MEETING DATE/VENUE CHANGE Due to schedules of the NWS hams, we will meet one week late on Thursday September 20, at the NWS office in Goodland. We'll be doing preliminary planning for the NWS Special Event operation December 1. Those who can will meet at 5:30 behind City Hall and have dinner together at Gambino's in Goodland.

SCOTT CITY SWAPFEST/PICNIC Don't forget the SHARC Sept. 16 potluck picnic and swapfest at the Scott City 4-H building on the north side of town. Action starts at noon, and a number of Trojans are headed down so carpooling should be possible.

KANSAS ARRL HAMFEST IN SALINA The Salina hamfest was a success with a healthy 440 registering. It was a memorable event for Trojans. K0FJ received his Level 2 Emergency Communications credentials from ARRL Hq. Continuing Education guru Dan K3UFG at the informal Applebee's banquet Saturday evening. Sunday morning at W0OYH's ARRL KS forum K0BJ was surprised and pleased to be named Kansas Amateur of the Year by the Kansas-Nebraska RC of Concordia. Ron Swenson K0SWU, former Motorola agent in Colby is a past recipient, and Wheatbelt RC members Jim Corder W0FT of Quinter (K0MRI/Rexford) and CW Wade W0AM (W0INH) SK of Goodland are also KaoTY members. Then he, N0XJ KC0JAO and K0FJ were called up to receive a certificate from ARRL for 25 years of affiliation for Trojan ARC. We were in posh company -- Jayhawk ARS and Johnson Co Radio Amateurs (with member Gary W0TM attending) got 50 year awards, and Kaw Valley ARC of Topeka was recognized as one of the first three clubs to receive 75 year certificates! Theirs will be presented in Topeka in late October. Finally K0FJ was called up again to receive his appointment certificate as an Official Emergency Station. The Trojans also managed to peddle a few goodies at a swap table, and naturally converted some of that cash into 'new goodies'.

MT. SUNFLOWER – October 20 Noon – Noon October 21. Make plans to attend this neat event with the SHARC Club.

ARRL Affiliation Certificate – KØFJ will have the 25 Year ARRL Affiliation Certificate at the NWS meeting.

SCANNER BOOKS Our work on the new 4^th Edition scanner book is now bearing fruit, as the first batch of books is at Gavon’s. We voted a price increase to $10. If Gary's estimates are anywhere near correct this should once again become a pretty good cash cow for the club. Thanks to all involved for your help!

Nine Run Run Things weren't as organized as in the past without N0XNJ's sister-in-law in charge of the 10K race, but nonetheless Trojans turned out to give mile station times and report leader positions back to Fike Park. K0MXU manned the start/finish line, in lieu of running this year. K0QP pulled double duty at Mile 1 and the 6 mile point, just in front of the finish line which involved calling in ALL runner numbers in order to give end timers a heads-up. KC0HBR handled Mile 2, while KB0LGX K0BJ and N0XJ held down 3-5 respectively. AFTER the race started we realized the start line had shifted a hundred or so yards back (to the old original Franklin St. start) so we had to do some backing up of our checkpoints on the fly. Wx was good and runner participation was pretty fair, and participating Trojans got the traditional t-shirt.

PACKET RACKET de Mike K0FJ - With the increase in APRS stations, please check your WinAPRS configuration. If you are in rage of an APRS DIGI, set your unproto patch to that DIGI,Wide2-2 or DIGI,Wide. If you leave the default RELAY,WIDE in the TNC menu, you will repeat everything that your station hears. The DIGIs will take care of the relays for you. You must set the unproto path after you select your TNC type from the TNC Menu.

BANDSCAN KC0HBR has joined the growing number of metal farmers growing yagi/tower 'crops' around town. Jim's particular bouquet has a rotator but no controller yet -- he's looking around for one to go with the other hardware that came from W0FEE's estate in Goodland. BT K0QP has his 30-meter qrp rig ready for true portable use. Jim built the "njqrp squirt" 80-meter dipole a few weeks ago, ordered in a 20 ft. crappie pole to hang it off of, and picked up an
EverStart Jump Starter to use as a dc power supply (it is rated at 12 volt, up to 5 amp). He's looking for a good opportunity to shake it down -- sounds like Mt. Sunflower, or a fishin' trip would work, Jim… BT The K-N gang had a fun APRS keyboard QSO recently…. WB0WNX/air mobile left N0XJ an APRS message. They noticed it, answered back and got into a brief 2-way QSO. WNX was flying a Cessna 340 out of Sioux City, and left an APRS track that went out as far as the Colorado front range, at altitudes up to 22K feet. BT Speaking of flying K0BJ and KB0MBS took the GPS aloong on their trip back east. Bruce turned in on after the "all clear for entertainment devices" on the St. Louis to Hartford leg. By holding it by the window they got satellite data which had them whistling along at 517 mph! Soon an eagle-eyed stewardess revoked their IFR privileges, however….. BT KC0JAO recently snagged NH6YK/KH4 on Midwat Island. That QSO was of interest to K0BJ, as Ted was Bruce's 50^th state for Satellite WAS a few years back. BT K Zero Quick Purchaser? When Jim R. heard that K0FJ's IC706 was going to the Salina hamfest swap table, he ambled over and made a preemptive strike! Jim' slooking forward to making some 5W QSOs with the little rig and his newly completed QST project antenna. BT K0FJ is enjoying a new mode -- slow scan tv! Mike downloaded the freeware described in August QST and is utilizing his sound board to demodulate the HF photos. He's considering getting a file of photos and getting into the SSTV transmitting game. BT KC0JAO had been coping with a common TS-820 problem -- flaky digital freq. Readout. Jeff grabbed the bull by the horns and stripped down the entire associated circuitry, cleaned all connections, and has been rewarded by a reliable frequency display! BT K0BJ had a fun lil' roundtable on 20 cw with K1ZZ/VY2 and N1RL, ARRL's Exec. VP and news editor. Bruce saw Dave on a packet spot and 'busted' the mini-pileup when Rick invited him into the QSO. Dave and family were on vacation in Prince Edward Island with 3 other church families. ZZ's rig was a TS930 to R5, 10 yards from the Atlantic. Bruce's s7 report from Dave jumped to s9 when he finally got his ext. tuner switched out and SWR went to single digits…. BT At Salina K0BJ was encouraged (hijacked?) by XJ FJ JAO to visit Associated Radio. The three wallet kidnappers are pleased to announce that Bruce's spectral purity-challenged shack Clegg FM27B is being replaced with an IC-207H dualband rig, which happened to be on special at Associated. BJ installed the 27B which is, after all, a collector's item, in his shop. Oh yeah, K0FJ got juiced by the action and slapped down his card for a 207H of his own…. BT K0BJ was late to Ham Lunch one day when a fellow gas purchaser quizzed him on his Spider Antenna. Turns out the guy was a falconer, and was familiar with DFing birds on VHF. It is sport plus a way to obtain buckshot-free game meals. The guy had looked at getting licensed a decade ago, and took the ARRL URL with him. BT Matt KB0YFN has QSYed down to the dorm at Lawrence and started his college career. Hopefully the schedule will permit some activities with the K0KU gang. BT K0FJ N0XJ and K0BJ were among the stations monitoring the EOSS balloon out of Byers August 25. The tracking and APRS beacons were as strong as s7 in our area. Gregg had a blown power supply which had to be rebuilt before he could listen for the 40M prelaunch net, and as luck would have it, he never heard that on. From the times the balloon was heard here, we're suspicious that rain delayed the launch. BT KB0ZIA hopes to have a 30' mast/15 el. 2M yagi up before the snow flies. Jake also has a Yaesu rotator, but is looking for a soffet brace to support the mast at the roof peak. BT N0XJ K0BJ and KC0HBR (near the launch site at the time) all copied the 2 meter beacons on the Edge of Space Sciences #51 balloon out of Byers. Due to various complications none of the locals managed to log APRS position reports, but the sigs were a good s7 much of the time. BT

NEXT MEETING SEPTEMBER 20 NWS GOODLAND 7:30PM Central Time. Floating meeting venues, SET plans, creamcan dinner, possible late fall trip to Mt. Sunflower with SHARC, etc.TravelPlus for Repeaters 1997-8 version doorprize. Program -- could be any one of 3 Dxpedition videos -- victims' choice.