April Meeting

Our next meeting is scheduled for April 17. This month is project month and we will be building J-Pole antennas. We will meet at our regular time in room 106 for a brief business meeting and then head down to room 403 to put our project together. We will set up the coffee and cookies there so you can snack while you solder.

I am including plans for a 2 meter antenna plus a generic plan for making one for any frequency you like. There are also a lot of designs on the internet so feel free to look around if the one I included is not to your liking.

Here are a couple of suggestions to make things easier. To save you some time, decide what band you want to make your j-pole and cut all your copper to length before the meeting. Double check that everything fits together well. When we head down to the metal shop we will be able to solder everything together. I will have my antenna analyzer available and a stand to mount the antenna on so you can get it tuned the way you like it.

If you have any of the following tools, it would be great if you could bring them in so we don't have to wait in line: soldering iron, solder, pipe cutter, flux, emery cloth, propane torch, plumbing solder, wire cutters, wire strippers, x-acto knife, a screw driver, and any other tool I am forgetting. If you don't have all of these, don't worry. There should be plenty to share. Also, if you have an antenna analyzer that you would be willing to bring along, that would help so we won't have to share just one.

Be sure to bring a length of 50 ohm coax cable with a pl-259 soldered on one end and then decide how you want to connect it to the antenna. There are a lot of ways to mount the coax to the antenna. The easiest and most popular way is to use pipe clamps. This allows you to freely adjust the connections during tuning and makes for easy repairs to the antenna and feedline when they break (antennas always do).

Straits Area Amateur Radio Club
Petoskey High School
Room 106
Petoskey, MI. 49770

Minutes for March 20, 2007

President: Jack Felton KC8VXI Called Meeting to Order At 7:30pm.

Introduction of members present (24) 3 guest.

Minutes of February Printed in Static and also displayed on computer screen. Motion by KD8CYQ Seconded by Bill KC8CNS to approve minutes in static with no corrections need. Motion Approved.

Treasurer Report: Maxine KC8WXN gave the following totals for Savings $79.33, Checking $165.00, Supersaver$1,700.00Total of Accounts $1,944.33Total paid out from Feb.20, to Mar.20, 2007 $443.87. Maxine said Credit Union may start charging fee on Super Saver because of not minimum balance Discussion on changing super saver to interest bearing checking account to avoid fee charge. Motion by Dirk KG8JK Seconded Russ W8HCS to change all money to Interest Checking account. Motion Approved.

Old Business. Jerry KC8FAR said he had not been able to contact Owner of Seeley Printing due to his Work comment, John KA8DRJ said he would take copy of ticket to the printer and get estimate on printing tickets in case he could not speak to owner.

Chuck N8DNX has new Circulator and he will install when weather at site allows.

Dirk spoke on Michigan QSO Party on April 21 for information, check club web site on Yahoo. This is a 12 hour event all over Michigan.

Cliff KC8NVI showed his Dip Net scepter.

New Business Cliff said someone has been interfering on some nets, it happen on the dip net and again on the Bill DeMay net on Monday, Cliff asked anyone hearing any type of interference to please check it out if possible.

A class will be start on April 18, for anyone who wants to upgrade to General coast will be about $20.00.

Jack KB8RJ said Roy Longworth, W8QM new Step IR Antenna is down due to Ice and Wind.

April Program will be making J Pole antennas.

Dorothy KD8EQX won 50/50 of $12.00 and donated back to club.

Motion to close Jack KB8RJ Seconded Cliff KC8NVi. Motion Approved.

Program: Jack KB8RJ presented pictures of his and Christina Trip. They sailed to and around the Mediterranean sea, while living on their boat "Iona" they were able to observe the customs and view all the great history sites, while they were sailing they kept in touch with family via the Win Link System thru their amateur radio and computer. Another presentation at a later date where he will explain more on the win link system. Everyone thought the program was great and looks forward to a follow up. Thanks Jack.

Respectfully Submitted by Annette KC8QII

Cookie Report

Here is who will be bringing you treats for the next couple months at our club meeting. Just one other reason to attend.

April - John Peterson

May - Bob Still

June - Bill Dunstan

SAARC VEC

Here is the schedule of our test sessions. Please contact KG8JK, our test liaison, at least one week prior to the test date if you are planning on attending. You can call 231-348-5043 or email kg8jk@qsl.net. To save wear and tear on our small group of ve's, we will cancel a test session if no one signs up.

June 2 - July 14* - October 6 - November 3

All sessions will be in room 106 of Petoskey High School at 10:00 am.
*12:30 after the Swap 

Remember to bring a photo ID, a copy of your license and, if applicable, a copy of your "Certificate of Successful Completion of Element" you received at your last session. You will also need $14, a pen and pencil, and a calculator if you think you'll need it.

SAARC Area Nets

MONDAY
08:00 pm EST The Bill DeMay Memorial Two Meter Social Net
146.680- MHZ pl 110.9 - Net Control - Rotating

WEDNESDAY
08:00 pm EST The Chain - O - Lakes Net
147.280+ MHZ pl 103.5 - Net Control - Rotating

THURSDAY
01:00 Z Northern Michigan Amateur Radio Emergency Service Net
Primary net frequency 146.520 MHZ Secondary frequency 146.550 MHZ
Net Control - Jim Davis - KC8NTE 

SATURDAY
08:30 pm EST The Dip Net
146.680- MHZ pl 110.9 - Net Control - Cliff Rosebohm KC8NVI

DAILY
06:30 pm EST The Nothern Lower and Eastern Upper Pennisula Traffic Net
146.64- MHZ - Net Control - Marv DeWitt KC8MLD

Bill DeMay Memorial Net Controllers

Here are your net controllers for the Monday night net. So far we only have three net controllers to share the load. If you would like to be added into the list, just let any of the current controller know. I am sure they would be happy to have the help.
 

Elmers Ham Shack

Don't miss the grand opening of Elmer's Hamshack on May 1st. Jeff WD8DX is taking over for Comdac and will be opening an amateur radio store at 1349 South Otsego in Gaylord. Good luck to Jeff and thanks for giving us an amateur radio source in our area.

J-Pole

Here are plans for a two-meter J-Pole. Thanks to N6VNG for posting them on the Ventura County Amateur Radio Society website. One suggestion that I found while looking for designs is to use two hose clamps to attach the shield and center conductor to the antenna. If you solder each side of the coax to the hose clamps you can easily adjust the antenna without having to continually solder and unsolder the coax from the antenna. Be sure to thoroughly clean the copper pipe where the coax attaches so you get a good connection. Be sure to note that the measurements for each section also include the fittings so be sure to double check before you cut your pipe.



 

Design Your Own J-Pole

Here is a plan to design your own J-Pole for any frequency that you want.

If you don't feel like doing all the math, you can log onto the Ham Universe site at http://www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html and let their J-Pole calculator do the number crunching for you.

E Team Training

The Office of Emergency Management will be conducting E-Team Training in Cheboygan on April 16, 2007.

E-Team is a web-based, information sharing program used for significant events, incidents and disasters in Michigan. Local Emergency Operation Centers (EOC's) are expected to utilize this communication form as a primary means when transmitting information to the State EOC. It is also being applied as an intra/inter-agency system for tracking incident action plan goals and objectives, as well as allowing for more timely communications during mutual aid response and requests.

CCECPSCO may be called upon to interact with E-Team during an actual emergency. Members are encouraged to attend these training sessions. A Refresher Training session for individuals previously trained is scheduled for 1:00-3:00 PM. The Basic familiarization class for those who have not yet had E-Team training is scheduled for 3:30-7:30 PM. Both sessions will be held at the Cheboygan Middle School, (computer lab) Room #601.

There is no cost for this training session except your time.

CCECPSCO members who would like to attend either training session should contact me as soon as possible so we can contact CCE to let them know who will be attending.

Chuck - N8DNX

Michigan QSO Party

Saturday April 21 is the Michigan QSO party. The object of the contest is to make as many contacts as possible during the 12 hour contest period. Stations operating from Michigan may contact any amateur radio station for points while out of state stations only receive points for contacts with stations from Michigan. Each contact with a different Michigan county counts as a multiplier (you multiply your score by the number of multipliers you have). This is what makes operating the contest fun for us, since stations from both inside and outside the state will be looking to contact stations in as many counties in Michigan as possible. Complete rules are available at www.miqp.org .

I will be operating the contest here at my home and would welcome anyone who is interested in participating in the contest but either doesn't have the equipment to operate on HF, or just doesn't feel comfortable with contesting and wants some help getting their feet wet. If you would like to come out, give me a call at 348-5043. The contest starts at noon and runs until midnight.

Pandemic Exercise

The Pandemic exercise is late this month. In preparation for that exercise we would like to test communications between the two locations we'll be using in Cheboygan and the people in Alpena with whom we'll also have to exchange messages. We have scheduled this practice session for Monday Evening sometime around 6PM starting at the EOC in Cheboygan.

Anyone who can attend is encouraged to do so. This exercise may be one of the first where we are actually asked to provide communications in support of the actual emergency being simulated and we would like to make a good showing. Please check the 146.680 and 146.740 repeaters for talk-in. An additional incentive to attend will be that we are taking possession of the new CCECPSCO communication trailer earlier that day and expect to have it at the Cheboygan EOC that evening. This should be a good opportunity to kick the tires and plan for some of the things we'll be doing to the trailer to make it radio-ready. I will be heading to Cheboygan in time for a Pandemic Exercise planning meeting that starts at 11AM and then on to pick up the trailer. Please contact me directly if you have the day available and would like to come along.

Chuck - N8DNX

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FOR SAARC Dues: Regular - $10.00 Student - $5.00 Family - $15.00 Associate - $4.00 Help support this great organization and repeater system. Thank You.   Name - Call Sign   Address   City/State/Zip   Phone Email Send to: Maxine Holmes KC8WXN 4047 Quarter Mile Rd. Harbor Springs, MI 49740 Make Checks Payable To: STRAITS AREA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB Regular______ Family_______ Student_____Associate______TOTAL______

http://www.qsl.net/k4adl/

  The SAARC Officers

73 KG8JK