THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR - May 2009 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/LO0905.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 CLUB NOTES 2009 BEAN FEED BUILDERS GROUP BATAAN MEMORIAL DEATH MARCH HORSE RACE UNCLASSIFIED TREASURER'S REPORT OFFICERS JOIN THE CLUB COMING EVENTS Sun Slow CW net 3.575 MHz 3:30PM Sun CW net 3.575 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 MWF Informal get together Wal-Mart W (Valley) 10 AM TTH Informal get together Wal-Mart E (Walton) 10 AM May 2 Breakfast 8 AM Club House May 4 Business meeting 9 AM Club House May 5 Buiders Group 7 PM Club House May 6 Board Meeting 7 PM Club House May 19 Buiders Group 7 PM Club House PRESIDENT'S CORNER KC5HFJ The usual breakfast and business meeting will be held May 2. CLUB NOTES KD5SSJ I have received a report that Perry Welch (MVRC President) is in the hospital in Utah, but I don't know the nature of the illness or accident. Please add Perry and his wife to your prayers. The presenter for the May membership meeting is Louis Poli N3OL, his topic is: The Classic Amateur Experimenter Rcvs, power amplifiers, adn antennas (and some really neat tubes) 2009 BEAN FEED The big news this month is, of course, the annual bean feed. One could not have asked for better weather. The Bean Feed started before sun rise. By 7 AM most of the good tailgating spots were taken. People continued to arrive until about 11 AM when the beans (and chile) were served along with corn bread and salad. In the meantime friendships were renewed, new and old ham gear was inspected, antennas sold, and old bugs admired. The street construction did not impede anybody and the overflow parking lot was well used. Southwest Antennas donated a very nice wire antenna for a door prize, the ARRL had a display and donated prizes. KI5FJ was busy selling prize tickets for the these prizes , including a large mystery box the identify of which most people never did learn. The club received a significant amount of money for donated equipment. The Bean Feed featured two organized events. One was a PSK 31 demonstration by KI5FJ. People stopped by the demo table and learned more about this interesting audio frequency shift keying (AFSK) mode of communication. Two types of software were shown transmitting and receiving test messages.MultiPSK, a freeware and MixW a $60 registered version where running on two Dell laptops. The PCs were connected together via isolation transformers. The importance of the correct transmitting AFSK level adjustment was highlighted. The unwanted sideband distortion from overdrive was shown as a poor Inter-Modulation Distortion (IMD). An excellent (GOOD) IMD of - 40 dB was compared to a poor (BAD) IMD of - 15 dB. VE Testing was popular. In fact twice as many showed up for the tests as had registered but the VE team was prepared. Five candidates successfully passed tests at the VE session held at the Bean Feed. Technician Test: David Meek from Alto, NM General Test: Doug Alford KD5RYX --- Deming, NM Extra Test: William Bretz W6TBC --- Las Cruces Juan Puentes --- N5XOC --- El Paso, TX Ricardo Rosario --- KE5UJG --- El Paso, TX More pictures are available of the Bean Feed. They will appear (perhaps not until next week, unless they are there now) on the photos section of the club’s web site at http://n5bl.org BUILDERS GROUP KD5SSJ The turn out on the first Tuesday in April was great, the count was 16, I think. Everybody got involved and there were 7 copper cactus antenna assembled and ready to be tuned. We actually sent DENZIL-KD5ZHK home with a tuned antenna. I have purchased a couple more lengths of copper tubing and have plenty of fittings (Denzil contributed about $20 worth, thank you very much). I'd like to make and tune a couple of extra antennas for sale at the Bean Feed. We had at least three builders of the 300 ohm Twin Line J-pole antennas. The second April meeting of the Builders Group continued the very successful couple of meetings, we cut copper tubing, coax cable, then soldered pieces together to make at least 9 2m J-pole type antennas. I think we got all of them tuned and ready for use. Don't be surprised to see lots of these out next we support a race or mounted on rooftops around the community. If you missed out and would like to build an antenna, let me know and we can help you build one for yourself. BATAAN MEMORIAL DEATH MARCH KD5OHA A big thanks to the following for there help with communications at the 20th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March on March 29th. Start/Finish George KD5OHA,Vern WV5N, Water Pt.1 Tres KD5ZHI,Rick W3GWU, WP2 Bob K5PPP, Verna KD5PUN, WP2A Dennis KB5TPV,Tony KU5P,WP3/9Cash KD5SSJ, WP4/8 John WK5C,Dave KE5IAH,WP5 Henry AD5FE, WP6 Bob AD5LJ, WP7 DaveW7DZG,Chad KF4ESM, WP10 Mike KE5FBT, WP11 Karl K5DI, WP12 Kevin K5KMC Sand Pit Perry KC7VHS. We had to be in position by 04:30 and the last person did not cross the finish line until 10:45P.M. This year there were 5,260 people entered A new record. HORSE RACE KD5OHA On April 17 2009 several Hams from Las Cruces and two from T or C. traveled north on I 25 to Exit 100 to get to the Indian Springs Horse Endurance Race. There were 2 events 50 & 25 mile race on Saturday, 18. The 50 mile race started at 06:30 and finished at 5:45P.M. The 25 mile race started at 07:00 and finish at 14:30. There were a total of 33 Racers in the Saturday event. On Sunday April 19 there was a 50 mile event and a 25 mile event. Those finishing the 50 mile event got credit for a 100 mile 2 day event. This race and the 25 mile race both started at 07:00, the 25 mile race finished at Noon The last person in the 50 mile race crossed the finish line at 16:14. Thanks to George KD5OHA, Kevin K5KMC, Perry KC7VHS, Bob AD5LJ, and Bob K5PPP & Verna KD5PUN from T or C for helping both days. P.S. The next race the MVRC will cover will be The Whole Enchilada Fiesta in September. UNCLASSIFIED FOR SALE: 40 Ft Universal Aluminum Tower 3 Element Triband Yagi 5 Element 6 Meter Yagi Rotor and Cables Contact kc7enb@comcast.net Make an Offer !!! APRIL TREASURER'S REPORT KI5FJ INCOME BUDGET ACTUAL YTD Bean Feed Food 400.00 375.00 Breakfast & Drinks 600.00 342 Contributions 250.00 97.44 Dues 2000.00 1785 Education Classes 850.00 220.00 Equip Sales & Raffles 1845.00 2053 Bank Interest 30.00 Other 0.00 TOTAL 5975.00 4872.44 EXPENSES BUDGET ACTUAL YTD Bean Feed 300.00 296.72 Breakfast & Drinks 400.00 47.44 Clubhouse 400.00 43.84 Education Classes 850.00 249.31 Field Day 150.00 Insurance 1000.00 Misc 100.00 121.15 NM Emergency Fee 30.00 30.00 NM Tax Exempt Fee 10.00 10.00 PO Box Rent 60.00 Postage 100.00 President’s Fund 75.00 78.96 Property Tax 800.00 Repeater Maintenance 600.00 212.91 Electricity 450.00 164.72 Propane 500.00 39.29 Water 150.00 59.91 TOTAL 5975.00 1354.25 AS OF 30APR 2009 INCOME 4872.44 EXPENSES 1354.25 NET +3518.19 OFFICERS Pres Perry Welch KC5HFJ 373-9171 Perrywelch@hotmail.com VPr Cash Olsen KD5SSJ 382-1917 kd5ssj@arrl.net Sec Jack Lemons N5PK 644-7207 jack_N5PK@hotmail.com Treasurer Joe Ostrowski ki5jf@arrl.net BOARD Communications Henry Schotzko AD5FE 526-1922 schotzko@comcast.net Education Special Events Kevin McNelis K5KMC 571-7326 kmcnelis@nmsu.edu Newsletter Alex Burr K5XY 522-2528 k5xy@arrl.net Clubhouse Bob Bennett AD5LJ 382-0148 rpbennett1@comcast.net Repeaters Robert Truitt KE5OFK 649-4173 robtruitt@zianet.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?