SAARC Yahoo Group

At our January meeting we discussed starting a Yahoo group where we could have an ongoing dialog of club business and activities. The hope is to be able to take care of a lot of our club business there and not have to handle it at our meetings. We would like to free up our regular meeting time for programs and projects. Everyone is welcome to join the Yahoo group.

All you have to do is go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StraitsAreaARC/ and click on Join. There you will be able to get a yahoo login and sign up to be a member of the SAARC Yahoo group. When you sign up, I suggest that you choose to receive a "daily digest" of the group activities. You will get all the messages from that day in one email instead of getting an individual email every time a message is posted. Just a few highlights that we have discussed are our Dayton trip, repeater updates, and future club meeting programs.

To that effect, here is what we have planned for our next few club meetings. This month Chuck Scott will show us all the nifty things you can do with our wonderful repeater system. In March, Jack and Christina Staats will present a power point dealing with sailing, Winlink e-mail, ham radio and some interesting places they visited in the eastern Atlantic and Western Mediterranean. Then in April, we are hoping to have a J-Pole building project there in the metal shop of the school, so start ripping out some old plumbing.

No More Code Tests

Well, it's official and we now have an official date for the end of the Morse Code requirement. As of February 23, there will no longer be any Morse Code test required for any class of license. If you are a Technician, you will automatically upgrade to Tech-Plus and have HF privileges on the old Novice portions of certain HF bands. If you are planning on upgrading to General, you only need pass the written portion of the exam to complete your upgrade. If you have already passed the written portion but have not taken the code portion, you need only attend a test session and apply for an upgrade, you will not need to take any additional test element. Be sure to bring a copy of your license, a copy of your Certificate of Successful Completion of Element for the General Class written test, an ID, and the $14 test fee. Remember that the CSCE is only good for one year. If it has been longer than that you will have to take the General written test again. Our next VE session is March 3.

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

Minutes for January 16, 2007

President: Jack Felton KC8VXI Called Meeting to Order At 7:35 pm.

Introduction of members present (22)

Minutes of November was read by Secretary Annette KC8QII, No correction needed. Motion to Approve by Tom WA8AA, Seconded by Bill KD8CNS. Motion Approved.

Treasurer Report: Maxine KC8WXN gave the following totals for Savings $79.33, Checking $191.62, Supersaver$1,698.33, Total of Accounts $1,969.28. Annette asked if supersaver account to be cancelled by bank and Maxine said no, as long as the account balance is brought back to minimum of $2,000.00,Total paid out from Nov. 2006 to Jan, 17,2007 $696.85. Motion to approve Treasurer report Dirk KG8JK Second Cliff KC8NVI. Motion Approved.

Old Business: None

New Business: Maxine to apply for State License for Swap Raffle. Dirk is printing Flyers and Certificates for the Traverse City Swap, February 10. 2007.

Bill KD8CNS suggested that maybe some members might want to car pool to the T.C. Swap. Dirk KG8Jk spoke up, that he and Jerry, KC8FAR will be going to the Dayton Swap in May and wondered if anyone would be interested car pooling and in renting a cabin, if so contact him.

Dirk made a suggestion to increase table fees to $10.00, which includes entrance fee. Regular entrance price will remain at $5.00. Motion by Chuck N8NXP to increase the price of entrance and table price combined form $8.00 to $10.00 Second by Tom WA8AA. Motion Approved.

Repeater Problem: Chuck Scott N8NDX is going to check the problem, may need to purchase a new circulator, price could run from $100.00 to $1,000.00. Motion by Chuck N8NXP for Chuck N8DNX to purchase equipment if needed, Second by DeWayne KC8LJX. Motion Approved.

Cookie List: Maxine said there was still months not signed up on cookie list and the list was passed around and completed.

Suggestion by Dirk, of one way to shorten business part of meeting, if officers or Board meet either via using email or meet just before regular meeting, for a couple of months to see how it works.

This suggestion presented a Motion by Dirk, Second by Chuck N8NXP. Motion Approved.

Jack asks if anyone had copy of constitution the for club, Cliff said he had a copy and would make a copy for him.

Business part of meeting closed.

Program: Chuck N8NXP presented a program on how to complete a message form stating that each part of form is important, and that some of the codes would not change during the handling of the traffic. Also suggested that anyone interested might want to purchase a book that ARRL has for that purpose.

Thank you Chuck for the informative program.

Bob Still KD8CYQ won the 50/50 if $13.00 and donated it back to club. Thanks Bob.

February Meeting Chuck Scott N8DNX will explain about how the repeater operates.

Motion to close Dirk Seconded Annette Motion Approved.

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.

February - Maxine Holmes

March - Cliff Rosebohm

April - John Peterson

SAARC VEC

Here is the schedule of our test sessions. I am guessing we may see a lot of you in March so please be on time and have copies of you license and CSCEs ready. Also, 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. We would like to have enough VEs present to handle a bigger than normal group. If no one signs up for a test session, it will be canceled.

March 3 - 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 - Net Control - Rotating

WEDNESDAY
08:00 pm EST The Chain - O - Lakes Net
147.280 MHZ w/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

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

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.
 

Repeater Update

*excerpt from the SAARC Yahoo group. Post by Chuck Scott N8DNX Jan. 19, 2007

"The problem as I understand it is that the new amplifier is not ultimately stable looking into the duplexer. A duplexer appears to an amplifier as a complex load. Unlike an antenna or dummy load which accept power over a wider range of frequencies, a duplexer is tuned to pass power primarily at one frequency. As you move off frequency to one side or the other the load appears increasingly complex and less like simple 50 Ohms. Some very good amplifiers don't seem to have a problem with this, but most can in one way or another. The old Quintron paging transmitter we used before was ultimately stable and didn't seem to mind, but was getting old and problematic in other ways. One known solution to this problem is to install a Circulator or Isolator between the amplifier and the duplexer. These devices pass power in one direction. Any power reflecting back is directed to a third port on the device where a dummy load is attached. In effect the amplifier sees essentially a perfect load. An Isola

tor is a Circulator that has the dummy load included. Unfortunately these are not cheap devices, but are very common in repeater installations. Since a circulator stops signals coming back in the antenna from reaching the amplifier, they tend to prevent intermod problem at sites where there are strong signals. Many sites require all transmitters to have a circulator installed. This helps to protect other users at the site. We have not been required to have one, but it may be necessary to install one anyway. The club has approved the purchase of a circulator up to a few hundred dollars without additional approval. I've sent an E-Mail to the amplifier manufacturer to ask for his opinion on this matter. It will be interesting to hear his comments and suggestions. I'm hoping to get up to the site this weekend. I do have some thoughts on what else we can do before expending the money on a circulator. Hopefully that will work. In any case, I know that we can reduce power back down to about 75 Wa

tts and it will likely be fine. At that power level, people will still hear the repeater just fine. We can then take some time to fully solve the problem later."

*excerpt from the SAARC Yahoo group. Post by Chuck Scott N8DNX Jan. 29, 2007

"I've uploaded a few pictures from my visit to the repeater yesterday. These are in the "Photos" section of the StraitsAreaARC Yahoo group.

Couldn't have picked a better day for a winter walk. The third picture of the repeater and amplifier shows my portable computer connected to the serial connection on the repeater as I was adjusting the power output level. The panel at the top is just a power metering rack for both forward and reflected power. The new amplifier is the gold colored panel just below that. The new Kenwood repeater is the black box at the bottom of the picture. This all makes for a very neat installation and consumes considerably less rack space than the previous repeater transmitter and receiver. Other than the problem with stability of the amplifier, this equipment has been working flawlessly."

Chuck Scott - 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