Newsletter of the Silverado Amateur Radio Society

W6CO

An ARRL Special Service Club

Updated 10/9/06

Welcome to the Silverado Amateur Radio Society (SARS) online newsletter. We hope to provide you with the latest happenings in the Club and in Amateur Radio in general in a timely manner. Our objective is to provide a "live" newsletter that will be updated throughout the month as events occur. When an item is added it will be flagged with this symbol:

All contributions (news, not monetary) will be gladly accepted. Submit your offerings via email to: John, N6XN's email

Do you have a photograph you'd like to share? An item you want to sell? An announcement of an upcoming event? We'd like to hear about it. Naturally, we prefer Ham Radio oriented material, but other genres might be considered.

Calendar of Coming Events

The next meeting of SARS will be on October 17th, 7:30 PM in the Lee Lounge, at the Veterans Home in Yountville. Bring a friend.

Technician Training November 11th at the Senior Center on Jefferson St.

Testing, all classes, Sunday November 12th, same location.

Informal Breakfast get-togethers:

Nets:


SEPTEMBER MINUTES BY KO6FR

September Minutes by Rich KO6FR

Meeting called to order by Mark KE6O. He asked for treasury report, we have $1520 in our checking account.

Mark gave report on RACES drill from the Queen Of The Valley Hospital. The hospital put antenna on roof and coax cable to conference room, but it has and “N” connector on wall, so whoever is there needs adapter to go to PL 259. Also APRS did not work out, needed outside antenna.

Dave KG6YRY said the Health & Human Services worked good after radio and antenna setup.

Mark also asked for E-Mail address update. So we can send newsletter by E-Mail or you can get it off web site http://napasars.org  So send your e-mail address to Rich at ko6fr@arrl.net.

Don AC6LE stated Pacificon coming next month. St. Helena is having Fire Day open house next month. Dave KG6YRY would like psk31 to show kids. Maybe we can find away to use repeater.

Mark KE6O wants to have ham class on operating procedures after you get your ticket, so you get on the air. Also a CW class was discussed.

Mark is looking for old pre 2003 newsletters to put on the WEB.

Meeting closed for very large raffle, great stuff. All of you no shows missed out.

73

Rich KO6FR

October 13 thru 15

San Ramon Marriott Hotel

San Ramon, CA

Information and directions:

Digital Modes

With the phone and CW bands still in the doldrums there is an increased interest in Digital Operation especially PSK-31.  Not sure why but I suspect it's because narrow signals tend to be easier to copy when propagation is poor.  Anyway, there wasn't much activity on the phone bands the other night but 40 meters PSK-31 was going strong.  The frequency is 7070.15 around 7:45PM....(can't read it? click it.)

Even though this was a single frequency on my dial, there were 4 simultaneous QSOs.  The strong signal at 1400 Hz is net control station KI7PA/NCS.  The change in color, light blue to dark blue is the effect of my AGC on the band noise.  All the white and light blue on the lower part of the "waterfall" is "static" or atmospheric noise.  Probably none of these stations is running more than 50 Watts.

Later, after net there were as many as 7 simultaneous QSOs on frequency.

Getting started: Digital Modes, October Newsletter

Last month as part of a continuing series of articles aimed at helping prospective upgrades deal with technical issues, we discussed Defining dB" This month we'd like to follow up on that and discuss a related topic The S-Unit.  If you are new to Ham radio this may be a completely new subject to you but even if you're an old timer you may find something here you didn't know.  Defining the S-Unit

Next month we'll backtrack a bit and talk about how gain affects antennas, how it can help your signal or harm it.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile

Here's a link that K6IA sent along.  This is good information for new Hams that use or plan to use repeaters. It's even good stuff for the old timers also.

Tips for Operating Repeaters

Thanks, Howard.  By the way, if you readers find a link that doesn't work, particularly while browsing the archives, please drop me an email. Sometimes links go dead when someone changes something.  Thanks all.

 If there is a particular topic you'd like to see discussed, or better yet, a topic you'd like to present, please let the editor know. Contact me at: John, N6XN's email

Links from the past:

Our Webmaster, KE6O has built a neat matrix containing all the past newsletter that are available. Click on "Newsletters" on the left side of your screen.

W6CO linking codes

(note: The codes will be changing soon, if not already. Watch newsletter for updates)