HCARC Happenings
December 2012
News for Amateur Radio Operators In and Around Hillsdale County The
club Christmas party will be held on Friday, December 14 at the
Fayette Street Church of Christ, 131 W Fayette in Hillsdale (map).
The church is located directly behind the Market House.
All area hams and their guests are welcome.
Socializing will begin at 6pm with dinner at 6:30pm.
After dinner we’ll play a few games and draw for door prizes.
Feel free to bring a small, inexpensive item, such as a plate of
Christmas cookies, to be included in the door prizes.
RSVPs are requested but not required and can be made by clicking here,
or by contacting club President Don Gambill KC8WAU at DRGambill@aol.com
or 517-437-4172. Price will be
$4 for members, $6 for non-members and guests, and $3 for children (under
8). Click here
to view a copy of the invitation that was mailed to club members. There
will be a special election for the open 2013 board position to be
held at the Christmas party. Members
who are interested and won’t be at the party should contact
the club President so that you can be nominated. James
French W8ISS recently established a Yahoo user group to encourage Bicycle
Mobile Hams within the state. The list will be moderated to help protect
from spamming. When asking to
join, please include a call sign so membership can be approved quickly.
The URL for the group is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bmh-m/.
Vern
Ruth W8AGV has a Lafayette
model HE10 radio to give away free to a good home.
The frequencies are 10.5 to 30 MHz, 4.8 to 14.5 MHz, 1.6 to14.8 MHz,
550 to 1600 KHz and 0 to 100
KHz. If you are interested give
him a call at 517-523-2369. Congratulations
to three new hams in the county.
Craig Moore KD8TKR, Kevin Moore KD8TKS and Brian Zimmerman KD8TLC
were all granted their technician licenses in November. The
US Postal Service (USPS) is seeking to no longer sell International
Reply Coupons (IRCs). According
to the Federal Register there is not sufficient demand for the USPS to
continue offering IRCs. International
postal regulations require the USPS to continue to redeem IRCs that have
been purchased in foreign countries and presented at USPS facilities.
IRCs are often used by amateur radio operators sending QSL cards to
each other and it has traditionally been considered good practice to include
an IRC when writing to a foreign operator and expecting a reply by mail.
(ARRL
story) The
FCC issued an Order on Reconsideration dismissing an ARRL Petition for
Reconsideration that asked to deny pending Public Safety Pool license
applications associated with the ReconRobotics Video and Audio
Surveillance System. The
system transmits real-time video data that operates in the 70 centimeter
band. The ARRL maintained that
ReconRobotics had not measured emissions in a manner that complies with
Commission rules. The FCC
denied the petition concluding that ReconRobotics used appropriate
methodology, but limited the devices to 100 KHz bandwidth.
(ARRL
story) There
was plenty of ham activity in space last month.
On 11/18 a Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 33 Commander Suni
Williams KD5PLB and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP and Aki Hoshide
KE5DNI landed in Kazakhstan after spending 127 days in space.
(ARRL
story) On 11/26 NASA
Astronaut Ellen Ochoa KB5TZZ was named the next Director of the Lyndon B.
Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
She will take over from Michael L. Coats when he retires at the end
of the year. (ARRL
story). On 11/27 NASA
announced that Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF and NASA Astronaut
Scott Kelly have been selected for a one-year mission aboard the
International Space Station (ISS) in 2015.
(ARRL
story) The
FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes to
amend parts of the Commission’s rules to implement allocation decisions
from the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference.
Most of the NPRM does not concern Amateur Radio, but the FCC will be
requesting comments on the three parts that do (1) changing the allocation
to the amateur portion of the 160 meter band (2) allocating a new Amateur
Service band at 135.7-137.8 kHz and (3) cleaning up the rules for the
10.0-10.5 GHz band. (ARRL
story) Rod Newkirk W9BRD/VA3ZBB, of Ottawa, Ontario became a Silent Key on
11/19. He wrote the QST column
“How’s DX?” from 1947-1978. He
was also credited with coining the term “Elmer”, referring to an
experienced ham that serves as a mentor to new and would-be hams.
(ARRL
story) Producer
Steven Spielberg used Amateur Radio or Morse code in three of his
last four movies: Super 8, The Adventures of Tin Tin and the currently
showing Lincoln. Members of the
Morse Telegraph Club played an integral part in the production of Lincoln.
According to club president James Wades WB8SIW several MTC members
provided telegraph instruments to equip the 16 operating positions portrayed
on the War Department set. (ARRL
story) Last
year the ARRL Board of Directors formed the UHF/Microwave Band Plan
Committee to develop revised national plans for the amateur bands
between 902 MHz and 3.5 GHz. The
committee completed its task and the resulting band plans were approved in
July 2012. The committee has now received an additional assignment to
conduct a similar update to the 6 and 3 centimeter bands.
They need to know how various segments of these bands are now being
utilized around the country. Read
the ARRL
story for more details. The
Hillsdale Salvation Army is still
looking for volunteer bell ringers for the upcoming holiday season.
The Kettle Campaign goal this year is $170,000.
To volunteer, go to myVolunteerpage.com
or call Kathy Stump at 437-4240. The
ARRL and the Salvation Army maintain a Memorandum
of Understanding encouraging ongoing liaison with each other. The
FCC is still accepting comments on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
that seeks to make changes the Amateur Radio licensing rules.
The FCC proposes to (1) require that Volunteer Examiners (VEs) give
examination credit to an applicant who can demonstrate that he or she
formerly held a particular class of license, (2) shorten the grace period
during which an expired amateur license may be renewed, (3) reduce the
number of VEs needed to administer an amateur license examination, (4) amend
the Amateur Service rules to allow amateur stations to transmit additional
emission types in order to permit Time
Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Comments
must be filed by December 24. (ARRL
story Request
for comments) Club Corner Club officer elections for 2013 were held on November 15.
Current officers President Don Gambill KC8WAU, Vice President Milt
Bowers N8BFD, Secretary Brett Smith KC8ZDA and Treasurer Dan Sprow KC8RYF
were all reelected without opposition.
There were no nominees for the Board Member at large position so a
special election will be held to fill it. The next board meeting will be Thursday, January 3 at
7pm at a location to be announced later.
Board meetings are open to all club members. There will not be a board meeting in December. The
next Ham Breakfast will be Saturday, December 8 at 8am at the Reading
Inn, 137 S Main in Reading (map). There
will not be a club meeting in December.
The next club meeting will be Thursday, January 17 at
Hillsdale High School (map) in room 131. Take
Bacon Street to Hornet Drive, then turn left at the top of the hill into the
parking lot that long ago was the tennis courts.
Use the north entrance by the generator. Don't
forget to check in to the Monday night net, held weekly at 7pm on the
147.06 repeater. Upcoming Events December 6 – Board Meeting Canceled December 8 – Ham Breakfast at Reading Inn December 14 – Christmas
Party January 3 – Board Meeting January 12 – Ham Breakfast January 17 – Club Meeting |
Send us your comments and suggestions to K8HRC@arrl.net