THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR - June 2006 NOTE: An HTML version is available at www.mvrc.qzxservices.com. A pdf file of the web edition is available at www.mvrc.qzxservices.com/pdf/LO0606.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 PRESIDEBT'S CORNER FIELD DAY TECHNIGHT BEANFEED OPERATING EVENTS JUNE PROGRAM RACES HORSE RACE CLASS MINUTES OF MAY 2006 BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES OF MAY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING INCOME/EXPENSES BACK PAGE COMING EVENTS Sun CW net 7.142 MHz 4:00PM M-F 6 m FM net 52.540 6:00AM Mon YL Rise & Shine 449.9 8:30AM Mon WTRA Swap net 146.88 8:00PM Wed Net 146.64 6:45PM M-F round-table 52.525 MHz 8:00PM MWF Informal get together Wal-Mart W (Valley) 10AM TTH Informat get together Wal-Mart E (Walton) 10AM June 3 Breakfast 8:00AM Club House June 3 Business meeting 9:15AM Club House June 7 Director's Meeting Club House 7:00PM June 8 Technight (FD) Club House 7:00PM June 9-11 Rocky Mountain Hamconvention www.hamconcolorado.org June 22 Technight (FD) Club House 7:00PM June 24-25 Field Day July 4 Race - Burn Lake July 15 River Run 8K July 22 Burn Lake Duathlon July 29 Pinoeer Day Run - F&R Museum Aug 5 Summer Fun Fun Buena Vista Park Aug 25-26 Duke City hamfest Sept 8-10 Technician Class Club House Oct 27-29 General Class Club House PRESIDEBT'S CORNER N5PK Good to see everyone at the last meeting, to greet each one present and to welcome our visitors to the meeting. If you didn't make the meeting you missed an interesting program on power points, a good way to standardize all of our D.C. power connections for both portable and home use. As with most projects, care is required to properly assemble them, exercising due care as regards to the right polarity. June will be a rather busy time for the MVRC as all the preparation for field day gathers steam. Make plans early on to set aside time in your schedule to help us prepare for this very important event. This is the only time during the year that is set aside specifically for us to hone our skills in preparation for a full scale emergency should one occur in our area. We need your help if we are to be successful. I'm sure that Bob and Dave will have more to say on this subject in greater detail in this L.O. Some will be going to the Cloudcroft area immediately following our meeting to attend the tail gate/swap meet at the Chimney Springs Church Camp. Bring side dishes and a desert if you need something sweet. The meat will be furnished by the folks there. This is a good time of fellowship in the cool pines, attend if you can. I will be going to HamCom again this year in Plano Tx on the 9th and 10th, so I will be out of pocket a few days. Several of our members will be going out of town for the 4th of July weekend so we will need to decide at the June meeting if we should cancel our meeting in July or not. Come and let's visit about what would be the best course of action for all of us. Typically, the December meeting is canceled because the major part of our business is completed for the year in November and our final order of business is the Christmas party. The year is half gone and we've still business to take care of. Our station licensee and the ARRL Special Service Club designations are due to be renewed before year's end as well as the scholarship selection award followed by the nomination of officers for the coming year in October and the election of those in November. Seems like there just isn't enough time! There are still a few folks who haven't sent their dues in. Please see to this as promptly as you can. I hope to see you at the meeting. Meanwhile use due care and stay out of harm's way. FIELD DAY WA5DJJ The count down to June 24th and 25th is now under way. Time to start fleshing out our stations. There will be an antenna Practice Session at the Clubhouse on May 27th for the antenna Crew. If you signed up for that one you need to be there. The phone station will be in Rodney's Motor home and will be the focus of the HF PHONE station. They will have a Triband Beam and a dipole or two to give them full 80 through 10 meter coverage. If you have not operated a station like that, now is your chance. We still need operators and Loggers for this station to provide full 24 hour coverage from Noon on the 24th to Noon on the 25th. The CW Station will be in Richard KC5EVR's Motor home. There is at this time not enough CW operators to fill this station out for a full 24 hour operation. But we may drop a class and operate 2A class and combine the CW and PSK operation into this station. This procedure will save some operator and logger needs. The VHF/UHF station will be in Tres Cambel's Trailer and the operations on those bands is usually sporatic. But you never can tell when the VHF bands will open or for how long. Thus a need for constant monorting for activity. One has to be ready to jump in and get as many contacts as you can while the band is open. Club members who are not operating with us can give us a contact point by calling us on 146.55 simplex on the hour. We will try to have someone there at the top of the hour. This could mean a pretty good score if our club members gave us a call. The GOTA station rules have changed this year and I really need someone to be the GOTA coach. The GOTA coach is a person that helps visiting operators use the GOTA station to make their contacts. If a visiting operator on the GOTA station makes 50 contacts we get 50 points. If there is a GOTA COACH helping then the points double. This can be for a maximum of 5 GOTA Operators and up to 100 contacts for each operator. I am planning to keep the GOTA station active from noon on Saturday to about 7 or 8 pm and then start again on Sunday morning about 9 AM until noon on Sunday. If you want to help newbies get on the air contact WA5DJJ. (Dave Hassall WA5DJJ phone 505-532-1351 email: dhassall@zianet.com) Plan to come by a visit. Come to operate a shift or two as a logger or an operator. Come and see what we can really do when we all work together. SEE YOU ALL AT FIELD DAY. Missouri Avenue across the street from Dominos Pizza. June 24 and 25th. Setup will start Friday Evening June 23rd and teardown will be Sunday afternoon. TECHNIGHT WA5DJJ Tech Night for June 8th at 7 PM at the clubhouse will be on Field Day activites. Discussions on a winning strategy for our assets will be held. Some other preparation activities may also be accomplished during this period depending on needs that are discovered as we get ready for field day on June 24 and 25th. Propagation studies and satellite schedules along with discussions on how to copy the field day message from the ARRL will be held. Hope to see you there . Tech night for June 22nd at 7 PM at the clubhouse will be the final discussions on Field Day. Crew schdules and operators questions.will be gone over. Hopefully by this time we will have almost every thing nailed down tight and will have just minor issues to discuss and minor things to tidy up. Keep your ears on the HF bands so we can get a good idea of how the propagation is doing. The VHF/UHF Operators need to listen to 6 Meters if they can and see if you are hearing any openings. This is the night before the antennas go up. We can help stage that or any other odd job that needs to be done. Hope to see you there. June will be the last month of tech nights at the clubhouse until fall.It was fun being your Mmoderator for these sessions. I hope everyone that attended got something that they could use from the sessions. If I can help further let me know. (Dave WA5DJJ Phone 505-532-1351 email: dhassall@zianet.com) BEANFEED K5XY The 40th edition of the Bean Feed was held, as usual, on the last Sunday in April, April 30. All the parking spaces near the club house were taken by 8 AM and the overflow parking across the street was well used. Well before 11 AM, there was a long line out the door of people waiting to be fed the beans and other food. There were two large commercial vendors, Rad Comm and Southwest Antennas as well as some smaller, more specialized vendors. Some people complained that boat anchors were not moving very well but the club received more tha $1000 from the sale of donated and surplus equilpment. Sixty-=six tickets were sold, as well as about fifty commemorative mugs. Door prizes were won by AB5TZ, Al Hand, KF5CC, Jim Gillis, KD5SSH, Cash Olsen, WA2NIJ, Jim Leverett, and KC5HFJ, Perry Welch. A number of pictures are available on the web at http://mvrc.qzxservices.com/06beanfeed.htm illustrating the talk-in arrangements, tailgate activity, and, of course, food. OPERATING EVENTS KD5HZI On another subject ARRL Field day is coming. Several steps are in place for a successful weekend. Two weekend antenna check out parties and then the big week end at the end of June. On this week end we need more operators. Please contact a board member and volunteer some time. It will be well spent. JUNE PROGRAM KD5HZI The June program will feature a talk on satellite contacts. More specifically on the low earth orbit satellites, partculaly the FM ones. Learn about the equipment required, the operating techniques required, and the people involved. The presentation will be given by K5XY. RACES N5PK The month of July and part of August will be a busy race time for the Mesilla Valley Track Club. Don Shepan, KB5VLH, has provided a timely reminder. Please mark your calendar and if you are available. George and I will be calling for your continued support, which is always appreciated. The following is a synopsis of Don's most recent notes to me: July 4 (Independence Day Run) will occur at Burn Lake parking lot on north side of the wet spot. Needs quite a few people. River Run 8K. Starts at Picacho Bridge. South 4K on trail to point south of interstate bridge and return to start. Need maybe 6 people at most. July 15. Burn Lake Duathlon. I do not know whether you have helped on that one ever. I think that CLC provides all of their own support. (Don will verify). July 22. Pioneer Day starts at the big arroyo inside Farm & Ranch Museum. I do not think you have ever done that one either. Let me verify. July 29. Summer Fun starts at La Buena Vida park north of University and east of MMC Hospital. Two courses are out and back on University (to the White Antenna Tower)and return (5k). Second is out of back on University to point about 1.5 miles behind A-Mountain and return to Park (10k). Aug 05. Regards, Don" We try to use 146.55 simplex to avoid interference on the National Simplex frequency of 146.52, and may use the 146.64 repeater on Twin Peaks (East Mesa) is it is needed. The 146.84 remains off the air. Thank you for your support. MINUTES OF MAY 6, 2006 BUSINESS MEETING W5JRD The MVRC met at the clubhouse on May 6, 2006 for the regular business meeting. The meeting was called to order by President Jack Lemons (N5PK) at 9:20 am. Visitors were welcomed and members introduced themselves. Reports: Judy Davis (W5JRD) Secretary – Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved as read. Sandra Hempfling (KJ5Q) Treasurer – There is a total of $13,850.95 in all accounts as of April 30, 2006. So far the Bean Feed has netted $716.22. A final total will be reported after all expenses have been paid and outstanding equipment payments are paid. Member rosters were handed out. Current membership is 88. Dave Hassall (WA5DJJ) – Tech night on May 11 will cover Field Day orientation. 144 volunteers are needed for operating and logging for Field day on May 24th and 25th. The Field Day site is at the conner of Missouri and Don Roser. Bob Bennett (AD5LJ) The antenna crew for Field Day is complete. There will be several practice runs and planning meetings prior to Field Day. Two representatives from Search and Rescue gave a brief talk on their work and future plans. Both plan to obtain Amateur licenses. The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 am A program on Anderson Power Poles was presented by Karl Larsen (K5DI). MINUTES OF MAY 10, 2006 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING W5JRD Board members in attendance were: Jack Lemons (N5PK) Tres Campbell (KD5ZHI) Sandra Hempfling (KJ5Q) Judy Davis (W5JRD) John Beakley (WK5C) Cash Olsen (KD5SSJ) Alex Burr (K5XY) Joe San Filippo (WZ5R) Bob Bennett (AD5LJ) Brad Sacca (KC5SKE) President Jack Lemons called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm Reports: The minutes were read by Judy Davis and approved as read. Sandra Hempfling read the treasure’s report - The club has $13,850.97 in all accounts as of April 30, 2006. The report was accepted. We now have 89 Members. It was approved by consensus to transfer $5000 from our savings account to a Certificate of Deposit. John Beakley - There are no races presently scheduled until July 4th. Bob Bennett – There will be an inventory at the club house on May 27th for Field Day equipment. Alex Burr - Pictures from the Bean Feed are available for viewing on the club web site. Alex will write an article on the Bean Feed for the LO. Brad Sacca – Volunteers are needed to help move into the new county building. Joe San Filippo – Flyers are being distributed for the General and Extra Class training courses planned for the October/November time frame. Tres Campbell – Bean Feed shirts and mugs are still available for purchase. Jack Lemons - It will be decided at the June meeting whether to have a July meeting since it falls near the July 4th holiday. The Meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm. INCOME/EXPENSES Mesilla Valley Radio Club April 1 through April 30, 2006 Beginning Balances MVRC Checking Account 2332.45 MVRC Savings Account 9112.23 Education Fund Account 2491.03 Cash on Hand 50.00 Balances Total 13985.71 Income Bean Feed (food +) 64.50 Breakfast & Drinks 80.06 Equipment Sales 375.00 Dues 115.00 Interest Income 2.32 Total Income 636.88 Balances + Income 14622.59 Expenses Bean Feed 672.74 Breakfast 14.00 Utilities Electricity 28.04 Propane 19.25 Telephone 26.32 Water 11.27 Total Expenses 771.62 Balances on hand, April 30, 2006 13850.97 Ending Balances MVRC Checking Account 2195.39 MVRC Savings Account 9114.55 Education Fund Account 2491.03 Cash on Hand 50.00 Balances Total 13850.97 Sandra Hempfling Treasurer 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 k5xy@arrl.net. The club has a web site maintained by WA2NIJ at http://www.zianet.com/mvrc. OFFICERS Pres Jack Lemons N5PK 526-9428 n5pk@zianet.com VPr Tres Campbell KD5HZI 373-2008 trscam@netscape.net Sec Judy Davis W5JRD 522-6833 judy@davis-domain.com Tres Sandra Hempfling KJ5Q 373-1166 kj5q@arrl.net BOARD Communications John Beakley WK5C 522-7078 wk5c@arrl.net Education Joe San Filippo WZ5R 521-7574 sanfilippo@zianet.com Special Events Cash Olsen KD5SSJ 382-1917 KD5SSJ@zianet.com Newsletter Alex Burr K5XY 522-2528 k5xy@arrl.net Clubhouse Bob Bennett AD5LJ 382-0148 rbennett@zianet.com Repeaters 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 ($35 single, $45 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?