aug10.html

The program for the August meeting will be our summer Root Beer Float Night. A chance to cool down with a cold RB Float and a chance to talk with other club members. We have had fun with this event in the past...so why not do it again. See you there!

(You may view a live internet stream presentation of the meeting by visiting)
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/valley-radio-club-meetings-w7pxl

And to view the users page
http://www.ustream.tv/valleyradioclub

I encourage everyone to attend and be an active part of this very special upcoming event. If you have other thoughts or suggestions, please bring them to the meeting Friday, August 6th, at 7:00 PM at the Red Cross, 862 Bethel Dr., Eugene. Hope to see everyone there!

73,

Riley W7RIL
President
w7ril@yahoo.com

***** VRC DX *****

Valley Radio Club Elections
Radio Event for Those with a Little (or a lot) Radio Experience
Coax Needed
Improving HF DX Operating
DX Code of Conduct
Moscow Hosts WRTC-2010
Frequently Used ProWords
North American QSO Party August 21st
Hamfest Calendar

***** VRC CLUB CORNER *****

***** VALLEY RADIO CLUB ACTIVITIES CALENDAR *****

***** FROM THE ARRL *****

FCC Modifies Rules to Allow Limited Employee Participation in Disaster and Emergency Drills
First Half of 2010 Sees Upswing in New Amateur Radio Licensees
FCC: Vanity Call Sign Fees to Decrease August 17
Solar Update
W1AW 2010 Operating Schedule

***** VRC DX *****

(Please email your news, articles, buy&sell, etc for the newsletter to ke7gbo@arrl.net)

Valley Radio Club Elections

Greetings All:

I am Eli K7ELI. A new ham, and new member of Valley Radio Club. I am serving on our elections committee. My assignment? Contact every member on my list There are 44 members on my list, and there are 3 more lists. I have not had the privilege of meeting most of our members.

Election time is on us, Our Club is in need of Officers for the up coming season. We are looking to fill all positions President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. If you would like to have and honest election, this is as close as it gets. No politics. No mud slinging.

We are looking for people Who want to do this, if you don't want to, please don't. I am looking for your response whatever you choose, thank you.

You may respond   to eli48911@yahoo.com   or my cell # 541-521-2360
Catch me on the air 146.720 MHz mornings and evenings
                                     145.130 MHz mornings and evenings

Persons willing to run for election at the September meeting, WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME must be present at the meeting and must be able to commit to come to each meeting in your one year term in office (with obvious exceptions for illness, family emergency, or required travel). If you cannot make most of the meetings, you should not run.

Our August 6th Club meeting should be overflowing. That's Friday August 6th 2010 at the Red Cross 1900hrs

73 to All, and if you are not able to respond via e-mail, I have your telephone numbers, and you now have mine.

K7ELI     Michael Whitney <eli48911@yahoo.com>

Radio Event for Those with a Little (or a lot) Radio Experience

Sunday July 25 there was an event where new radio users who wanted to gain radio experience participated. It was the Springfield Neighborhood Watch Night Out Kick-off event. While the event was from 4 to 7 pm at Island Park, there was a radio team helping with the set-up starting at noon. The tasks involved being a shadow (following a person), a rover (general meandering) and static positions (being assigned to a specific location). The radio traffic consisted of passing requests for information, locating principle leaders and possibly looking for lost children. This was a very low-key event where inexperienced radio operators were encouraged to get on the air and get practical experience.

Experienced radio users were welcome to help out with the event also. It was a fun time on a Sunday afternoon.

The check-in and operational frequency was 146.550 (simplex).

For further information, please contact me at danielgrimes@comcast.net

Thank you,

Daniel Grimes <danielgrimes@comcast.net>

Coax Needed

Hello Fellow Hams.

I am looking for a hunk of LMR-400 or RG-214. I need about 50 - 60 feet to help Bob, W7REG, improve his 2m/440 station. At present, he has RG-58, which is not really suitable for this. Please email me directly if you have a piece of unused low-loss coax lying around.

73 Jim KI7AY ki7ay@yahoo.com

Improving HF DX Operating

I am raising a matter of increasing concern about the standard of on-the-air operating. A number of hams have, I'm sure, commented that there is now a serious problem with on-air operating behaviour, especially when calling DX stations in pile-ups on the HF bands.

As President of The First Class CW Operators' Club (FOC), I and Randy W6SJ, in partnership with leading DX operators, have decided that we will take the initiative to encourage all DXers to work together in order to improve standards. To this end we have created a simple DX Code of Conduct which I would ask you to bring to the attention of your readers. If we all pull together to improve standards we will all be able to work more DX and have more fun on-the-air.

More information is available at the FOC website www.g4foc.org/, at www.g4ifb.com/html/ dxing.html#PileupTips and in detail at www.on4ww.be/OperatingPracticeEnglish.html Please translate the DX Code into your local language if that makes the message more effective.

Thanks for your help and 73,
Bob Whelan, G3PJT, President, FOC.

Courtesy of OTVARC

DX Code of Conduct

1. I WILL LISTEN, AND LISTEN, AND THEN LISTEN SOME MORE
2. I WILL ONLY CALL IF I CAN COPY THE DX STATION PROPERLY
3. I WILL NOT TRUST THE CLUSTER AND WILL BE SURE OF THE DX STATION'S CALL SIGN BEFORE CALLING
4. I WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH THE DX STATION NOR ANYONE CALLING HIM AND WILL NEVER TUNE UP ON THE DX FREQUENCY OR IN THE QSX SLOT
5. I WILL WAIT FOR THE DX STATION TO END A CONTACT BEFORE CALLING HIM
6. I WILL ALWAYS SEND MY FULL CALL SIGN
7. I WILL CALL AND THEN LISTEN FOR A REASONABLE INTERVAL. I WILL NOT CALL CONTINUOUSLY.
8. I WILL NOT TRANSMIT WHEN THE DX OPERATOR CALLS ANOTHER CALL SIGN, NOT MINE
9. I WILL NOT TRANSMIT WHEN THE DX OPERATOR QUERIES A CALL SIGN NOT LIKE MINE
10. I WILL NOT TRANSMIT WHEN THE DX STATION CALLS OTHER GEOGRAPHIC AREAS THAN MINE
11. WHEN THE DX OPERATOR CALLS ME, I WILL NOT REPEAT MY CALL SIGN UNLESS I THINK HE HAS COPIED IT INCORRECTLY
12. I WILL BE THANKFUL IF AND WHEN I DO MAKE A CONTACT
13. I WILL RESPECT MY FELLOW HAMS AND CONDUCT MYSELF SO AS TO EARN THEIR RESPECT.

Courtesy of OTVARC

Moscow Hosts WRTC-2010

The World Radiosport Team Championship is a major event for 2010. WRTC-2010 will take place near Russia's capital Moscow. WRTC-2010 anticipates 50 teams from all over the world.

The event is being sponsored by Soyuz Radioljubiteley Rossii - the Russian National amateur radio society. Amateur radio is a unique passion, with the radio spectrum providing the playing field for technical innovation and global human communication. The World Radiosport Team Championship - WRTC in short - represents a large gathering of the world's best in radio traffic - as selected Regionally - coming from any country and all continents in the spirit of competition, using the same playing field and allowing pure skills to determine world champions in two-man team, 24-hour nonstop competition. This will be the sixth meeting of international amateur radio operators for WRTC. The first event, Seattle USA - 1990, was born under the auspices of the Goodwill Games.

WRTC-1990 focused on areas of cultural exchange, arts and other unique subjects - one of these being amateur radio and WRTC. Radio Amateurs from the whole world were gathered in an Olympicstyle event, in a more varied form of competition and camaraderie. The second gathering took place in San Francisco USA and became WRTC- 1996. In the shadow of the Golden Gate the event provided an historical setting. At the same time, the WRTC Steering Team was born to promote WRTC. It was charged with selection of future sites. This was a pure Radio Amateur event and assumed defined proportions of the Olympics.

The WRTC emerged as a worldwide radio contest and a warm-hearted get-together of radio-contesters. The next three gathers were Bled Slovenia for WRTC-2000, as the newly born country of Slovenia - on the sunny side of the Alps - set the stage; Helsinki Finland for WRTC-2002, honored the declining sunspot cycle, with the 2002 event only two years after the previous competition to celebrate 50 years since the Helsinki Olympic games of 1952; and, Florianopolis Brazil for WRTC-2006, the most recent event, at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, where on the Atlantic coastal in southern Brazil with 47 WRTC and 15 Multi-National Multi-Single Teams sending participants from 47 countries.

A listing, with pictures, of this years expected teams may be found at www.wrtc2010.ru/?id=16. Events will take place July 8 - 12. Special call signs have been issued in the R31 - R39 range.

Courtesy of OTVARC

Frequently Used ProWords

REQUEST                                            RESPONSE
Say Again Word After                           I Say Again Word After
Say Again Word Before                       I Say Again Word Before
Say Again All After                                I Say Again All After
Say Again ??? To ???                         I Say Again ??? To ???
Is This Correct Correct -or- Wrong   I Say Again
Say Words Twice                                 I Say Words Twice
Send More Slowly                                None *(just do it)
I Spell                                                     Say before unpronounceable group
Figure(s)                                                Say before a numeral
Initial(s)                                                 Say before name initials

18 September 2010
MicroHAMS Digital Conference
MicroHAMS Radio Club
Microsoft Corporate Campus
15120 NE 40th Street, Redmond, WA 98052
www.microhams.com/registration/
Talk-In: 146.58
Phil Moscinski , N2EU
5610 322nd Avenue SE Fall City, WA 98024
Phone: 206-255-6779 pmoscinski@gmail.com

4 - 6 June 2011
SEA-PAC
NW Division ARRL Convention
Seaside Convention Center, Seaside Oregon
www.seapac.org

Courtesy of OTVARC

***** VRC CLUB CORNER *****

ARRL MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS: The Club can receive money when you renew your ARRL membership. VRC gets $15 or each new ARRL membership for members of ARRL affiliated clubs and $2 for each ARRL membership renewal. For the details contact VRC Treasurer, Al K3DUW.

CLUB BADGES: You too can get a name badge with the VRC logo. And when ordering that, get one of the great Club patches as well. Check with Prez Riley at the next meeting and get the details on how to order yours - show and wear the club badge and the club patch.

CLUB HATS: Club hats with names and call signs are good to have and wear at the various public service events where club members provide radio support. To get the hats, go to "J & S Embroidery" and ask about "ham radio hats". They are custom made and available for about $13.00. J & S Embroidery is located at 1406 Carter Lane in Springfield. The phone number is: 741-1394.

***** VALLEY RADIO CLUB ACTIVITIES CALENDAR *****

6 Meter SIG: Informal net held at 7:30 p. m. local time Tuesdays on 50.125 USB, run by Larry and Marv. For more, contact Larry WJ7S [wj7s@yahoo.com] or Marv W7AE [marv.w7ae@gmail.com].

VE Sessions: second Wednesday each month at Red Cross bldg - contact Riley W7RIL for info and registration. His number is 345-2407, or w7ril@arrl.net.

Em Comm Testing: contact Riley W7RIL well in advance of the regular VE sessions and he will arrange for Em Comm testing on ARRL Em Comm certification categories.

Code Class: no current plans, but if interested, contact Ron WJ7R wj7r@comcast.net.

Technician License Classes: Matt W7ARD teaches Technician classes. Contact him for more info on when his next one starts. The Ham Radio License Manual is available from Matt or from Norvac Electronics. There is no cost for the class. Students should download supplemental info about the book at http://www.arrl.org/hrlm. Please contact Matt via email at w7ard@msn.com or phone at 689-0640 to sign up.

DX and Contest Sig: now meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month [except November and December to adjust for holidays] at Countryside Pizza & Grill, 645 River Road. The meetings will start at 6 p.m. to order any snacks or food, and then there is a program with a video, followed by discussions of current DX and contesting matters.

Em Comm Classes: For the next emergency communication classes, based upon Em Comm I or Em Comm II certification by ARRL please contact Mark N7MQ at n7mq@arrl.net.

Packet Information Group (P.I.G.): www.lanepig.org. Meetings are generally on the 3rd Saturdays of the month from 7:00 to 9:00pm at the Red Cross building located at 862 Bethel Drive, in Eugene. If you have any questions, please send them to KC7QAG@aol.com. See you all there! KC7QAG / Elmer McClellan

Valley Voice newsletter articles/announcements/etc.: Please email your info to Tom Cleveland KE7GBO at ke7gbo@arrl.net. The newsletter is usually sent out the weekend before the monthly meeting and all material received in time will be included.

***** MINUTES of the July VRC Meeting *****

VRC meeting minutes of July 9, 2010 @ Red Cross BuildingŠ

7:08 pm meeting was called to order by Riley.

Roll call given and attendance sheet was passed around.

Valley River Church is holding a "field day" during their church celebration on September 11th from 10 am to 2 pm. The Church is located at the end of the new bridge over the Delta Hwy.

Riley announced that the lighting project here at the Red Cross building has been completed. Truck loads of ballasts and bulbs were used to light this room properly. Thanks Riley and helpers!
Matt (W7ARD) announced that the next Tech Class will be from September 16 to October 28, 2010. No General or Extra classes are offered at this time.

Where's Waldo is scheduled for August 21, 2010. If you want to help, see Matt (W7ARD) ASAP.
Matt (W7ARD) was presented with a VRC shirt by Riley for his many hours of assistance and expertise offered to the club. Thanks for all you do Matt!

Jackets and shirts are available.

DX SIG meeting will be on July 28th at Country Side Pizza starting at 6 pm.

Kenton (K7BQ) announced that he will develop plans for a class to manufacture "j poles".

Cream Puff Ride scheduled for July 11th: No report given.

Officer's election. A committee needs to make nominations for next year officers at the August meeting. Contact Jim (KI7AY) to assist.

Tickets for the Icom IC-718 are still being sold. We need to sell about forty more before the raffle.
A Trustee is needed for the club. If interested, contact Riley.

Matt (W7ARD) discussed how he has been installing antennas on outlaying fire stations in the county. He has been doing some "high flying" from the tall ladders.

Field Day report was given. Fun time for all involved. Stations at the Franklin Fire station with EARS and at Mount Pisgah with LCSARO.

Program with Roland (W7LU): Presented a discussion on the development of a portable radio used by the Swedish and Norwegian Armies. The cost of the radio in 1990 was $95,000. The radio operated at 15 GHz with 88 channels. He also brought samples for us to study. Thank you Roland, very interesting. The radio could withstand the EMP of a nuclear hiccup but the Ops were toast.

Break @ 8:25pm.
Business meeting @ 8:45 pm.

VE report for July: 8 new Technicians and 3 new Generals.

Membership:
First reading for John Wagner (WB7BXX) and Les Garwood (KE7SLX). Second reading and election of new club member Kevin Gowen (W7BRM). Welcome to the club Kevin.

End meeting @ 8:52 pm

Respectfully submitted by Bob Case (WE1DUX).

***** FROM THE ARRL ****

FCC Modifies Rules to Allow Limited Employee Participation in Disaster and Emergency Drills

In a Report and Order (R&O) released Wednesday, July 14, the FCC amended Part 97.113 to allow amateurs to participate without an FCC waiver in government-sponsored disaster preparedness drills on behalf of their employers participating in the exercise. The FCC also has amended the rules to allow employees to participate in non-government drills and exercises up to one hour per week and up to two 72 hour periods during the year. The effective date of the R&O is to be determined and will be 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register. Read more <http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-modifies-amateur-rules-to-allow-participation-in-disaster-and-emergency-drills-on-behalf-of-an-e>here..

First Half of 2010 Sees Upswing in New Amateur Radio Licensees

As of June 30, 2010, the number of new licenses issued by the FCC in 2010 is outpacing the January-June 2009 totals by almost 8.5 percent; at this time last year, the FCC had issued 16,844 new licenses. Click <http://www.arrl.org/images/view/News/JanJun2010NLT.JPG>here for a larger image.

With more than 18,000 new Amateur Radio licenses issued in the first half of this year -- 18,270 to be exact -- 2010 is shaping up to be a banner year for Amateur Radio. So far, the number of new licenses issued by the FCC in 2010 is outpacing the January-June 2009 totals by almost 8.5 percent; at this time last year, the FCC had issued 16,844 new licenses. As of June 30, 2010, there are 694,346 licensed Amateur Radio operators in the US, an almost 1 percent rise over all of calendar year 2009. Broken down by license class at the end of June 2010, there were 16,299 Novices, 342,064 Technicians, 154,284 Generals, 60,059 Advanced and 121,640 Amateur Extra licensees . Read more <http://www.arrl.org/news/first-half-of-2010-sees-upswing-in-new-amateur-radio-licenses>here.

FCC: Vanity Call Sign Fees to Decrease August 17

On July 19, the FCC announced via the <http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-17331.pdf>Federal Register that the cost of a 10 year Amateur Radio vanity call sign will decrease 10 cents, from $13.40 to $13.30. The new fees take effect 30 days after publication, making August 17, 2010, the first day the new fee is in effect. In FY2010, the FCC anticipates granting 14,800 vanity call signs, bringing in $196,840 from the vanity call sign program. Earlier this year, the FCC <http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-looks-to-lower-fees-for-vanity-call-signs>released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-51A1.pdf>NPRM), seeking to lower the fee for Amateur Radio vanity call signs. The notice in the July 19, 2010 edition of the Federal Register -- entitled "Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2010; Final Rule" -- includes all FCC regulatory fees; these fees are expected to recover a total of $336,712,213 during FY2010, encompassing all the Services the FCC regulates. 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.

Solar Update

Tad "<http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_case.shtml>Somewhere in this favored land the Sun is shining bright" Cook, K7RA, reports: We've seen increasing solar activity all this week, with average the daily sunspot numbers rising nearly 14 points to 35.6, and the average daily solar flux rising nearly 5 points to 85.3. Sunspot group 1089 has grown, shrunk and is now growing again; as of Wednesday, it has been visible a total of 10 days. Three more sunspot groups appeared this week, with the latest -- group 1092 -- rapidly appearing on Wednesday with a relative size of 180 millionths of a solar hemisphere. The relative size of group 1089 for July 19-28 was 130, 150, 310, 240, 200, 160, 140, 100, 70 and 90. The predicted solar flux (as of Wednesday) for July 29 is 85, 87 for July 30-August 1 and 85 for August 2-4. The predicted planetary A index for those days is 15 for July 29, 10 on July 30-31, 8 on August 1-2 and 6 on August 3-4. Along with increased solar activity, we have seen higher geomagnetic indicators, all due to a stiff solar wind. Both the planetary and mid-latitude A indices nearly doubled for the week. Look for more information -- including a look at sunspot activity and predictions, as well as 6 meter activity now compared to the 2000-2001 sporadic-E seasons -- on the ARRL Web site on Friday, July 30. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the <http://www.arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals>ARRL Technical Information Service Propagation page. This week's "Tad Cookism" is brought to you by Ernest L. Thayer's <http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_case.shtml>Casey at the Bat.

W1AW 2010 Operating Schedule

The W1AW Operating Schedule may be found on the web at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html .

==================================================

73,

Tom Cleveland KE7GBO
Editor - Valley Voice KE7GBO@arrl.net

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