December 2005 Meeting/Newsletter – CVVHF

 

Current Member Roster:

David Aho                      N9TTX               ARRL                Secretary

Darrell Schreiner            K9AIH               ARRL

Justin Glasener              K9MU               ARRL                Web page editor

Robert Rohrssen            KB9PJL            ARRL                Vice President

Charlie Betz                  N0AKC             ARRL                President

John McDonald              KB9TLV            ARRL

Ray Johnson                 W9RAY                        ARRL   

Randy Westerberg            KB9POI            ARRL

Allan Schlaugat             N9ISN               ARRL                Treasurer

Brad Zuelke                   K9BZ                ARRL

Paul Brooten                 KB9TYC          ARRL                Web page Host

Steve Bluem                  KA9OMY          ARRL   

Bill Noble                      KA9GNG         

Jay Grokowski               N9CIQ               ARRL

Marvin Opitz                  N9RVV

Wanda Rohrssen            KB9QGL          ARRL

Christian Lantz              W9CDL             ARRL

Mary Slifer                     KC9FVS          ARRL

Michael Fenske             KC9EXW         ARRL

Amber Ericksen             KC9FVW        

Kayla Kurtti      

Scott Littfin                    N0EDV

Albert Pichler                 KC9GIQ            ARRL

 

 

Events of Interest:

·         Jan. 21-22, 2006      -  ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

·         Jan. 28, 2006      -  CQ WW 160 Meter CW Contest

·         Feb. 4, 2006      -  Minnesota QSO Party

·         Feb. 4-5, 2006      -  10-10 Winter Phone Contest

·         Feb. 11-12, 2006      -  CQWW WPX RTTY Contest

·         Feb. 18-19, 2006      -  ARRL DX Contest CW

·         Feb. 25-26, 2006      -  CQWW 160 Meter SSB Contest

·         March 4-5, 2006      -  ARRL DX Contest SSB

·         March 12-13, 2006      -  Wisconsin QSO Party

·         March 18, 2006      -  10-10 Mobile Contest

·         March 25-26, 2006      -  CQWW SSB WPX Contest

·         April ????  TBA      -  CVVHF Antenna Party/Annual Meeting

·         April 29, 2006      -  NLRS Aurora Conference

·         May 6-7, 2006      -  10-10 Spring CW/Digital Contest

·         May 19-21, 2006      -  Dayton Hamvention

·         May 27-28, 2006      -  CQWW CW WPX Contest

·         June 10-11, 2006      -  ARRL June VHF QSO Party

·         June 24-25, 206 -  ARRL Field Day

·         July 8-9, 2006      -  IARU HF World Championship

·         July 15-16, 2006      -  CQWW VHF Contest

·         July 27-30, 2006      -  Central States Conference – In the Twin Cities this year!!

 

 

 

Scores: 

            IARU 2005  (Official)

            Call                   Score                QSO            Multipliers         Class

            N9TTX                 33,516              204         63                     SOLP

 

August UHF contest 2005 (official)

K9CVC               75,492             189        108            Multiop              K9MU, N0AKC, N9TTX, W9RAY           

            KB9TLV                6,240              62          32         Low Power (A)

           

            Totals:                 81,732  251         140

                       

 

            September VHF Contest 2005 (unofficial)

            Call                    Score                 QSO      Mult      Class

            KB9TLV            32,342                229        103       Low Power (A)

            N0AKC             23,828                185          92         Hi-Power (B)

            KB9PJL            21,675                195          85         Low Power (A)

            KZ9O                17,730                179          90         Low Power (A)

            N9TTX               12,600                139          70         Low Power (A)

            W9RAY             8,183                  110            49    Low Power (A)

            W9CDL             5,195                  88          49         Low Power (A)

            K9AIH                 2,175                  64          29         Low Power (A)

 

            Total Club Score: 123,728

 

 

 

      I will be doing a supplement Newsletter for this quarter also, as I wanted to add a few write-ups on some of the activities, but I have not gotten any yet from those I have talked to ß gentle reminder.  So, here is the basic newsletter and the meeting minutes from a Burger King near you.

 

Members Present:

        Dave Aho           N9TTX

        Darrell Shreiner        K9AIH

        Chris Lantz        W9CDL

        Charlie Betz      N0AKC

        Bob Rohrssen        KB9PJL

        Mike Fenske        KC9EXW

        Ray Johnson        W9RAY

        Scott Littfin            N0EDV

        Kayla Kurtti   

 

 

        The August UHF contest was a head turner.  For those that are not ARRL members I will send a copy of the QST write-up.  Those that are members or those at the meeting this time, you have seen the bit that K9JK wrote.  Here is a recap and quick breakdown.

 

        Justin, Charlie, Ray, and I ran a multi-op effort for the UHF contest.  We had 222, 432, 902, 1296, and 10G at the W0AIH/W0UC farm facility.  We had various issues, but it all came together very well.  Here is a brief breakdown of the contest as written in QST:

 

“In the Central Division, the operators at K9CVC broke the multi-op record that had stood for 14 years, and besides their 3rd place finish in Multi-op, the K9CVC team also achieved the highest multiplier counts of ALL (emphasis added) entrants on 222 and 432 with 38 and 39, respectively.”

 

        We came in 3rd place in Multi-op overall behind W2SZ and N0HJZ who had 313,962 and 86,136 respectively.  We came in 1st place in Central division in class.

 

 

Field Day 2006:

 

        There was a proposal by Jim Statz KI9H, who had talked to Darrell and Chris and some other members of the Chippewa Valley Radio Club, about possibly doing a joint Field Day effort between our three clubs and possibly the Menomonie club.  It was mentioned about doing it at the W0AIH farm.  Put the club callsigns in a hat, 1st one out gets their call for the main call, 2nd out is the GOTA station call.  Here is the discussion:

 

Pro’s:    NO setup or teardown --  good equipment already there.

            Good location for propagation.

            More Power…Arrr Arrr.

 

Con’s    Will everyone be able to work the contest when they want

                Operating styles…can the three groups work together?

                Ummm….one of the reasons we started our group is because of dissatisfaction with the

                    ECARC.  And we are unofficially gunning for them in the contests ya know.

 

Research        This was brought up by Justin at Chris and Mary’s wedding (Congratulations by 

                    the way again)…We might not be able to utilize the Farm as a FD site due to its

                    permanent structure.

 

                    I looked in the rules, and the class choices for this type of operation only leaves

                    Us able to use the “F” Class, which is the EOC (emergency Operations Center)

                    Class…It gives us the permanent structure, and the GOTA station, but I am not

                    sure if Paul’s place is designated as per the Rules as an actual EOC.

                       

My consensus:  I don’t think that this would be a feasible thing at the W0AIH farm, due to the

                Strictures, and possibly other issues.  I would say we should plan to do Field Day on our

            own again at the same location if available, or if not, we can look for other options.

 

 

EME/Scatter Report:

 

        Due to the phenomenal success of the EME Contest at Charlie’s this year using JT65 as a mode other than CW, and working a small gun station to boot off the big cheese, I thought it might be nice to have a breakdown for those out of the know. Please send me what you have via email or snailmail…or find me on person.  This way I can get a newsletter supplement out.

 

        I had asked Justin and Ray to do a quick and dirty write-up on how to do JT65 for EME, and possibly WSJT for meteor scatter work.  This would be included in a newsletter follow-up.  This would give those who might want to experiment with some digital modes for weak signal work a heads up on how to setup and run the station…and maybe what to expect.

 

        I had also asked Charlie to do a quick and easy EME blurb on what a small gun station might expect (using JT65) and what one might need.  Also a good report sequence would be nice to have for those that might not know what to say for their QSO.

 

        Shortly before the meeting, after the digital bit was experimented with, Randy stumbled onto a digital contest on six meters and worked a bunch of DX stations.  Also since the meeting, Justin has worked Chris and Bob from EN65 and has done a little of Cheesebouncing with his setup at the EN65 expedition with Amber KC9FVW, and at his house.

       

 

January QSO Party Plans:

 

        Everyone should be on the air.  The only differences or issues offhand that seem to be showing are the following:

 

        N0EDV:          Scott may have 222 and 10 Ghz added to his setup of 6 and 2 meters.  He is in

                    the process of putting transverters together. 

 

        K9AIH:        Darrell will have 222 but only on FM in addition to the other 3 bands.

 

        W9CDL:        Chris will have 1296 online, but only with a butterfly antenna I guess.  That is if

                    he is still ready to go after a trip to Jamaica for his and Mary’s Honeymoon.

 

        KB9PJL:        Bob should be back on the air with all bands after the spring’s bad luck

 

        N9ISN:        Al still has a non-rotating tower, but at least he will be able to work all of us.

 

        N9TTX:      If everything goes right, I will be high power class this time around.  Hopefully I don’t make the court bleed.

 

 

Terms:

 

        Officer terms are coming due as of the annual antenna party.  If you want to stand down as an officer, or would like to become one, gather your thoughts, and speak up during the meeting.  Just for the record, I am don’t plan on standing down, but I’ll run as an incumbent if anyone else was interested in the Secretarial position.

 

 

Treasurer’s report:

 

        Same as before…there is a bit of petty cash in our balance from various donations.  Al was still looking for account ideas for the club.  It had been tabled that the idea of having a club account for donations (RCU I believe it was mentioned), was a good idea and unanimously voted on as a go-ahead.  So Al, get with Charlie or Bob if you have not already done so to get the details hashed.

 

 

VHF Plaque Sponsorship:

 

        Another idea was tabled to look into possibly sponsoring a contest plaque.  We would not get to choose what plaque it would be, but our club name would get put on one of the plaques.  I cannot remember how much it is, but I think the NLRS mentioned it being $40…does this sound right?  In any case, would we as a club be interested in doing this?  Think about it and we’ll discuss it at the next meeting.

 

 

CSVHFS:

 

        A few points here:  The Date for the Central States VHF Conference is listed above.  It is being held this year in the twin cities.  Those who have that time available should consider going for at least one of the days.  The Hotel is the Thunderbird, in case you are wondering.  The conference is a three-day event that has talks/presentations, antenna range testing, equipment testing, swapfest, & more.  It is Aurora at a larger scale.

 

        It was also tabled to possibly host a “hospitality suite” at the event.  The motion carried as yes for one night, we would like to host it preferably Friday night.  Either as one night ourselves or joint with Badger Contesters for 2 nights…Charlie will get a-hold of W9GA and hash out some things and get back to us on cost and details.

 

 

Chris W9CDL and Mary KC9FVS wedding

 

        Chris and Mary were married Christmas Eve day.  Congratulations to both of you.  They will be departing for Jamaica mon dude this coming week, and will be back sometime Saturday during the VHF contest.  No radio is being carted to the land of Rum and Punch, but maybe we will hear a signal when they get home to Eau Claire.

 

 

Next Meeting/Antenna Party

 

        No date or place has been set yet.  Details will be sent out when things get hashed out.  Note it is listed as the 2nd weekend (Saturday) in April which would be April 8, 2006.  This may change due to schedules for a hosting house.  Think up ideas or projects to work on from now until then.

 

 

        I will send out a newsletter supplement to this one when I get the little write-ups from Charlie, Justin, and Ray.  It was also suggested after the meeting by Justin, to have submissions by members of projects, ideas, etc…so others can see what each member is doing for projects or operating ideas.  If anyone has something they want to share, please send it my way and I will put it together for all to see. 

 

         

                  Dave….N9TTX