THE VALLEY VOICE

Valley Radio Club of Oregon

W7PXL est. 1932 ARRL

_________________________________________________________________

NOVEMBER MEETING: NOVEMBER 7, 2003

The November 2003 meeting of the Valley Radio Club will be held

at the Red Cross Building, 862 Bethel Drive, in Eugene on Friday,

November 7, at 7:00 p.m.

The program will be on hand held radios, set up and operations,

including repeater etiquette. The will be a general overview

introduction, then specifics on various HT's, depending on

audience requests.

There will be several tables on specific brands or models, with a

guru there to go into detail. The purpose of the program is to

help members with questions on setting up a HT, putting

frequencies into memory, adding or deleting PL tones, scanning,

etc. If you want some help with your HT, from basic setup to

using more advanced features, this program is for you. But you

have to help, and here's how:

First of all, Ron wants everyone bring their HT, or HT's, to the

meeting, even and especially if it works well and can be

demonstrated why;

Second, send an email to Ron WJ7R with your issue, the brand and

model of your HT, and bring your HT and the manual to the

meeting. Ron will try to have a guru there for each HT or

problem, but he needs some advance notice, and no guarantees that

he can get all covered at the meeting, but post meeting follow up

is planned.

So, bring your hand held radio, either for help or for a show and

tell. And be sure to bring your manual as well.

OCTOBER MEETING

The program for our October meeting was by Rudy N6LF on his

mountain topping contest effort, with George W2VJN, in the ARRL

September VHF Contest. Lots information on what to do, and not

to do, on a VHF contest mountain top trip. Thanks to Rudy for

this informative presentation.

DUES ARE DUE; DUES ARE DUE!

It is time to pay your dues for the 2003-2004 Valley Radio Club

year. Individual dues are $10.00 per Club year; family

memberships are $15.00. Bring your payment and get it in to our

Treasurer, Al K3DUW.

A FINAL REPORT ON FIELD DAY 2003

Our W7PXL had quite an impact on the new F Class category in

Field Day 2003. W7PXL was first in North America in Class 3F.

Yep, Number One! We were 4th overall in Oregon; and W7PXL was

270th overall, without regard to category. A nice "way to go" to

all who participated and helped!

VALLEY RADIO CLUB ACTIVITIES CALENDAR

VE Sessions: second Wednesday each month at Red Cross bldg -

contact Riley W7RIL for info and registration.

EmComm Testing: contact Riley W7RIL well in advance of the

regular VE sessions and he will arrange for EmComm testing on

ARRL EmComm certification categories.

Code Class: meet at the W7PXL shack on Fridays at 6 pm; check

with Ron WJ7R.

Technician License Classes: next classes started on Thursday,

September 11th. Will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on second floor of

Red Cross building, in small board room. If questions, call Matt

W7ARD at 689-0640 or send him e-mail at w7ard@msn.com

Digital Sig Meetings: meetings of this fine group will resume

this Fall, so stayed tuned. When they meet, it will be at the

EWEB/Midgley bldg [corner of 4th and Mill- enter middle on north

side, go left] 7 - 9 pm.

DX and Contest Sig: will meet at varying times in October and

November, because of scheduling problems. The next meeting will

be at 6 p.m. on November 21st, with two videos on H40 and K5K

Dxpeditions. At this point, looks like the meeting will be at

the Red Cross, but we are still working on a restaurant location;

and if that happens, there will be a special announcement.

Em Comm Classes: no classes currently scheduled. If you have a

need, check with Riley W7RIL about that.

FROM THE ARRL

"Powerful Solar Flare Erupts

NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 28, 2003--The National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration's Space Environment Center (SEC) reports a

powerful solar flare erupted today from vicinity of the huge

region 486 sunspot at 1110 UTC. This resulted in a severe

category R4 radio blackout with an associated strong category S3

solar radiation storm. Instruments on the SOHO satellite detected

the event, the SEC said.

"The SOHO/LASCO instruments also observed a full-halo coronal

mass ejection (CME) with this activity, which is Earth-directed,"

the SEC said, adding that region 486 is the second largest

observed during this solar cycle.

The SEC has predicted a geomagnetic A index of 50 or greater for

October 29 (UTC) and an A index of 100 for October 30 (UTC). The

noon solar flux October 28 at Penticton Observatory in British

Columbia was a whopping 257. The geomagnetic K index was

expected to reach 4.

SpaceWeather.com is calling the flare "one of the most powerful

solar flares ever recorded." Brilliant auroras could appear when

the fast-moving cloud of gas and particles sweeps past Earth.

Residents of high-latitude locations such as the Northern United

States from Northern New England to the Northwest as well as New

Zealand, Scandinavia, Alaska, Canada could be treated to auroras,

but these could show up in lower latitudes as well.

SEC says it expects a severe category G4 geomagnetic storm with

periods of extreme category G5 levels possible as a result of

this activity. The solar radiation storm also is expected to

continue at strong levels for the next 48 hours.

"Further major eruptions are possible from these active regions

as they rotate across the face of the sun over the next few

days," the SEC said. "Agencies impacted by solar flare radio

blackouts, geomagnetic storms, and solar radiation storms may

experience disruptions through this period." These could include

spacecraft operations, electrical power systems, HF

communications, and navigation systems.

For more information visit the Propagation page on the ARRL Web

"Ditter II--The Return of the Ditter

NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 29, 2003--Some solid teamwork between the FCC

and the ARRL and accurate direction-finding led some Amateur

Radio volunteers to the source of an unidentified and continuous

string of dits being transmitted without identification on

14.024.8 MHz. The situation last week was eerily similar to one

more than three years ago, when another volunteer eventually

tracked down another "ditter" on the West Coast that had plagued

20 meters. After receiving reports of the more recent signal,

ARRL Field and Regulatory Correspondent Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG,

found he was able to copy it from ARRL Headquarters. The ARRL

called upon the FCC's HF Direction Finding (HFDF) facility in

Maryland to get a bearing on the signal.

"Really aggravating," is how the HFDF facility's Betty Mallay,

KL7AP, described it. "Of course, it doesn't help when others try

to 'dit-dit-dit' along with it," she added wryly.

The HFDF facility was able to localize the signal's source to

vicinity of Houston, Texas. Skolaut then called on ARRL South

Texas Official Observer Coordinator Carl Griffin, KA5KQZ, to see

if any of his volunteers had direction-finding equipment that

could pin it down.

Two of them--who prefer to remain anonymous--took on the

challenge. Their DFing led to a location in a Houston suburb that

was within three miles of where the FCC's HFDF facility said it

would be.

As in the earlier case, "Ditter II" apparently had no idea his

station was transmitting. "I called him on the phone, and he went

and checked the station and it had something up against the

keyer," one of the volunteers said in his report to Griffin. "He

was embarrassed." Left unanswered was why the unidentified

amateur's transmitter was powered up and ready to transmit in the

first place.

Complimenting the OOs on their quick work, South Texas Section

Manager Ray Taylor, N5NAV, took a philosophical view. "I

monitored it several times with about S7 signal," he said. "We

ICS - WHAT IS IT?

Valley Club members who have participated in ARES or EmComm

training, have had at least a passing reference to ICS, or the

Incident Command System. There is a nice article on ICS, with

reference to websites for materials on this important subject, in

the November issue of CQ Magazine, at pages 44-50. Check it out.

MINUTES OF OCTOBER MEETING

Minutes of October 3rd Meeting of Valley Radio Club:

Meeting gaveled to order at 7pm by President Riley McLean, W7RIL.

28 signed the pass-around roster.

Minutes - Jim, W7QIS - approved as corrected. (Page 7: New

members: Jim, W9PJT, Gailord. Raffle won by David (not Don),

K7OMT)

Treasurer's Report: Al, K3DUW - Grand Total: $933.97....details

with recorded minutes.

Trustee's Report: Larry was absent. Riley reported all is well.

DXSig: Mark, N7MQ - looking for locations - Next meeting Oct

10th.

VE Report: Riley, W7RIL - One candidate - passed the General

test. Next test session on Wed., October 8th. Here. Marv asked

if he should mention our test sessions on the Columbia Net...ans:

yes.

EC Report: Rick, W7RAI. Talked about his service on the B and B

fire near Sisters, OR. Also the ARES meeting at the ranch of

Wayne Jack outside Sisters. NVIS (Near Vertical Incident System)

antennas, How to Determine One's Emergency Power Needs and much

more. The ARRL red book has been adapted by Coos County and Rick

would like to see a similar project in Lane County.

Tomorrow, Oct 4th, will have amateur radio ops helping at the

Diebetes Walkathon..VRC, LCSARO, LDS, EARS will help out.

Oct 11th will see a "flood" scenario drill in the Cottage

Grove-Creswell areas. Rick is heading that up and working with

JimCox, Dan Grimes, Joe Brown and others.

Annual SET (Simulated Emergency Test) will take place in

November...More details later.

Reading: First. Al Jacob, KD7WKV.

Tech Class - Matt was absent as was CW Class-Ron Vincent.

ARRL books donated by the club to the Eugene Public Library -

Mark, N7MQ - bit of a run around but thanks to his "patience and

perserverance" the books are now available in the library and the

library staff are grateful for them. Thanks, Mark.

Swaptoberfest - Rickreal at the Polk County Fairgrounds on Oct

25th.

Jackets - Jim, W7QIS....4 people ordered. Order has been

accepted. Distribution next month (Nov.) ....next order in Feb

or March 2004. Thanks to those who supported the project.

Red Cross needs $$$. Riley suggest we pass a hat. Marv offered

his. $53.00. Thanks to the generosity of those who donated.

(Each month?)

Club Patch - Design by Steve Jepson, presented by Lori via Riley.

Passed around. Looks great...about 3.5" long by around 2" and

costs under $3 each.

The appointment of Mark as Public Service Rep has ended and Riley

suggest Steve Jepson.

Discussion of various repeaters, money help for Mike Mularkey and

his linking.

RTTY Contest - Mark, N7MQ talked about how he was bit by the RTTY

bug and participated in the CQ WW RTTY contest.

Program: Rudy, N6LF talked about his building of VHF antennas,

moving up on top of a mountain and participating in a contest.

His talk also including ducting, propogation and other topics.

Al, K3DUW had many fine comments about his NE USA operations

regardin the same topic. Thanks fellows.

Adjourned by President Riley, W7RIL