An ARRL Special Service Club RACES ARES

THE AIRWAVES January 2015 SIERRA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB An ARRL Special Service Club RACES ARES P O Box 1442 Ridgecrest California 93556-1442 BOARD President Harry Stephens K6HLS 446-3095 k6hls@webstephens.com First VP Steve Hendricks KK6JTB OF Second VP Tammy Johnson KG6VYA 793-0348 kg6vya@arrl.net Secretary Bill Burns WA6QYR 375-8566 bburns@mediacombb.net OFFICERS Treasurer Julie Stephens KI6YRA 446-3095 KI6YRA@webstephens.com SARC OWNED AND MAINTAINED REPEATERS Randsburg WA6YBN 145.34 MHz (-), PL 100.0 Hz, Wide Area, Emergency Power Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.00 MHz (+), PL 107.2 Hz, Local, Emergency Power SARC Committees Technical Assistance: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324 Public Relations: Steve, KK6JTB Program: Tammy, KG6VYA, 793-0348 Airwaves Editor: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324 RF Interference: Bill, WA6QYR 375-8566 Emergency: Every Monday Night IWV Emergency Net 730pm WA6YBN Repeater-147.00MHz +600KHz offset, 107.2 tone Visitors Welcomed! 75 Meter AM Rag Chew net 8pm 3935 Kcs THE AIRWAVES CALENDAR 17-18 Jan Fire Mountain 50 Horse Endurance ride Harry K6HLS POC 14 Mar Palm Springs HamFest 17-19 Apr Visalia DX Convention 1 Jan LXCC Award Starts - see details inside 12 Jan SARC SARC Installation Dinner USO Building 6pm Lots of goodies! see details inside 17 Jan FOX HUNT! 27-28 Jun Field Day! Every Even Month, Second Saturday 14 February Amateur Radio License Exam Session Location: Guns 4 Us, basement classroom 417 East Ridgecrest Blvd, Ridgecrest CA No handicapped access Pre-reg by 09 February. Limited to 9 applicants. All must register at 9 AM Contact Elvy Hopkins NØLV 760-384-3589 E-mail <lvrh7589@iwvisp.com>

2015 SARC Dues are DUE! Yep, it's that time once again. Your 2015 SARC dues are due. Your dues support numerous repeaters, some future repeater expansion, insurance, meeting site, licensing classes, the newsletter and a host of other items. If you were a member in 2014, thank you. If you haven't been a member before or for a long time, then please consider joining. At the start of each year we send out the newsletter to all hams in the Ridgecrest, Inyokern, Rand, Death Valley, Olancha and associated areas. Please use the application at the end of the newsletter and join or rejoin! Or better yet, bring it to the SARC Installation Dinner on the 12th of January at the Historic USO Building. Please remember SARC will only be publishing an email, PDF version of the newsletter. SARC Installation Dinner! The annual SARC Installation dinner will be held on Monday, January 12 at 6pm. The dinner will be held at our regular meeting place, Historic USO Building, 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd. Second, SARC will be supplying pulled pork and chicken from Casey's for the meal. Everyone please bring your own non alcoholic drink and a dish to share (sides, salads, and desserts). Your dish to share should be enough for 8-12 people. Hope to see you all there. We will again have a incredible number of door prizes for the dinner. Books, radios, accessories, too many to count. In order to win, you must be a club member in 2014 or 2015 and you must be present to win. Your board for 2015 are: President Harry Stephens, K6HLS 1st Vice Pres Steve Hendricks, KK6JTB 2nd Vice pres Tammy Johnson, KG6VYA Secretary Bill Burns, WA6QYR Treasurer Julie Stephens, KI6YRA Minutes December 2014 SARC Board meeting Mark Slay N0BLM has asked others to attend EOC meeting on first Thursday of month at Ridgecrest Police Department. Slate of officers for 2015 include for President Harry K6HLS, First VP Steve KK6JTB, Second VP Tammy KG6VYA, Treasurer Julie KI6YRA and Secretary Bill WA6QYR. Nominations from the floor will be asked for. HR 4969 is still open so write letters to Congressmen. Horse rides are coming in January and February. Mike WA6ARA is to have a presentation on the wireless mikes topic. Minutes December 2014 SARC meeting President Dave, W6TLA opened the meeting at 7:35. Thanks to Paula, N6VGW and Paula, N6OQQ for bringing the snacks. Our visitors were Bob AD6HF and Charles Jordan, new to the area. Mike, WA6ARA indicated the repeater committee had visited the Rand repeater and learned of its configuration. Mark, N0BLM had sent out course titles for Incident Command and allowed 90 days for RACES folks to complete them. Tom, N6NPG indicated that there would be some Caribbean stations on the air soon. The Ultra Marathon of the past weekend came off well with 9 sites manned. Our next meeting will be the installation dinner at the USO building on 12 January at 6 pm. It will be pot luck. Sandy, KJ6VRV will arrange for the meat. 5 February will be the start of the Tech class in Ridgecrest.

John, KK6LKN reports a Technician class in Cal City in January. The January T-hunt will be 17 January starting at 9am from Crest Donuts. Mike, WA6ARA had a presentation on wireless mikes for the PA system. The membership voted for the 4 channel one for $290. Mike also had a new award to be presented for the LXCC (worked all locals award) for 2015. This is for QSOs inside the IWV on 2 meters FM. Use of the repeater is encouraged. One point per QSO with scores reported in the Airwaves. You need to record the name, call sign, and date and forward the info to WA6ARA. Awards for 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 QSOs will be made. The election of 2015 officers was announced. No nominations were made to the slate of offices, so the slate was approved by the membership. President Harry K6HLS, First VP Steve KK6JTB, Second VP Tammy KG6VYA, Treasurer Julie KI6YRA and Secretary Bill WA6QYR. Mike, WA6ARA gave a nice presentation on Antennas and their adjustment. The better the antenna the better the station according to Mike. Topics covered were: angle of radiation, propagation, height, pattern, horizontal and vertical antennas, and equipment for making measurements were passed around. The 50/50 drawing ($17) was won by Brian, KK6LKK and the $20 door prize was won by Erin, KJ6MQM. The meeting was closed at 9pm. Treasurer's Report Beg Balance $8,454 Income $200 Expense $(1,322) End Balance $7,332 Reserve $(1,000) Available Cash $6,332 Income is for 2015 membership dues. Expenses are for the wireless microphone system, 2015 tech class books, and banquet prizes. Julie Stephens SARC Treasurer KI6YRA Technician Class 2015 We are starting to plan for the Technical class 2015. The start date is February 5th. The classes would be on every Thursday, for 8 weeks, ending with the test on class night. The location will be the Historic USO building. The cost will be $35, which will include the book and all materials, except for the test at the end of the class. So, if you know anyone who is interested in earning their technician class license, please have them contact me to be put on the list. Also, note that the test questions, and the study material, changed as of July 2014. If you have the older book most of the material will be the same, but the presentation, page numbers and some of the questions will be different. Fire Mountain 30/50 Endurance Ride January 17 and 18 will be the Fire Mountain 30/50 Endurance Horse Ride and we are looking for volunteers. Contact Harry, K6HLS at k6hls@webstephens.com or (760) 446-3095. If you've never participated in these Public Service events, no problem. We can assign you to work with an experienced Amateur and next year, you'll be the expert!

Emergency Council Meetings The Emergency Council in Ridgecrest meets every second Thursday of the month at 1130 am at the Kerr McGee Center. The room is in the Northwest section of the center. If you are interested in emergency operations, RACES / ARES, try to make the meeting. It is recommended to park on the west side Sierra Amateur Radio Club 2015 Budget Beginning Cash $7,332.00 Income Membership (2015) $1,200 50/50 $100.00 Class fees / books $600.00 (15 students @ $35 each) Donations $500.00 TOTAL INCOME $2,325.00 Expenses Membership Renewal mailing $250.00 Banquet expense $150.00 (entree & supplies) Class expenses $420.00 (1 class - room & water - no books) Meeting Room $400.00 (10 @ $40 per month Door Prizes $180.00 (9 @ $20) Insurance $200.00 Field Day $100.00 Misc Supplies $100.00 PO Box fee $50.00 JOTA $100.00 (blinky kits) New Ham Guide $275.00 (spiral bound to be given to new hams) Repeater $375.00 (general maintenance) Banquet prizes (2016) $700.00 (increase by $50 from 2015) TOTAL EXPENSES $3,300.00 Net Income/Loss $ (975.00) Ending Cash $6,357.00 We will be reviewing and voting on this during the January installation meeting. January T-Hunt The first Fox hunt of 2015 will be on 17 January. We will be starting at 0900 at Crest Donuts. Get those t-hunting antennas ready the the dust of the attenuators, check out the handhelds and gas up the car. Richard Rutenbeck KF6AOY will be the fox for the hunt.

Announcing the LXCC Award! What is the LXCC award you might ask? We know what the DXCC award is, i.e. talk to 100 countries and get an award (DX = distance, CC = century club ). The LXCC is the same but instead of 100 different countries, talk to 100 different hams. The purpose is to encourage use of the local 2 meter repeaters and simplex as well as getting to know the local ham community. Here is how it works: The award starts January 1, 2015 and ends December 31 2015. All contacts must be made on 2 meters. Simplex and repeaters are ok, in fact encouraged. For every unique ham you work, you get one point, but only once during the year. Joe can't work Bob 100 times one day and claim the award. You need to report the call sign and name of the operator. Honor system, no QSL cards, cross checking etc. 10 points - I found the radio Award 25 points - I remember where the microphone is Award 50 points - I get on more than once a year Award 75 points - Hot Dog, Almost There Award 100 points - Master Amateur Extraordinaire Award Hint: Any contact works, say at net time. If you check in you get one point for talking to the net control op. BUT the net control operator gets points for every unique contact. Send the contact info to me, wa6ara@gmail.com, once a month as a list of call signs and names. I will publish the standings in the newsletter. Awards will be made at the club meeting. The first one at the 100 mark will receive some appropriate award suitable for mounting in the garage. For Sale Vintage Collins S-Line. Collins Radio was the Cadillac for radio amateurs and the workhorse for armed forces communications. The S-Line is comprised of a transmitter (32S-3) with power supply (516F-2), receiver (75S-3), linear amplifier (30L-1), station console (312B-4), manuals and associated cables. The S-Line can be configured to operate as a transceiver. All units have been professionally refurbished and operationally adjusted by Steve Berman of Collins Precision Services. Asking price for the complete package is $2400. (By purchasing locally, you save about $400 in additional packing and shipping costs.) If interested, please contact me by email at wa6ric@arrl.net, or 760-375-7949 after January 4 th. And For Sale Copper wire enamel coated #14 fifty feet coils $1 each. TVRO dishes 10 ft, 6 ft, and 5 ft free 2 motor home motorized Az/el 5ft TVRO dishes $10 each 6 ft and 4 ft 19 inch racks $5 each HP 5381A 80 MHz counter $15 Contact Bill WA6QYR 247 Rebel Road 375-8566 bburns@mediacombb.net www.qsl.net/wa6ybn/

Open Area Repeaters Status Location Call Freq in MHz Tone Notes Distance UP Randsburg WA6YBN 145.340 (-) 100.0 Wide Area, Emergency Power S 18.6 Mi Down Ridgecrest WA6YBN 146.640 (-) Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency Power S 2.5 Mi UP Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.000 (+) 107.2 Allstar #27178, Echolink #518309, Info *510 IWV Emergency Net Mondays @ 7:30 PM W 2.5 Mi Standby Ridgecrest WA6YBN 147.060 (+) 100.0 Club Portable Repeater, used only for events SW 1 Mi UP Randsburg N6BKL 52.680 (-) 82.5 Linked to other 6m repeaters in SoCal. Net S 18.6 Mi Thursdays @ 6:30 PM UP El Paso Pk WI6RE-2 145.050 Packet Node (ELPASO) S 10 Mi UP Calif City KG6COM-10 145.05 RMS Packet - WINLINK 2000 UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 144.390 APRS W1 Digi, iwvaprs.net KI6PSP@gmail.com S 10 Mi UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 147.975 (-) 100.0 Allstar Node usually on WINSYSTEM S 10 Mi UP RF Linked to 447.020. 6m Remote Base on FM E 15.9 Mi Trona K5GFM 146.970 (-) 123.0 call frequency 52.525 MHz - Controls: Rx 61, Tx 62, Off 63 UP Little Lake W6TD 147.210 (+) 103.5 RF Linked to Mazourka Peak NW 24.9 Mi UP Bird Springs KF6FM 146.085 (+) 141.3 Wide coverage of Indian Wells Valley - swrrc.org WSW 27 Mi UP Mazourka Pk W6TD 146.760 (-) RF Linked to Little Lake N 96.5 Mi UP Hauser Pk K6OX 146.730 (-) 100.0 Near Palmdale, Wide coverage of Antelope Valley SSW 80 Mi UP Keller Pk KE6RYZ 146.385 (+) 146.2 kpra.net - Near Big Bear, Wide SoCal Coverage SSE 104 Mi UP Sawmill 145.450(-) 156.7 Lake Isabella area W 60Mi UP Ridgecrest W5HMV 447.020 (-) 123.0 RF Linked to 146.970. Input is about -4 KHz off. SE 2.6 Mi UP Ridgecrest WI6RE 446.500 100.0 IRLP-3741, contact tiplerek@iwvisp.com for codes W 2.8 Mi UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 448.800 (-) 100.0 IRLP-3877 - WinSystem.org S 10 Mi UP Ridgecrest NC9RS 927.0125 (-) 88.5 Input: 902.0125 Linked to others - NC9RS SW 2.0 Mi Email to wa6ybn@gmail.com to report invalid data. Last Update: Nov 11, 2014