THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR - October 2003 - NOTE: An HTML version is available at www.zianet.com/common/mvrc/index.html For this issue a pdf file of the web edition is available at www.zianet.com/common/mvrc/LO0310n.pdf. It will be easy to print that edition. If you do not have the free pdf reader you can get it at www.adobe.com - TABLE OF CONTENTS COMING EVENTS PRESIDENT'S CORNER OCTOBER BUSINESS MEETING CLUB SOCIAL BUSINESS METING FORMAT CLUB WORK DAY ARC-5 PARTS WANTED RACES GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING CLUB REORGANIZATION REQUIRED COMING EVENTS Week days 6 m FM net 52.540 6:00AM Mon R&S Net 449.90 8:30AM Breakfast Wal-Mart 10:00AM WTRA Swap net 146.88 8 PM Wed Net 146.64 6:45PM round-table 52.525MHz 8 PM Weekdays Informal get together Mon, Wed, Fri Munson Center Tue, Thur Wal-Mart (E) 10 AM Sept 27 race 7:00AM Oct 4 short business meeting Club House 8:00AM Oct 4-6 Tech Class Club House Oct 15 1st Wed after 2nd Mon Directors at Club House 7:00PM PRESIDENT'S CORNER AD5LJ As all of you know, the club elects officers in November of each year. The election of officers for 2004 is only a month away. Carleton, KC5MRM, is leading the nominating committee’s efforts to find candidates for next year. To date, only one person has agreed to be a club officer. We need a minimum of three more candidates. Please people, support the club and volunteer to be an officer. The club must have people willing to volunteer their time or it simply cannot continue to function. OCTOBER BUSINESS MEETING AD5LJ A Technician class will be held 3-5 Oct 2003. Normally we would have our regular monthly breakfast and business meeting on Saturday 4 Oct. However, due to the Tech class, we are modifying the schedule for Saturday. First, there will be no breakfast and no program. There will be a short business meeting starting at 8AM and as soon as the business meeting ends, the tech class will continue. CLUB SOCIAL AD5LJ The Social on 8 Sept at the New China Buffet was a success. We had 12 club members attend and all had a good time. Hope to see more of you at the next social on 13 Oct. BUSINESS METING FORMAT AD5LJ The board of directors is considering ways to make the business meetings more interesting. One idea will be tried at the Nov meeting. Basically, before club business is transacted, I will ask for volunteers to give brief reports on things of interest to amateurs. Some topics include band conditions, interesting happenings on 2-meters, reports on new equipment, antenna projects, interference, and so on. If you have suggestions for additional topics or other changes to the business meeting, please let me know. CLUB WORK DAY AD5LJ A clubhouse clean up has been scheduled for the mornings of 11 OCT and if necessary 18 Oct. The clean up will consist of both outside (weed cutting, trash collection and haul off) and inside work (washing and dusting the clubhouse). We have four people signed up to help. We can use additional helpers. ARC-5 PARTS WANTED K1CQH I am looking for both parts and complete ARC-5 sets. I am trying to put a World War II vintage ARC-5 station on the air and need dynamotors, connectors, transformers, coils and so on. If you have any ARC-5 components you would consider selling, Please let me know. Mark Maguire, K1CQH, 522-6039. RACES K5DI There are 3 races that are put on by the Mesilla Valley Track Club in the next 3 months. The first is the Whole Enchilada event down town and the races are early on Saturday Sept. 27 2003. At the last meeting these members said they can support this event. Bill - KD5UZJ Melonie - KD5UZF Cash - KD5SSJ Tim - KD5SSF Henry - AD5FE Bob - AD5LJ These are enough for this event so we are in good shape. On Sunday Oct 26, 2003 there is the second big Rio Grande Marathon and we will need a lot of help for this race which covers 13.5 miles. Last year we had 8 mobiles and it was enough but a couple more would be better. We use the 146.64 MHz repeater so everyone can hear everyone. Then on Nov. 15, 2003 the Baylor Pass Race which is a favorite race for many Hams and lots of runners happens. We will need all the Hams we can get. I would like to get members who enjoy the races and have done a few to try being the Net Control operator. It's quite easy but it's a lot more active than being a mobile at a corner. If no-one comes forward I will do it but hope others will try. GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING Saturday September 6, 2003 Program by Sid Goddard. "The Heavenly Body ": a tale of the history and accomplishments of the WWII famous B-25 aircraft. General meeting started at 10:05. Introductions of all members were made. The status of the repeaters was covered. Brad stated that all were operating properly at his last check, that he would check out some complaints on the 76 machine this week. Brad also stated that there was a good chance that the club could acquire some surplus radio equipment from a government source. More on this later. The Wednesday net has run into problems with the 64 repeater, it was necessary to use the NMSU repeater . If you look for the Net check both repeater locations. Volunteers were solicited for a clean up program for the club property. Cash, Bill and Henry volunteered A firm date has not been set to do clean up. It can proceed when the volunteers have spare time. The socials at the New China Buffet will resume Monday Sept.8. Please attend and enjoy. As of this date the Club has 88 paid up members. The roster also shows 4 life time members. A tech class is scheduled for October 3-4-5. Flyers have been placed at Radio Shack and the Library. After graduation it was proposed to have a general get together to introduce all the graduates and any new members to Club activities.. A Fajita supper for all was proposed. The tentative date is for November 8 at 6 pm at the club house. The treasurer's report was read and is attached. A balance of $8,056.00 is shown. A request for a screen door was received. With the installation the plethora of flies at the breakfast will be reduced. The President will oversee the installation. Two events are scheduled in the near future, the first will be the Whole Enchilada race on September 27th. Karl requested volunteers. The following signed up, Bill, Melanie, Cash, Tim, Henry, and Bob. A second event, the Rio Grande Marathon, is pending October 26th. Details for the Clubs Christmas dinner are still pending. The nomination Committee for 2004 is still hard at work on this project. On Saturday October 4, 2003 there will be no program or breakfast... BUT there will be a short meeting for the submission of candidates from the nominating committee for 2004.. The meeting will start at 0800. As there was no other new business the meeting adjourned at 10:40. Acting Secretary D. Hicks CLUB REORGANIZATION REQUIRED K5DI As we have gone along so far this year the Club has lost meeting attendance, fewer people than last year paid dues, and though the President has tried Saturday meetings and Program first, there is an air of a Club about to fail. This year we re-wrote the Club Charter and were careful to be certain everything is covered if the Club fails. I think the root reason the Club is failing is due to two main factors. The first we MUST put RADIO back into the club by making radio the only topic of discussion at meetings. We need to put Search and Rescue back into the Club with the MVTC races we now cover. We need to identify other functions that are clearly radio oriented like the November 8, 2003 Elmer meeting Cash Olsen is hosting. The second reason is our devotion to the Clubhouse. It is a fine structure but it's a bit out of town. Seating has been fine for our meetings now, but it will not be large enough if half the membership comes to a meeting. We need to find a meeting place more in town and able to seat 60-70 people. This will not be easy but it needs to get started if the Club wants to survive. We need to make MVRC a club we want to be a member of because it's fun and it's about radio. BACK PAGE The newsletter is always looking for articles and notes of interest to the members of the Mesilla Valley Radio Club. Please send them to Alex. F. Burr, K5XY, Editor, MVRC Local Oscillator, 695 Stone Canyon Drive, Las Cruces, NM 88011. Small personal ads from members will also be published. It would be helpful if submissions would be made in a machine readable form. MSDOS disks are welcome. Files can also be sent to the Internet address aburr@aol.com. The club maintains a web site at http://www.zianet.com/mvrc. OFFICERS Pres Bob Bennett AD5LJ 382-0148 rbennett@zianet.com VPr Doug Hicks KE5FF 522-2683 domad1@msn.com Sec Marnie Leverett KA2FVO 522-0347 Tres Rod Davis WK5I 522-6833 rodstree@peoplepc.com B'rd Alex. Burr K5XY 522-2528 aburr@aol.com Mike Homer KC5SKF kc5skf@zianet.com Karl Larsen K5DI 524-3303 k5di@arrl.net Timothy Linn KD5SSF 521-0486 timlinn@sprynet.com Cash Olsen KD5SSJ 382-1917 casholsen@zianet.com Brad Sacca KC5SKE 382-4380 shiekyerbouty@msn.com JOIN THE CLUB To join the Mesilla Valley Radio Club, renew your membership, or to support the repeaters, please complete the form below and send it with dues ($25 single, $35 family per year) to: Treasurer, MVRC, Box 1443, Las Cruces, NM 88004. Name: Address: Call: Class of License: Phone: E-Mail Address: ARRL Member? Yes? No?