The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter Founded 1914 “The oldest continuously operating Amateur Radio Club in the United States” March, 2007 Newsletter [][]Upcoming Meetings: []April 13, 2007: Jack Parker, W8ISH, tour of WISH-TV8 This meeting will start at 6:00 p.m. at WISH-TV, 1950 N. Meridian St. There is parking behind (west of) the building, enter through the back (newsroom) door. Following the tour of WISH, there will be a meeting at the ITC starting at approximately 7:30 p.m. with a special presentation. []May 11, 2007: D-Star digital radio presentation []June 8, 2007: Annual equipment auction [][]Highlights of the March 9, 2007 meeting: []Indianapolis Radio Club President Tom Chance, K9XV, started the evening off with introductions around the room. There were 58 in attendance at this meeting. Tom thanked Jim Rinehart, K9RU, for last month’s memorabilia show. Tom announced that the Element 3 (General Class) “express” upgrade class would commence on March 30, he also announced that tickets were on sale for the Blind Draw Donation Drawing to be held during the Broad Ripple Hamfest. Additional information on these items is later in the newsletter. Chuck Crist, W9IH, announced that plans for the USS Indianapolis Museum Ships event were well under way. Chuck and Ron Cooper, WB9DKL, talked about the Hilltop contest coming up. There is additional information on these events under “Upcoming Radio Events” later in the newsletter. Dave Miller, K9RTT, talked about next month’s meeting, as note above. [] Program-Next, Mark Musick, WB9CIF, was introduced to give a presentation on collecting various operating awards. Mark stated that the awards are a symbol of achievement. There are many types of awards, like those presented by ARRL, such as DXCC, WAS, Worked All Continents, and Worked All Call Districts. Mark also talked of the different QSLing methods, such as direct, or through managers, or through a bureau. Mark passed out a hand out on the KB1V Awards Hunting web site at http://dxawards.com/. Mark mentioned the VUCC award, which is for VHF/UHF. This award is attained by collecting grid squares: for the 6 meter and 2 meter award, 100 grid squares are required, for 440 MHz, 50 are required, and the 1.2 GHz range, 25 are required. It was noted that eQSLs are not accepted for ARRL awards, however, there are some eQSL awards. Mark talked about Mobile Reply Cards, that are used primarily by County Hunters, where the station desiring to confirm a mobile contact fills out a card and then sends it to the contacted station, who fills in the contact info, and returns it. Mark said that the different state QSO parties are good for county hunters, saying that California and Texas are the “biggies”. He also said that some states have some unique prizes for working all of their counties. California sends wine, Washington sends salmon, and Minnesota sends black rice (who knew?). Mark then talked a bit about the “Worked all Indiana Award”. The basic award is for 60 counties. There are plaques available for this award, available for any band. Mark also said that anyone who turns in a report for the INQP will get at least a certificate. []Next door prizes were drawn by Tom Chance and Dave Jarvis, N9KZJ, who had picked up the door prizes from Bob Osterhous, W9PSE, who we all hope to see back at next month’s meeting. [][]Ham Radio News: []Advisory to Amateur Radio license/upgrade applicants: Use your FRN! ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) urges all Amateur Radio license and upgrade applicants to use their FCC Registration Number (FRN) , if they have one, when completing Form 605, not their Social Security number. The FCC asks applicants to register via the FCC's COmmission REgistration System (CORES), to obtain an FRN, and it requires applicants to use their FRNs when filing Form 605. The FRN uniquely identifies an applicant in all transactions with the FCC and avoids the need to provide a Social Security number on the application form. ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, says that if her department submits license data to the FCC using a Social Security number when the applicant already has an FRN, the FCC rejects the data because an FRN already exists. Somma also reminds applicants and Volunteer Examiner teams to attach any Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) for element credit to upgrade applications. Using your FRN and attaching any needed CSCE to your Amateur Radio application in Form 605 will eliminate delays in obtaining your license or upgrade. []CONGRATULATIONS NEW UPGRADES AND NEW HAMS! Following the effective date of February 24, 2007 for the FCC’s ruling to not require any Morse Code proficiency for any type of Amateur Radio License, there has been an influx in those desiring to either upgrade their existing license or get in to the hobby to begin with. At the March 3 testing session held in Indianapolis, there were around 20 individuals testing, all of which passed something. A normal testing session in Indy usual has from 6 to 10 taking tests. From other areas in the state, Bloomington had 19 at their testing session on Saturday, March 3, compared to a normal of 6. Anderson had 12 upgrades on February 24. At the session at Greenfield on February 24, they had 27 either testing or upgrading with CSCEs, as compared to a normal 3 to 6. On Saturday, March 3, Sullivan, IN had 28 show up for testing, where they normally have between 6 and 10. []NATIONAL ARES DATABASE AMONG RECOMMENDATIONS IN ARRL EMERGENCY PLANNING REPORT The much-anticipated report of the League's National Emergency Response Planning Committee appointed by President Harrison a year ago was received by the ARRL Board last month, and is available to the ARES community at: http://www.arrl.org/announce/reports-2007/january/NERPC-32aa.pdf Flagship recommendations include the drafting and population of a National ARES Data Base; the creation of a new "Major Disaster Emergency Coordinator" position for incidents transcending Section boundaries; and the development of course and certification requirements for ARES operators. (Courses would include ARRL's ARECC Level 1, Red Cross combined course in Adult CPR/First Aid Basics, Red Cross Introduction to Disaster Services, FEMA IS-100 (Introduction to Incident Command System), FEMA IS-200 (ICS for Single Resource and Initial Action Incidents) and FEMA IS-700 (National Incident Management System)). []American Red Cross Required Background Checks From ARRL Central Division Director, George Isely, W9GIG Late last summer, ARRL staff and officers began receiving inquiries from ARES members and other emergency communications volunteers about the background check requirement being imposed by the American Red Cross. It has taken several months to get the Red Cross to initially respond to our inquiry and their verbal answer does not even come close to what is still required by the Red Cross. Before you agree to the current Red Cross background check, I urge you to carefully read the article about this issue on the ARRL web site at http://www.arrl.org/announce/ARRL-ARC-bg-check.html. If you fill out the current form on the Red Cross web site, or any paper copy of this form, you are agreeing to far more than a standard criminal background check. There is no guarantee that the extensive data collected by Mybackgroundcheck.com (a commercial operation) will not be deliberately or accidentally turned over to individuals or companies other than the Red Cross. No ARRL official, including me, can advise you to agree to, or refuse, these checks. But we do believe you should know what you are agreeing to when you authorize this Red Cross background check. []The Military Affiliate Radio System Needs You! Are you an Amateur who wants to use your equipment and skills to serve our country and her people? Consider joining the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS). Being an Amateur Radio Operator is a requirement to be a member of MARS. Are you a Novice or Technician without the necessary privileges? No worries – as long as you have any class of Amateur Radio license you can operate the HF Department of Defense frequencies assigned to MARS. MARS offers a training program, daily opportunities to participate in nets or pass traffic, and a chance to support the security of our country in a way that no other volunteer organization can. MARS operates primarily at the state level and in Indiana there are some exciting new missions. In addition to the regular traffic handling requirements, Indiana Army MARS has been given a national mission to provide emergency communications support to the Transportation Security Administration. During regular operating conditions, every state runs daily nets providing plenty of opportunities to learn through on the air training as well as test your equipment and your operating skills. MARS communicates on HF and VHF in many modes with the most common being voice, PACTOR, and MT63. MARS also maintains its own Winlink 2000 network worldwide with HF, VHF, and Telnet nodes. Contact Jeff Hammer (N9NIC) at 317-481-1684 or give him a shout on the 146.70 repeater to find out more and become part of the team! [][]New Member Welcome: The Indianapolis Radio Club would like to welcome new member Ken Lawson, KC9HS. [][]Area Radio Classes If you or someone you know is interested in upgrading, the Indianapolis Radio Club will be sponsoring an “Express Upgrade” class covering element 3 (General Class). It will meet tentatively at 6:30 p.m. on the evenings of March 30, April 2, 4, and 6, with testing being on Saturday, April 7. All of this will be at the ITC, same place as the IRC meetings. Following are some other classes scheduled in the Central Indiana area: Hendricks County is having radio classes, meeting on Wednesday evenings, running from 7:00 to 9:00 at the Senior Services Center, just north of the Hospital in Danville. Technician, General, and Extra classes are available. Contact Dr. Jay Wright, KK9L, by email at jay@southwesternelec.com, on the 147.015 (Belleville) repeater, or by phone at (317)203-3335 for more info. In Johnson County, the Mid-State Amateur Radio Club is holding classes that began February 21 at 7:00 p.m. The classes will meet in the Community Room at the White River Township Library at SR135 and Smith Valley Road. There will be 8 classes over an 11 week period. Point your browser to http://midstatehams.org/ for more info. [][]2007 IRCC Technical Excellence Nominations are Open Spring is almost here and it's time for all Indiana amateur radio clubs and organizations to consider one of their own as a nominee for the 2007 IRCC Technical Excellence Award. For the past six years the Indiana Radio Club Council has selected one Hoosier Amateur Radio Operator to receive this prestigious award during the July Indianapolis Hamfest at Camp Sertoma. To nominate an individual for this award send a detailed explanation of how this person uses their technical abilities to help their club, community or other amateur radio operators. This award is for the unsung heros that continue to give of their time, talents and technical expertise to make a difference in amateur radio. Please be as detailed as possible when writing the candidates qualifications. Remember the committee will only have what you have written on which to evaluate the nominees. Deadline for entries is Midnight Friday June 8, 2007. E-mail your entry to: W9EEU@arrl.net or mpgadams@aol.com [][]From the Feb. 9th IRC meeting: Chuck Crist , W9IH, sent in the following: []During the Memorabilia – Old Time radio meeting night, this plaque was displayed. It is believed that the Ham radio call is one representing those from the pre-1950 call sign era: “4 A H I”. The “4” represents the 4th call area in the US, the “A” is thought to indicate the class A ham ticket, and the “HI” is believed to be a personal pick by the owner of the ham ticket. You might say it’s the current day “Vanity Call” program. [][]GET YOUR BLIND DRAW DONATION TICKETS! For only $10 per ticket, you can get a chance to win one of the following great prizes: 1st prize – Kenwood TS-570D (radio only) 2nd prize – Yaesu FT-857D (radio only) 3rd prize – MFJ-269 Antenna Analyzer Drawing will take place at the Indy Radio Club’s K9OOA Broad Ripple Swapfest on August 4, 2007. You don’t need to be present to win! There will only be 300 tickets sold, so the chances are good! You can buy your tickets at an IRC meeting, at the Swapfest, or from an officer of the club. [][]SEND ME YOUR HAM RADIO NEWS If anyone has any items for the newsletter, please send them to Ken Bandy at kc9glq@arrl.net [][]Signals from the Past: []From the June 18th, 1973 Indy Ham Radio Newsletter: []Splatter: (Novice) Tom Chance, WN9KWS, when asked about his novice rig, “How do you prevent being shocked from the filter Capacitor?”, answered, “Brains”. [][]Upcoming Area Radio Events: []* Columbus, IN Hamfest Saturday, March 31 Go to http://www.qsl.net/carc for more info. []* IRC “Hilltoppers On the Air” event Saturday, April 28, 8:00 – 12:00 local time Go to http://www.indyradioclub.org/irchilltopotae2007.htm for more info. []* Indiana QSO Party ;Saturday, May 5, 2007 []* Bus Trip to Dayton “Hamvention”; Saturday, May 19; Tickets for the bus trip are $25, and non-refundable. They are available at the club meetings. NOTE: This only covers the cost of the trip, tickets for the show need to be purchased separately. Point your browser to http://www.hamvention.org/ for ticket information. []* Indy 500 related events ;Mike Palmer, N9FEB, is filling slots for volunteers for Race related events. Go to Mike’s web page at http://indyhams.org/seg/events for details. []* USS Indianapolis “Museum Ships OTA” Station; June 8 – 10 (local) Stations will be set up close to the USS Indianapolis Monument, same location as last time. Go to http://www.indyradioclub.org/ussindy.htm for more information. []* Indy Hamfest Saturday, July 7 Go to www.indyhamfest.com for more info [][]Current IRC Club Officers: * President: Tom Chance, K9XV - ..EMAIL k9xv@arrl.net * Vice Pres.: Dave Miller, K9RTT - ..EMAIL dmiller@ivytech.edu * Sectretary: Ken Bandy, KC9GLQ - ..EMAIL kc9glq@arrl.net * Treasurer: Judy Gardner, AA9GW - ..EMAIL aa9gw@juno.com * Chief Operator: Dave Craig, N9QVO - ..EMAIL slough@svs.net * Dir. at large: Bob Osterhous, W9PSE - EMAIL rosterhous@iquest.net * Dir. at large: Tom Price, WB9UNG – EMAIL pricetr@comcast.net * Dir. at large: Hank Wolfla, K9LZJ – EMAIL hwolfla@insightbb.com 7