January 1999   President's Message The Club has been very fortunate for the last four years to have use of the Benjamin Wilson Senior Center to support its activities. In addition to holding our monthly general and board meetings and being "home" for our club station, we've had the use of their facility for workshops and kit building sessions and now hold our license preparation classes there. It's great physical plant has allowed us to have a "family-style" Annual Holiday Dinner December General Meeting, which has become one of the club's most participated in event. It gave me and George Brechmann (N3HBT) -who is the person in our club most responsible for establishing and maintaining our relationship with the center- great pleasure to present on behalf of the club a "thank you" plaque to Dave Ralston, the center's manager, at our December meeting. Hearing Dave talk about how mutually beneficial the relationship is between the Warminster Amateur Radio Club and the Benjamin Wilson Senior Center reinforced the importance that WARC places on its commitment to community public service activities. The Annual Holiday Dinner meeting could not happen without the efforts of the committee members who put in many hours of time and came up with great ideas to make a successful event for the club. A sincere WARC thank you goes out to Bernie (N3RJD) and Doug (N3RJE) who chaired the event for the fourth year, Elaine (N3TMP) and George (N3HBT) for getting the room ready and coordinating cleaned up, Romeo (N3GJL) for his inspirational message before our meal, and to Burt (N3YVH) for reading and AL (KY3T) for sounding the former members of WARC who were added to our list of Silent Keys. And another huge thank you to Burt (N3YVH) for his efforts in securing door prizes from community businesses and getting "DJ" Jim Afleck (N3XXQ) to provide musical entertainment. As I have observed before, our Annual Holiday Dinner is a terrific way for the club members and their families, along with our invited guests, to recognize the meaningful work we accomplish as a community organization. The fellowship we experienced in dining and socializing together as a group seemed to emphasize that despite our diverse backgrounds, religious/spiritual beliefs, career endeavors, family status, age and degree of participation in amateur radio activities, there is indeed a common bond that unites our club members. I am proud to be part of the Warminster Amateur Radio Club and feel privileged to serve as its President over the last 2 1/2 years. I want to thank our Executive Board, Committee Chairpersons and all the club members who made 1998 a great year for the WARC. This is the time of the year when we all reflect on our achievements over the past year and are inclined to make resolutions for the New Year. I hope that we can all make the time (NO ONE EVER FINDS THE TIME!) in 1999 to participate in both club and general amateur radio activities. May I suggest we all commit to MAKE THE TIME to be more active in your amateur radio activities. I'm suggesting two hours a month- one hour devoted to operating from your home (or the Club Station) on HF or VHF or UHF or Microwaves and one additional hour in club related activities. This will increase activity on the bands, sharpen our operating skills, allow the club to accomplish even more than it already does, prevent "burnout" of our most active members and most important- give us all an opportunity to have more fun than just talking on the club repeater during commute times and attending a monthly meeting! I want to take this opportunity to wish all members of WARC and their families a peaceful holiday season and a joyous and healthy New Year. de Bill, K3MFI Club to Elect Two Directors In January In accordance with the club's constitution, the membership will elect two Directors who will serve one year terms on WARC's Board at the January 7, 1998 general meeting. This is an opportunity for any current WARC member to be part of the club leadership at the Board level- please contact Steve Larson (KA3ZLY) and Marty Squicciarini (NR3Z) if you would like to be on the slate of candidates. Nominations from the floor will be accepted at the January meeting. UPDATED MEMBERSHIP LISTING Available at the January 7 General Meeting- please check for accuracy and give additions and corrections to Membership Chairperson Don McCunney (KA3N) or reach him by e-mail dmmccunney@njaost.ml.com or by telephone (215) 364-7891. If you have a new or updated e-mail address, please let him know. An updated listing will be distributed with February Feedback. UPCOMING BOARD MEETINGS January 28, 1999- Financial Review (AL Folsom, KY3T) Here's a chance to find out where the club spends its money and where we get the funds to support club activities. JANUARY VHF CONTEST The ARRL sponsored January VHF Sweep Stakes contest will be held the weekend of January 23-24, 1999. So let's all start thinking about our equipment, antennas, new bands and computerized logging. The last two years have seen great participation from club members and as those who have operated this event know, you don't have to be a die hard contester, have a "power" station or stay on the air for the entire contest period to have fun participating. Virtually everyone in the club has the ability to be involved- so let's try to have even more club members give it a try. Everything you need (logs, dupe sheets, activity hour clock, frequencies and hints) will be available at the January 7 meeting. If you want to try computerized logging, bring a preformatted (PC) 3.5" floppy disk. Any questions- give me call on '09 or send me an e-mail at jbagnick@aol.com. Joe Bagnick ,N3EMA WARC January VHF SS Chairperson Warminster Amateur Radio Club Holiday Dinner and General Meeting Minutes December 3, 1998 This meeting of the Warminster Amateur Radio Club was our annual holiday dinner. Bill Gorodetzer (K3MFI) opened the dinner Romeo Branson (N3GJL) gave the spiritual grace/invocation. Our special guest this evening was Dave Ralston, Manager of the Benjamin Wilson Senior Center. A plaque from the club was presented to Dave Ralston and the senior center. Burt Ludin (N3YVH) and Al Folsom (KY3T) read and sounded in Morse code those members of the club who have passed away in the last year. A moment of silence was observed in their memory. Special thank-you's go out to: Doug Mahoney (N3RJE) and Berni Lindinger (N3RJD) holiday dinner co-chairs for the past four years. Burt Ludin (N3YVH) for arranging for music and securing door prizes. An honorary WARC membership was conferred to Jim Afleck N3XXQ our DJ for this evening. Club Director Candidates - See Steve Larson (KA3ZLY) or Marty Squiccarini (NR3Z) if you would like to be put on the January ballot. Nominations are also possible at the January meeting. Respectfully submitted, Mark Kempisty - N3GNW WARC Secretary Happy New Year May the New Year bring you good health and all the good things you wish for your family and yourself. The holiday dinner was a big success a great time was had by all. There was plenty of good food, loud music, great door prizes and fond memories. This would not have happened if it weren't for the help of the club members, setting up and cleaning up. Doug N3RGE and Bernie N3RJD did a great job taking care of the eats! Plentiful and tasty. Can't wait till next year!! I had a fun time giving away all of the prizes donated by area business, by the way don't forget to use the coupons from your place mats. The merchants are hoping to see you come in with them. Next year I will not be able to do all the legwork by myself to get all the ads or donations, I will need some help so please volunteer to help. We will have to start in the early spring. We will most likely have to make an ad book to accommodate all the donors, since the place mat will not be big enough to hold all of them ! 73, Burt N3YVH 1999 ARRL JANUARY VHF SWEEPSTAKES WARC CAMPAIGN Contest Period: 1900 UTC (2PM) Saturday, 1/23/99 TO 0400 UTC (11PM Sunday, 1/24/99) Monday, 1/25/99. Logging Requirements: 1. Use a separate log sheet for each band. 2. Dupe your own logs please 3. Use UTC time in your logs. 4. HAVE FUN AT ALL COST! 5. Give computer logging a try! Activity Hours: To maximize the fun we have and not to tick off the rest of the family try to work during the activity hours listed below. During the first part of the hour you should be able to maximize the number of contacts you make. BAND TIME 6 6 PM, Saturday & Sunday 2 7 PM, Saturday & Sunday 220 8 PM, Saturday & Sunday 440 9 PM, Saturday & Sunday 2 1 PM, Sunday 440 2 PM, Sunday FM Simplex Frequencies: 146.49 223.50* * recommended 146.55* 223.52 .58 223.60 52.02 147.42* 52.04 .45 446.0* 52.525* .51 446.1 52.54 .54 .57 DO NOT USE 146.52 Completed logs should be turned into the contest managers, N3EMA or N3EXA , at the February Meeting of WARC. Above all let's have fun! Good Luck , see you on the bands! Joe, N3EMA Brian, N3EXA Swap Wanted Will trade one 6/12 volt 10 amp battery charger for possible other food door prize. Reason for trade, all of my batteries are charged. Contact Elaine N3TMP at 443-5656 for details. Happy holidays. APRS PUT TO THE TEST - W3GAD At 9 AM Thanksgiving morning, despite a light rain, 21 members of WARC gathered in Newtown for the 10th Annual RUN FOR YOU HEALTH 5 mile/1mile run/walk. For photos see the WARC WEB PAGE. This year we had Rocky, N3FKR; Mark, N3GNW; and Ron, NY3J arriving early to set up an APRS system to monitoring the progress of the main event. Rocky and Ron were backpacking APRS system on their bicycles and Mark ran the control station with a large monitor for public display. The demonstration worked very well with good signals and tracking. The only problem was the map program. Within Core Creek Park they had to guess the location since the blips on the screen were in the blank space. The tone for the day can best be described by Irwin KD3TB's observation during the event, the runners were gracious, many thanking the course marshals as they ran past. This gratitude is rarely seen by the hams helping on public service events. Our presence is usually taken for granted by the participants even though the sponsors usually make it a point to thank us for the support at the closing activities. Dr. Irv Silverstein, organizer of this event for the last 4 years and has released the following: Langhorne, PA November 26, 1998 Over 310 participants signed up to participate in the 10th annual run For Your Health 5 Miler and 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk through Core Creek Park in Lower Bucks County early Thanks giving morning. On a wet and windy morning Hillary Goodman and Seth Hendler ran off with the Women's and Men's overall divisions. Goodman captured the Woman's title in 32:14, 33 seconds ahead of Naomi Laing (32:47). The Men's division was much closer with Hendler (26:43) beating Greg Hunger (26:56) by less than 13 seconds. In keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, each runner was asked to bring a canned good to be distributed to people in need. Over 500 pounds of food was gathered which, along with over $2,000 in cash proceeds, will be donated to the Bucks Montgomery Center for Human Services. (End of release) Thank you to all the hams and their families for taking the time out of you busy holiday schedule to once again to make this event a success. 73 de W3GAD. WARC alumni - N3ESI Naomi and NI3J Chris Dahl Hi All Chris and I first joined WARC in January 1986, but we moved out of the area about 5 years ago, and sort of lost touch. Our postal address is: 11 North 6th Avenue Highland Park, NJ 08904 landline: (732) 777-2030 the family's email addresses are: Chris NI3J: chrisdahl@ibm.net Naomi N3ESI:dahlnv@umdnj.edu Eleanor: elliedahl@ibm.net Madeleine: madeleinedahl@ibm.net Naomi V. Dahl, Pharm.D. Assistant Professor of Medicine Department of Medicine, Nephrology Division UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School One Robert Wood Johnson Place, PO Box 19 New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0019 office: (732)235-7778 fax: (732)235-6124 email: dahlnv@umdnj.edu 73 de N3ESI HARC WELCOMES PRESIDENT OF 22 CREW! The Holmesburg ARC is inviting local club members because the speaker is well known. 73s Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO President HARC 215-624-6450 Joe Fairclough, WB2JKJ, founder and President of The Radio Club of Junior High School 22 NYC, Inc., will be the speaker at the Holmesburg Amateur Radio Club's Annual banquet on Saturday, January 16th, 1999. The Radio Club is not only NYC's largest Ham Club but also the Nation's only full time non-profit working to get Ham Radio into schools nationwide as a theme to teach using EDUCOM, Education Thru Communication. Since 1980 the 22 Crew has been bringing Communication to Education. The HARC banquet will be held at the Rosewood Caterers, 8800 Frankford Ave, just south of Academy Road. Time is 6:30 PM. The banquet will be buffet style with an open bar. Cost is $30 per person. Payment is due by January 10th. Because the speaker is known nationally we will be inviting some local clubs to hear Joe's presentation. Seating is limited and reservations are expected to go quickly. Joe's presentation is appealing to both hams and spouses alike. I'm sure it will inspire many of us who teach amateur radio classes. Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO President HARC bjosuweit@aol.com A Ham's Night Before Christmas by KN4AQ 'Twas the night before Christmas, And all through two-meters, Not a signal was keying up Any repeaters. The antennas reached up From the tower, quite high, To catch the weak signals That bounced from the sky. The children, Tech-Pluses, Took their HT's to bed, And dreamed of the day They'd be Extras, instead. Mom put on her headphones, I plugged in the key, And we tuned 40 meters For that rare ZK3. When the meter was pegged by a signal with power. It smoked a small diode, and, I swear, shook the tower. Mom yanked off her phones, And with all she could muster Logged a spot of the signal On the DX PacketCluster, While I ran to the window And peered up at the sky, To see what could generate RF that high. It was way in the distance, But the moon made it gleam - A flying sleigh, with an Eight element beam, And a little old driver who looked slightly mean. So I thought for a moment, That it might be Wayne Green. But no, it was Santa, The Santa of Hams. On a mission, this Christmas, To clean up the bands. He circled the tower, Then stopped in his track, And he slid down the coax Right into the shack. While Mom and I hid Behind stacks of CQ, This Santa of hamming Knew just what to do. He cleared off the shack desk Of paper and parts, And filled out all my late QSLs For a start. He ran copper braid, Took a steel rod and pounded It into the earth, till The station was grounded. He tightened loose fittings, Resoldered connections, Cranked down modulation, Installed lightning protection. He neutralized tubes In my linear amp... (Never worked right before- Now it works like a champ). A new, low-pass filter Cleaned up the TV. He corrected the settings In my TNC. He repaired the computer That would not compute, And he backed up the hard drive And got it to boot. Then, he reached really deep In the bag that he brought, And he pulled out a big box. A new rig? I thought! A new Kenwood? An Icom? A Yaesu, for me?! (If he thought I'd been bad it might be QRP!) Yes! The Ultimate Station! How could I deserve this? Could it be all those hours that I worked Public Service? He hooked it all up And in record time, quickly Worked 100 countries, All down on 160. I should have been happy, It was my call he sent. But the cards and the postage Will cost two month's rent! He made final adjustments, And left a card by the key: "To Gary, from Santa Claus. Seventy-Three." Then he grabbed his HT, Looked me straight in the eye, Punched a code on the pad, And was gone - no good bye. I ran back to the station, And the pile-up was big, But a card from St. Nick Would be worth my new rig. Oh, too late, for his final came over the air. It was copied all over. It was heard everywhere. The Ham's Santa exclaimed What a ham might expect, "Merry Christmas to all, And to all, good DX." Gary Pearce KN4AQ Permission granted for any print or electronic reproduction. BACK