THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR - November 2007 NOTE: An HTML version is available at www.mvrc.qzxservices.com. A pdf file of the web edition is available at http://www.mvrc.qzxservices.com/pdf/LO0712.pdf. It will be easy to print that edition. If you do not have the free pdf reader, you can get it at http://www.adobe.com TABLE OF CONTENTS COMING EVENTS PRESIDENT"S CORNER LOCAL OSCILLATOR CHRISTMAS DINNER CARE AND FEEDING OF RF CONNECTORS SS DUES BUDGET 2008 INCOME/EXPENSES UNCLASSIFIED INCOME/EXPENSE BACK PAGE COMING EVENTS Sun CW net 7.142 MHz 4:00PM M-F 6 m FM net 52.540 6:00AM 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) 10 AM TTH Informal get together Wal-Mart E (Walton) 10 AM Dec ? Christmas Dinner Furr's Jan 5 Breakfast 8 AM Club House Jan 5 Business meeting 9 AM Club House Jan 9 Directors meeting 7 PM Club House PRESIDENT'S CORNER KD5ZHI I want to thank so many people who have helped the success of this club. From helping with equipment donations, organizing events, making food, donating time to a committee, helping with cleanups and just all around work. If it were not for so many helping hands we would not have some many things to be thankful for. I thank all of you. I also wanted to say thanks for giving me another year as your president. I am looking forward to serving you and your needs. Please attend the meetings or call and let me know what I can do for you. I am also pleased that so much of the other officers and board are staying as well. We have a good working team. There will not be a regular business meeting in December, we will although have a Christmas dinner at Furr's Buffet again this year. The details will follow on the date and time. LOCAL OSCILLATOR. K5XY There will be no January issue of the Local Oscillator but the January events schedule is given in this issue. Some will have noticed that near the bottom of the home page of the Local Oscillator there are some links to current amateur news articles. CHRISTMAS DINNER There are plans for a Christmas Dinner, but the date and times are not available as this issue of the Local Oscillator goes out. When they are known, they will be posted on the Local Oscillator site, http://www.mvrc.qzxservices.com. A special page will be created to hold the announcement. CARE AND FEEDING OF RF CONNECTORS KI5FJ A low resistance connection is always very important. Oxidation just due to time will impede your signal flow. Each time you connect/disconnect, very small metal shavings are created and will eventually build up. You will be amazed in the amount of shavings and oxidation removed with a Q-Tip, paper towel, and BRASSO. The male PL-259 connector is easy to clean. The female SO-239 requires pulling some material off the Q-Tip.Be prepared to use 6 Q-Tips to get the connector clean and dry.A can of compressed air and rubbing alcohol can be used for the final cleaning. BNC and N connectors are more of a challenge.An ink type eraser pencil can be shaped and pushed over the center pin. I suggest this preventive maintenance be done twice a year on connectors that you routinely use. SS K5XY This article contains a few random notes on the ARRL Phone SS contest, now always held on the third full weekend in November. I am not one of the big guns, although I have won some section awards in the distant past. Now my house antenna is a wire running around the edge of my roof so most of my contacts were made from my mobile. The contest certainly has changed. Long ago it used to last for two weekends. Now you can operate no longer than 24 hours. Few now have time to spend long hours at the mike. The short modern contest does emphasize equipment to generate a big signal over operator skill. There was a big difference between the bands. Twenty meters as usual was wall-to-wall with CQ SSs. The low bands of 160 and 75 did not have many CQs because there were not enough people listening to support the high QSO rate required for a high score. Forty meters served will when 20 died. However I found 15 meters to be the most interesting. The low (read about zero) sunspot number meant the 10 meters was useless, but 15 took its place quite nicely. When it was open (during mid-day signals were strong and high power and a good antenna was not necessary). There was even reasonable DX with Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands coming in with strong signals. There are two main operating tactics; calling CQ or “Hunt and Pounce” where one looks for a station calling CQ and works him. The main operating skill is deciding which technique to use, when to switch, and which frequency gives you the most QSOs pre hour. In my case, my signal is so weak that calling CQ was useless, but, especially on 15 meters, I could usually work every reasonably strong signal I heard calling CQ. The most interesting feature noticed was that before the contest started, 15 was dead, when it started, signals appeared. After the contest was over, the band was dead again. It is clear that 15 is open more often than people think. DUES N9OG Club Dues for 2008 are now being accepted and are deliquent after April 31, 2008. In addition to supporting the various club activities such as Field Day and education classes, dues are necessary to cover the club house expenses such as property taxes, insurance, utilities, and clubhouse maintainence (please see our 2008 Budget for details on these). Dues are $35, single, and $45, family, payable to Mesilla Valley Radio Club and can be mailed to: Treasurer, MVRC, P.O. Box 1443, Las Cruces NM 88004. BUDGET 2008 N9OG INCOME 2008 Budget Bean Feed 400.00 Breakfast & drinks 600.00 Contributions 250.00 Dues 2,000.00 Interest Income 30.00 Equipment Sales 1,420.00 Education 8 50.00 Total Income 5,550.00 Expenses Bank Charge 0.00 Bean Feed 300.00 Breakfast 400.00 Club House 400.00 Field Day 150.00 Insurance 1,000.00 Misc. 75.00 NM Emergency Fee 30.00 PO Box 60.00 Postage 100.00 President's Fund 75.00 Property Tax 700.00 Repeater 300.00 Tax Exempt Fee 10.00 Utilities Electric 450.00 Propane 500.00 Water 150.00 Education Classes 850.00 Total Expenses 5,550.00 INCOME/EXPENSES (October) N9OP Mesilla Valley Radio Club Income/Expense Oct 01 to Oct 31 Beginning Balances 9/30/2007 MVRC Checking Account 5096.08 MVRC Savings Account 0.00 MVRC 1 year CD 5130.16 Education Fund Account 2222.53 Cash on hand 50.00 Balances Total 12498.77 INCOME Breakfast & Drinks (2 months) 109.00 Dues 35.00 TOTAL INCOME 144.00 Balances + Income 12642.77 EXPENSES Club House 146.22 Newsletter 4.35 Utilities Electric (2 months) 64.14 Propane 0.00 Telephone 28.09 water 11.86 TOTAL EXPENSES 254.66 Balances on hand Sep 30, 2007 12388.11 30-Sep-07 Bank Accounts MVRC Checking Account 4985.42 MVRC Savings Account 0.00 MVRC 1 year CD 5130.16 Education Fund Account 2222.53 Cash on hand 50.00 TOTAL 12388.11 ` 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 Tres Campbell KD5HZI 373-2008 trscam@netscape.net VPr Dennis Shepan KB5TPV 522-7466 KB5TPV@zianet.com Sec Bob Rossow KE5ISD 522-7445 fullback@zianet.com Treasurer Martin Winkler N9OG - - BOARD Communications Henry Schotzko AD5FE 526-1922 schotzko@comcast.net Education Tim Linn KD5SSF 521-0486 KD5SSF@arrl.net S pecial Events Jeff Campbell KE5KLH 526-2868 Jeffrey.campbell-1.nasa.gov Newsletter Alex Burr K5XY 522-2528 k5xy@arrl.net Clubhouse Bob Bennett AD5LJ 382-0148 rpbennett1@comcast.net 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 s end 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?