the peanut whistle - w5pc.org arcpc newsletter.pdf · club meeting — u.s. callsign history — by...

The Peanut Whistle The Monthly Newsletter of the Amateur Radio Club of Parker County

ARCPC NEWSLETTER VOLUME 28 NO. 2 FEBRUARY 2018 ISSUE

PRESIDENT THAD WEIKAL KG5ATD

VICE PRESIDENT

TONY JONES KG5ELV

SECRETARY-TREASURER JAY COX KG5BZW

DIRECTORS

JOEL PAGE KW5JP WILL TEAGUE W5KD

W5PC TRUSTEE-QSL MGR

WILL TEAGUE W5KD

WEBMASTER WILLIAM NEWMAN WL9N

PUBLIC INFORMATION

VACANT

EDUCATION CHAIRMAN WILLIAM NEWMAN WL9N

NEWSLETTER EDITOR JERRY THOMPSON W7JT

CLUB HISTORIAN WILL TEAGUE W5KD

PROGRAM-ACTIVITIES

VACANT

FIELD DAY 2018 VACANT

HOSPTALITY

JUDY WOLF KB5JEY

REGISTERED AGENT JERRY THOMPSON W7JT

RACES-ARES

TONY GUESS N5NRU BILL NEWMAN WL9N

VE TESTING

DOUG MAY WB5VQQ

ARRL WEST GULF-NTX STAFF

DAVID WOOLWEAVER K5RAV JOHN STRATTON N5AUS

JAY URISH W5GM

ICE STORM

Beautiful and Dangerous

"

More on pg. 6

February 2018 The Peanut Whistle Volume 28 No 2

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Upcoming Ham Fests/Conventions

ARCPC HOSPITALITY

February 2018 Meet-

ing

03/16/2018 | South Texas Section Conven-tion (Greater Houston Hamfest)

Location: Rosenberg, TX Type: ARRL Convention Sponsor: Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club Website: http://houstonhamfest.org/

03/17/2018 | Swapfest

Location: Georgetown, TX Type: ARRL Hamfest Sponsor: Williamson County Amateur Radio Club Website: http://wcarc.com

ARCPC VE TESTING VE testing for all license classes and up-grades will be conducted on the third Mon-day of each month, except November and December. Time: 7:00 PM (Walk-ins allowed) Contact: Douglas E. May WB5VQQ (817) 613-7289 Email: [email protected] VEC: ARRL/VEC Location: What-a-Burger off of I20 Weatherford TX 76086

Jake Sez!

“You never appreciate spring ’till you’ve been through a tough winter. “

Cokes & Cookies

Judy Wolf

03/17/2018 | West Texas Section Convention

(St. Patrick's Day Hamfest)

Location: Midland, TX Type: ARRL Convention Sponsor: Midland Amateur Radio Club Website: http://hamfest.w5qgg.org/

04/07/2018 | HamEXPO

Location: Belton, TX Type: ARRL Hamfest Sponsor: Temple Amateur Radio Club Website: http://www.TARC.org/hamexpo

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

CLUB MEETING —U.S. Callsign History — by Will, W5KD

SKYWARN Training — by Fort Worth Office, U.S. Weather Service will be at Mince Auditorium, Weather-ford College, Tuesday, 20 Mar 2018 at 6:00 –8:00 P.M.


ARCPC MEETING MINUTES

Minutes of the Regular Monthly Meeting Amateur Radio Club of Parker County Tuesday, February 13, 2018 The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm by President Thad Weikal, KG5ATD, at the Parker

County Emergency Management (EOC) Building, 215 Trinity Street, Weatherford. The invocation was given by David Nelson, KG5ASU. Thad Weikal afterwards led in the Pledge of Allegiance and Pledge of Allegiance to the Texas State Flag which was said by all in attendance. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Introductions: President Thad Weikal initiated introductions around the meeting tables. A total of 13 members were present for the meeting and 3 visitors. VP Tony Jones, KG5ELV could not attend the meeting. Thanks to Judy Wolf: Judy Wolf, KB5JEY, was thanked for always bringing refreshments. (Past minutes may not have reflected the thanks often given to Judy.) Fifty/Fifty Drawing: A reminder was given that we have a 50/50 drawing. The winner was to be selected after the meeting. Meeting minutes: A motion to approve the minutes from the January meeting as published in the January monthly newsletter was made by Will Teague, W5KD. The motion was seconded by Tony Guess, N5NRU. Motion passed. Secretary/Treasurer Report: The Financial Report was given by Secretary/Treasurer Jay Cox, KG5BZW. Membership: We have 29 active members and 17 life members. A motion to accept the treasurers report was made by Jerry Thompson, W7JT, and a second by Bob Ballard, KG5SQJ. OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: The fact-finding committee for the search of a location to host a ham fest has been tabled. We are in need of a social media director and some people to assist them. It involves keeping up with the Face-book, Twitter, and Linked-in accounts. Jerry Thompson is our newsletter editor and he still needs a backup.



The audit of our club ham shack is postponed until it is warmer. Every Saturday since the last meeting has been frigid. We do have a list of people who want to participate. We’re going to take everything out and itemize it all and determine what we’re going to keep. There will be executive decisions made about what we can recycle or dispose when we are at the club shed to perform the audit. Will Teague, W5KD, reminded the club that the club trailer was still at the place of Jack Nixon, KG5BBW. An update was also given by David Nelson, KG5ASU, on former club president Jack Nixon, Jr., KG5BBV, and family. We also need to make sure the club generator is still in working order. Judy Wolf, KB5JEY, reminded the club that in the shed are 13 tables that are hers that can be moved if they are in the way. A reminder was given that the club would like to develop an elmers list. Even though someone might test profi-ciently to become a ham radio operator, that person can feel like they need another class or two to operate radios or deal with other miscellaneous issues. A list of people that might be able to help can be beneficial. President Thad Weikal gave Bob Ballard, KG5SQJ, with his Baofeng class, as someone that could have been really useful when he was first learning to operate his radio. (Thad unfortunately had to learn before Bob’s class came into existence.) Thad also gave another example when a new ham, during a Monday night net, could be heard by a participant but not by others. Thad requested his contact info be passed to the new ham, and the ham contacted Thad, and Thad assisted him in programming the radio to get the offset setup. Thad gave one more example about some gear he had obtained that, with an elmer’s assistance, was diagnosed to have a bad diode, and with the replacement of the diode, the radio was fixed. Amateur Radio License Testing Report: Will Teague, W5KD, noted that at some point the ARRL had the wrong date for our amateur radio license testing session, and two had called to ask where we were on that incorrect date. We also had 2 people show up at our last testing session that passed. The next test session would be the third Mon-day of February (February 19th) at Whataburger in Weatherford on I-20. Secretary/Treasurer Jay Cox noted in his recording of the minutes he’s been calling this session incorrectly, and will rename the section of the minutes more appropriately. It is not a VE testing session, it is an Amateur Radio License

testing session. GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS President Thad Weikal summarized the costs of keeping our webhosting on HostGator. Will Newman, WL9N, had emailed Thad that there does exist another cheaper hosting option for 3 years of service but it involves yet another one-time coupon (and then prices rise after that). Will Teague, W5KD, made a motion that we ought to stay with Host Gator. Mark Rutenschroer, W5MJR 2nds. The motion passed. President Thad Weikal also suggested we ought to have a backup method to get into our webpages given his experi-ence with a situation where the webmaster for an organization had died. Next we discussed a potential move of our email reflector to Groups.io, and the problems we’ve had with our Ya-hoo Groups (especially since no active member of the club is an owner of the Yahoo group). James Chambers, KE5LFN, made a motion that we move it over or rebuild it if it cannot be moved over. David Nelson, KG5ASU, seconded. The motion passed. The name of the Groups.io is to be

February 2018 The Peanut Whistle Volume 28 No 2 Page 4


W5PC, by decision of vote. We discussed the observation that Will Teague, W5KD, may have higher access privi-leges than other moderators, so we may need his assistance in attempting the move. President Thad Weikal announced an email invitation from Martin Lisius, KC5TQI and Chairman of TESSA, for club members to the TESSA National storm conference Saturday, March 3, 9am-5pm, at Colleyville Center. (Details are at http://www.tessa.org/.) Monday Night Nets: No volunteers were noted. RACES Report: Tony Guess, N5NRU, apologized for not having the applications out and printed due to his coming down with the flu. Tony also noted that ham radio operators could go to their local fire stations (and maybe local hospitals?) to associ-ate themselves with and participate at that fire department in the Hospital RAC net that happens on the last Friday of the month. The net occurs on the 147.04 repeater and the net covers the Palo Pinto, Parker, Johnson and Som-ervell Counties. Secondly, Tony gave an update about the status of the radios at the Parker County EMS facility. The HF capabili-ties are down, due to an improper install of amateur radio antennas and flex line, but we do have working VHF and UHF. He has applied to Kit Marshall to replace those HF antennas. Tony also said: “We are now going to send the orange stations with the trailer”. Tony notes Parker county CERT is actually better thought of than Dallas or Tarrant county. We’re more active. We have a better facility. And we want to keep it that way, and the only way we can do that is with people. Judy’s Tower: We briefly discussed current arrangements for the tower with the 147.04 repeater with the Parker County Repeater Association and also possible future utility of Judy’s (Judy Wolf, KB5JEY) tower. We also had a brief discussion of the new DMR repeater on Jack Nixon’s tower. And then we briefly discussed apparent and intermittent intermod issues on the 147.04 repeater. TRAINING & ADJOURNMENT: We informally adjourned around 8pm and listened to Daryl Pate’s presentation on Amelia Earhart. Respectfully submitted, By Jay Cox, KG5BZW Secretary/Treasurer


NEWS BRIEFS

02/28/2018 ARRL has asked the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The FCC has not yet invited public comment on the proposals, which stem from recommendations put forth by the ARRL Board of Directors’ Entry-Level License Committee, which explored various initiatives and gauged member opinions in 2016 and 2017.

“This action will enhance the available license operating privileges in what has become the princi-pal entry-level license class in the Amateur Service,” ARRL said in its Petition. “It will attract more newcomers to Amateur Radio, it will result in increased retention of licensees who hold Technician Class licenses, and it will provide an improved incentive for entry-level licensees to increase tech-nical self-training and pursue higher license class achievement and development of communica-tions skills.” Specifically, ARRL proposes to provide Technician licensees, present and future, with phone privi-leges at 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz, and 21.350 to 21.450 MHz, plus RTTY and digi-tal privileges in current Technician allocations on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The ARRL petition points out the explosion in popularity of various digital modes over the past 2 decades. Under the ARRL plan, the maximum HF power level for Technician operators would remain at 200 W PEP. The few remaining Novice licensees would gain no new privileges under the League’s proposal.

ARRL’s petition points to the need for compelling incentives not only to become a radio amateur in the first place, but then to upgrade and further develop skills. Demographic and technological changes call for a “periodic rebalancing” between those two objectives, the League maintains.

“There has not been such a rebalancing in many years,” ARRL said in its petition. “It is time to do that now.” The FCC has not assessed entry-level operating privileges since 2005.

The Entry-Level License Committee offered very specific, data- and survey-supported findings about growth in Amateur Radio and its place in the advanced technological demographic that in-cludes individuals younger than 30. It received significant input from ARRL members via more than 8,000 survey responses.

“The Committee’s analysis noted that today, Amateur Radio exists among many more modes of communication than it did half a century ago, or even 20 years ago,” ARRL said in its petition.

Now numbering some 378,000, Technician licensees comprise more than half of the US Amateur Radio population. ARRL said that after 17 years of experience with the current Technician license as the gateway to Amateur Radio, it’s urgent to make it more attractive to newcomers, in part to improve upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education “that inescap-ably accompanies a healthy, growing Amateur Radio Service,” ARRL asserted.

ARRL said its proposal is critical to developing improved operating skills, increasing emergency communication participation, improving technical self-training, and boosting overall growth in the Amateur Service, which has remained nearly inert at about 1% per year.

More on next pg.

Information on this page was taken from the ARRL Website

ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technicians


NEWS BRIEFS The Entry-Level License Committee determined that the current Technician class question pool already covers far more material than necessary for an entry-level exam to validate expanded privi-leges. ARRL told the FCC that it would continue to refine examination preparation and training ma-terials aimed at STEM topics, increase outreach and recruitment, work with Amateur Radio clubs, and encourage educational institutions to utilize Amateur Radio in STEM and other experiential learning programs.

“ARRL requests that the Commission become a partner in this effort to promote Amateur Radio as a public benefit by making the very nominal changes proposed herein in the Technician class li-cense operating privileges,” the petition concluded.

Prepare Now for Spring Flooding

Spring may seem far off, but it is just around the corner.

Prepare for possible spring flooding now before it sneaks

up on you.

Follow these �ps from Ready.gov to make sure you, your

family and your home are prepared:

Know your flood risk.

• Familiarize yourself with local emergency plans. Know

where to go and how to get there should you need to get to

higher ground, the highest level of a building, or to evacuate.

Make a flood emergency plan for the relevant type/s of local flood risk with plans such as evacuation, shel-

ter, and locations for high ground.

Build or restock your emergency preparedness kit, including a minimum of 3 days of food and water, flash-

light, batteries, cash, prescription medications and first aid supplies.

Consider buying flood insurance. Homeowners and renters insurance do not typically cover flood damage.

Stay tuned to your phone alerts, TV, or radio for weather updates, emergency instructions, or evacuation

orders.

For more flood safety informa�on, download the How to Prepare for a Flood guide.

Information on floods was taken from the FEMA email.

Information on this page was taken from the ARRL Website

Membership Application/Renewal form 2018

W5PC

www.w5pc.org

AMATEUR RADIO CLUB OF PARKER COUNTY, INC. P.O. BOX 1795 WEATHERFORD, TX 76086

ARCPC INFORMATION NET Mondays at 8:00 pm on 147.040 (Tone 110.9)

MEETINGS The Amateur Radio Club of Parker County holds general membership meetings Throughout the year on a monthly basis the second Tuesday of each month beginning at

7:00pm at the Parker County EOC 215 Trinity Street, Weatherford, Texas 76086.

AMATEUR RADIO CLUB OF PARKER COUNTY MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

NAME: ____________________________________________ CALL SIGN: __________________ LICENSE CLASS: (E)(A)(G)(T)(N) ARRL MEMBER: (YES) (NO) STATUS: (NEW) (RENEWAL) (CIRCLE APPLICABLE ANSWERS ON ABOVE LINE)

ADDRESS: ___________________________________ EMAIL ADDRESS: _________________ CITY: _______________________ STATE: __________ ZIP (plus 4): ____________—_________ PHONE: HOME: _____________________________ WORK: _____________________________

(+ 1 same household or full time college

student)(Add an additional $5.00 if you wish to receive a hard copy of the newsletter).

HAM FAMILY MEMBER NAME: _____________________________________

CALL SIGN: ______________

Cut out and mail this application to the ARCPC Secretary/Treasurer along with you check or money order for

the amount due. Or, bring it to the next regular club meeting.

WC5C Net Thursdays at 8:00 pm on 147.1600+ (Tone 110.9)

INIIATION FEE: One time initiation fee per family - $5.00

ANNUAL DUES: $15.00. HAM FAMILY MEMBERSHIP: $20.00

the peanut whistle - w5pc.org arcpc newsletter.pdf · club meeting — u.s. callsign history — by...

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