*From the President* “The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is the essence of a democratic society.” --Earl Warren. Well, here it is already November. Another year almost ready to come to a close. I know many of you will be exercising your freedom to vote this evening, but still hope that you will find the time to join us as well. Don’t forget that our club elections take place in December. I would also like to thank everyone who helped in the dismantling of our 146.925 repeater system at the College of Mt. St. Joe a few weeks ago. Those who came out on that early Saturday morning for that monumental task were -- Climbers: Brian DeYoung, K4BRI and Dick Arnett, WB4SUV; Ground crew: John Donnelly, KY4JD; Bob Frey, WA6EZV; Bruce Vanselow, N8BV; Brian Fulmer, KC8FJN (for use of his climbing gear); Dale Vanselow, KC8HQS; Lynn Ernst, WD8JAW; Bob Kreimer, WB8JHT; Dennis Marvin, KB8JVK (for talk-in assistance); Sam Grider, KJ8K; Harry Davis, WA8LOJ; Pete Feichtner, KC8BZM; David Hornsby, KC8YTJ; Mike Hornsby, KC8YOM; and yours truly, KG8AP. Your help was truly appreciated! Fortunately a new home has already been found for it at our .67 north-remote site and it’s back on the air. Please give it a test and let us know what you think. In closing, I want to thank all of you who have made this yet another productive and successful year for our club. I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting. God bless & 73, Phil Smith, KG8AP Next meeting The next meeting of the Oh-Ky-In Amateur Radio Society will take place TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2004 at the Western Hills Church of Christ, 5064 Sidney Ave. Please remember to VOTE at some point during the day! The slate of nominations for 2005 office will be presented and floor nominations, if any, accepted. In addition, there will be a program on Ham Radio in Great Britain produced by BBC Radio 4. To reach the meeting, coming west on Glenway Av from town, pass Ferguson Rd and turn left into Sidney between the BP station and Sebastian’s Greek restaurant, just before the Frisch’s. Then turn right at the stoplight at Covedale into the drive down to the church parking lot. The entrance is at the back of the building. Plenty of parking is available. 73, Brian K4BRI *Minutes of members’ meeting, Tuesday, October 5, 2004* Phil KG8AP called the meeting to order at 7:38 PM with the Pledge of Allegiance and self-introductions. There were about 20 present. Brian K4BRI then introduced Section Manager Joe Phillips K8QOE with the “ARRL Night” program. Joe first outlined the progress made at the Voice of America park; radio technology museum, new home of the Gray Wireless Museum and WC8VOA club station with a 200 ft tower (to meet flight requirements). Veterans’ organizations are doing most of the work and organizing funding. This will be a good site for a club field trip, call ahead to the West Chester parks dept. He then summarized the section conference and re-presented the 2d place newsletter award to the Q-Fiver. ARES is the largest program in the ARRL, followed by OOs of which Local Interference Committees are a function. BPL has been defeated in areas where interference is serious; however, the 3 hams in the BPL area of Cincinnati say they love it. Joe recommended showing a picture of proposed tower when involved in zoning etc. disputes. Program ended at 8:45 PM. Phil thanked Emily K4MLE for handling hospitality. Business meeting convened at 9 PM. Bob WA6EZV moved at accept the minutes as printed in the Q-Fiver, Ev KC8JR second, motion carried. Ken N8ASV had nothing to report for membership. Treasurer Rick KD4PYR has paid the liability insurance and the licence fee for the club trailer. We are now down to one repeater telephone. Silent Key: Bruce N8BV has one $2 plastic CW key left. Tech Talk: Dennis KB8ROA will be in Michigan for his turn this month, along with Eric N8YC. David Hornsby KC8YTJ volunteered to do Tech Talk for Dennis. Brian K4BRI reported for the Technical Committee that there was a good turnout for the .925 work party. Some of the gear is already back on the air. .925 itself will go back up Sunday, work scheduled to start at 10 AM at the north remote. There will be no Tuesday meeting in favour of the Sunday work party. 9913 and cables have been hauled away. Nominating committee (Carol WA8YL, Ev KC8JR, Bob WB8JHT) will meet at Carol’s on Oct 12. If you wish to nominate someone, please ask them first. Hamfest meeting at Carol’s Oct 12 at 7:30 PM. Needed are an event chair and a major vendor chair. Ev KC8JR reported class has been in session for 2 weeks. 8 Techs, 4 Generals, Extra didn’t come. Education committee needs to be discussed and made more viable. Exams Dec. 4. Gear manager Harry WA8LOJ was at the .925 taking apart, entered gear, still needs some fancy labels to identify. Dick WB4SUV reported for the fox hunts that there was no local last month as they were in Brno, Czech Rep. where they did better than last time. This month must move to 3d Saturday due to multiple conflicts. Nov. sweepstakes: sign up next time. CW is 6-7, SSB 20-21. Brian K4 BRI will probably do CW solo. Dale KC8HQS had nothing to report for the web page. New business: Bob WA6EZV announced that Dennis KB8JVK needs 12 to sign up for the Thanksgiving Parade, list to be available next month. Joe K8QOE said clubs that go to VOA for a tour get to hold a meeting in the old control room. Carol WA8YL reminded those present of the Georgetown hamfest the first weekend in Nov. Attendence: Pat N8EEV would have won $10 had she been present. As she was not, the sum is $15 next month. Tony AB8LV won the split the pot, amount not mentioned. Bob WB8JHT moved to adjourn at 9:18 PM, Harry WA8LOJ second, motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Susie Scott N8CGM, Recording Secretary * * *Contests November 2004* Nov 6-8 ARRL November Sweepstakes, CW; North American Collegiate ARC Championship, CW; High Speed Club CW Contest; IPA Contest, Phone & CW; Ukrainian DX Contest --CW, SSB, & RTTY; DARC 10-Meter Digital "Corona" , RTTY , AMTOR, PACTOR , PSK31 & Clover; Radio Club of America QSO Party , SSB & AM Nov 13-14 Japan International DX Contest , SSB; 50th Anniversary European DX Contest (WAEDC), RTTY; OK & OM DX Contest, CW Nov 20-22 ARRL November Sweepstakes , Phone; North American Collegiate ARC Champion ship, Phone; LZ DX Contest, CW & SSB; RSGB 1.8MHz Contest, CW Nov 27-28 /CQ/ WW DX Contest, CW Some of the premier 'tests this month. Sweeps, of course, and /CQ/ WW CW. For more information see /QST/, /CQ/, or /http://www.arrl.org/contests// 73, Dan, KF4AV *VE exam opportunities November 2004* Sat Nov 6 at Hartwell Presbyterian Church, Parkway & Woodbine Avs, sponsored by CRA. Registration 8:30 AM; walk-ins only! Info: Herb Blasberg WA8PBW, 513=891-7556 Sat Nov 13 at Butler Co VHF Communications Ctr in D Russel Lee Vocational School, 3603 Hamilton-Middletown Rd (Rt 4), suburban Hamilton, sponsored by Butler Co VHF Assn. To reach school, take I-75 to SR 129, follow 129 to Bypass 4 to Rt 4 .2 mi on right, 1st drive. 4-way stop & a yield, beyond which is newish building with lots of glass, your goal. Info: Ted Wilson K8TCR, 513=868-7012. Talk-in 146.97 Mon Nov 15 at Turkeyfoot Middle School, 3230 Turkeyfoot Rd, Edgewood KY, sponsored by NKARC. 6-8 PM. Pre-registration encouraged, but walk-ins accepted. No photocopying on site; please bring everything you need! Info: 859=472-6690 or 859=356-5460 Pre-registration encouraged where available (ask info source where to send, enclose SASE for confirmation & NCVEC 605) $12 is present ARRL/VEC exam fee, exact currency appreciated. 2004 OH-KY-IN Membership Survey Amateur Radio can be a very enjoyable hobby throughout most of our adult lives. Each year there are more things to learn and to do. The OH-KY-IN Board would like your input on ways to increase your enjoyment of the club and its activities. Please take a few minutes to answer the questions below and either bring this form to the November or December club meeting or mail it to Ken Croll, N8ASV, 9998 Dick Rd., Harrison, OH 45030. Your thoughts are important. The deadline is 12/07/04 (the December club meeting). 1) How long have you been a continuous member of OH-KY-IN? a) 2 years or fewer b) 3 to 5 years c) over 5 years. 2) How many OH-KY-IN club meetings do you attend per year? a) 4 or less b) 5 to 9 c) 10 or more 3) What is the PRIMARY reason you joined OH-KY-IN? 4) What other reason(s) cause you to continue your membership in OH-KY-IN? 5) Are you actively involved in any OH-KY-IN activity? 6) Would you like to be involved? In what activity? 7) What do you expect to get from your OH-KY-IN membership? 8) What would you like to see OH-KY-IN do as a club that it is not doing now? 9) Would you be interested in discussing your thoughts about OH-KY-IN in greater detail with someone on the OH-KY-IN Board of Directors? If so please include your name and how we may contact you (phone or email). Include your current phone number and/or email address to make sure you can be contacted if you so desire. WEAVER'S WORDS -- REVIEW OF REGULATION BY BANDWIDTH PROPOSAL (Weaver’s column as printed replaced in electronic edition by this one.) I typically avoid sending so many E-mail messages to you in a month, let alone in less than a week. On this occasion, I wanted to ensure the greatest number as possible of ARRL members in the Great Lakes Division see the following discussion of changes proposed in our Regulation by Bandwidth proposal. The changes are from the review the Executive Committee made of comments members made after the synopsis of the draft proposal was published several weeks ago. As I've indicated, the next step is to provide a detailed review of the modified proposal to all Directors. The proposal will be hammered out in near-finished or finished form at the January Board meeting. The changes proposed by the EC are summarized as follow: ==>DRAFT BANDWIDTH PETITION, BPL FOCUS OF ARRL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Meeting October 16 in Dallas, Texas, the ARRL Executive Committee (EC) devoted much of its fall session to a discussion of comments received on ARRL's draft FCC petition seeking regulation of subbands by bandwidth rather than by emission mode. The EC also authorized the filing of a Petition for Reconsideration in response to the BPL Report and Order (R&O) in ET Docket 04-37, which the FCC adopted October 14. Drafting and filing the petition must await release of the actual R&O, which should happen in a few weeks. Responding to a synopsis of the bandwidth petition and proposed rule changes posted on the ARRL Web site, several hundred League members and others in the ham radio community offered comments and suggestions. "The Executive Committee found considerable support for the concept of the petition," said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, "along with constructive suggestions to reduce both the impact of the changes on current amateur operations, as well as possible unintended consequences." Sumner's "It Seems to Us . . ." editorial, "Regulation by Bandwidth," in September QST addressed the bandwidth petition. Earlier this year, the EC decided to make a synopsis and explanation of the petition available to ARRL members before filing it with the FCC. At this month's meeting, the EC agreed to submit several recommended amendments to the proposed rules changes to the ARRL Board of Directo r for its consideration in January. These include: * Retention of rules permitting automatically controlled digital stations (packet and other digital modes) in narrow HF subbands. The draft petition had proposed dropping these provisions. * A rule prohibiting so-called semi-automatic digital operation (automatic control in response to a communication initiated by a live operator) on frequencies below 28 MHz where phone is permitted. This addressed a concern that "robot" digital stations might take over the phone bands. * A segment for 3 kHz bandwidth (no phone) emissions at 10.135-10.150 MHz to accommodate existing and planned digital operations. * Deletion of the word "continuous" from the description of test transmissions authorized on most frequencies above 51 MHz. * Simplification of proposed changes to §97.309 to clarify that FCC-licensed amateur stations may use any published digital code as long as other rules are observed. "These recommendations are not intended to be the final word on the draft petition, but are intended to address the major issues raised to date," Sumner emphasized. The draft bandwidth proposals take into account the ARRL's prior "Novice refarming" petition to expand some HF phone bands, included in the "omnibus" FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making in WT Docket 04-140. The EC also authorized ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, to "prepare to pursue other available remedies as to procedural and substantive defects" in the BPL proceeding. (From the ARRL LETTER, vol. 23, no. 42.) ---------- As usual, feel free to contact me on this or any other subject related to Amateur Radio and ARRL. 73, Jim Weaver, K8JE Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL; http://www.arrl.org/ 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040 Tel.: 513-459-0142; E-mail: k8je@arrl.org ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio Is! MEMBERS: The reason ARRL Is! -------------------------------------------------------------------- The bar has just been raised for the OH-KY-IN robot group. *Fly-eating robot* Building on the success of previous work where they demonstrated a robot capable of moving using refined sugar as food, researchers in the Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS) lab at the University of the West of England have built a robot which powers itself on a diet of dead flies or apples. The robot, known as Ecobot II, can move and transmit sensor data over a radio link (over 30 m) powered solely by this unrefined food source. Ecobot II employs a Microbial Fuel Cell as its only power source. In the fuel cell microbes are used to extract electricity directly from food -- in this case flies or apple. According to University Professor Chris Melhuish "The fact that the flies were already dead and the apples were rotten means that these robots could be developed to clean food waste from the environment. Other applications might include attraction of specific types of insects with pheromones and thus remote robots could be designed to monitor insect densities and give early warning of infestation. Furthermore, since they don't use fossil fuels and do useful tasks, we view them as eco-friendly." For more information, visit: http://link.abpi.net/ Submitted by Dick Arnett WB4SUV to the Oh-Ky-In reflector *Hamfest &c. November 2004* * * 6 Georgetown OH, 8 AM-3 PM at ABCEOI Bldg, 200 S Green St. From Cincinnati take SR 125 to Georgetown, ABCEOI is on left as you enter town, across from Fairgrounds. Sponsored by Grant ARC. Fleas, vendors, VE sessions, refreshments. Talk-in: 146.73 (162.2 Hz). $2 gate. Info: Rodney Crawford WD8CTX, 937=446-2338, [wd8ctx@juno.com], /www.geocities.com/garcohio/ / / *What’s coming in November* 27 Wed 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Brian K4BRI 28 Thu 7 PM Code & theory class at Salem Presbyterian Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot 2 Tue ELECTION DAY 7:30 PM Club meeting at WESTERN HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Program: Nominations, Ham Radio in Britain by BBC Radio 4 3 Wed 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol WA8YL 4 Thu 7 PM Code & theory class at Salem Presbyterian Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot 5 Fri 8 PM Hamilton Co Amateur Radio Public Svc Corps at Hamilton Co Communica- tions Ofc Conference Rm, 2377 Civic Ctr Dr; park in Bd of Education lot N side of Civic Ctr Dr 9 Tue 7 PM Technical committee meeting, if needed 10 Wed 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Dale KC8HQS 11 Thu 7 PM Code & theory class at Salem Presbyterian Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot 13 Sat 10 AM Monthly fox hunt, hounds start from Mt Storm, Park; talk-in to start 146.67 15 Mon 7:30 PM Robotics Group at Brian K4BRI’s 17 Wed 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Dennis KB8ROA 18 Thu 7 PM Code & theory class at Salem Presbyterian Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in Westwood-Cheviot 19 Fri 8 PM Queen City Emergency Net at Red Cross HQ, 820 Sycamore St 23 Tue 7:30 PM Board of Directors’ meeting at Carol WA8YL’s 24 Wed 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Brian K4BRI 25 Thu 8 AM THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE, talk to Dennis KB8JVK for details No Code & theory class 1 Wed 9 PM Tech Talk, NCS Carol WA8YL 2 Thu 7 PM Last code & theory class at Salem Presbyterian Church 3 Fri 8 PM Hamilton Co Amateur Radio Public Svc Corps at Hamilton Co Communica- tions Ofc Conference Rm, 2377 Civic Ctr Dr; park in Bd of Education lot N side of Civic Ctr Dr 4 Sat 12 N VE exams at Salem Presbyterian Church, corner Mozart & Higbee in West- wood-Cheviot 7 Tue 7:30 PM Club meeting at WESTERN HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST, 5064 Sidney Rd Program: Election, pizza