Summit Sentinel, September 2003
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The Las Cumbres Amateur Radio Club Newsletter Summit Sentinel, September 2003 |
Contents of the Summit Sentinel, mailed to members September 11, 2003.
| Sep 2003 Volume 25, Issue 3 "From the Sierra to the Sea, ...This is K6FB repeater" |
Las Cumbres Amateur Radio Club P.O. Box 2415 Cupertino, CA 95015 k6fb@arrl.net www.qsl.net/k6fb |
Summer Picnic, Saturday September 27, 12:00 noon, Houge Park in Los Gatos, near Hwy 17 and Hwy 85 intersection (see map and directions below)
Fifth Saturday Breakfast, Saturday November 29, Cancelled! This date lands on Thanksgiving weekend. We'll have our Holiday Party soon instead (see next item)
Holiday Party, tentative date: Saturday December 6. Look for more information in our next Summit Sentinel... just save this date!
On the back cover of your Summit Sentinel please note your mailing label. Does it say 2003 or later? If so then your club membership is up to date. If the date is for anything prior to 2003 then perhaps we haven't heard from you regarding your membership renewal. We want to hear from everyone! Simply mail $25 to the return address on the back of this Summit Sentinel to renew your membership.
Your club directors are hard at work planning for the Summer Picnic 2003! This former, annual event has been on hiatus for a few years. Plan to join us on Saturday, September 27 at Houge Park in Los Gatos about noon.
The club will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, and cold sodas for all. Please bring a picnic salad, side dish, or dessert item to share with 4-6 of your fellow members. Family members are also welcome to attend.
Take Hwy 85 to the South Bascom exit, just east of Hwy 17. Proceed north from the highway; look for a right turn onto White Oaks Ave. Proceed several blocks east to Twilight, and you should be at Houge Park. Look for cars that have lots of antennas on top, and you're there! Talk-in will be available on K6FB repeaters. See you there!
Earlier this year our club web site at Internet Hotline (ihot.com) lapsed. We are indebted to Dan K6PRK for hosting our web presence for so many years.
Your club directors are pleased to report that the club is now back on the World Wide Web! The format and content are freshened quite a bit. Jey KQ6DK is our club webmaster. Stop by and have a look.
< http://www.qsl.net/k6fb >
Bob W6OPO has been slaying a banking dragon for the club! The club has been banking with Bank of the West ever since I can remember. In years past, it was certainly in a convenient location near Vallco Village, just outside the HP Cupertino site, our former, perennial, monthly meeting location.
Many years and club treasurers have come and gone since the accounts were opened there. This year we submitted a new signature card, just like we have in past years, to empower our new Treasurer to do our banking. However, name changes and address changes are no longer allowed on our accounts.
It turns out we've been using a personal account and not a non-profit organization account. Our request to update information was denied! Poor Bob couldn't be our Treasurer!
Bob has prepared and filed the necessary paperwork with the IRS to reinstate the club's non-profit status. Once this is secured, Bob can open new non-profit accounts. The status of the club's request is pending with the IRS. Thank you Bob for all of your efforts on this! Amazing!
Bob and Tom have been working side by side to ensure that all of our club records are current. Tom has perfected a roster that is included in this Summit Sentinel. Ensure that you file the roster away in a safe place for future reference. Please do not share this information beyond the members of the club. We're all concerned about privacy these days!
The final touches are already being set for the picnic. If you didn't see the invitation refer back to page 1!
Can you believe that the year-end holidays are already around the corner? Your club directors are considering destinations for our Holiday Party. Saturday December 6th has tentatively been selected as the day. You'll remember dinners the past few years at Ho Mei Do Chinese on the Alameda in San Jose. In years before Ho Mei Do we dined at Harry's Hof Brau in Mountain View (now closed) and our Fifth Saturday Breakfast haunt, Hick'ry Pit.
If you have a suggestion for an alternative party venue then pipe up soon! We'll need to reserve right away. Use K6FB, email, or call any director (see the roster, web site, or K6FB!)
Note The Fifth Saturday Breakfast that would normally be held on Saturday November 29 is cancelled since it is so close to the Holiday Party.
Have you been keeping up with all the news in ham radio lately? Here's but a sample!
Broadband over Power Line (BPL) is a proposal that has been getting great attention in past weeks. This proposal permits broadband (i.e. digital internet connections) delivered to your house with the electricity provider. BPL is already being tested in a few markets.
Most of the ham frequencies, except for the new 60M band, have been notched out of the working frequencies in the range of 2-80 MHz. Some contend that this will prevent BPL from generating QRM across vast distances, including your neighborhood power lines. Yet, hams still envision the spectrum pollution that it could generate. The ARRL is opposed to the proposal. Learn more
< http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/ >
< http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/08/08/2/ >
Get your 60m equipment warmed up! Yup, there's a new allocation of "60m", with frequencies between 7100 and 7200 kHz. Worldwide broadcasters located within those frequencies must vacate their allocations by March 29, 2009. License classes General, Advanced, and Extra may start using five new SSB voice channels as of July 03, 2003 with no more than 50W PEP. Learn more
< http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/Hambands_bw.pdf >
California Has Its Own PRB-1! It's better known in California as AB1228. Governor Davis signed it into law on July 14. Davis said ham radio volunteers play a crucial role in times of disasters or emergencies. "By providing a reliable communication system during an emergency situation, such as a terrorist attack, Amateur Radio stations provide an invaluable service to the state of California," he added. [Nice work guys! - ed.] Learn more
< http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_1201-1250/ab_1228_bill_20030630_enrolled.html >
Pacificon is coming up October 17-19 at a new location, the Marriott Hotel in San Ramon. This annual event sponsored by Mount Diablo, ARRL and Pacific Division ARRL is a showcase for ham activities in California. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. You can order your tickets in advance off the web. There are also breakfasts, banquets, and the annual Antenna Forum on Friday. Learn more!
< http://www.pacificon.org/ >
Morse Code may be on the way out. Delegates to the World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC03) earlier this year deleted Morse Code as an international treaty requirement for HF licensees. Switzerland, UK, Belgium, Germany, Norway, and Netherlands wasted no time jettisoning their Morse Code licensing requirements.
Canada is gathering information from our peers north of the border for their thoughts.
Here in the US, the National Conference of Volunteer Examination Coordinators (NCVEC) is already formulating proposals to nix Morse Code for US licenses.
To confuse things, there is a hodge-podge of proposals for new licensee classes (...return of the Novice? Who will get grandfathered into prior licenses?) It's unclear what will happen in the US in the short term. Surprisingly the ARRL-VEC abstained from voting at the NCVEC. The FCC is taking a wait and see attitude on the proposals and expects a lively debate from the ham community.
Vanity call sign fees just went up $1.80, from $14.50 to $16.30. While this is probably not a show-stopper for your sexy new call sign, I thought you'd like to know.
[News content gleaned from, and thanks to, The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.]
I received an inquiry from a south bay ham about donating his stock of electronic parts from the 70's and 80's. The donator stipulated that the stock should go to a budding electronics student, to further the student's electronics education. If you know of a student that might benefit then please contact Jey, KQ6DK
Editor: Jey KQ6DK
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2003-04 Las Cumbres ARC Directors
PresidentKen Carey, KN6CKVoice Repeaters (All are linked)
- K6FB/R: 145.450 MHz (-) PL=100
- K6FB/R: 442.575 MHz(+) PL=100
- K6FB/R: 223.880 MHz(-) PL=100
Packet
- K6FB-1: Digipeater: 145.050 MHz
- K6FB-2: Bulletin Board: 145.05 MHz
- K6FB-7 Node (alias LCARC): 145.050 MHz
- K6FB-5 tcp/ip "losgatos" [44.4.8.1], 145.750 MHz
© 2003, Las Cumbres Amateur Radio Club