TROJAN ARC HARMONIC

MEETING DELAYED ONE WEEK Due to scheduled meeting night being Maundy Thursday, the April meeting will be held April 19. We're moving back to Pioneer Memorial Library. Meeting time standard 7PM CDT. Program is the well-reviewed ZL9CI DXpedition to Campbell Island in the sub-Antarctic south of New Zealand. Lots of rare wildlife, sailing etc. in addition to the hamming coverage.

NWS SPOTTER TRAINING Kevin Lynott KC0FEH and his sidekick from NWS had a new approach to the training which was presented to an audience of about 100. 3 MPEGs went along with a PowerPoint program that presented some new info, and familiar info in a new way. The StormReady certification Thomas County has received was explained, and Trojans were thanked for spotting services numerous times, as in the past. In addition to Kevin, many Trojans attended including KB0ZIA KC0BNV KC0HBR N0XNK KC0JAO K0BJ KC0IWH K0MXU KG0PI KB0MBT WA0CAL. Two rain gauges and a wx radio were given out as door prizes.

146.82 PROPOSAL Discussion was held on the ARES net with members of the Hartwell Neb Machine regarding PL Tone on both machines. We are assigned 156.7 PL for this area and a motion will be made to adopt the PL tone on the 82 repeater to reduce interference to other 82 machines. Please add your input on this project.

INDOCTRINATING THE YOUNG'UNS K0BJ's grand-niece and 8 other Girl Scouts from Troop 110 recently visited Bruce's shack as part of their communications badge work. They played with Morse code sent by sounder and oscillator, talked about the history of electromagnetic communications and asked questions about ham radio. But the highlight was a trip to the shack. QSOs started when Bruce chatted with KC0IWH on 2m, then KC0HBR and K0FJ called in on 10 SSB. The girls then had an exciting QSO with KR0E/KH6 on Maui. Don chatted with the girls, describing the wx, activities like snorkeling and whale watching, and answered questions (no, he DIDN'T learn the hula but enjoyed watching a hula dance, etc….)

KB0MBT WITH EXTRA - BIG GRIN A moment we'd been thinking might never come, did arrive March 22 when Gregg copied 32 straight correct characters on his code test -- 16 seconds more than the perfect minute he needed! Thanks to his Advanced CSCE being good to April 1, 2001 and a fresh Extra CSCE, the code pass meant instant upgrade to Extra. The perfect section had an RST right in the middle -- an easy way to derail, but even if he'd blown that, he managed another minute+ toward the end of the test. Look for Gregg to be trading in KB0MBT for a vanity call of some sort. He MAY even use code on the air…. Someday…! Congrats.

FIELD DAY The 60' Rohn mast has been ordered. Thoughts of a 3A effort this year continue but no decision has been made. We need to do some advance work at the airport (street light shielding, etc) and on other gear (The Tailtwister indicator, for one…). Discussion at the meeting.

BANDSCAN Bruce K0BJ finally got fed-up with his old Yaesu power supply bumping off, and got Alinco's highly praised 32 amp switching supply. It is pretty small for the capacity and has adjustable voltage output. BT K0FJ has been busy refurbishing W0CEM's High Sierra screwdriver mobile HF antenna. Larry Oren is working on a mount to install the hefty weapon on Mike's van, via the hitch. Should be just the thing to use his IC-706. UPDATE Mike bought the Yaesu ATAS100 'mini-screwdriver' antenna and is contemplating trading in the '706 for a FT100, which would increase the flexibility of his new mobile antenna. Looks like BJ will have some welding to do…. BT A rose by any other name is still a "hot ham"…. Scott ex-KB0WPY is now the proud owner of N0QA. Congrats on the distinctive and short call, Scott. BT Jeff KC0JAO wasted no time celebrating his General Class ticket recently won; he's installed a dipole and been enjoying SWLing with the TS-820 that came through KB0LGX/WA0CAL. After careful listening for awhile, his first QSO was an Englander on vacation in Jamaica! BT In a weak moment K0BJ agreed to be Net Control for QKS Kansas cw traffic net Tuesday nights 10PM CT on 3.610. Bruce welcomes any newcomers checking into the net and learning procedures through osmosis. BT We all knew Jim KC0HBR is addicted with HF operating. The extent of the addiction became clear when he wore out the dial on his rig! After an abortive look at popping off the faceplate of the rig at last month's meeting, Jim tried weeping penetrating oil down the shaft bushing and working the knob back and forth -- it did the trick. BT The Japanese version of ARRL released results of their All Asia contest. K0FJ and K0BJ along with Phil N0KE joined W0TM at his Vail CO mountain QTH for a multi-single effort in the SSB version of the foray last Labor Day weekend. (the bear caper…) The guys won the North America Multiop/Single Xmtr category. It helped that they were the ONLY NA M/S entry……. Gary had Phil over for the cw version the month earlier, and they also won the NA M/S in that 'test. BT Bruce K0BJ had some fun doing cw mobile work enroute to the Ararat KC hamfest and a vacation in Branson. A longer trip provides a good chunk of time to prowl the bands. BT K0BJ QSOed CE0Y/W7XU from Easter Is. on RTTY. The special thing about the contact was that Arliss was the chief radio op. at the south pole KC4AAA the year Bruce's buddy John was the MD at the pole station (1982). Arliss was country #100 on 6 meters for Larry N0LL of Smith Center, the first 0 to get 6M DXCC! BT Jeff KC0JAO is the proud owner of a new Whiterook paddle with enclosed TiCK keyer. These 'lil units, available off the Web, are a compact way to send cw while mobile or QRP. BT KC0IWH was recently on 2M lamenting the difficulty of finding code practice material. Before the QSO was complete neighbor KB0ZIA was knocking on the door bringing a couple CDs with practice material. Then KC0JAO broke in with a list of URLs useful in studying both code and theory. Amazing what resources are floating around within the club! BT The recent burst of solar activity has made life wonderful/miserable for the HF hams. The increased flux is great, WHEN the solar flare activity is low enough that the D-layer absorption isn't messing things up. K0BJ got a view of the massive sunspot group through his telescope, using image projection to view the solar disk.

NEXT MEETING **APRIL 19** PIONEER MEM. LIBRARY 7:00PM. Discussion to include repeater CTCSS tone, Field Day, new scanner book, etc. Program is ZL9CI Campbell Island Dxpedition Jan 1999 60 minute video. This show received a nice review at http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/zl9cireviews.htm

The Trojan Amateur Radio Club is a general interest educational and public service ham club. We maintain 2M and 70cm FM repeaters and a station at the NWS in Goodland. Dues are $10/annually, payable to Mike Albers K0FJ, 140 E. Cherry, Colby KS 67701. Material from the Trojan Harmonic may be freely copied; attribution is appreciated. News and free email subscription requests to KØBJ, PO Box DX, Colby KS 67701 or bfrahm@colby.ixks.com