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July 2000

President's Message

I'll try to keep this one brief because there are exciting things to read about in this issue. Let me begin by announcing the results of the June executive officer elections. The current officers were re-elected for a second term.
President: Rocky Pistilli, N3FKR
Vise-President: Mark Kempisty, N3GNW
Secretary: Ron Wenig, NY3J
Treasurer: John Logie, N3ZMJ
We are all looking forward to serving WARC for another year.

June has been the most activity filled month for WARC that I can remember. We had activities scheduled for every weekend and they included our biggest events of the Air Show at Willow Grove and Field Day. I cannot overstate how impressed I am with the dedication and participation of the membership in these activities. More impressive is the professionalism demonstrated as we perform our service. This was clearly demonstrated at the air show on Sunday, June 18th, when in the face of an actual disaster, our operators performed their job efficiently and effectively providing critical communication during the emergency. Our services were welcomed and very appreciated.

I am proud to be member of this group people known as the Warminster Amateur Radio Club, a group who makes Amateur Radio more than just a hobby. I hope I am able to participate for many years to come.

73,
Rocky, N3FKR


Well Done, Gentlemen.

From: Jim Jarvis <jljarvis@together.net>

Read with interest the QST web article on the Air Show and service, which WARC rendered. As former president of the Frankford Radio Club, I'd like to take a moment to observe that your service is a shining example of what Amateur Radio can be. Trained, equipped, disciplined, prepared, and present.
Well done.
With best wishes from Vermont
N2EA

Hams Keep Cool in Wake of Air Show Crash
The words erupted over the radio just as Al Folsom, KY3T, was about to wrap up the Warminster Amateur Radio Club's support for the Willow Grove 2000 Sounds of Freedom air show: "Plane down!"
"It was repeated three times, really quickly," Folsom recalled. "We raced out the door and saw the cloud of smoke." Only minutes earlier, he'd been commenting to a Navy doctor on how smoothly things had gone at this year's event.
The crash of the Navy F-14 Tomcat had claimed the lives of the pilot and radar intercept officer aboard the plane. No one on the ground was seriously hurt. The plane went down into a wooded area near Willow Grove Naval Air Station near Philadelphia.
The initial shock wore off quickly, and the two or three dozen hams on hand Sunday, June 18, didn't miss a beat in their assigned duties. "We had discussed what to do in such a situation," Folsom said, "and I was extremely proud of how well the hams responded."
The WARC has been handling medical communications needs at the annual US Navy air show in Willow Grove for more than a decade, but this was the first time there had been a crash. For the most part, he said, the hams stayed at their original posts to handle any medical concerns among the 50,000 or more spectators on hand for the two-day event. In a normal year, Folsom said, the hams deal with nothing more serious than an occasional fainting spell, dehydration, heat cramps, and sunburn.
Two hams--Bill Strunk, K3ZMA, and Mark Kempisty, N3GNW--were dispatched promptly to the crash site. Hugh Hart, N3SOQ, manned a supply van traveling around the base and back and forth to the crash site. George Brechmann, N3HBT, was net control. Al Konshak, WI3Z, was in the tower monitoring the crowd when the plane went down. Another amateur was sent to the operations center to assist with communications needs.
It turned out to be a good thing the hams were there. "The Navy had rented a large number of Motorola radios for communications, but the accident occurred at the end of the second day, and they all rapidly lost their charge and became useless," Folsom explained. As a result, many of the requests for materials and personnel needed to respond to the crash were relayed via Amateur Radio.
Folsom said he was especially pleased and proud at the way his 16-year-old son, Tom, KB3CRZ, handled the flow of traffic in and out of the base clinic as requests were relayed from there to the crash site and back.
Folsom said all WARC members performed well and a few "really went above and beyond" after the crash occurred. Other participants included Bob Phillips, KA3VKU, Steve Larsen, KA3ZLY, and Don Schwarzkopf, N3OZO, who remained at the site for the entire operation.
It turned out to be a long day for the amateurs, many of whom had arrived that morning around 7:30. "At the end, five of us stayed at the base until about 11 PM," Folsom said. "Navy medical personnel were extremely grateful for our assistance."
For his part, Folsom said the incident really unnerved him for several hours. "It was a long, exhausting and sad day," he concluded. "The one high note was how well our hams handled themselves in a real emergency."
Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter

Pete Putnam KT2B will be our speaker for the July meeting. Pete has been conducting a lot of field tests on Digital Television, including HDTV and will be discussing the display and broadcasting aspects of digital television. Pete will be bringing along equipment so we can see HDTV both from videotape -- and if all goes well -- off air. If you remember our presentation last year on how HDTV works, this will provide an excellent and practical follow up to that discussion. I hope to see you all at the meeting.
Mark Kempisty N3GNW


K3QQ Memorial service
On Thursday, June 22, Members of the WARC attended a celebration of life service for Ric Jansen K3QQ, who passed away in April after a long illness. WARC members who participated were, Bill K3MFI, Tom WA3TQJ, Frank WD0ESL and his daughter Megan, Don KA3N and his son Danny, Ellen AA3AI, Jim N3ELQ and his wife, Elaine N3TMP, and George N3HBT. Also in attendance were members of the kidney support group and the 4H Seeing Eye puppy-raising club. The service and luncheon were an uplifting and enjoyable event. Ric will be remembered fondly by all whose lives he touched.

WARC Alumni News

Here is an interesting letter I received from an early member of WARC, Bill Cummings WA6IOQ. Not many members will remember him, but he talks about some things I never knew, and has some nice comments about the club. I wrote back to make sure we could publish this, and he said OK. He also said he is sending a check to Tina for an Alumni Membership.

Randy N3LJE

From: Cummings, Bill <BBC3@pge.com>

I have not been back to Pennsylvania since I graduated from Wm. Tennent HS, but I definitely got started in Ham Radio via the W.A.R.C. I found a copy of my old Novice license and I got my ticket in January of 1966 at age 15 as WN3FHF. I believe I was in one of the first license classes that the Club gave in the Fall of 1965. My introduction to the Club was through Bill Scott. He was a senior at Wm. Tennent and had a 6-meter transceiver and beam at his house on Greene Road near County Line Road. He helped me put up a dipole in the trees in our backyard. I got my first real Ham transmitter from Mr. Benjamin Wilson. He gave me a converted ARC-5 40-meter transmitter and a couple of crystals. I put together a Super-Regenerative receiver kit from Allied Radio and was on the air. Just making a W2 contact in New Jersey or New York seemed like DX.

The W.A.R.C. met once a month at the Township building. The Club station had one of those all metal shiny case Gonsset AM transceivers. This seemed real high-tech for the time to me. The antenna was up on the police radio tower next to the building and a dipole was strung off of it too.
Meanwhile, some of us at Wm. Tennent formed a Club Station at the High School. Our sponsor was Mr. Wright who taught Physics and Electronics at the time and was a retired Air Force Colonel. We had a lot of military surplus equipment including this large 1.5KW transmitter. Our Club Call sign was WA3ADR. Somehow the school bought a HeathKit HW-101 transceiver and it was assembled as an Electronics class project. We converted a custodians closet into a shack with a dipole on the roof of the school. I was President of the Wm. Tennent HS Amateur Radio Club in 1966.

My father was a teacher at Wm.Tennent and transferred to Illinois in 1967. By the time I got back the next year I had upgraded with the call WA9TXC. I had a DX-100 and a Hammerlund HQ-170A receiver. Both of which I regret selling. Since than I have moved to Northern California after college at Indiana University. I was active in the University Radio Station and got a 2nd Class Broadcast license and a minor degree in TV & Radio Broadcasting along the way. I was hopeful of a career in Broadcasting years ago, doing some minor DJ and copy advertising work. However marriage and kids inclined me to more profitable endeavors and I became a Mineral,
Oil & Gas Broker and currently work in downtown San Francisco for a major utility. Amateur
Radio though has been a lifelong passion and I have had a license continuously since W.A.R.C. days. My current call is WA6IOQ from Sonoma County north of the Golden Gate. I love high speed CW on 20 & 15 meters and QRP. My brother and I did Field Day last year as the Cassel Amateur Radio Club and came in dead last in the 2A classification. That will teach us from setting up a Field Day site at a winery!

Thank you for this opportunity to reminisce. More importantly thank you Warminster Amateur Radio Club for getting me started in this great hobby.

Bill Cummings WA6IOQ (formerly WN3FHF)
P.O Box 2911
Rohnert Park, California 94927
Cummings, Bill <BBC3@pge.com>


Richard W. Janssen, Ph.D., K3QQ, SK

Ric Janssen became a silent key on Friday, April 14, 2000, after a long illness with kidney disease. He was 59 years old and had resided in Bucks County for over 30 years.

Ric was an active member of the Warminster Amateur Radio Club who liked to help in providing communications for community service activities. He had a special interest for the annual Middletown Grange Fair, where he introduced visitors- young and old- to the amateur radio hobby. Although he didn't consider himself a "contester", Ric enjoyed working the January VHF event- often as a "mobile" from the top of the highest hill in his development, and once from his hospital room when he was undergoing kidney dialysis treatment. He had a passion for designing and building homebrew antennas. Despite his failing health, he attended most of the club's general meetings, including the April meeting the week before he passed away. He was also active in the Bucks County RACES, and was a former member of The Mt. Airy VHF Club (Packrats), where his Elmer was Dick Huntzinger, W3FQD. Ric was originally licensed as a Novice with the call WA3UDS.

As a teenager living in New Jersey, he raised puppies for The Seeing Eye of Moorestown, NJ. As his sons grew up, he shared this interest with them. Ric and his family continued his childhood commitment to the guide dog program through the Bucks County 4-H Seeing Eye Puppy-Raising Club, where they raised and sat for some 90 puppies. He encouraged club WARC members to attend the Seeing Eye Puppy demonstration held at the Middletown Grange Fair.

Ric received a B.S. in Pharmacy from the Ferris Institute in Michigan, and earned an M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from the Department of Pharmaceutical Science at Rutgers University. He also received a Ph.D. from Rutgers, where he was the recipient of the E. Mead Johnson Memorial Fellowship from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education. Since 1987, Ric was employed at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Company, New Brunswick, N.J. in Analytical Research and Development, where he gathered and reviewed data to support the filing of new drug applications with the Food and Drug Administration for approval in bringing new medications to market.

Ric is survived by his wife Patricia (N3JBS) and two sons, William (N3HGU) and Jonathan (N3HKS). Club members were invited to a "Celebration of Life" for Ric held on Thursday, June 22, 2000 at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in, Southampton, Pa.
After a brief service, refreshments were served and those who attended had a chance to talk about their interaction with Ric. It was evident that ham radio- and the Warminster Amateur Radio Club- played a major role in Ric's community service endeavors and family activities.

Contributions in Ric Janssen's memory may be made to the Polycystic Kidney Research Foundation (www.pkdcure.org) at 4901 Main Street, Suite 200, Kansas City, MO 64112-2634.

The following operators helped make the Antique Ford car club show go over without any problems. Sy KC5NMW, Gail N6LUL, Jim WA4YWM, Rocky N3FKR, Al WI3Z, Hugh N3SOQ and his daughter Elizabeth, Frank N3UQP and his son Ian, Tom WA3TQJ, don KA3N, Randy N3LJE, Bill N3RAF, Paul N3MXT, and Fred WA3KIO as the DJ. A grateful thank you to all who came out on Sunday June 4, and make the event such a success.

The following hams gave up their time and spent the morning of June 8 at the Five Ponds golf course in Warminster. They were acting as marshals in order to check that any possible hole in one shots were honestly made. Paul N3MXT, Bill N3RAF, Randy N3LJE, Hugh N3SOQ, Bob WC3B, and Bob K3SRO. Much thanks to all the volunteers for their time to make the events go safely.

On Monday, May 29, the Warminster Memorial Day parade was held and the following operators help make it a safe and enjoyable event. Fred WA3KIO, Gail N6LUL, Ron NY3J, Mike W3MJP, Bill N3RAF, Paul N3MXT, Tom WA3TQJ, Doc KA3RAU, Randy N3LJE, Hugh N3SOQ, Rocky N3FKR, and Tina KB3ECW. To all who took part, my grateful thanks for another successful parade.
George N3HBT

For Sale
Heathkit Antenna Tuner Model SA2040, $ 100.00 Contact: Don Rector; W3UBF, 215-699-8050 Evenings after 7 pm.

The ARRL-VEC has made it over the restructuring application mountain and down the other side. "We're completely caught up!" ARRL-VEC Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, exulted this week. All applications through June 16 receipts that were able to be "routinely processed" were set to be transmitted to the FCC June 22. ARRL-VEC staff members already have begun tackling receipts from this past Monday, June 19.
Jahnke said he anticipated very shortly getting back to a "normal" 10-day wait between test session and FCC license grant. He emphasized that the length of any applicant's wait continues to largely depend on when the test session paperwork arrives at ARRL-VEC.
Fred Maia, W5YI, of the W5YI-VEC reports he's closing in on being current and expects to be there by July 4. "This was the hardest spring period we ever had in our 16 years of doing this," he said. "We're starting to see daylight." As of week's end, W5YI-VEC had processed April and May test sessions and was working on session receipts of June 12.
On the downside, Jahnke says, some applicants could be in for additional delays because of missing or problematic information on their paperwork. Applications are not transmitted to the FCC until all information is complete and problems resolved, Jahnke said. The same goes for applications where the information provided does not jibe with what's already in the FCC database. He estimated that fewer than 1% of the 25,000 applications filed since January 1 fall into the "problem" category, however.
Among applications in the huge influx since the FCC announced restructuring last December, ARRL-VEC staffers have encountered incomplete or missing items, including element credit, proof of license, Social Security number, and even the applicant's or the volunteer examiners' signatures.
The FCC's Universal Licensing System also has burped on applicants' attempts to upgrade and renew their licenses at the same time. Because of a ULS software problem, combining a renewal with an upgrade--or with an address or a name change, for that matter--will cause the ULS to reject the application altogether, Jahnke explained. As a result, the transactions must be filed separately.
Upgrade applicants whose licenses turn out to be in the two-year renewal grace period also can expect delays. "You need a current license to get your upgrade granted," Jahnke explains, "so the renewal must be filed first, then the upgrade."
Other applicants unwittingly have stumbled into problems by filing separate applications with the FCC via the ULS. For example, a few individuals with pending upgrade applications in the meantime have applied for and been granted vanity call signs via the ULS. "What happens is the person ends up with another call sign that doesn't match the one on their upgrade application," Jahnke says. He advises applicants either to wait until their upgrades have been processed before applying for a vanity call sign or to let the ARRL-VEC know that they have another application pending via the ULS.
Jahnke advised applicants who attended an April or May ARRL-VEC test session and have not yet found the results of their earned upgrade on the ULS to contact ARRL-VEC by telephone (do not send e-mail) at 860-594-0300. He says the ARRL-VEC still is holding some applications with errors or missing information.
Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter

Propagation prognosticator Tad Cook, K7VVV, Seattle, Washington, reports: Average solar flux and sunspot numbers rose slightly this week, and geomagnetic indices were lower. Planetary and mid-latitude A indices have been mostly in the single digits. Unfortunately, geomagnetic conditions may be a bit more active for Field Day this weekend. The predicted planetary A index for Friday through Tuesday is 15, 15, 20, 20 and 12, but no major disturbance is likely.
Solar flux for the same period is expected to be around 175, 175, 170, 165 and 165, and should begin rising again around July 1. The short term outlook is for flux values to slowly rise and then peak around 200 before the middle of next month.
Sunspot numbers for June 15 through 21 were 261, 252, 211, 250, 194, 219 and 226 with a mean of 230.4. The 10.7 cm flux was 202.4, 197.5, 193.1, 187.6, 178.4, 183.7 and 188, with a mean of 190.1. The estimated planetary A indices were 20, 9, 10, 11, 9, 9 and 8, with a mean of 10.9.
Courtesy The ARRL Newsletter


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