The Q-Fiver for April 1999 Volume 41 Number 4 President's message Spring at last! Spring at last! Thank goodness, I feel Spring at last! With the coming of Spring there is the task of cleaning facing most of us. As you clear out old or no longer needed equipment, set it aside to sell at the OH- KY-IN Hamfest in July. Of course, you may have plans to send your goodies to the Day-ton HamVentionR -- that would benefit the club as well. Speaking of HamVentionR -- Dick WB4SUV, Bob WA6EZV and Jim KC8FQY are heading up another Foxhunt Forum. This one promises to be the best one ever with Joe Moell K0OV, Joe Leggio WB2HOL, and Dale Hunt WB6BYU as our guest speakers. This should prove to be most informative. There will be a foxhunt after the forum -- terrific prizes are to be had. If you are not interested in hunt- ing, we could use more manpower to run the hunt effectively. For more information feel free to contact Dick, Bob or Jim. Our feeling here is that this is an opportunity for us as members of OH-KY-IN to represent the club in a positive manner while sharing our expertise. As you know, foxhunting, along with being a fun activity, can be a training exercise to better enable members to track down interference in our ham bands. It seems that for the last six months or so, the FCC has really indicated they will have no tolerance with intentional interference or disregard of rules. Most hams will likely welcome this enforcement. Rick KD4PYR has undertaken a project that perhaps you can help him with. He is in the process of finding out what scholarships might be available to young hams. If you are aware of any, please get in touch with him. We will keep you posted on the outcome of his research. Congratulations to all recipients of awards at OH-KY-IN's recent annual banquet! Please bear in mind that all awards are important, as we realize that it takes all of us to keep the club running smoothly. I would like to comment about the Young Ham of the Year award. Congratulations go to Dale KC8HQS as recipient. I am always pleased to see the efforts of our younger members appreciated. Say, Eric N8YCL, I guess we can say you received the Old Ham of the Year award. Congratulations, you have worked hard for the club and we do appreciate it. Our next membership meeting is April 6. I'll be looking forward to seeing you there. 73, Dick WB4SUV Next meeting The speakers for the OH-KY-IN meeting on TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1999 are to be Andrew Knapp, supervisor in the Hamilton Co Communications Dept., and Mike Nie KB8VMX of the Green Twp fire dept. Their intention is to cover public safety communications, wit h a section on how the proposed levy (up for vote on May 4) would affect matters. 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 OH-KY-IN Young Ham, Ham of Year (photos included in print ed. -- Ye Ed.) OH-KY-IN ARS named its first-ever Young Ham of the Year at its annual awards dinner Saturday, March 20 at Shuller's Wigwam. He is Dallas Vanselow KC8HQS, perhaps better known as Dale. ***** 16-year-old KC8HQS lives in Delhi Township and is a sophomore at Oak Hills High School, where he is also involved with the OHHS Band. He works for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, usually at the Delhi branch. He will attend Diamond Oaks as a junior for the school year 1999-2000 in the area of computers. Dale is also a member of the Delhi Township Historical Society as well as a project volunteer for Juno's accmail mailing list. Both of Dale's grandmothers and grandfathers are licensed amateurs (Bill & Erna Vanselow KD4LKE & KD4VRV and Roger & Joan Haneberg KA8JFL & KA8RVR, all of whom are or have been OH-KY-IN members; the Vanselow grandparents moved to Florida a few years back) as well as both his parents (Bruce N8FWA & Donna N8HXO). Dale's 10 year old sister Kelli also plans to get her ham ticket some day. After operating on the 11 meter band for about six months, Dale attended the OH-KY-IN Classes, received his Technician class license in June 1997. He attended classes again to upgrade to Technician Plus in May 1998. Dale worked at the first annual OH-KY-IN Hamfest selling split the pot tickets and plans to do so again in 1999. He has been net control on the TechTalk Net many times. He also loves to participate in the club's yearly Field Day activities and in Sweepstakes. He is the webmaster of several webpages, including the OH-KY-IN K8SCH Webpage. When not at work or in front of the computer screen, Dale can be found operating regularly on 2 meters and on 10 meters. He has recently experimented with receiving slow scan television. ***** The Ham of the Year award, given annually since the early 1980s, went to Eric Neiheisel N8YCL. Eric is active in Field Day, DXers, Slow Scan and Fox Hunting among others. He currently holds positions of Vice President, Technical Committee Chair and Program Chair. Info from Bruce N8FWA, Dick WB4SUV Photo: "Old Ham" of the Year Eric N8YCL & Karen DX Extras April 1998 The bands are still buzzing with activity from our newest DX country, Palestine. Between E44DX and the HA teams, some 70M QSOs have been logged. This one should not stay on the top 100 list for long. Ayar E44/OZ6ACD is operational from the West Bank until March 26th. QSL via OZ1ACB. Check your E4/HA contact at http://www.okdxc.cz/e44/. The list keeps growing. Watch the DX clusters for current spots. Work Burundi since 1994? Chances are your QSL may not be any good. It seems some officials in Burundi were handing out licenses on the side, if you know what I mean. Anyway, the ARRL has removed credit for operations since 1994. Here are some of the calls that no longer count: 9U/F5FHI, 9U/EA1FH, 9U5CW, 9U5DX, 9U5T and 9U5W. QSLs dated January 1, 1994 and later do not count. Contact NC1L if in doubt. Got a lot of QSLs going out? Try the ARRL QSL bureau. Here is a reprint of some tips compliments of the SWODXA news letter. 1. Make sure the cards are alphabetized by standard prefix. That is, a DS call goes with the HL cards, a T4 card goes with the CM/CO cards etc. 2. If you are sending cards to a US manager via the US bureaus, just sort the cards by US call area. Remember the fourth call area is broken into calls with one-letter prefixes and those with two-letter prefixes. 3. Oversized cards may or may not be accepted, depending on the boxes that are used to ship the cards. 4. Remember to enclose a current QST label. DX Packet Cluster: The K4ZLE cluster, which has been dying a slow death, is being replaced with a new system. By this reading it may already be operational. Look for W8LOW on 145.74MHz. Point your beams in the direction of Millville. DX Operations: This one snuck up on me. Sorry for the late notice, but St. Peter & St. Paul was operational from March 15-22 with the call ZY0SB. QSL via PT2TI. OH0 -- Aland Island -- May 23 to June 3. S09A, Western Sahara -- EA2JG will be active with this call from March 31 to April 14. QSL via the home call. XF4, Revilla Gigedo -- XF4BEF will be QRV from Socorro Island from March 17th to April 2. QSL via XE1BEF This one came from Ken, N8ASV: The ARRL has a nifty bonus for their members. I set up an email alias of n8asv@arrl.net which then forwards my email to my non-ham address of kcroll@one.net. This way you can give your ham buddies your callsign@arrl.net address and everything still comes to one email account. I know lots of hams have callsign@juno.com, etc., but for those of us who use our email for non- ham activities, the callsign alias is a nice benefit of being an ARRL member. Just go the Members Only section at www.arrl.org and add this feature to your profile. P.S. This works great, I set mine up: WA6EZV@ARRL.NET P.P.S. If you are in an ARRL family membership where you are _not_ the member whose name and call appear on the label of your QST, it can be a little more complicated. Details on that next month. --Ye Ed. Gud DX till next month, Bob WA6EZV Contests April 1999 1 WAS Alpha -- Work all the states in alphabetical order on this day, then call 281-4700 and ask for Mr. Lyon to find out the prize. 3-4 SP DX Contest; EA RTTY Contest 5 Low Power Spring Sprint 9-11 JA International DX Contest, CW; His Majesty, the King of Spain, Contest; Elettra Marconi Contest, Italian YLRL; QRP ARCI Spring CW QSO Party 12 VHF/UHF Spring Sprints 16-18 DXYL-NAYL CW Contest; MI QSO Party; Holyland DX Contest 23-25 DXYL-NAYL SSB Contest; FL QSO Party; NB QSO Party (Canada); ON QSO Party (Canada); Helvetia Contest; Weak Signal Activity Weekend; QRP to the Field Lots of small contests to see how our antennas weathered the winter. The King of Spain's contest reminds us that we lost our most famous king in amateur radio, Hussein of Jordan, a sometime contester. 73 JY1! For more information see QST (including a nice article about JY1), CQ, NCJ, etc. 73, Dan KF4AV Radios to KK8STA, KW8BSA Generous hams have given a Santec ST-144 handheld and a Drake TR33C base unit to the St Antoninus school and Scout Troop 614 radio clubs. They're a start, and are appreciated. 73, Bob W8CRO Communicators needed to Scout for Food and Clothing The OH-KY-IN Amateur Radio Society will again provide communications for this year's Scouting for Food and Clothing Drive. Volunteers are needed to provide radio contact with the various loading points around the Greater Cincinnati area with Goodwill Headquarters. The 1999 event will be held on Sunday, April 25 and communicators will be needed from about 12:30 PM through about 5 PM. Stationary mobile or hand held operation will be the course of the day. This is a great event to become familiar with amateur radio public service communications. If you are available and would like additional information, or to sign up, please call Bruce Vanselow N8FWA at 251-1555 or 471-7373. If you'd rather inquire by email, send to n8fwa@juno.com. THANKS !!! 73, Bruce N8FWA VEs, candidates at work again 21 people came to the Norwood Room in the Norwood Quality Inn by 8 AM Saturday, Feb 27th to sit for VEC exam elements. By the time the dust cleared, only 4 of them had to leave without either an upgrade or an element credit. Upgrades included 2 Advanced, 3 General, 2 Tech + and 3 Tech. This round of exams, sponsored by OH-KY-IN, was given in conjunction with the ARRL Great Lakes Convention held here in Cincinnati the end of February. VEs serving were Gene N8KOJ, Otto AA8KK, Bob WA6EZV, Carol K8DHK, Sam KJ8K and Bill KI4QJ. Now for the numbers: Element 1A 1B 1C 2 3A 3B 4A 4B Overall Pass - 2 - 8 5 4 3 - 23 Fail 1 1 - 1 4 1 2 1 10 % 0 66 - 89 55 80 60 0 60%~ 73, Bill KI4QJ VE exam opportunities Sat. April 3 at Hartwell Presbyterian Church, Parkway & Woodbine Avs, sponsored by CRA. Registration 8:30 AM; walk-in only! Info: Herb Blasberg WA8PBW, 513=891-7556. Sat. April 10 at Indian Springs Admin Bldg, Morris & Millikin Rds in suburban Hamilton OH, sponsored by Butler Co VHF Assn. Registration starts at 9 AM, testing at 10. Parking on side opposite police station only; don't block the driveways! Info: Ted Wilson K8TCR, 513=868-7012 or Bill Moore W8KVU, 513=868- 0102 or 868-0210. Talk-in 146.97 Sun. April 19 in Mt. Auburn, sponsored by SOTA & OMIK. All license classes. Info: Thierry Winkfield W8UX, 513=861-2544. Sat-Sun. Apr 24-25 ARRL National Exam Days! GCARA will sponsor exams this weekend. Info: Scott Henninger W8GS, 513=683-7373 IN ALL CASES 2 IDs (at least 1 with photo), originals (bring to exam) & photocopies (enclose with preregistration or bring to exam to file with 610) of license & CSCEs are required. Headphones for the CW elements and photocopying available at OH-KY-IN exams but NOT at most other testing loca- tions (call for info). A Form 610 (required) can be obtained from the FCC by calling 1=800=418-3676. Pre-registration encouraged where available (see specific exam info for where to send, enclose SASE for confirmation). $6.45 is 1999 ARRL/VEC exam fee; if paid in cash, correct change expedites walk-in registrations. Elements 1A & 2 are always free at ARRL/VEC exam sessions.! Tally brrr with snow and rookie hounds The March OH-KY-IN foxhunt turned out to be a cold one. The foxes were Dick WB4SUV and his son Eric. We hid at the Embshoff Woods Nature Preserve in Delhi. Not being sure if a low power signal could be heard at the Mt. Storm Park starting point, w e decided to transmit at 45 watts on 146.565 simplex. We hid the transmitter and a car battery inside a two-foot mound of snow from the plowed parking lot. The coax was covered with about four inches of snow and ran a short way to a large bushy ever green tree and up to a dipole strung inside the tree. The park overlooks the Ohio River and three of the teams wound up on the Kentucky side of the river with the need for 80 to 100 dB of attenuation. All four teams were using Dopplers and quads but the reflections created many bearing errors. The KC8FQY team was the first into the park followed by the W8EH and WA6EZV teams. The high signal level created some problems for most of the teams, as the signal seemed to be coming from everywhere. Camouflaged on the trunk of the tree were tags giving the frequencies of three micro powered transmitters that all four teams had to sniff for but found with little effort. It was great to see three newcomers riding along to see what it was all about. The 23-degree weather, along with the constant breeze, made sniffing a bit uncomfortable. The foxes even got a bit cold staying hidden and waiting for the teams to arrive. The results were: Team Time Mileage Ernie W8EH, Lane KC8ECK 99 min 31.3 miles Bob WA6EZV, *Rick KD4PYR, *Jo KD4PYS 100 min 30.9 miles Jim KC8FQY, Ken N8ASV, Brian KC8FJN, *Ken KB1DNB 105 min 22.2 miles Brian KE4HOR, Eric N8YCL 200 min 54.5 miles * Newcomer The OH-KY-IN foxhunts are held on the second Saturday of each month. Contact Dick WB4SUV wb4suv@arrl.net for more information. Don't miss the Fox Hunt/ARDF forum with Joe Moell K0OV, Joe Leggio WB2HOL, Dale Hunt WB6BYU, and others followed by a Transmitter Hunt with great prizes at the Dayton HamVentionR 5/15/99. Details at http://w3.one.net/~bfrey/daytonfox.html. 73, Dick WB4SUV (Will Foxhunt for Food) OH-KY-IN E-mail reflector update The OH-KY-IN E-mail reflector now has 50 subscribers! You might ask yourself, "What good is the E-mail reflector"? Well, if you have an E-mail account, you can receive notices of OH-KY-IN coming events, agendas and an E-mail version of the Q-Fiver (without meeting minutes -- Ye Ed.) by subscribing to the OH- KY-IN reflector. Signing up is easy, just send the following from your e-mail account: Address: majordomo@qth.net Subject: subscribe In the body of the message: subscribe oh-ky-in-ars You will receive an introductory message, containing list policies and features. Please save this message for future reference; it will also contain exact directions for posting messages to the reflector and unsubscribing. Once you have subscribed to the reflector, to post a message all you need to do is address an e-mail to: oh-ky-in-ars@qth.net. Any e-mail sent to this address is automatically forwarded to everyone who has subscribed to the reflector. Only subscribers may post messages to the reflector and by default you will receive copies of your own submissions. Please do not reply to a message from the reflector, unless you wish every subscriber to the reflector to receive a copy of your reply ! The following are QTH.NET guidelines for message content. 1) The messages posted should be related to OH-KY-IN or at least ham radio. 2) Do not send spam or e-mail messages to mailing lists. 3) Do not send attachments (attached files) of any sort to mailing lists. This includes URL shortcuts, v-cards, GEDCOM files, zipped files, and any other type of attachment. 4) Do not forward virus hoaxes or chain letters to mailing lists. 5) Do not use HTML or RTF (rich text format) in messages sent to mailing lists. 6) Do not flame other members of the mailing list. 7) Do not post commercial messages. If you have an E-mail account, please take advantage of this nifty service. 73, Rick KD4PYR OH-KY-IN-ARS Reflector Administrator KD4PYR@ARRL.NET Dayton HamVentionR spaces confirmed! This is a note to all those interested in knowing that Oh-Ky-In will again have space at the Dayton HamVentionR. The club has been assigned two spaces this year: 4007 & 4008. The Hamvention Committee "usually'"sends a map of exactly where the spaces are located, but this year they neglected to do so. Therefore I have no idea where we are going to be located except that we definitely HAVE a location. Cordially, 73, Bill KI4QJ I have an old program with a map. It looks to me like we are on the same side and in the same aisle as last year but three spaces closer to the center aisle. Last year I think we were at 4011. (Right -- Ye Ed.) 73, Dick WB4SUV Hamfests &c. April 1999 17 Murray KY sponsored by Murray State Univ ARC at Ntl Guard Armory, SR 121 W; from US 641 & SR 121 go W 2 mi to Armory on left. 8 AM-3 PM. VE sessions (amateurs walk-in Novice thru Extra, commercial by appt). Talk-in: 146.94, 147.24. $5 (non-ham spouse & kids free) with paid ham admission). Info: KF4FMZ, patrick.compton@murraystate.edu; http:mursuky.edu/clubs/msuarc/hamfest.htm; or 502=762-6433 25 Athens OH sponsored by Athens Co ARA at Athens Recreation Ctr, 733 E State St: E on E State St exit from US 33, go 1/4 mi to signs indicating parking. Fleas, exhibits, commercial vendors, refreshments. Talk-in: 145.15. $5, non- ham spouse free. Info: W8MHV, dmcdaniell@ohiou.edu; http:www,scorf.ohiou.edu/~xx017/hamfest.html; or 740=592-2106 May 14-16 46th (?) annual Dayton HamVentionR at Hara Arena, Dayton OH. "If you can't find it at Dayton, you probably can't find it anywhere!" More vendors than you'll see anywhere else; 2638 outdoor flea market spaces; forums & exhibits galore! Advance sale tickets $16, $20 at gate. R&L has tickets on hand; cash only please if you buy them there, check accepted with #10 SASE for mail order. What's coming in OH-KY-IN in April 1999 Thu Apr 1 7 PM Code & theory classes at Salem Presb Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot (no foolin'!) Fri Apr 2 8 PM ARPSC meeting at Hamilton Co. Sheriff's Training Center Tue Apr 6 7:30 PM Club Meeting at W HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Speakers: Andrew Knapp, Hamilton Co Communications Ctr & Mike Nie KB8VMX, Green Twp fire dept Wed Apr 7 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol K8DHK, 146.67 Thu Apr 8 7 PM Code & theory classes at Salem Presb Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot Sat Apr 10 10 AM Monthly fox hunt, hounds start from Mt Storm Park; talk-in to start on 146.67 Tue Apr 13 7:30 PM Technical Committee meeting (may need to be rescheduled) 7:30 PM Hamfest Team meeting at Carol K8DHK's Wed Apr 14 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS TBA Thu Apr 15 7 PM Code & theory classes at Salem Presb Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot Tue Apr 20 7:30 PM DXers at Bob WA6EZV's Wed Apr 21 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Dennis KB8ROA, 146.67 Thu Apr 22 7 PM Code & theory classes at Salem Presb Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot Sat Apr 24 Intl Marconi Day - Ntl Exam Days (ARRL) Sun Apr 25 12:30 PM- Scouting for Food & Clothing 5 PM~ Tue Apr 27 7:30 PM Board of Directors' meeting at Carol K8DHK's Wed Apr 28 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Rick KD4PYR, 146.67 Thu Apr 29 7 PM Code & theory classes at Salem Presb Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot Tue May 4 7:30 PM Club Meeting at W HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Topic: To be announced Elections in various communities; if yours is one, please vote before you come to the meeting Wed May 5 8 PM Slow Scan ATV Net, 146.67 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol K8DHK, 146.67 Thu May 6 7 PM FINAL Code & theory classes at Salem Presb Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot,before VE exams at 12N Sat May 8 News of members & students in recent classes On the mend KC8JR Ev Giglio after pneumonia W8JSO Bob Cooke after a stay in hospital N8ZZW Jim Walsh either coming up to, or on the mend from, more eye surgery Everyone who's had What's Going Around (that seems to be almost everyone; even flu shots haven't really helped) Upgrades W3EOA Herb Nichols General to Advanced KA8LJJ Burt Bloom (not a member, but known to Ye Ed. from another life), General to Advanced New calls K9GPS Lee Kissell was KB9OBE W8CRO Bob Schroeder was KC8IVJ Welcome to new and returning members KB8AHT James Fiorito KA8ORJ Frank Snider KB8FDE James Blackbern N8RQT Charles Wasmer KC8JKR Wm. Obermeyer N8RQX John Fisher W8LNL Wm. Goodrich N8SQF P J Fiorito New derivative harmonic A new granddaughter, born the end of February/first of March, for Dick WB4SUV and Janie Copy deadline for May Q-Fiver is Friday, April 16 -eof-