Volume 12, Edition 7                                                                       July 2008

   

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW HAMS

Shown below are the recipients of new call signs earned after the completion of VOMARC's 

latest class and extra VE session. A big thanks to all who made it such a success.

 

From the left, Rosa Molinar, KI6RTQ, Ben Nichols, Pat Reed, KI6RTS, Marty Nemiroff, KI6RTP, K6UUW, Keith Koch, KI6RTR, Kai Thomas, KI6RUO. Photo by N6KN

Minutes of the June 18 Meeting: There were 16 in attendance.  Meeting was called to order at 7:35pm. 

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Dave Dammuller, KD6FIL – President

Eileen Adams, KG6QNT, Vice-Pres/   Membership Chair

Joan Brady, W6WXU – Secretary

Ken McTaggart, N6KM – Treasurer

Mike Miller, WB6TMH – Radio Officer

Ken McTaggert, N6KM – ACS

Jan Bush, AE6FQ - Webmeister

Joel Nadler, NN6J, VE Liason

Jim Hill, K6UUW, Elmer Coordinator

Eileen Adams, KG6QNT – Editor

Receipt of the Wireless is one of the most sought after benefits of membership in VOMARC.

CLUB MEETINGS are held on the third Wednesday of each month alternating between McDougal Hall at the Sonoma Development Center, Eldridge, and the Sonoma Fire Station, 2nd Street West, Sonoma.  Meetings start at 19:30 local (7:30 P.M.).

WEB PAGE: http://www.vomarc.org/

Nets are held every Wednesday night at 19:30 (7:30 P.M.) local, except meeting nights on the 145.350 repeater, -600, PL 88.5 Hz.

ACS holds a net each Monday evening at 19:30 local on the 146.205, +600, PL 88.5 Hz repeater.

PACKET STATION INFO:  The VOMARC packet station is on 144.910 as “SNV1EC”.  “SNVGW” can be used as a gateway digipeating on 223.66 MHz.  The node name is “SNVND”.

CLUB BREAKFASTS are held on the first Saturday of each month at ISSA's Restaurant, 18999 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma.  The fun starts at 09:30 local.

Comments and submissions of material may be sent to :

Eileen@VOM.COM

 

Valley of the Moon ARC, Inc.

32 Patten Street

Sonoma, CA 95476  

Minutes were approved as published in the  newsletter.

Treasurer's Report: There is $2844.00 in the bank. The next bills due will be the Field Day expenses. The club insurance will be due in August. The proceeds from the sale of Jerry Sanden's equipment by his widow were banked and will be used for the education of young hams as are her wishes.

ACS Report: The next ACS event is the Fourth of July parade. Tom, KG6QJQ, is the coordinator of the event. Check into the Monday night ACS net for instructions and information for the event. There may be an email sent also.  The next scheduled event is the Vintage Festival parade in September. It is suggested that someone who has not coordinated an event volunteer to coordinate this event so the club has more people trained in event coordination. Participating in these events gives the club good publicity and builds good public relations. There was discussion of message handling. It takes 6 - 8 minutes to pass a message manually. Passing a message with a packet program such as Winlink speeds that up to about 29 seconds per message including the computer handshaking. Multiple messages passed at the same time take even less time per message. It is suggested the club look into this type of message handling to speed up passing messages between EOC's. MARS, ARRL, and the tri services are switching to Winlink.

Old Business: The ham license class is this Saturday and Sunday, June 21 - 22nd. There are 12 people enrolled, mostly high school students from Dean Knight's (KI6FFM) high school class. The class will be held in the public room at the police station and will start at 8AM. There is a new AV system in the public room that runs multiple electronic devices. A few of our club members will be trained on the AV system. There will be a VE session on Sunday. Dean is starting a ham club at the high school for the students. The club needs to help with this. It is suggested that VOMARC club members meet with the high school club once or twice a month to help the students learn about ham radio and building equipment. We can get the HF station at the high school going again also.

Field Day will be held at Camp Via behind the Sonoma Developmental Center on June 28 - 29, 2008. There will be a key in a lock box by the gate so we can enter and leave the premises. Call one of the club members to get the code for the lock box. The key needs to be left in the lock box at all times. Club members will monitor 146.205 in case anyone needs help or directions. Set up will be at 8AM. The contest starts at 11AM and ends at 11AM on Sunday. We will operate 3ASF. There may be a fourth station on 6 meters, but that will not be counted for the contest. The club has three radios. Anyone wishing to bring a radio is welcome. Tuners and filters are needed.

Darrell, WD6BOR, will bring the antenna tower. We will have the Windom from the EOC. Jim, K6UUW, will bring two computers for logging contacts. Dave, KD6FIL, will bring two computers.&n bsp; There was discussion as to whether inverters are needed or if the computers can be run on electrical power cords. Mike, WB6TMH, suggested someone bring an open wire balanced tuner to tune the G5RV. All equipment needs to have Anderson Power Pole connectors. If anyone's does not, the club will have equipment available to convert the connectors to Anderson. Jim, K6UUW, will bring his pop-up trailer so he can stay overnight. Anyone wishing to stay overnight can sleep in the kitchen or the cabins, but must bring their own sleeping equipment. It is also suggested cushions be brought for the benches. Dinner Saturday night will be at 6PM. The menu will be BBQ tritip, chicken, sausage, and possibly ribs. Also, there will be corn on the cob, chili, salads, and cheese cake for desert. Anyone wishing to bring anything else to share is welcome. Breakfast Sunday morning will be pancakes, eggs, sausage, and possibly fruit. Take down will be right after the contest ends at 11AM Sunday.  We still need net control operators for the rest of June, September, and for ACS, November and December. Tom, KG6QJQ, volunteered for June for VOMARC. Mike, WB6TMH, volunteered for both for November, Darrell, WD6BOR, volunteered for December. There is still a need for a volunteer for both for September.  

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15PM.

Jim, K6UUW, had a computer slide show of pictures of Camp Via.  Darrell, WD6BOR, presented a VOMARC "ropes course" and taught us how to tie various knots.

Respectfully submitted,

Joan W6WXU

2008 VOMARC Net Control Assignments

Month

Call

Name

AUGUST

KG6QNU

SAM

SEPTEMBER

 

 

OCTOBER

KF6FZM

DICK

NOVEMBER

KI6LNK

AL

DECEMBER

WD6BOR

DARREL

2008 ACS Net Control Assignments

Month

Call

Name

AUGUST

KG6QNU

SAM

SEPTEMBER

 

 

OCTOBER

KF6FZM

DICK

NOVEMBER

 

 

DECEMBER

 

 

Posted: 7/22/08

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