June 2001 President's Message Three years running we have had great weather for our hamfest weekend. WARC Hamfest 2001 was a success thanks to the work of our co-chairs Tony Simek (N3YNH) and Roy Conners (K3TEN), unofficial committee member Vahan Shahinian (KB3DHU), as well as all the club members who contributed to pull off our major fund raising event. All are to be commended for a job well done. The annual election of officers occurs at the June meeting. Enclosed in this Feedback you'll find a ballot for this year's election. We have a slate of well-qualified nominees who will provide strong leadership for Warminster Amateur Radio Club. Please fill it out and bring to the meeting or mail it in before the meeting on June 7th if you cannot attend. This year the club is combining our annual club picnic with Field Day held at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Field Day on Saturday/Sunday June 23rd/24th is Amateur Radio's main event. It gives us an annual opportunity to use our skills as radio operators under simulated emergency field conditions. We get to practice setting-up, test gear, try new antenna designs, camp out, eat good food, and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow club members and amateurs. It also gives us the opportunity to demonstrate to the public the capabilities of the Amateur Radio Service. The club picnic will be held on Saturday afternoon at the Shrine in conjunction with Field Day. This combination of events we hope will promote a larger member turn out by providing activities for the entire family. I hope all members will participate in this year's events. Set-up will start Friday afternoon. Contact Stu Simon (K2QBU) for Field Day information or Mark Kempisty (N3GNW) for picnic info. This month we have two public service events. The golf tournament on Thursday June 7th at Five Ponds and the car show on Father's Day, Sunday, June 17th. Please contact George Brechmann (N3HBT) to participate. This will be my final President's Message. It has been a pleasure serving such a fine group of people. I thank the membership for your support and fellow officers for sharing the load. I look forward to continuing to serve the club as past president. See you at the next meeting, Rocky, N3FKR A Hearty Thanks for Helping at the WARC Hamfest Our annual WARC hamfest has come and gone once again and I would like to thank all of you who helped the club make it a success once again. As a way of saying thanks to the many people who volunteer in one way or another, the club will sponsor a pizza party at our June meeting. We will not have any specific program but rather a chance for all of us to socialize and get to know each other a bit better. You may even find out the answer to that pesky little problem you have been trying to solve. So bring your appetite. I would also like to thank Fred Rice WA3KIO for his presentation on digital HF modes with your computer. His hands-on demonstration -- though a bit trying due to band conditions -- was very informative and useful. I hope you have had a chance to take some of Fred's advice and tried one or two of these new modes. You can be active on many of them in a matter of minutes and with much less equipment than needed even a few years ago. I hope to see you at the next meeting and until then... 73, Mark Kempisty - N3GNW Vice President WARC Meeting Minutes May 3, 2001 Meeting called to order by Rocky N3FKR at 7:40PM Introductions: Microphone passed around room. No visitors. Minutes: No corrections to minutes. Accepted as printed in feedback. Officer Reports: President (Rocky N3FKR) The club has been awarded Special Service Club status through 2003. Elections will be in June 2001, ballots will be in the next feedback. Vice President (Mark N3GNW) Thanked Irwin for his excellent DX presentation last month. This evening Fred Rice WA3KIO will give a presentation on digital modes. Next Sunday is Hamfest, so the next meeting will be Pizza night. This year's picnic will be held 23 June at 3PM at Field day. Treasurer (John N3ZMJ) The club has $6822 in the bank. Secretary - Not able to attend this meeting. Minutes taken by K2QBU. Committee Reports: Nominating Committee (Mike N3MJP): Current list of nominees includes: N3GNW for President W3NTD for Secretary KB3VHU for Treasurer No nominee for Vice President Rocky N3FKR indicated that if you haven't served as an officer of the club you should try it. We want to continue strong service. Membership Committee: 146 active members and 62 inactive members currently. Bert is collecting dues at this meeting. If you need to renew ARRL do it through the club-we get $2 for each renewal we process. Repeater Report (George N3HBT): The 09 machine has been relocated to the basement stairwell in the police station. We still have some problems with a commercial station getting into the input. Brian has ordered a filter. The 09 machine will be used for Hamfest talk-in. The repeaters are cross-band linking for the net. Public Service (George N3HBT): We had two big events last week. The Chalfont parade and the March of Dimes walks. Attendance is dropping off at the March of Dimes events. The next event is May 28th, the Warminster Memorial Day parade. I need a dozen operators for that parade. Rain date is the following Saturday. On Thursday June 7th we will have the Warminster 5 ponds golf course hole-in-one. We need 10 operators and have most of them signed up already. On Sunday June 17th, Father's Day weekend, we have the Ford antique car show on NAWC property. We will be doing perimeter security working out of our vehicles. I need a dozen operators for that event. Finally we have field day/Picnic on June 22-24 and the Air Show in August. March of Dimes ( Doc W3GAD): Thank Bob KA3VKU and Ellen AA3AI for coordinating the other two walks. Also thanks to Steve Larson WW3Y for organizing the Ambler walk. Adopt a highway (Hugh N3SOQ): Two weeks ago 5 people showed up. We finished in 2-1/2 hours. We have 3 more visits due this year. Field Day (Stu K2QBU): 22-24 June 2001 is Field day weekend. Anyone who has not filled out a sheet see Stu. If you want an ARRL Field Day Tee Shirt see Stu. Hamfest (Tony N3YNH): We still need volunteers. If you can come out sign-up or just show up. Don and Doc will overnight. We will probably need a few extra hands. Simplex 147.575 will be used for workers at the Hamfest. Talk-in will be on the repeater. On Sunday morning if you are parking vendors - try to be there by 5:30AM. We need new club signs, some got lost last year. Rocky (N3FKR) thanked the whole Hamfest crew for getting things together. Old Business: Al WI3Z is working hard on redesigning the club QSL card. The UPS sale has been moving quickly. There are about 10 left going at $10 each. Grab them before they get sold at Hamfest. New Business: There was a discussion at the Board meeting about emailing Feedback. We can save money on postage and printing. We are thinking about an option hardcopy/email or both. Everyone was in favor of trying an email pilot. Rocky then asked for any nominations from the floor for club officers in the elections to be held next month. None were heard. Rocky presented an idea for a single date for membership renewal that had been brought up at the Board meeting. The date would be around November so that you would be paid up to attend the Holiday dinner. There were no major objections, and discussions included that we will have to prorate dues to go to a single date. Good and Welfare: Rocky Shepard has been having some problems, N3CJH sent rocky a thinking of you card. Tony N3YNH became a grandfather for the first time last week. Meeting Adjourned at 8:30PM Respectfully submitted, Stu Simon, K2QBU Annual WARC Picnic at Field Day Each year WARC sponsors a club picnic for the benefit of its membership and their families. This year's picnic will be held during Field Day weekend (June 23-24) at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, 654 Ferry Road, Doylestown. Talk-in will be available on the repeater and it is easily reached from the Rt. 611 bypass. Specifically the picnic will start on Saturday June 23 at 3:00 PM with dinner being served around 5:00 PM. If you have never been to Field Day, this will be your opportunity to stop by and see what the most popular amateur radio operating event is all about. For the picnic, WARC supplies hamburgers, hot-dogs, buns, condiments, picnic salads and beverages. We ask that each family attending bring a covered dish of a family favorite recipe. This can be a main or side dish or even dessert. I will also bring along some games for the family and the kids. If you have a lawn game you would like to bring such as volleyball or croquet, please do so. As the club picnic is being combined with Field Day some of the volunteer effort will be taken care of as part of the Field Day set-up. However, we will still need one or two volunteers to pick up supplies and help with the cooking. If you would like to help, please let me know. You can reach me at 215-953-1493 or via e-mail at n3gnw@k3dn.org. I hope to see all of you at the our annual picnic. Mark Kempisty - N3GNW Vice President Hello all, This is a message informing you that our 1.2 GHz repeater is back on the air. It is located in Center City Philadelphia on a frequency of 1294.950 -20 PL 127.3 Hz. It is normally running in open carrier unless we hear noise bursts. We did not have the opportunity to upgrade the 7/8hardline to 1 5/8 so we still have a fair amount of loss in the line. The 75 watt PA is online and we are seeing about 40 watts at the antenna. The repeater will ID giving the time and temperature on the hour for those that only have scanners to monitor. The machine has a part time link to 449.775 WB0CPR/R in Philadelphia. Please pass the word around as our friends in Easton also have a 1200 repeater in the Lehigh Valley on 1294.000 -20 No PL. Remember that higher elevation locations or tall buildings near windows offer the best coverage outside Philadelphia. We hope to hear you on 1.2 soon. 73 DE K3PHL and KB3LRA Steve and Laura It is with regret that I wish to announce the passing of the club mascot, Nicole AK9DOG, on Thursday May 24. She was a valued member of the club as well as an excellent guide dog for most of her 14 and a half years. I want to thank all of the members who welcomed her into the amateur club. George N3HBT BACK