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The HOTLINE
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by Scott Hamilton, K5ZOH |
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The program for our February Club meeting will be about the tuning and antenna loading of “hollow-state” (as opposed to “solid state” :-) amateur radio transmitters. These old tube rigs are enjoying a resurgence as AM QSOs become more common on the bands. Why use a tube rig? Come to the meeting and let me show you! Many of our younger members have not had the opportunity to see these tube-type transmitters in use, and probably don’t understand why they are great for AM ham work.
I will briefly discuss how/why the tubes are used as finals and then I’ll demonstrate how to load up a tube rig to achieve resonance—that magical state where everyone is happy. These old tube rigs give off a wonderful radio aroma—as long as all the smoke stays inside those tubes! If you have recently acquired a tube rig (transmitter and/or amplifier), you may learn something that will help you keep the smoke contained! Hope to see you at the meeting!
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President’s Corner |
by Rodney Baden, K5YKC |
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On the Road to Recovery
Hello to all. As most of you all know, I had open-heart surgery on January 31, 2011 and was in the hospital until February 7. I was very well taken care of by my doctors and nurses. My prognosis given by the doctors is very positive: I expect to make a full recovery. However, it will be several months before I will be able to return to club meetings and all my other activities. Each day gets a little better since I have started my physical therapy with a home health care agency. They are sure keeping me on my toes!
I would like to thank everyone for all the phone calls and prayers. Please keep them up. By the way, I can only talk a few minutes at a time.
I am asking Doc Hamilton to please take over the next meetings. I will help however I can.
Rodney K5YKC
HOTARC President
Our prayers continue for Rodney
as he continues to improve to total recovery. We look forward to his return to
the club meetings! Please plan to come to the meeting hungry for both dinner
and knowledge. We have many members who can share their experience with the
vintage radio equipment, and free food will be provided by the Baylor Student Foundation, the Bearathon
sponsors. Come ~6:00 PM 7:00 PM for the free food! (If like last year, bring your own drink.)
Scott “Doc” Hamilton K5ZOH
HOTARC Vice President
Reminder: Have you renewed your HOTARC Membership? You can even do it securely
via
our website! 
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For the Record... |
HOTARC
Meeting of Members
January 27, 2011
HOTARC’s January Meeting was called to order by Scott Hamilton K5ZOH on Thursday January 27th 2011 at 7:05 pm at the Kultgen Automotive Center of the TSTC Waco campus. Wayne Branscum KD5SMC opened the meeting with a prayer.
Present were 16 full members and 4 guests. Our guests were James Anderson KB5YN of Gholson, Jim Finch KE5FDR of Prairie Hill, Alton Stone KF5HZK of Aquilla, and Clarence Smith.
A motion to approve the Minutes for the December meeting as published in the HOTLINE was recognized from Wayne Branscum KD5SMC, with second by Jim Judd KA5QKL. The motion was approved by the members.
A motion to approve the December Treasurer’s Report as published in the HOTLINE was recognized from John Chamberlain AC5CV, with second by Wayne Branscum KD5SMC. The motion was approved by the members.
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The Treasurer Reports... |
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Heart
O’ Texas Amateur Radio Club Beginning Account Balance $ 6,064.98 Income Dues $ 495.00 Wild West Century donation 500.00 K5NCT Equipment auction 1,015.00 Interest 0.26 TOTAL Income $ 2,010.26 Expenses Paypal fees $6.37 TOTAL Expenses $ 6.37 Ending Account Balance $ 8,068.87 Uncleared
activity (as of 2/17/2011) Submitted
by |
Committee Reports:
· ARES: Skywarn is on Saturday March 19th at 8:30AM-12:00PM. The advanced spotter training is from 1:15PM-3:30PM.
· Trailer: No News
· Repeater: AC5CV reported that K5YKC was notified by Waco police that the power will be up and down over the next several months at the old Hillcrest tower as construction is being done. A discussion was held to see if we should unplug the repeater due to the possible power surges it would receive. The consensus was to leave the repeater plugged in.
· D-Star: Austin Amateur Radio club has a new D-STAR repeater up.
· Web page: No News
· ATV: No News
· Education: Clint Anderson AE5CA reported that a technician class will be held after Skywarn, probably in April or May
· Public Relations: No News
· Special Events: Jim Judd KA5QKL reported volunteer opportunities are coming up: Bearathon on March 19th, Komen Race for the Cure on April 30th, ARRL 2011 Field Day on June 25th&26th, TriWaco Triathlon on Sunday July 24th (although we’ll probably pass on TriWaco unless they move away from Sunday).
New Business:
· New Membership application was received from Stephen Hadley KF5JGB. John Chamberlain AC5CV made a motion that he be accepted, with second by Wayne Branscum KD5SMC. The motion was approved by the members.
· An Audit Committee is needed to review the 2010 finances. The committee Chairman is Scott Schafer K5ZOH and helping him will be John Hulbert AE5PZ.
Motion to adjourn was recognized from Jim Judd KA5QKL approximately 7:32 pm. Following the meeting, AC5CV conducted an auction of equipment donated by the family of KC5NT to HOTARC.
Submitted by:
Jeremy Neal KE5PRG
HOTARC Secretary
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by Ed Hynan, KC5KNI |
Imagine if everyone operated on Field Day, spending a 24-hour
period contesting with other amateurs around the nation and the world—all without
keeping station logs. When the contest period is over, everyone submitted their
results as an estimate of the number of contacts. Who would be
declared the winners? With mere estimates, no one would really know. Some would
be low estimates, some right on, but we can 
easily imagine that most
would be overestimates. But that’s the best we could hope for with no
real documentation of what actually took place.
Now translate that contest (demonstration of emergency capabilities) into a real life emergency situation—a Hurricane Katrina, Rita, or any other real disaster situation. Now it is not a contest, a game etc. It’s quite likely that people’s lives, health, and welfare depend on the communications getting through. Medicine needed here, food and water needed there, hazardous materials discovered, flood and damage reports, casualties, etc.—all communications that are critical for those affected and those trying to provide and coordinate relief. How do you know that the correct information got to the correct persons or agencies? Who requested the items? Who approved and released the request? Who is responsible for getting it there? When was the request made? As we’ve said many times: we must remember that, as amateurs supporting an emergency, we are just the messenger. Those affected or supporting the emergency depend on us—the messenger—to get the right info to the right agency at the right time. That is why amateur logs are so important. In the heat of the emergency, you might just want to pass the information and provide the requested assistance. But if something goes wrong or is misunderstood, the messenger is usually the first one to receive grief. So, always take the time to log each communication. You may use your own brand of shorthand, as we do with weather nets, and then transcribe or fill in the blanks later. Document what, when, where, why, and especially who is making the request or who is responding to the request. Get it on paper or computer so you, the lowly messenger can provide the necessary specifics.
The ARES net controls for the Monday night nets all keep
and submit logs. This is documentation that the net took place. We need to
practice this in all our other organized support events, so that it becomes
automatic when we have to be the messenger in times of real emergency.
And don’t forget: SKYWARN 2011 will be held on 19 Mar 2011 at the McLennan Community College Emergency Services Building on Steinbeck Bend, past Karl May Drive (the road to the airport). Basic SKYWARN will start at 0900—coffee and donuts available from 0830—and run until about noon. The advanced class will start about 1315 and should be done by 1530. All Bakers Dozen Weather Net storm spotters should attend a SKYWARN session at least every other year.
Baylor Bearathon: Volunteers Needed! |
by Jim Judd,
KA5QKL |
It’s BEARATHON Race time again. This year the race will be on March 19, 2010 (yes, same morning as Skywarn) starting at 8 a.m., lasting until around 11 a.m. (So you can still make the Advanced Skywarn sessions after lunch.) The race course will be the same as last year, but hopefully without the severe weather threat: (1) going deep into Cameron Park and (2) using University Parks Drive on the return path instead of going back to MLK. (Click the map here.)
The Bearathon Committee really appreciated our work last year, and is going to express their gratitude by once again providing us with a free dinner treat before the meeting. So come out early and enjoy some free food. But also, I hope you will please email me at jjud654@aol.com and volunteer to be a communicator at one of the thirteen rest stops!
They are expecting almost 1500 runners this year! When we do a good job for these racers and help the community at the same time, we are doing exactly what I think Ham Radio stands for: Service to Others. So PLEASE give a little of your time to help with this race. Thanks and 73!
The HOTLINE is the monthly newsletter of the Heart O’ Texas Amateur Radio Club (HOTARC), Inc., a nonprofit corporation, chartered by the State of Texas and principally located in Waco. It is permissible to use any of the original material contained herein, provided proper credit is given to the source.
Edited and Published by John Chamberlain AC5CV, AC5CV@arrl.net
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2011 Board of
Directors |
HOTARC 2011 Board of Directors
President: Rodney Baden K5YKC, 857-9760, RBaden@hot.rr.com
Vice Pres: Scott Hamilton K5ZOH, 717-0755, drpshamilton@gmail.com
Secretary: Jeremy Neal KE5PRG, 881-2123, JeremyLeeNeal@gmail.com
Treasurer: Norris Martin KB5SLI, 829-2138, KB5SLI@flash.net
Past-Pres.: John Chamberlain, 855-7731, AC5CV@arrl.net
Director (2011): Larry Carlson KC5JWD, 662-4106, LMCarlson1@att.net
Director (2012): Clint Anderson AE5CA, 855-5080, AE5CA@grid-em11.com
Director (2013): Larry Bush W5NCD, 848-5155, lbw5ncd@gmail.com
145.15 MHz (input at –600 kHz, tone 123 Hz)
146.98 MHz (input at –600 kHz, D-Star)
442.875 MHz (input at +5.0 MHz, tone 123 Hz)
ATV: 421.25MHz (Cable 57), input 439.25 MHz (Cable 60)
Next session is scheduled for Saturday February 26, 10:00 AM. Location: Baylor’s Rogers Engineering and Computer Science Bldg (#70 on the map), Room 109. Bring: 1) testing fee of $15 (cash only); 2) a photo ID (two for first-time licensees); and for already licensed amateurs: 3) current license and photocopy of it; and 4) photocopy of any relevant CSCE. Contact: Linda Hynan, AC5QQ at 666-4873 or Linda.Hynan@UTSouthwestern.edu.
Meeting NoticeThe next Meeting of HOTARC Members will be at 7:00 pm on Thursday February 24 in the Kultgen Automotive Center of the TSTC Waco Campus. Meetings generally last about 75 minutes consisting of fellowship, general Club business, and an interesting program. Visiting hams, family members, and prospective hams are welcomed! |
SKYWARN 2011: March 19, 2011
@ MCC Emergency Services Building