©

The Newsletter of the InterCity Amateur Radio Club ~ Established 1933~~78th Year of Service to Richland County ~~

March, 2011

The ARES®

logo, “Amateur Radio Emergency Service®

” and “ARES®

” are registered service marks of the American Radio Relay League, and are used with permission.

“Skywarn® and the Skywarn® logo are registered trademarks of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission.”

This Issue Dedicated In The Memory OfDon Green K8ANC/SKPast IARC President 1956/57

Ham-of-the-Year 2005Passed 3/10/2011

Upcoming Events

April 2 – IARC Meeting – Nominations of Officers~~~~

April 4 – Skywarn Training – Norwalk High School6:30PM – Contact Danny if attending this session

~~~~May 12 - Ham–of-the–Year Banquet – 6 PM - Dutch Heritage

~~~~June 3 – IARC Meeting – Election Results & Field Day

Planning~~~~

June 11 – Safe Boating & Fishing – Pleasant hill lake~~~~

June 12 – Miss Ohio Parade~~~~

June 25 & 26 – Field Day- Thermo-Disc Park !!!!!!~~~~

July - ~~~~

September 9 – IARC Meeting – Details TBA~~~~

October 7 – Details TBA~~~~

November 4 – Details TBA~~~~

December 2 – Peel-n-stick night- coney night

ARRL VE Test Sessions

visit www.arrl.org/finding-an-exam-session

DX, WLOTA® & IOTA Updatesbulletin was made possible with information provided by the ARRL web site DX Bulletin

which is available at www.arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-dx

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS, V4. Jon, W5JON and Cathy, W5HAM are QRV as V47JA and V4/W5HAM, respectively, from Calypso Bay, IOTA NA-104, until March 30. Activity is on 80 to 6 meters using SSB. QSL both calls via W5JON.

GHANA, 9G. Rob, PA3DEW and Vincent, PA3FQX will be QRV as 9G1AA from March 1 to 20 while on work assignment at the Dorma Ahenkro Hospital. Activity will be on 20 and 15 meters using mostly SSB. QSL via PA3ERA

CRETE, SV9. Willi, DJ7RJ is QRV as SV9/DJ7RJ until March 15. Activity is on 160 to 6 meters using CW and SSB, with a preference for the lowbands. QSL to home call.

WEST KIRIBATI, T30. Jacek, SP5EAQ and Jacek, SP5DRH will be QRV as T30AQ and

T30RH, respectively, from Tarawa, IOTA OC-017, from March 1 to 17. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL to home calls.

REVILLAGIGEDO, XF4. A group of operators will be QRV as 4A4A from Isla Socorro, IOTA NA-030, from March 3 to 20. Activity will be on all bands with separate stations active using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via EB4DX.

CAMBODIA, XU. Nob, JA1FMZ will be QRV as XU7FMZ from March 2 to 28. Activity will be holiday style on 20 to 10 meters using SSB. QSL direct to home call.

ITALY, I. Special event station IO4UI is QRV until September 30 in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. QSL via I4JEE.

ANTARCTICA. Lars, SM4TUV is QRV as 3Y8XSA from the Troll station on Dronning Maud Land, IOTA AN-016, until the end of 2011. QSL to home call.

LESOTHO, 7P. Wayne, W5KDJ and Frosty, K5LBU will be QRV as 7P8KDJ and 7P8CF, respectively, from the Trading Post Guesthouse from March 11 to 21. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK with two stations active simultaneously. QSL direct to home calls.

MOROCCO, CN. Mathieu, MJ0ASP will be QRV as CN2MR from Marrakech from March 14 to 21. Activity will be on 40 to 10 meters using CW, with most activity on the newer bands. QSL to home call.

ST. PIERRE ET MIQUELON, FP. Allan, W6HGF will be QRV as FP/W6HGF from Miquelon, IOTA NA-032, from March 14 to 22. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters using mainly RTTY and other digital modes. QSL to home call.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, HI. John, KL7JR and Claire, WL7MY are QRV as HI3/KL7JR and HI3/WL7MY, respectively, from Hispaniola Island, IOTA NA-096, until June. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters using SSB. QSL both calls via KL7JR.

CAMEROON, TJ. Special event station TJ3FC is QRV until March 30 in celebration of the 51st anniversary of Francophone. QSL via F5LGE.

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS, V4. Halford, K5MV is QRV as V4/K5MV from St. Kitts, IOTA NA-104, until March 17. Activity is holiday style on 160 to 6 meters using CW and SSB. QSL to home call.

NAMIBIA, V5. Special event callsign V521NAM is QRV in celebration of the 21st anniversary of the independence of the country and the beginning of the Namibian Amateur Radio League. QSL via V51NAM.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS, VP2V. Peter, G3PHO is QRV as VP2V/G3PHO from Tortola

Island, IOTA NA-023, until March 18. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using CW and SSB. This includes being an entry in the RSGB Commonwealth CW contest. QSL direct to home call. ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS, VU4. IOTA AS-001 & IOTA AS-033 Respectivly Some members of the Amateur Radio Society of India plan to be QRV as VU4PB from the capital of Port Blair from March 15 to 31. Activity will be with up to four stations on all bands using CW, SSB and RTTY and EME on 6 meters. QSL direct via W3HNK.

VIET NAM, XV. Yannick, XV4Y is QRV from the Mekong Delta in the south of Vietnam. Activity is mainly on 40, 20, 17 and 15 meters from 0700 to 0900z and then 1300 to 1500z. QSL direct via OK1DOT.

The Lost Art of Cable Lacing

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

The Make: magazine blog is a wealth of information for amateur radio operators. Recently, they ran a post on what they consider to be on the "lost technology" of cable lacing http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/lost-knowledge-cable-lacing.html

The blog post does a great job of explaining the technique and includes several illustrations. One of them http://cdn.makezine.com/make/blogs/blog.makezine.com/upload/2009/10/lost_knowledge_cable_lacing/cableLacing6b.gif is a drawing from an old ARRL handbook. There are also a link to the Wikipedia page on cable lacing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_lacing

Nowadays, we mostly use zip ties to bundle cables, but there are disadvantages to using them. For one thing, to apply them properly, you should have a tool that controls how tightly the zip tie holds the wires. This is to prevent crushing the insulation.

Also, I've found that zip ties don't do so well when the cable has only two or three wires. They're just not designed to hold so few wires. I think that cable lacing would do a much better job of keeping a small bundle of wires together, say wires that connect front panel components to a PC board.

Cable lacing certainly looks much cooler than zip ties. This is the perfect technique for those homebrewers that want to make their projects look great as well as work great.

I asked on my blog, "Now, where can I find the 'wax-impregnated cotton or twine'?" and my readers came through. Hamilton said, "Apparently you find wax string here: http://www.kitkraft.biz/product.php?productid=1496. I remember using it for something as a kid, but I can’t place it." Ron McKenz wrote, "I notice that a number of telco vendor sell waxed lacing cord. Here are a few URLs: http://www.sourcetelsupply.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27 http://www.tessco.com/yts/resourcecenter/pdfs/clablelacing-FAQ.pdf and

http://www.oelsales.com/product.cfm/267/

Ned, WB4KBO, said, "I would suggest a large roll of dental tape and a large-diameter curves sewing needle for fabricating harnesses. I was told that this was the material of choice for lacing harnesses when i worked at Heath Company many years ago. Makes sense to me. Buy it at Meijer for an occasional harness, or a dental wholesale supply house if you are going into production. Also great stuff for kite rigging, vine lacing and many other things."

Mike, WA6ARA wrote, "What you want is Mil-T-43435. It is better than a cord, it is a flat weave tape, nylon, and waxed. It is made for cable lacing but is use now in the parachute industry as “super tack”. Item T1050 at http://www.paragear.com

So, there you have it. Links to show you how to do it, and a couple more links for where to find the lacing material. I now expect all of our homebrew to look a lot neater.

When not worrying about how to lace cable instead of using zip ties, Dan, KB6NU, blogs about ham radio at www.kb6nu.com teaches ham radio classes, and operates CW on the HF bands. Look for him around 7.030 MHz or e-mail him pictures of your beautifully-laced cables at cwgeek@kb6nu.com.

Ham Of The YearMay 12, 2011

6:00PMDutch Heritage Restaurant – St Rt 97

Have a possible person you would like to see get the Ham Of The Year Award? If so send a short message about who this person is and why they should be the recipient to;

Danny Bailey – kb8stk1@hotmail.comSteve Barr – kd8grm@gmail.com

Bill Reese – breese@embarqmail.com

You must be a current member of the IARC to make a nomination for the Ham-of-the-Year award. These should be in by April 1st so the award can be ordered on time.

From Times PastA look back at some past IARC newsletters

By original editor Edwin Fensch W8SOU & current editor Jay Bookwalter KC8GNL

This month we take a look at the November 1981 NewsletterLloyd Nelson N8BAZ was President of the club.

The headline article was “IARC Member to show scenes of Cardington Tornado”

“Randy McMillen will show his slides of the havoc at Cardington, Ohio at the November meeting of the club. Randy was one of several IARC members who were admitted into the Cardington area after the tornado hit because of his amateur capability in ham radio, which was useful to the rescue teams working at the tornado site.”

“Cardington was securely walled off to people who tried to rush in after the disaster hit to look around and probably take souvenirs from the wreckage. Law officers and the Ohio National Guard put a stop to that immediately and refused admittance to sightseers. Ham operators, especially with equipment, were made welcome and their expertise was put to use immediately.”

“It is reported that the scenes taken by club members will be included soon in the QST magazine”

“Randy's scenes will be included in the November program. The members will meet on November 6, 1981 at the Community Services Building. The meeting will start promptly at 8:00 PM.”

~~In the next article “Members of the MASER group report that they had a ball when they worked with the sports car races in downtown Mansfield on Saturday, October 10, 1981. Races by sports car drivers were held on Park Ave West, around central park, and on Main Street south of the Park Ave West intersection. This event was sponsored by the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Club. Club members who participated are quoted as Looking forward to a repeat next year”

~~A brief mention was next: “The IARC was formed almost 50 years ago. The club, formerly known as the Inter-city Radio Club, was formed at a meeting in Shelby Ohio in 1933. Several present members were charter members of the club and helped organize the group. Among these were Eldon Heck and Dick DeLong. Plans for a gala year will be formed soon by the IARC.”

~~Another article mentioned: “Bob Miller staged his annual SET activity on October 17 and 18 and acquainted the new comers to this activity so that they would be familiar with the methods and procedures during any such real emergency”

~~Next: The ARCOM group has donated a six meter ringo for the club's use, the rig has been installed and is in operation. The ARCOM group has also disassembled the antenna and it is being rebuilt so that it can be used as an emergency antenna.”

“The ARCOM repeater building has been purchased and will be assembled shortly. The ARCOM group will accept any monetary and physical help in aiding in the assembling of the building. Anyone interested in this phase of amateur radio is invited to get in touch with Maynard, K8MLN.”

~~The last article in this issue announced: “Plans are being formulated to use the club station now located in the Red Cross Rooms in the Community Services Building. The Complete station has been reworded (this as printed) and is in excellent shape. IARC members who wish may obtain a card from one of the officers admitting them to the Red Cross Radio Room to work the station. The club is planning to use the station in late November for the annual CW contest. All amateur licensees are invited to participate in this contest. Dates and times when the station may be used will be announced at the November meeting.”

The History with IARC And It's Newsletters By Jay Bookwalter KC8GNL with help from Scott Yonally N8SY

Yep it's been a quite few years that our club has had a newsletter of some kind. Originally It had been called the “IRC News Bulletin” and changed to the “IARC News Bulletin” Then to the “Airwaves Journal”. On looking up past issues and such I found the Newsletters began back in the 1959/60 club years. This issue according to records is the 52nd year of the publications under various titles.

The original Editor was Edwin “Doc” Fensch W8SOU. From stories I have received he was quite creative in getting it published by various places including St Johns Church's Ditto machine and according to past records by Thermo-Disc too. Gary Yonally WA8BIW who worked for Thermo-Disc was instrumental in getting the company to help do our printing of the newsletter. Gary was also a Co-editor covering for Doc when he would take trips out of the area. In the late 70's Doc had resigned as editor and then Gary moved away and for a short period we had no newsletter. Just a postcard mailed out to remind members of upcoming meetings!

It is interesting to see he had the same problem at times getting members to submit articles. The main goal was to have a publication that was for the local club members to enjoy. Yes we see QST, CQ, and websites on amateur radio but they are more worldwide where the Airwaves is made for local news and interests.

After Doc Fensch & Gary Yonally moved on Gary's brother Scott Yonally N8SY (then KC8SS)helped with postcards till in 1981, Jack Weeks K8RT called Scott with what Scott called a wild crazy idea that Scott would be editor of a newsletter for MASER. Scott and Jack got together at Hoover instruments and went thru all kinds of “stuff” from other newsletters, QST, CQ, and the other “rags”. They literally cut and pasted from magizines, newsletters and so forth as remember there were no word processors and such as we have today! Scott said his trusty Remington Typewritter got a major workout in those days! So did Jack's copy machine at Hoover Instruments. This is also when the mailing labels began and with Jack allowing use of Hoover's Computer Scott was able to spend a week putting all of the members information together which even included the expiration date of a member's membership.

Then in 1984 & 1985 Scott had to drop out of the editors job fro a while. This is when Pat Harris N8EBK & Peggy Boyle KC8NH stepped up and became Co-editors. They handled it for a few months before turning it over to Bob Swope NQ8W. During this time there was a newsletter committee which had Henry Koenig WD8Q, Bud Felger N8GBN, Harry Copper N8BWF, & Peggy Boyle KC8NH. This helped get articles into the newsletter each month.

Then in the spring of 1986 Bob gave the editors job back to Scott Yonally. Scott said he brought Bud Felger on as his Ad Editor in which any member who had equipment for sale would contact Bud and have it advertised in the newsletter. Scott also worked on getting regular contributing writters as well. These included members such as Phil Ackerman N8PA, Pat Robertson N8JOZ, Larry Roop N8RGO, Larry Rain WD8IHP, & Gino Mollica KA8YPZ to name just a few. During these years the newsletter was just known as the “MASER Newsletter” It had kind of competed for a while with what IARC was attempting to do, but it survived and the IARC version folded.

From there the newsletter became “The Airwaves Journal” in 1996 when Hi-Stat's Engineering Manager, John Stone took a special interest in what Scott was doing with the newsletter. He wanted to contribute, even though he wasn't a ham. John is the one to be credited with giving us the “Airwaves “ name and is also the one who designed the tower logo that is part of the IARC logo yet today. This was done on purpose as Scott said he really wanted to keep John's work in the spotlight in rememberance of him. Scott remained editor up until 2003when Jay Bookwalter KC8GNL took over.

Our club has won several major awards over the years as well. It has come a very long way from the grassroots beginning with Doc Fensch and becoming more modern under Scott. Scott in fact actually added the word Journal to the title around 2003 also which we all now know as the Airwaves Journal. As Scott told me It is called the Airwaves Journal because that is what it is, something that you can look back on and remember our history from. We both agree that we would hope to think that “Airwaves Journal” will continue long after we are gone. It is something that all of us who have been editors and contributors had a major part in developing and growing it for all these 50+ years.

ARRL Membership through Local Club

Should the IARC have this available for our members ?Club officers and members are reminded that Affiliated Clubs can retain part of any ARRL dues paid through the club. Clubs may keep $15.00 of the first year's dues for new ARRL members or returning members whose membership has been lapsed for two years or longer. Clubs may keep $2.00 for each regular ARRL renewal handled through it.

This is one benefit you can bank on. It makes recruiting ARRL members very worthwhile financially as well as philosophically.

To learn about the benefits of being an Affiliated Club of ARRL, go tohttp://www.arrl.org/affiliated-club-benefits. The dues management benefit mentioned is described under Club Commission Program.

The IARC used to do this and we were an affiliated club for many years so if our club still has the affiliated status why not offer this program. It can help make the club more money. More at the April meeting.

ELECTION TIMETime to make nominations will be at the April Meeting.

Yes its time for Nominations for officers at the April meeting. An nominations chairperson will have to be chosen then the floor will be opened for making nominations. Positions this year up for election are the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and one Trustee. The following are those who currently hold the positions shown:

* Danny Bailey – KB8STK – President - 1st Term* Jay Bookwalter – kc8gnl – Vice president - 1st Term

* Mark Dailey – kc8mkl – Secretary - 2nd Term* Dean Wrasse – KB8mg – Treasurer - Many Terms

* dave weigold – n8dpw – trustee – 1st Term

Requirements are as written in the By-Laws:

Nominations for Officers and elected Board members will be held at the April meeting. The election of the Executive Officers and elected Board members will be held at the June meeting. The newly elected Officers and Board members will take office immediately following that meeting. Executive Officers will serve for a two (2) year term and no more than three (3) consecutive terms to be served before they must vacate their office for a minimum of one (1) year.Anyone being nominated for an Officer or Board Position, elected or appointed must be a current paid member of IARC in good standing at the time of their nomination. If elected, they must maintain their paid membership during the entire term of office.

From The President of IARC

I.A.R.C. Members and Richland County A.R.E.S Members

I can not wait til the spring gets here. I am like everyone else tired of flooding and snow. But the Spring and Summer will be here sometime soon. Then the Radio Events start to happen. We

will be doing the Boating and Fishing Expo, & Miss Ohio parade. So we will be lookingfor some help with these events.

Field Day will again be back at the ThermoDisc Recreation Park on Logan Road. I know we have alot of New Techs. that will want to operate that weekend. And do not forget the great covered dish supper/picnic on Saturday Evening.

The Skywarn class was held Thursday March 10th. Gary had a lot of local pictures of storm and tornado damage from last year and this year. Gary wanted to let everyone know he was sorry that he could not have the 6:30 skywarn in Lexington due to the snowstorm that was supposed to be coming that evening. Those that are expired will have other counties to attend but if you are unable it will not be held against you. Also call ahead to other counties as the government budget status could cause cancellation of some of these sessions. As long as we have a budget passed in Washington all is a go, but if it fails then Skywarn gets cut.

Also April Meeting is the Clubs Nomination for President,Vice President,Treasurer,Secretary and one board member. I will need a Nomination Chairperson. The Elections will be at the June Meeting.

One last note Don Green K8ANC became a Silent Key on March 10th. I am really going to miss hearing Don tell great hamradio stories and the great stories from Don's life.

73 and ThanksDanny Bailey KB8STKI.A.R.C. PresidentRichland County Emergency Coordinator

Iarc meeting minutesmarch 4, 2011

The meeting was called to order by President Danny Bailey, KB8STK and those present gave their names and call signs.

Treasurer’s Report: Dean, KB8MG said that as of this meeting we have: Savings, $455.49, Repeater funds, $1969.11, Dues, $312.94, Checking, $617.

Membership: Tom, N8TWM said that we have a total of 84 members. 53 are regular members, 6 are lifetime members and 25 are members through the First Year Free membership program when they passed their Technician License. This is a 30% increase of members in just 2 months.

Technical Committee: Dave, N8DPW said that there would be a work session scheduled for , “Saturday March 5th” at the 444.700 repeater site to lower the audio deviation. At this time, John Eppley, KD8KEK talked about the work he has been doing with the Lexington repeater, “443.225” to try and figure out what is wrong with it. At the end of this conversation he made the recommendation that we send the repeater’s controller back to CAT with a description of what it is doing so they can fix it. Dave, N8DPW made a motion that we send the 443.225 controller back to CAT for repairs. Rob, KD8AZQ seconded this motion, motion passed. At this time Dick, N8CJS asked all of us present to put our hands together for John, KD8KEK for the work he has put into helping us diagnose the repeater problems. All of us present gave him a warm applause for these efforts.

Health and Welfare: Danny, KB8STK said that Don Green, K8ANC now has a serious infection. Mark, KC8MKL added to this that he has also recently had a mild heart attack and is back at the nursing home. He asked that everyone please keep Don in their thoughts and prayers. ( as of this issues release date it is sad to report Don had passed away 3/10/11 and is now a silent key) Dick, N8CJS said that his wife Joann had to go to Med Central for sporadic blood pressure readings and also asked us to keep her in our thoughts and prayers to. Rob, KD8AZQ made a motion that we give Don Green’s wife Kathy, KC8SNP a $50 gas card to help with her trips relating to Don. Myron, N8YOA seconded this motion. Motion passed.

Education: Rob, KD8AZQ said that our next Tech Cram Session will be held the first weekend of November. He also said that our next VE Test Session will be April 16th. Anyone wishing to learn about these and other IARC activities can find more information about them at our club’s website. This address is: www.w8we.org

Special Events: Danny, KB8STK said that our help will not be needed for The 5-K Road Apple Run. They only had a hand full of applicants for this event. He also reminded us of the Skywarn Training Classes which are to take place on Thursday, March 10th. The first class will be held at 1:00 PM at the Richland County Community Center on Longview Avenue near the Richland County fairgrounds. He said that there has been a minor change in the location of the 6:30 PM Skywarn Training class. This new location is at the Lexington Municipal Building/Police department located at 44 W. Main St. Lexington. There was also a short discussion of other events set to take place throughout the summer. These events will be listed in the Calendar of Events located on our club’s website and in the newsletter.

Ham Fest: At this time Steve, KD8GRM read through all of the figures regarding this year’s show. Overall, we were very pleased with the results. One suggestion that Danny, KB8STK made was to have the main door prize which is an Icom IC-718 HF rig and power supply shipped directly from the supplier to the winner. He also said that we got very positive comments regarding the moving of the forums to the John Hartz building. It was warmer and larger. Rob said it was better for the VE session too as they had more setup time in the old location.

Ham of the Year: Danny, KB8STK said that they have had several suggestions of where to have this years dinner and award ceremony. After a long discussion on this topic, a motion was

made by John Ness, K8NJ to have it at Dutch Heritage in Bellville. KD8AZQ seconded this motion. Motion passed. This year’s banquet will be held on Thursday, May 12th at 6:00 PM.

Notes of Interest: Danny, KB8STK said that the International DX Contest will begin at 7:00 PM tonight and will run through midnight Sunday. Jay, KC8GNL said that James Buck, WD8LWE has been chosen for the new Crawford County EC.

After Dean KB8MG’s drawing of 4 door prizes that Danny, KB8STK forgot to take to the Ham Fest, no further business was brought up for the meeting. Kris, KD8JBF made a motion to adjourn and Steve, KD8GRM seconded this motion. Motion passed.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mark DaileyKC8MKL

Don Green K8ANC/SK 1931 - 2011