language on amateur radio - tarc...tarc bulletin — march 2012 — page 3 texas hams make world...
TRANSCRIPT
Officers
President: Robert Shoe-maker, KE5WVC, (254) 702-8066, [email protected]
Vice President: Myron Mesecke, N5TFK, (254) 770-0529, [email protected]
Secretary: Darwin Geisel-brecht, K5DOA, (254) 487-3167, [email protected]
Treasurer: Mike Hankins, KI5M, (254) 228-9336, [email protected]
Board Members
John Hobson, WD5BFS, (254) 554-7705, [email protected]
Ron Thompson, W5WRE, (254) 859-3000, [email protected]
Gerald Richmond, N5ZXJ, (2011-13) [email protected]
Mike LeFan, WA5EQQ, (254) 773-3590, [email protected]
Committees
Programs: Board of Dir.
W5LM Trustee: Ron Thompson, W5WRE, (254) 859-3000, [email protected]
Technical Director: —
Education: — K5DOA
Membership: — KI5M
HamEXPO!: Mike LeFan, WA5EQQ, (254) 773-3590, [email protected]
Bulletin Editor & Web-
master: WA5EQQ
In this issue
Language on Amateur Radio — Skywarm Was “Best Ever” — At Our Next Meeting 1
K5RAV Appointed to ARRL Committee — March Program — Mini Key Paddle — Key Clicks 2
South Texas Balloon Project — New Rules for 60 Meters — Scenes from Skywarn 3
Meeting Info 4
W5LM Repeaters:
146.820- MHz (PL 123.0) — 444.700 MHz (PL 123.0)
www.tarc.org March 2012
At Our Next Meeting
March 2012
The next TARC meeting is March 1, 2012. The pro-gram will be a video about ARRL’s Simulated Emer-
gency Test—and the time a drill turned into a real emergency for one SET group. It is an instructive program. Be sure to read Prez Robert, KE5WVC’s article on “Language on the Ham Bands” in this Bulletin. See you at the Church of Christ in Western Hills, Temple (across IH-35 from Starbucks) on March 1, at 7 p.m.
— by Robert Shoemaker, KE5WVC
The courts are deciding if the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) has the
power to enforce the language used over the
broadcasting air waves. This will affect the
amateur as well as radio and television
broadcasters. I do not care what the decision
will be. I believe politics and foul language
should not be on Amateur Radio. I am guilty of
talking politics on the radio, and should have
known better. I will do my best in the future to
not do this. I have only heard foul language a
couple of times and for the most part it was on
20 meters. This was someone from Canada. I
personally sent the FCC an email about this.
With the ever increasing numbers of Amateur
Radio operators, some of them are children.
We, as adults, should set an example. It is
every person’s responsibility to self-police the
air waves of Amateur Radio. I think it’s proper,
and I hope no one gets upset if someone
informs another about any foul language used.
I think it would be proper to let the person
know in a one-time, courteous way. Yes,
everyone makes a mistake once in awhile.
Language on Amateur Radio
Skywarn 2012 Was “Best Ever”
Storm spotting instruction at Skywarn on Feb. 11 will equip these students to
be effective in the field.
TARC Bulletin — March 2012 — page 2
… The Bell County Sky-warn session on Feb. 11 at-tracted the largest audience seen in years. The material was understandable to new-bies and interesting to weather veterans. About 100 attendees were present for the morning session and many returned for the afternoon session. John WD5BFS pre-sented an overview of Ama-teur Radio for the non-hams attending, distributed litera-ture, and described TARC’s licensing class which began Feb. 21. … Class instructors are Darwin K5DOA (General Class) and Mike KI5M (Technician Class). Classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7-9 p.m., at the Church of Christ in Western Hills, Tem-ple. Exams will be given at HamEXPO on April 14. … A Reminder from Robert KE5WVC: Take the time to check all battery oper-ated devices. A fifty cent bat-tery that corrodes can destroy a thousand (plus) dollar piece of equipment. As the old say-ing reminds us, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” ...TARC Bulletin—online (.pdf) is posted on the TARC website and on the Yahoo Discussion Group site. If you need a paper copy, notify Mike WA5EQQ ([email protected]). ...TARC Net—Mondays, 7 p.m. on 146.820 MHz (PL 123.0). ...See you March 1 at 7:00 p.m. at the Church of Christ in Western Hills in Temple, 210 N. General Bruce Dr. (across IH-35 from Starbucks) for the next TARC meeting.
KEY CLICKS
TARC Program for
March Features Video
An ARRL video entitled SET--Amateur Radio
Simulated Emergency Test will be the eve-
ning’s program for the March 1 club meeting.
Every October amateurs throughout the
nation hone their emergency preparedness
skills in the Simulated Emergency Test, or
SET. This video shows how a routine SET
operation unfolded in eastern Massachusetts,
and how it became a real emergency when a
gas leak was discovered.
Produced by Bob Doherty, K1VV and
Don Tanguay, N1DT, who are members of the
Marconi Amateur Radio Club, W1AA. The
video runs 26 minutes and is part of the
American Radio Relay League, Field and
Educational Services video library.
New I1QOD’s “Mini Iambic” CW key < SPARKY's Blog > www.cqdx.ru
This little gem of craftsmanship is
the new Mini Iambic key made by I1QOD. He used Brass for the body,
massive silver for the contacts, and highly polished inox steel for the
screws and registers. Dimensions:
70x58x15 mm; weight 0.700 kgs.
K5RAV Re-elected to ARRL Exec Committee
The 2012 ARRL Annual Board meet-
ing convened on Friday, January 13th
and following the opening ceremonies
and Officer elections, the next agenda
item was the annual election of the Ex-
ecutive Committee. West Gulf Director
David Woolweaver, K5RAV was
elected by an overwhelming majority of
his peers on the Board to serve on this
distinguished committee. He is joined
by Directors from the Central, Mid-
west, Northwestern and Rocky Moun-
tain Divisions.
The Executive Committee was estab-
lished in the ARRL Articles of Associa-
tion. During intervals between meetings
of the Board of Directors, the affairs of
the ARRL are administered by the
Executive Committee (EC). The EC is
composed of the ARRL President,
five directors and without vote, the
First Vice President and the ARRL
CEO. The EC meets at the discretion of
the President but no less often
than semi-annually.
Director Woolweaver also serves on
the ARRL Centennial Planning
Committee and as a Director on the
ARRL Foundation Board. Foundation
President Tom Frenaye, K1KI ap-
pointed Woolweaver to the Grant Pro-
posal Committee for 2012. K5RAV had
served on the Scholarship Committee
for the ARRLF for the previous two
years.
TARC Bulletin — March 2012 — page 3
Texas Hams Make World Record Balloon Attempt
John Hobson, WD5BFS is shown explaining amateur radio for non-amateurs at Skywarn on Feb. 11.
Mark Fox, N5WTT, Warning Coordination Meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, is shown giving a presentation on basic storm spotting at Bell County Skywarn on Feb. 11.
TARC and Amateur Radio at
2012 Skywarn Session
A group of Amateur Radio operators hopes to establish a
world distance record for an unmanned helium-filled balloon.
The BLT-28 balloon will undertake a journey across the At-
lantic and the Mediterranean, and then on to Nanjing, China.
The South Texas Balloon Launch Team released the balloon at
3 PM (CST) on February 11 from Katy, Texas, just outside of
Houston.
During the trans-Atlantic crossing, when out of range of
shore based stations, the balloon's APRS beacon will operate
on the International
Space Station (ISS)
packet digipeater fre-
quency of 145.825
MHz. The balloon
payload package
weighs only about 5
ounces and contains a
high altitude GPS
tracking system and a
144 MHz FM APRS
Amateur Radio trans-
mitter. To conserve
weight and battery life,
no camera equipment
will be on board. The
maximum altitude is expected to be above 19 miles, with hori-
zontal speeds between 100 and 150 miles per hour. Read more
at http://www.arrl.org/news/world-record-balloon-attempt . —via The ARRL Letter, 2/16/2012
Texas amateurs attempt a world record high-altitude balloon flight. [Photo courtesy of the South Texas Balloon Launch
Team]
ARRL Bulletin ARLB002 (Feb. 3, 2012) reports that on Nov.
18, the FCC released a Report and Order (R&O), defining
new rules for the 60 meter (5 MHz) band. These rules are in
response to a Petition for Rulemaking (PRM) filed by the
ARRL more than five years ago and a June 2010 Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). In the February 3 edition of
the Federal Register, the FCC announced that these new rules
(Continued on page 4)
New Rules for 5 MHz (60 M) Go Into Effect March 5
TARC Bulletin — March 2012 — page 4
Temple Amateur Radio Club, Inc.
P.O. Box 616
Temple, TX 76503
First Class Mail
Temple Amateur Radio Club meets the first Thursday of each month from 7:00-9:00 p.m., at the Church of Christ in Western Hills, 210 N. General Bruce Dr., in Temple—across I-35 from Starbucks Coffee. Refreshments are served, and guests are invited and welcome!
will go into effect on March 5, 2012.
Details can be found at,
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/02/03/2012-
2477/amateur-radio-use-of-the-allocation-at-5-mhz
In summarizing the new rules, the FCC explained that they
amend the current rules to facilitate more effective use by the
Amateur Radio Service of five channels in the 5330.5-5406.4
kHz band (the 60 meters): "Specifically, and consistent with
our proposals in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this
proceeding, the Commission replaces one of the channels with
a less encumbered one, increases the maximum authorized
power amateur stations may transmit in this band and author-
izes amateur stations to transmit three additional emission des-
ignators. The Commission also adopts an additional operational
rule that prohibits the use of automatically controlled digital
stations and makes editorial revisions to the relevant portions
of the Table of Frequency Allocations and our service rules.”
The Amateur Radio Service in the United States has a sec-
ondary allocation on 60 meters. Only those amateurs who hold
General, Advanced or Amateur Extra class licenses may oper-
ate on this band. Amateur stations must not cause harmful in-
terference to--and must accept interference from--stations au-
(Continued from page 3) thorized by any administration in the fixed service, as well as
mobile (except aeronautical mobile) stations authorized by the
administrations of other countries.