TROJAN
ARC HARMONIC
|
Editor Bruce Frahm KØBJ Send articles to k0bj@arrl.org |
Publisher Mike Albers KØFJ Subscription requests to k0fj@arrl.net |
MEETINGS 2nd
THURSDAYS
HAM LUNCH
WORK NIGHTS AS
SCHEDULED
WØWOB
REPEATERS
146.22/.82
444/449.65
156.7 PL
WØWOB APRS Weather
Node
WØWOB-10 APRS IGate
NEW MEETING
VENUE Thanks to NØXJ and NØXNJ, we now have a
meeting place that can also serve as a club station of sorts. The west part of
the K-N building remains un-rented. Gregg and Jeff ACØJ have installed WAØCAL’s
donated 4BTV vertical on the roof and we’ll have a chance to do some operating
from the new ‘shack’. The building’s metal roof should make this a performing
setup. For the sake of K-N’s bottom line we hope this arrangement will soon
have to be cancelled, but in the meantime it should provide a lot of fun.
WELCOME WXØGLD The rumor mill hit a home run, and the NWS
station did indeed pull down WXØGLD for their vanity call. This fits the
pattern established by a number of NWS stations around the country using WX,
the home call area, and 3-letter ID of their airport. The NWS guys are using
the call for the
IRLP PROJECT KØFJ has some new info on this project which will be
presented at the October meeting. Mike
says there will need to be a motion made in regard to this, so come to get the
latest news and vote.
APRS
HAPPENINGS Lots of developments on the APRS front.
Installation of an APRS digi on the Goodland water tower has been fully
approved. Unfortunately the ROM chip for the 1270 UI Digi was burnt with the
wrong coordinates and info – those for HXY. A slick workaround was done when it
was realized we could move the programmable Kantronics KPC3 to Goodland, and
replace it with the 1270 UI Digi with the “incorrectly” burnt chip. While KØFJ
was performing this swap, he discovered WATER in the coax line at HXY……. This will require some attention and we’ll
discuss strategy at the meeting.. KØFJ
has the WXØGLD-10 digi programmed and testing at his office. Plans are to install it in Goodland the week
of October 14. A long-term goal was
realized when, after approval at the last meeting, the club bought
WinAPRS. The APRS call is WØWOB-10. KØFJ has the IGate configured and we are now posting
our local APRS traffic to the www. The local wx stations, NØXJ and KØBJ’s
mobiles, and transient activity in the area can now be followed on the web. One
of the best ways to do this is going to www.findu.com and selecting one of the database query pages
from the list. This should be a fun and convenient feature both for us and for
mobiles passing through. Our weather
data is now displayed real-time and can be plotted from the findu page.
CREAMCAN DINNER OCT 13 Next Sunday is the day. Chopping of the goodies will take
place on the north side of
SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY The sideband version of Sweepstakes is Nov. 16th. With Thanksgiving a week late this year,
Sweepstakes will be 2 weekends before. KØFJ
wants to host a multi-op entry. With its 24 of 30 hours format this is about as
“relaxing” as contesting gets, and the realistic chance of nailing all 79
section multipliers adds some excitement. If you’ve wanted to learn a bit more
about contesting while having some fun with other hams on the air, this is the
event to take part in.
NWS SPECIAL EVENT NWS Skywarn
Recognition Day takes place this year on December 7 (GMT). At present we’re
planning to visit NWS GLD for the November meeting, to plan logistics. This year
we’re gong to make an effort to do the rig and antenna setup the weekend prior
to the event, rather than daytime on the 7th – this should mean
fresh operators for the starting gun!
POPCORN& DX Movie NIGHTS Most of you are aware that in lieu of programs at meetings,
we’ve been showing programs on occasional evenings. These have usually been DXpedition
videos, but we’ve also watched the based-on-fact movie Dish, about receiving Apollo 11’s moonwalk TV signals, and we’re
always looking for good material. A recent acquisition was a PowerPoint CD
program done by the Dutch members of the TI9M trip to
CHRISTMAS
WAØVJR NEWS Butch has got involved with a club out in
INAUGURAL WØDXCC CONVENTION MAKES A HIT Thanks to the vision of Nick KØPCG
of
Kansas hams attending were Bill AKØA Overland Park, Bruce KØBJ
Colby, Mike
KØFJ Colby, Jim KØRH (ex KKØSS) Valley Center, Rick KBØU
Overland Park,
Don NØYYO Halstead, WØCW Mac Leawood, Johnny WØJM KC, WØRT
Rick Parsons.
QSLs were a big part of the action, as attendees received
VP6DI cards from
brand new
QSLs on hand. They are looking for six new letter sorters
and signed up
volunteers for most of them at the convention. Most
convention goers got
practice in sorting by looking for their own cards -- a fun
experience.
off
Glenn WØGJ from MN detailed his family's pioneering efforts
on bringing
A52A,
Himalayan country to the group. For this DX accomplishment,
brought about
while bringing much-needed orthopedic surgery care to that
land, Glenn was
voted by the Zeroland DX club presidents as "Mr WØ
DX".
Other recognitions were N7NG, ARRL's Membership Services
director, with 364
confirmed countries, Steve N3SL with 2400+ DXCC Challenge
band/countries,
and N7NG, KØBJ and WØEJ as first three scorers in the
KCDXC's infamous CW
Pileup contest. The
information, fish stories and good-natured gags made this a convention to
remember, and I suspect we'll see another WØDXCC banquet scheduled next year.
BANDSCAN At
the WØDXCC convention the incoming Zero district bureau, headed by KBØU and the
Kansas City DX Club, announced they were looking for help with six of their 26
“letters sorters”. (Incoming QSLs are sorted by first letter of call suffix).
The bureau will ship cards to sorters via prepaid UPS, negating the necessity
of having all sorters in the KC area. That was enough for FJ and BJ to
volunteer to take on a letter! The bureau will pick a letter, and the duo will
do the sorting, which is reported to involve about 3-5 hours per month of work.
Patti NØOXP and Jeff ACØJ have indicated interest in helping with the job. The
group will work at learning the ropes and report on this activity at an
upcoming meeting. BT Patti NØOXP has the DX Convention bug and is working on
her General Class license. She hopes to
have this completed this winter now that she is not taking any college
classes. BT Dave N5DBZ manned the NWS
booth at the
NEXT MEETING OCTOBER 10
7PM K-N Communications – North of
the Big Blue Water Tower in South
The Trojan Amateur Radio Club is a general interest
educational and public service ham club. We maintain 2M and 70cm FM repeaters and APRS packet digi. Dues are
$15/annually, payable to Kathy Lindberg NØXNJ,