tool. Bob passed out the document that can be found at http://www.southwakearc.com/sites/default/files/uhfassembly.jpg, detailing steps for attaching PL-259 connectors to cable. Dave Jarvis (N9KZJ) gave a demo on soldering. At this point (approximately 8:35) Dave Miller (K9RTT) gave a tour of the IVY Tech lab for those interested. [Editor’s note: Many thanks to K.C. Corbin, KC9MTL, and Sam Carter, WA9VBG, for supplying the notes from the meeting in my absence.] Ham Radio News: GET YOUR TICKETS FOR THE IRC BUS TO DAYTON Once again, the Indianapolis Radio Club has reserved a bus for the Dayton Hamvention. The trip will be on Saturday, May 15. The bus will pick up at two locations: on the south side at Southern Plaza, picking up at 6:30 am; and on the east side at the Peddler’s Mall, picking up at approximately 7:00 am. The cost for the round trip bus ride is $30 per person. This cost does not cover admission to the Hamvention, go to http://www.hamvention.org/tickets.php#internet to order your tickets on line for a $5 per ticket savings over getting them at the door. We will stop for a fast food breakfast in Richmond on the way over, and stop for a more relaxed dinner in Richmond on the way back. Our coach will drop us off at the main entrance of the exhibit hall and park in close proximity of the show so we will be able to visit it to drop things off or to relax. The bus normally leaves the Hamvention around 4:00 pm, and arrives home by around 7:00 pm. Send a note to club treasurer Jay Willever, K9LJW, if you are interested in tickets. His email address is k9ljw@arrl.net. ARRL VE TESTING SCHEDULE FOR MARION COUNTY Sponsor: W9IMS ARC Date: May 10, 2010 (Monday) Time: 6:30PM (Walk-ins allowed) Location: W9IMS Comm Center, 3321 N Gale Street, Indianapolis, IN 46218 Contact: Jim Rinehart, K9RU Phone:(317) 218-7304 Email: K9RU@ARRL.NET 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: June 5, 2010 Time: All testing starts at 9:00 AM; Walk-ins allowed NEW LOCAL SWAPMEET COMING IN APRIL! April 17th 2010...O'Dark-Thirty Swap meet is FREE Admission, donuts & coffee (while they last) and Rain or Shine event. (bring your own rain cover).. 0600-noon...location is Northwest corner of Southport road & Madison Ave. PITCH-IN Lunch! ARRL, RED CROSS SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING On Thursday, March 25, ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the American Red Cross (ARC) at ARC National Headquarters in Washington, DC. The MoU, which replaces an earlier Statement of Understanding that expired in 2007, provides a "broad framework for cooperation" between the ARRL and the ARC "in preparing for and responding to disaster relief situations at all levels in rendering assistance and service to victims of disaster, as well as other services for which cooperation may be mutually beneficial." In the case of ARRL volunteers, the Red Cross has agreed to accept an alternative process: ARRL volunteers may arrange, at their own initiative and expense, to have the criminal background check performed by a state or local law enforcement agency. The Red Cross also has agreed that ARRL volunteers shall not be asked or required to consent to credit checks, mode of living investigations or investigative consumer reports in order to provide a communications function. FCC LOOKS TO LOWER FEES FOR VANITY CALL SIGNS The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM) on April 13 seeking to lower the fee for Amateur Radio vanity call signs. Currently, a vanity call sign costs $13.40 and is good for 10 years; the new fee, if the FCC plan goes through, will go down to $13.30 for 10 years, an decrease of 10 cents. 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 term. Instructions on how to comment on this NPRM are available on the FCC Web site at, http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/howtocomment.html . The vanity call sign fee has fluctuated over the 13 years of the current program -- from a low of $11.70 in 2007 to a high of $70 (as first proposed in the FCC's 1994 Report and Order). In 2007, the Commission lowered the fee from $20.80 to $11.70. The FCC said it anticipates some 14,800 Amateur Radio vanity call sign "payment units" or applications during the next fiscal year, collecting $196,840 in fees from the program. The first vanity call sign licenses issued under the current Amateur Radio vanity call sign program that began in 1996 came up for renewal four years ago. Those holding vanity call signs issued prior to 1996 are exempt from having to pay the vanity call sign regulatory fee at renewal, however. That's because Congress did not authorize the FCC to collect regulatory fees until 1993. Such "heritage" vanity call sign holders do not appear as vanity licensees in the FCC Amateur Radio database. ARRL REVAMPED WEB SITE IS ON-LINE (FINALLY) After some delays, the ARRL has it's revamped web site up. Same URL: http://www.arrl.org/. Check it out. SILENT KEYS The following ham of the Indianapolis area became a Silent Key in the past month: Joe Pinella, WA9VGY March 22 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 April, 1979 Amachewer: A SPECIAL MEETING Bruce Johnson, WA6IDN/1 of the ARRL staff, as International Service Officer, recently returned from Kenya and other African countries, will talk on the most recent developments in the 3rd World Conference (WARC). Upcoming Area Radio Events: * 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 1: Indiana QSO Party sponsored by the Hoosier DC and Contest Club (HDXCC). Runs noon to midnight Indianapolis Time. Go to http://www.hdxcc.org/inqp/ for more information. * 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 – EMAIL k9ru@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 ?? ?? ?? ??