Volume 40 Number 12 President's message Greetings! This has been an incredibly busy month for all of us. As always, there seems to be more to do than time to do it all in. Personally, I enjoy seeing our members active and involved in a multitude of activities. Not all activities are of our own choosing, of course. Just recently the remote receive antennas at the .67 repeater site went down due to high winds -- our technical committee responded the same day. Thanks, guys, for the quick response. Another round of classes for new hams or those wishing to upgrade will be completed by the time you read this. As always, things went smoothly and you can look forward to making some new acquaintances in the weeks ahead. I appreciate the way these folks are made to feel welcome. With new members, we can count on fresh ideas and new enthusiasm from not only these folks, but from the current membership as well. I am happy to say that membership is up this year over last -- I look forward to continued growth and increased participation. Our next meeting is an important one, with our annual election taking place followed by a pizza party. By that time I anticipate that the flurry of activities at my house will have settled down. My youngest daughter's wedding will have taken place an d hopefully a calm will have settled over us. One can wish, right? Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing you at our next membership meeting. 73, Dick WB4SUV Next meeting The program for the OH-KY-IN meeting on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1998 is our election of 1999 officers and directors, followed by the holiday pizza party. The meeting will be held as usual at 7:30 PM at the Western Hills Church of Christ, 5064 Sidney Road, one block from Glenway Avenue. From town, pass Ferguson Road and turn left on to Sidney between the BP station and Sebastian's restaurant, just before the Frisch's, then turn right at the light into the church drive which leads down to the parking lot. The entrance is at the back of the church building; plenty of parking is available. 73, Eric N8YCL Nominating Committee Report -- November 3, 1998 The Committee nominees for 1999 officers & directors have all agreed to serve, if elected. Nominations are: President: Dick Arnett WB4SUV (incumbent) Vice President: Eric Neiheisel N8YCL (incumbent) Recording Secretary: Susie Scott N8CGM (incumbent) Corresponding Secretary: Carol Hugentober K8DHK (incumbent) Treasurer: Bill Simpson KI4QJ (incumbent) Directors: Harry Davis WA8LOJ (incumbent) Lynn Ernst WD8JAW Rick Haltermon KD4PYR Judd Sexton N8RVR (incumbent) Bruce Vanselow N8FWA (incumbent) There were no nominations from the floor at the November members' meeting, so these are your candidates. Election will take place at the December 1 meeting. Nominating Committee: Carol K8DHK Chair, Otto AA8KK & Gene N8KOJ (made report) REMINDER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The end of time to make QSOs for the second annual N8FU CW proficiency award competition is December 31. Don't miss out! See info and rules in last month's Q-Fiver. The deadline for log submittal is January 31. 73, Eric N8YCL Beasley K6BJH cartoon from WorldRadio March 1998 via Sterling-Rock Falls Electron March 1998 Hand bearing magmount antenna reaches up from sewer grate to 2 guys standing at bus stop, one of whom reads: This note says: "Please place magmount atop parked auto so I can radio for help!" DX Extras December 1998 Hope everybody had a chance to work Pratis, BV9, the 3d-most-wanted country. There were days when band conditions were exceptionally good for this. Incoming QSL cards for the K8SCH NA-111 DXpedition continue to be dealt with. The OH-KY-IN DXers had a stack of 600+ to work through at their November meeting. Lots more DX news next month/year, and best wishes for the holidays to one and all. 73, Bob WA6EZV Contests December 1998 4-6 ARRL 160 m Contest QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint TOPS 3.5 MHz CW Contest 12-13 ARRL 10 m Contest Great Colorado Snowshoe Run 19-20 Croatian CW Contest 26-27 Stew Perry Memorial Topband Distance Challenge RAC (Canadian) Winter Contest 31 Last day to make qualifying contacts for 1998 N8FU CW achievement award! Logs due to Eric N8YCL by Jan. 31; rules in last month's Q-Fiver December is a quiet month for contests. Spend a little time with your family! Of course the 10 m Contest is great fun, and mostly daytime. For more info see QST, CQ, etc. 73, Dan KF4AV Queen City Buckeye Belles will meet at 2 PM Sunday, December 13 at Carol K8DHK's. Members are asked to bring a dessert. Gift exchange (maximum expense $5) for those who wish to participate. Dues am due ... ! 1999 dues are coming due as of January 1. They may be paid at the December members' meeting. Application form(s) enclosed in mailed copies of this issue for your convenience; if you need more please feel free to photocopy. End of the year Technical Committee report Hello! The end of 1998 has quickly approached and I'm sure you all are looking forward to the Holidays. This year has gone quick and your Technical Committee has been busy. Here is the end of the year review of the current K8SCH repeater status: 146.67 Repeater: CAT-300 Controller firmware upgrade complete CAT DVR-1000 Digital Voice Recorder installation complete which gives us much more flexibility and real voice IDs and info messaging. CAT CI-300 Computer Interface installation complete which gives us the capability of plugging in a laptop and reprogramming the CAT-300 Controller a necessary saving control ops much MUCH time. CAT MF-1000 Multi Function Card installation complete which gives control ops more remote control of the repeater which also saves trips down to the site. Hamtronics TD-2 DTMF Decoder/Controller assembly complete. Will be installed to give control ops back door control if CAT-300 disabled through control receiver system. North Remote is still a star performer. The South Remote is another story ... like a big thorn! We have had some significant problems with this link, most residing with the remote site equipment itself. We have decided to replace the whole GE Master Exec with our spare equipment but we have to build it first, and hopefully soon. We understand your frustration in getting through from the south, but please understand ours as well. 146.925 Repeater: CTCSS encoder installed to keep other .925 repeater users from keying up ours during band openings. Installation has created some new control problems which are being investigated. Major desense (transmit getting into receive -- knocks out weak stations) problem was thought to have been found and repaired earlier this year with some work to the duplexers (cavities). Problem reoccurred about a month later. Cavities scheduled to go to repair for retune. Kendecom 100W repeater RF amplifier is currently offline to reduce the desense. We now have reduced coverage and we hope to resolve this soon. 146.625 Repeater: We finally were able to fit a revamp of the .625 machine into our schedules. We tried to fix the Spectrum repeater but with severe loss of hair, we finally sent it back to the manufacturer and is currently being refurbished. When returned, we hope to have .625 back in full reliable operation. We have accomplished much and we are finally to the point to where we can get outages restored in less time, given ourselves much more control (also reducing trouble time), and thereby increasing our system reliability. As always, though, we have a very few amount of hands (and that four letter word TIME). Most of us have full time demanding jobs and put in extra hours to keep the HOBBY we know as amateur radio in check to where all can enjoy. As Technical Committee Chairman, although in a hobby, is a responsibility to coordinate and manage the repeater system. And with that, although a responsibility, WE in this committee can only do so much with our time. We enjoy what we do but many times it resembles moon lighting in second jobs. You've all heard me say before that we extremely welcome anyone who would like to get involved. We need you! These are YOUR repeaters, so get involved. If you're interested, you'll learn quickly what you don't already know about controllers, radios, decoders, and so on. Amateur radio is about getting involved, so help us out and get involved! Thanks and Enjoy the Holidays! 73, Eric N8YCL, Technical Committee Chair Tally Ho! The sun came up on Saturday morning with the promise of a beautiful day, and it was just that on the 14th for the November fox hunt. Dick WB4SUV and Janie were the fox. Dick was hidden in the underbrush of a wooded area of a small park located at the top of Fairmont Avenue in Cincinnati. Janie had taken the truck to another location to help confuse the issue. Two transmitters were hidden, one at each end of the park. As always, there were observers. This month's observers were the park's neighbors. These folks were concerned that the fox was seeking out a site for a communications tower. Imagine their relief when they heard it was a fox hunt. A fox what? No, no, not the four-legged kind. Anyway, at 10 AM sharp the hunt began with four teams hunting. The results were as follows: * Ernie W8EH finished with a second on one transmitter and a first on the other. Total mileage: 7.0 miles. * Brian KE4HOR and Eric N8YCL finished approximately five minutes later with a first on one transmitter and a second on the other. Total mileage: 7.8 miles. * Bruce N8FWA and Bill N9MBM finished a short time later with a third place finish on both transmitters. Total mileage: 7.85 miles. * Bob WA6EZV dropped out of the hunt to search for source of QRM on the .67 repeater. Ernie W8EH will be the fox for the December 12th hunt. We will begin at our regular 10 AM starting time from Mt. Storm Park. We are always looking for new participants -- please feel free to contact any one of us for information. We would very much enjoy having you along. 73, Dick WB4SUV From the new Section Manager, edited from column in Winter 1998 Ohio Section Journal As a new Section Manager, I am going to start this column with discussing new but minor changes in the new Ohio Section structure. If you observe any listing of cabinet members, (In Section News -- Ohio in QST or the latest issue of the Ohio Section Journal) you see two basic changes. One is that the Ohio Section Cabinet has new members as Official Observer Coordinator and Technical Coordinator. Carl Morgan K8CM of Middletown will direct the OO program in Ohio now. Another Middletown ham, Mike Brown W8DJY, will run our technical program. (We also lost our outstanding State Government Liaison, Paul Krugh N2NS, of Reynoldsburg, who became a silent key in September.) In all 3 cases, appointments who report to the Official Observer Coordinator, the Technical Coordinator or the State Government Liaison should continue their work. The appropriate cabinet member will get in t ouch with you. Please make sure your address is accurate and current. The other change is that Ohio has been divided into 5 Assistant Section Manager's districts by geographic locations in Ohio. John Haungs W8STX of Cincinnati and Ron Griffin N8AEH of Findlay, long time Ohio Section leaders, will fill 2 of the 5 geographic posts. Ron will continue to edit the Ohio Section Journal and John will continue his counsel and advice to the SM. Bob Winston W2THU of Cleveland (a former president of Lake Erie ARA), Mary Carpenter N8OAM of Columbus (an Assistant EC of Central Ohio ARES) and Bill Creighton K8TUT of Athens, (an Ohio Area Repeater Council repeater coordinator) will serve in the other 3 positions. If you have a repeater trustee, have him or her show you the Ohio areas map of the Ohio Area Repeater Council. It is the same map as the Ohio Section uses for its geographic designations. Particularly for traffic handlers and for area emergency coordinators, these new geographic designations for the assistant section managers do NOT affect your organization structure one bit. The Section Traffic Manager, Jack Wagoner WB8FSV of Hilliard, and the Section Emergency Coordinator, Larry Solak WD8MPV of Mantua, will continue their fine work. Joanne Solak KJ3O/8 of Mantua will continue her fine work as Affiliated Clubs Coordinator and Bev Priest N8VZV of Dayton will continue her fine work as Public Information Coordinator. But understand, Ohio is a large and diverse state. The SM cannot be everywhere at once representing the section. The ASMs will do that in their particular areas and help generate news from all sections of Ohio for the OSJ, QST and other ham radio news sources. Yes, I know we have eliminated the Bulletin Manager's position. If Official Bulletin Stations and Official Relay Stations (which continue to operate in Ohio) need direction, please contact me. Actually. Ohio is changing very little. 73, Joseph Phillips K8QOE, Ohio Section Manager What's coming in OH-KY-IN in December 1998 Wed Nov 25 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Rick KD4PYR, 146.67 Tue Dec 1 7:30 PM Club meeting at W HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Topic: Elections for 1998 officers and directors, pizza Wed Dec 2 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol K8DHK, 146.67 Tue Dec 8 7:30 PM Technical Committee meeting, location TBA Wed Dec 9 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Eric N8YCL, 146.67 Sat Dec 12 10 AM Monthly fox hunt, hounds start from Mt Storm Park; talk- in to start on 146.67 Sun Dec 13 2 PM Queen City Buckeye Belles at Carol K8DHK's Tue Dec 15 7:30 PM DXers at Bob WA6EZV's Wed Dec 16 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Dennis KB8ROA, 146.67 Fri Dec 18 Copy deadline for January 1999 (!) Q-Fiver Wed Dec 23 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Mike KB4VKS, 146.67 Wed Dec 30 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Gene NU8U, 146.67 Thu Dec 31 Last day to make qualifying QSOs for 1998 N8FU CW Achievement Award! 1999 Tue Jan 5 7:30 PM Club Meeting at W HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Topic: FISTS CW group, presented by OTTO BIELEFELD AA8KK Wed Jan 6 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol K8DHK, 146.67 News of members & students in recent classes Our sincere condolences to K9GKN Robert F. Waiss's wife Nancy N9BLG, family and friends. Bob, a former OH-KY-IN member, died in mid-November W8MFT Carl A. Barth's family and friends. Carl, an OH-KY-IN member years ago, also died in mid-November On the mend: Eric Neiheisel N8YCL's mother after a Skyline-plus (5-way!) bypass, doing well Al Gambill KD4PYQ after back surgery, also doing well New licensee, on the move already KC8LER John G. Pelcha Technician attended our classes and took the exam early before moving out of town The following "poem" was provided courtesy of the Alexandria VA Radio Club column in AUTO-CALL, the Official Journal of the Foundation for Amateur Radio, copied off KI4QJ packet BBS a _very_ long time ago. 'Tis the season; besides, the Novice license class might not survive too much longer. Rudolph the Red Nosed Novice Rudolph the Red Nosed Novice Had a very sloppy fist, And if you ever heard it, It's one you'd surely never miss. All of the other amateurs Used to laugh and call him "Lid", They never let poor Rudolph Tune or even dip the grid. Then one foggy contest eve The band captain came to say, Rudolph with your voice so clear, Won't you work 10 meters this year? Then how the contesters loved him As they shouted out with glee: Rudolph, your QSO points Will go down in history. (with apologies to all good Reindeer) And to all a Good Night with all of our best wishes for a happy holiday season! --the Q-Fiver Staff -eof-