THE AIRWAVES          January 2012 SIERRA AMATEUR  RADIO CLUB

 An ARRL  Special Service Club             RACES   ARES

P O Box 1442 Ridgecrest California 93556­1442

BOARD President Harry Stephens KI6PSZ 446-3095 KI6PSZ@webstephens.com First VP Linda Finco KF6CMW

OF Second VP Mike Herr WA6ARA 375-5324 wa6ara@gmail.comSecretary Bill Burns WA6QYR

OFFICERS Treasurer Julie Stephens KI6YRA 446-3095 KI6YRA@webstephens.com

SARC OWNED AND MAINTAINED REPEATERS

Randsburg WA6YBN 145.34 MHz (-), PL 100.0 Hz, Wide Area, Emergency PowerRidgecrest WA6YBN 146.64 MHz (-), Translator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency PowerRidgecrest WA6YBN 147.00 MHz (+), PL 107.2 Hz, Local, Emergency Power

SARC CommitteesTechnical Assistance: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324 Public Relations: Linda, KF6CMW Program: Mike, WA6ARA, 375-5324 Airwaves Editor: Mike, WA6ARA 375-5324RF Interference: Bill, WA6QYR 375-8566 Emergency and Public Service:

THE AIRWAVES CALENDAREvery IWV Emergency Net

Monday 1930 (730pm)

Night WA6YBN Translator (146.64 MHz - )

Visitors Welcomed!

11 Jan SARC Installation Dinner Meeting

14 Jan T-Hunt – see info inside

21/22 Jan Fire Mountain 50 Mile Horse Ride see details inside

28 Jan - Palm Springs Hamfest 2012 details included

17/18 Feb ARRL Southwestern Division Convention and Yuma Hamfest

Every Even Month, Second Saturday

11 Feb Volunteer License Exam SessionLocation: Guns 4 Us, basement classroom417 East Ridgecrest Blvd, Ridgecrest CANo handicapped access Pre-reg by 6 Feb. Limited to 9 applicants All must register at 9 AMContact Elvy Hopkins NØLV 760-384-3589E-mail <lvrh7589@iwvisp.com>

RENEWAL TIME!It is that time of year again, time for renewal of membership with the Sierra Amateur Radio Club, SARC. If you were a member in 2011, thank you. If you haven't been a member before or for a long time, then please consider joining. At the start of each year we send out the newsletter to all hams in th Ridgecrest area, including Inyokern, Rand, Death Valley and Olancha.

In Ridgecrest there were 355 hams, Inyokern 33, Olancha 4, Death Valley 1 and in the Rand area 7. That makes a total of 400 hams in our local area. We then removed those calls which are known silent keys, moved away or address that have bounce back in the past. That left us with 372 hams. Next we removed those call we had email address for and then removed the obvious duplications, i.e. husband / wifes at the same address. This brought us down to 267 hams. So, we have sent out 267 hard copies of this Airwaves newsletter in the hope of generating interest in joining / rejoining the Sierra Amateur Radio Club. We hope you will consider it.

What Was Your Club Up To In 2011?Before I remind you that it’s time again to renew your membership in the Sierra Amateur Radio Club of the High Desert, a.k.a, SARC, I’d like to talk about what SARC has been up to this past year.

Starting off the year was the annual SARC Officer Installation Banquet held at the Grape Leaf. Good food and prizes galore. More good food and eyeball QSOs were available at the annual BBQ at Ron’s/WA6PEV and the annual Ice Cream Social held at Baskin-Robbins.

SARC held 9 regular club meetings during the year. Many attendees brought in “Show and Tell” items of projects they were working on, rare or first QSL cards and other items of interest. Programs were also presented at each club meeting. Some notable programs included “Mapping the Moon at 10 GHz,” SKYWARN training, Field Day Safety, PACIFICON, and the N6HAL “Go Box.”

SARC either sponsored or was the initial starting point on many events during 2011. The SARC Technician License Class yielded 11 new Hams for the IWV. SARC funds subsidizes the cost of the class (books – classroom) so the entire burden is not shouldered by the students. Bi-monthly SARC sponsored license exams brought in another 10 – 12 new amateurs. SARC continues to be asked by many local event coordinators to provide safety communications. These events range from the Kiwanis Walk-A-Thon, the 2 day Death Valley Walk For Life, the Over The Hill Track Club foot races out in the desert and several 12 hour and 24 hour horse endurance rides.

SARC sponsored several other events during the year, including: an antenna workshop, where participants built single and dual band copper pipe J-Pole antennas; 4 members built low power 75M AM Retro kits; Field Day at a local park; Jamboree On The Air (JOTA); and the ever popular bi-monthly Fox Hunts.

New for 2011 was the “Flash Field Day” events where local amateurs met at a specific time and set up and operated for a few hours under Field Day conditions. SARC members also approved funds for the printing/binding of the SARC New Ham Guide. The guide contains some reprints of the “Ask Elmer” articles and other articles to assist new Hams in getting on the air. This guide is available at: http://www.qsl.net/wa6ybn/New_Ham_Guide.pdf.

A major overhaul of the 147.000 MHz SARC repeater was accomplished in 2011. This overhaul added Allstar, Echolink and phone patch capabilities to the repeater. Future plans are to add the ability to link the 147.000 MHz repeater with the Randsburg 145.340 MHz repeater.

Yes, you can attend SARC meetings, meet other Amateurs in the area and help out/participate in the various activities that SARC is involved in without being a SARC member. However, joining the club will give you the right to vote on motions brought up before the club and to help guide the club to bigger and better things.

And now it’s time to ask you to join or renew your membership in the Sierra Amateur Radio Club. For a low fee of $17.00 a year, that’s only $1.42 a month by the way, you’ll receive 10 issues of the club’s newsletter, THE AIRWAVES, have voting and motion privileges, help maintain and upgrade the 3 SARC owned repeaters and do that “bigger and better” thing.

73…………Sierra Amateur Radio Club

Treasurer’s ReportDecember 31 2011 report:

Beg Balance $5,859Income $175Expense ($50)End Balance $5,792

Income is from 2012 membership duesJulie Stephens, KI6YRA

SARC Annual Installation Dinner

The annual SARC Installation dinner will be held at Casey's BBQ, 1337 N China Lake Blvd, Ridgecrest, on January 11 at 6pm. This is always a good time, with fun for everyone and great friendly discussion. Your board for 2012 are:

President – Harry StephensSecretary – Bill Burns

Treasurer – Julie Stephens1st Vice President – Linda Finco2nd Vice president – Mike Herr

There will be a number of door prizes. Including: Tricrimp PowerPole crimper, 30A PowerPole 10-pack, Coax Seal, Bongo Ties 10-pack, Heil ProSet Elite 6 headset, Heil FS-3 Foot Switch, Kill-a-Watt monitor, Nifty DX Field Guide, Nifty Amateur Radio Band Plan, "Simple and Fun Antennas" book, "HF Digital Handbook", 4th Ed., "Hints & Kinks", 17th Ed., MFJ-107B clock, MFJ-842 cross-needle SWR/Watt meter, 140-525MHz. Hope to see you all there.

Stolen Radio AlertArly N6INT has had is Icom IC281 mobile rig stolen from his vehicle. If you find one for sale from a non-ham, beware.

SARC T- Hunt14 January 2012

The first T-Hunt of 2012 will be held on 14 January. The time will start at the normal 0900 at Crest Donut. Hope to see you all there!

Fire Mountain 50 Mile Horse Ride21 / 22 January 2012

The Fire Mountain 50 mile horse ride will be on January 21-22 2012. They will be running it like the Bill Thorson ride we just did. two days no overnight. I would like to be just a participating communicator this time-not the point of contact/net control. Bill WA6QYR

2012 Technician ClassSARC will be offering a Technician license class in 2012. The expected start time will be in February and will run approximately 8 weeks. This class will take a person from no amateur radio experience to earning a Technician license. Please spread the word about the class. More information will be coming out as available.

Palm Springs HamFestJanuary 28 2012

The Palm Springs HamFest will be held January 28, 2012, Saturday, 9:30am till 4:30pm. We have over 30 Vendors and groups attending. One main focus of our event is live Demos that will go on throughout the Day. Presenters like Gordon West, Clint Bradford / AMSAT , San Bernardino Microwave Society, The Fast Scan TV Group from Los Angeles, D-STAR, and others! See our web site or Forum for all the details http://desertrats.x.am

2012 Southwestern Division ConventionFebruary 17 – 18 2012

The 2012 ARRL Southwestern Division Convention will be held in conjunction with the Yuma Hamfest in Arizona. The event will feature commercial exhibitors and vendors, tailgating, on-site RV camping, free parking, seminars held in parallel tracks in two separate buildings, amateur license testing, DXCC card checking, antenna clinic and transmitter hunt, our famous "Buzzard BBQ" dinner, grand prizes worth $10,000, great hourly door prizes, a hospitality area, the "Country Store" consignment sales area, and much more. Please check the website at www.yumahamfest.org for more information.

SARC Club Survey ResultsThe club survey has been available since November 2010, and here are the results so far:

The results below are based on the 19 people that filled out the Club Survey:

57% were Extra Class, 26% were General, and 15% Technician68% were ARRL Members68% were current SARC Members68% were not active in in ARES or RACES47% sometimes listen to the ARRL Audio News, 26% never listen, while 21% always listen.

94% own at least 1 radio, 89% own a Handheld Radio, 84% own a Mobile Radio, 63% own a Base

Preferred Type of Radio: 47% Mobile Radio, 36% Base, 15% Handheld

Preferred Brand of Handheld Radios: 42% Yeasu, 31% Kenwood

Preferred Brand of Mobile Radios: 47% Yeasu, 21% Kenwood, 21% ICOM

Preferred Brand of Base Stations: 36% Kenwood, 21% Yeasu, and 21% Other (Not ICOM or Alinco)

Monitoring a local repeater: 31% Daily, 26% every 1-3 days, 21% never

Use a SARC Repeater: 57% Yes, 26% No

Morse Code Capable: 52% No, 21% 5-10wpm, 21% 10-20wpm

Operating Capabilities: 94% on 2m, 78% on 70cm, 63% on 40m

73% are active on 2m

36% claim 2m as a favorite band, 15% claim 40 as a favorite band

78% are active on FM, 68% are active on SSB 36% are active on Digital

47% claim FM as their favorite mode, 31% claim SSB as their favorite mode.26% use Echolink, 26% use APRS

68% use a computer in their shack, 41% for Digital Modes, 36% for Logbook or Callsign lookup

73% use Windows as their Primary Operating System, 15% use MacOS

Contests: 21% in VHF or Microwave, 10% in DX, 10% in QRP, 10% in CQWW, 68% do not participate,

Participate in Events: 63% Sometimes, 21% Never, 15% Always

Willing to teach at a Ham Radio Class: 47% No, 26% Yes, 26% Maybe

Willing to host a program for a club meeting: 57% No, 21% Yes, 15% Maybe

Willing to assist during or after a disaster: 89% Yes, 11% Maybe

This information is only as good as what people put into it, so please feel free to take the survey, so we can improve our meetings and experiences. Http://www.qsl.net/wa6ybn/survey.htmlIf you have already taken the survey, Thank You. If you take it again, your old entry will be deleted before the result will be generated again, to keep everything up to date.- KI6PSP (Ed)

73 Magazine available on line

For those of you who remember 73 magazine, it is now available on line, for free! 73 magazine was an amateur radio magazine from the late 1950's till 2001. Typically the magazine was full of construction articles and how to do, most of which is now fairly dated. It's editor and owner for most of that time was well known for his eccentric editorials. Check it out at http://www.archive.org/details/73-magazine

Check out the SARC Web Page www.qsl.net/wa6ybn/

SARC on FACEBOOK http://www.Facebook.com/wa6ybn

Local Repeaters

Contact Ed, KI6PSP, for changes and corrections

Status Location Call Freq in MHz Tone Notes Distance

UP WA6YBN 145.340 (-) CT 100.0Wide Area, Emergency Power

S 18.6 Mi

UP WA6YBN 146.640 (-) S 2.5 Mi

UP WA6YBN 147.000 (+) CT 107.2 W 2.5 Mi

Standby WA6YBN 147.060 (+) CT 100.0 Club Portable Repeater, used only for events SW 1 Mi

DOWN El Paso Pk WI6RE-2 145.050 (S) S 10 Mi

UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 144.390 (S) S 10 Mi

UP

K6YYJ 146.970 (-) PL 123.0

E 15.9 Mi

UP Little Lake W6TD 147.210 (+) NW 24.9 Mi

UP Bird Springs KF6FM 146.085 (+) PL 141.3 WSW 27 Mi

UP W6TD 146.760 (-) RF Linked to Little Lake N 96.5 Mi

UP Hauser Pk K6OX 146.730 (-) PL 100.0 SSW 80 Mi

UP Keller Pk KE6RYZ 146.385 (+) CT 146.2 SSE 104 Mi

UP W5HMV 447.020 (-) CT 123.0 SE 2.6 Mi

UP WI6RE 446.500 (S) CT 100.0 W 2.8 Mi

UP El Paso Pk WI6RE 448.800 (-) CT 100.0 S 10 Mi

UP NC9RS 927.0125 (-) PL 88.5 Input: 902.0125 – Linked to others - NC9RS SW 2.0 Mi

Randsburg

Ridgecrest NoPLTranslator, No Squelch Tail, Emergency PowerArea Emergancy Net Mondays @ 7:30 PM

RidgecrestAllstar #27178, Echolink #518309, Info *510ARRL Audio News on Mondays @ 7 PM

Ridgecrest

NoPL Packet Digi

NoPL APRS W1 Digi, iwvaprs.net – KI6PSP@gmail.com

Trona

RF Linked to 447.020. 6m Remote Base on FM call frequency 52.525 MHz - Controls: Rx 61, Tx 62, Off 63

NoPL RF Linked to Mazourka Peak

Wide coverage of Indian Wells Valey - swrrc.org

Mazourka Pk NoPL

Near Palmdale, Wide coverage of Antelope Valley

kpra.net - Near Big Bear, Wide SoCal Coverage

Ridgecrest RF Linked to 146.970. Input is about -4 KHz off.

Ridgecrest IRLP-3741, contact tiplerek@iwvisp.com for codes

IRLP-3877 - WinSystem.org

Ridgecrest

Last Update: September 18th 2011

SIERRA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB POST OFFICE BOX 1442 RIDGECREST, CA 93556-1442