THE LOCAL OSCILLATOR -April 2010 NOTE: The text file is very difficlt to format. Nicely formated and easier to read versions are the HTML versions,available at www.mvrc.qzxservices.com. And the pdf file of the web edition available at http://www.mvrc.qzxservices.com/pdf/LO1004.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 BEAN FEED BATAAN MEMORIAL MARCH REVIVING PACKET RADIO BDM NOTES FROM WATERPONT #1 K5B RACES 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 April 3 Breakfast Club House 8 AM April 3 Business meeting 8:45 AM Club House April 6 Buider's Group 7 PM Club House April 7 Board Meeting 7 PM Club House April 10 Indian Springs Horse Race April 20 Builder's Group 7 PM Club House April 25 Bean Feed 8 AM Club House April 25 VE exam 12:30 PM Club House May 4 Buiders Group 7 PM Club House PRESIDENT'S CORNER WV5N Not available BEAN FEED The biggest event of the club calendar year is coming up on Sunday, April 25 when the annual Bean Feed is held at the club house. The poster said that set up starts at 8 AM but it is suspected that the best tailgating positions will be gone by then. In addition to interesting tailgate items and commercial displays, coffee and doughnuts will be available with beans (and other food) served from about 10:30 AM. There is a nice poster available in the html version of the Local Oscillator (http://www.mvrc.qzxservices.com). Unfortunately it will not reproduce in this txt file. There will be a VE exam at 12:30 that afternoon. BATAAN MEMORIAL MARCH KD5OHA It was a very cold, crisp morning on Sunday March 21 when amateur radio operators from all over the area met at 0 Dark Thirty (4 AM) on San Augustine Pass to pick up their meals, shirts, maps, and passes. Before proceeding to which ever water point they were assigned to help with communication for the 21st Annual Bataan Memorial Death March. The opening ceremonies began at 06:00 with the bugler blowing Reveille, an invocation, then the Star Spangled Banner. There followed remarks by the Commanding General and a fly-by of the F22 Raptors from Holloman. At 07:00 the first of 5,700 marchers crossed the start line. And the March was on. The first person crossed the finish line in 2 Hrs. 47 min. The last marchers (wounded warriors) crossed the finish line in thirteen hours thirty three minutes and twelve seconds. Many thanks to the following people from the Race Director, White Sands staff and me. Without their help this would not have been possible. Shad KF5EIW, Chuck W5UXH, Rick W3GWU, John N5WQ, Sandy KJ5Q,Dennis KB5TPV,Tony KU5P, Cash KD5SSJ, Bob AD5LJ, Richard KC5EVR, Charlotte KC5KWI, Henry AD5FE, Jack N5PK, John WK5C, Brad KC5SKE, Dave W7DZG, Vern WV5N, Kevin K5KMC, Turner Adair KE5WTK (ALBQ), Perry KC7VHS. Also thanks to Wynn Brainnin KE5HVQ and the Dept of Health and D-Mat teams with the amateur operators that backed us up. REVIVING PACKET RADIO WA5DJJ There is a group in New Mexico that is trying to revive packet radio on 145.01Mhz. It seems that there is a nice reliable network in place between Northern and Southern New Mexico along the central chain of mountains. It is fairly easy to use but not very active. I believe the low activity is due to the network's existence not being well known and a lot of us have put our old packet Terminal Node Controllers, (TNC's) in the closet. The newer hams among us have never seen how much fun VHF Packet radio was in the 1980's and 1990's when it was very popular. So, let's see if we can revive the nostalgia and make some Packet Racket. The MVRC has just installed a packet Node on 145.01Mhz to join the existing state wide network. It's call sign is N5BL-6 with an alias of LCNM. It seems to have good connectivity to the node on Caballo Mt. and out to the rest of the state. I have made up a drawing of the packet network overlaid on a Megalink Map. It cannot be put into this txt file but will be in the html edition at http://mvrc.qzxservices.com. For those not familiar with Packet Nodes, they are similar to repeaters, except you connect to them with your packet station to be automatically connected to the next node. This technique is called node hopping. You can work your way across New Mexico to Durango, Colorado. By going out from Jacks Peak west, I have node hopped through Arizona, down into Northern Mexico and up into Southern Utah. In the 1980's and 1990's it was great fun keyboard to keyboard chatting with hams all over the state. Using the Bulletin Board Stations (BBS), you could leave a message for a friend or download the latest Satellite data so you could track the satellites. I have found a BBS in Rio Rancho and one in Gallup. Most of the older TNC's have what is called a personal BBS in their software which would allow you to have your own PBBS at your station for messages. Right now the keyboard to keyboard chatting is very light. There are about 6 stations on packet in the local area. Many more are needed to make this a really fun mode to use and to increase the traffic on the frequency. So, you old timers dig your TNC's out of storage. If you don't want to use them yourself, pass them along to a newer ham and let them try VHF packet. There are also software programs like MIX W and AGWPE that will work with a PSK-31 interface and allow you to work packet without a TNC. My packet TNC is on 24/7 and can be used as a digipeater to get to the LCNM Node if you can't hit it. I also have a PBBS with the call sign WA5DJJ-1 if you want to leave a message. You can even use my packet station as a training aid if you want to learn how to use packet or want to relearn those things you have forgotten over the years. Packet Radio is also a great message transmission system in times of emergency. It has been instrumental in getting emergency message traffic in and out of disaster areas in California during the earthquakes and up and down the east coast during Hurricanes. Right now we have the basic building blocks for a great emergency communications message system in New Mexico. We just need more operators to make it more active and fun to use. BDM NOTES FROM WATERPONT #1 W3GWU The middle-of-the-night felt very cold. The 21st annual Bataan Death March memorial marathon seemed much colder on this March 21, 2010, Sunday than in previous years. Chuck (W5UXH) was waiting outside my house before 4 am. to pick me up as I finished a half bowl of raisin bran and a half cup of coffee. Goodwife Margaret had gotten up even earlier to make the breakfast and a couple of sandwiches, which I ate later at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). I grabbed my pack and tiny Yaesu handheld and went outside. Chuck and I got to San Augustin pass to meet our taskmaster George (KD5OHA), who was feeling fairly chipper, as he had convinced, without violence, over 20 MVRC hams to get out of bed and at WSMR at least three hours before the race was to begin. The pass was very cold but not as windy as last year: five layers of shirts and jackets worked well with scarf, hat, and gloves. Obviously a former infantry sergeant, George had everything organized: not just the hams but tee shirts, maps, breakfast bags, lunch tickets, MREs, parking passes, and his own gear. George explained yet again that he was told by WSMR persons to get us all through the WSMR gate between 4:00 and 4:30 am, because over 5000 people were expected. A good sergeant, George knows how to take orders as well as give them. After saluting George, Chuck and I drove onto the base and to our assigned spot, waterpoint #1. Of course it was pitch dark, cold, and no one around, and it remained that way for several more hours. We checked in on 146.55 Mhz. with KD5OHA and listened for a while to some ham traffic. Finally I figured out that I had my handheld at low power, 0.1 watt, and switched to its high power, 1.5 watts. Using a whip antenna, I could hear everyone and most could hear me. When our MVRC special event station K5B came on from the MVRC clubhouse, I could hear people going through the roll, but K5B couldn’t hear me, just a couple of miles away over the Organ Mountains. Fortunately a few people graciously relayed my call. Maybe that qualifies me for one of those special K5B QSL cards. While listening to the roll, Chuck and I commented on what a gratifyingly large number of our local hams were on site at WSMR and checking in with K5B. Chuck was using a higher powered handheld than mine, borrowed from George’s son, with a rubber-duckie antenna. Surprisingly, my tiny Yaesu had a better receiver though poorer transmitter than Chuck’s borrowed handheld, at least under today’s conditions. We were parked at waterpoint #1 facing the road that the runners would take. Once or twice a truck pulled past, including one towing a “water buffalo” water tank to provide water for the volunteers to hand to runners. At one point a truck about 40 yards away illuminated the road in front of us, and we clearly saw a very large cat charging directly at us. It was a bobcat, about 30-40 pounds or so, pale yellow. Fortunately we were sitting in the car. The bobcat came directly toward the left headlight (headlights were off), veered right around the car, and climbed the tree just three feet from the driver-side door. Chuck said if he had been standing outside the door he would have been knocked over or worse. For the next hour or so we were careful around that tree. Two volunteers showed up before 6 am., a woman and her teenage son. They set up tables and chairs, got some water ready, with Chuck’s help. They said they couldn’t convince the other volunteers to get out of bed that early. When we told them we were here since before 4:30, they said “Why?” which is exactly the same question I got from volunteers in previous years. A good answer didn’t occur to me. She said she had less than a five-minute wait at the gate. We told them about the bobcat. The woman pulled out her cell phone and called someone to do something about it. We were a bit chagrined that we had two ham radios and hadn’t thought to call anyone. But the woman knew whom to call. Within a few minutes six vigorous guys on three ATVs showed up, in uniform with boots, heavy gloves, strange-looking ATV helmets, and some bobcat gear. They turned out to be wildlife service people, not ordinarily stationed at WSMR but here for the race day. They were fully ready to roll so early in the morning, still pitch dark. They must have had a sergeant like George. They shined lights up through the tree, couldn’t find the bobcat, said not to worry, it was gone, probably. Later one of the guys came back in daylight to check again. By that time the woman had called her husband, who knew about the bobcat. He said it was a female and had prowled this piece of territory for the last six years. Later still, during the race, we came across the fresh remains of a rabbit just off the runners’ road, at the side from where the bobcat had emerged into the light. Eventually the other drink volunteers showed up. As it got lighter and the sun came over the horizon to the west, we looked east to the Organs and feasted our eyes. The Organs seemed to change colors every minute as the light got stronger. What a sight! It was maybe the best thing about being there early, to see the sky and the mountains glow out from pitch dark to bright day. As the day warmed, layers came off. Communications were good and we had some advance warning when the race began. We didn’t hear the cannon shot that usually announces the start of the race, but we saw the runners coming. The first was number 8975 (I think) as identified by Chuck, and I relayed the number on. Later we heard other waterpoints announcing the leader’s number, which was always different though similar. We thought maybe we had misread it, but when the leader was reported around waterpoint #10, our original number came back again as the leader. Either the lead kept changing or the single leader kept changing his number, because surely none of us had misread it. Around the first 200 runners was a very old guy, very thin, dressed all in black with a black cap. (I know: some of us are also old, but he was older.) He had long white hair and long flowing beard. He was moving very well. For all us old guys, I cheered him on: his beard was better than mine. After the first 1000 or so runners the mob was quite thick, moving five and ten abreast, heel to toe in long streams as they spilled off both sides of the road. The volunteers were handing out many many cups of water and Gatorade, the 15 outhouses were very busy, and the piles of discarded clothing were growing. Many marchers were carrying full heavy packs. There were no medical emergencies yet, since waterpoint #1 is only about 1.5 mile from the start, but we could see a number of people were beginning to be distressed. One guy stopped for a cigarette. It seemed a strange incongruous thing to do in the middle of this severe fitness challenge: how far can he go if he needs a cigarette already at waterpoint #1? Later a bagpiper marched through, wailing loudly. I relayed this fact on to the group, but as I had the transmitter open when he passed closely by, it occurred to me that music is not supposed to be broadcast on ham radio. Of course, many people don’t consider bagpipe wailing to be music. Finally the last marchers came through, followed by a white van and a white pickup truck, signaling the last of the registrants. I relayed this information to KD5OHA and the group, especially John (N5WQ) at waterpoint #2. The volunteers packed up, and so did Chuck and I. We drove out of WSMR and over to the MVRC clubhouse to check out the K5B operation. Joe (KI5FJ) and Dave (WA5DJJ) were working 15 and 40 meters in the front room, while Fred (WB4AEJ) was holding down 20 meters in the back room shack. A couple of other MVRC hams were reading the mail and kibitzing. Lots of contacts had already been made by 9 AM. People left; John (N5WQ) and Sandra (KJ5Q) arrived from waterpoint #2, and stayed briefly. I tried out the very convenient computer logging system recently installed. It grabs the date and time from the computer clock, gives default vales for the band and signal reports (easily changed with the mouse), and brings up the contact’s handle and QTH from a reference call book on line, all automatically and super fast. Why did we ever do logging any other way? Later Alex (K5XY) came by, dressed for a wedding or funeral, and took a picture of Fred in the shack. Look for it in the Local Oscillator. Jack (N5PK) was around to appreciate Alex’s sartorial splendor. Still later when Fred and I were alone, he took a brief break, and I worked another commemorative station on 40 meters from Virginia. We were his 551st QSO, and he was our 311th (or so). When I left in the late afternoon, Fred was by himself, godblessing our veterans on 20 meters, still racking up the QSOs. He had been there all day, most of it on the air, and would stay more hours. As you know, Fred implemented and carried out the K5B enterprise mainly by himself as an MVRC activity. Tnx OM, fine business. And George, whom I’ve kidded a bit in these notes, did all the coordinating and planning for the WSMR ham activities, as well as operating the control station on site. He was at San Augustin pass well before 4 am and would stay at WSMR until after all the other hams had left. It took George months to plan this event, with many phone calls and personal contacts, not just MVRC hams but other, especially the WSMR people, and he has done this for several years. Tnx OM, fine business. On this day we got a great opportunity to do a public service through amateur radio, to honor the memory of those who suffered in the infamous Bataan death march in the Philippines, and to practice emergency communications. All in all, a long but rewarding day in amateur radio. K5B WB4AEJ Special Events Station K5B was chosen as the official call of the annual Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon at White Sands. K5B was operated at the Mesilla Valley Radio Club clubhouse on March 21, 2010. Wait a minute, that's a 1x1 call? Is it a bootlegger? No, the call is legitimate. Special Events call signs (1x1s) are issued under the FCC's vanity call sign program. To reserve a Special Events call sign, you must have a qualifying special event. That is generally anything that might be of significant public interest. You can check one of the QRZ forums 'Contests, DXpeditions, and Special Events' (http://forums.qrz.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15) that often shows listings of upcoming Special Events Station operations. Some that are currently showing there are K6P (Pearl Harbor) to be operated in December, W7W (Lost Dutchman), and W7Z (Snow Bird Field Day). Additionally, you can arrange to have your special event listed in QST. I've also found that RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain), RAC (Radio Amateurs of Canada), and WIA (Wireless Institute of Australia) are generally receptive to publicizing special events operation in their amateur radio journals. There are several ways to go about getting a Special Events call. The quickest and easiest way is to go to http://www.1x1callsigns.org and click on the 'Request 1x1 Call' link. Fill out and submit the online form. Be sure to select a VEC to assign the call for you. Currently, there are five VECs that make these reservations. I generally use ARRL when I reserve a Special Events Callsign. But you can also choose W4VEC, W5YI, WCARS, or the Laurel Amateur Radio Club to make the reservation for you. You must choose the call yourself (it must begin with a K, N, or W then be followed by a single digit numeral (0-9). You must choose the last letter (A-Z except X). The call may be issued for a maximum of fifteen days and there must be no time conflict (for example, you can't get 'K5B' on March 21, 2010 because it was assigned for the Annual Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon on that day) with another event. If there is a conflict, you can always choose a different call sign. The suffix 'B' in 'K5B' was for 'Bataan'. The five was the operating area where many of the victims and survivors of Bataan were from. The prefix 'K' was chosen because it is a popular U.S. call prefix. Special Events identification requires giving your 1x1 call as you would a regular call sign. In addition, you must give the trustee callsign (N5BL in our case) once per hour. K5B was operated at the MVRC clubhouse on Sunday, March 21. Operation began at 4 AM and ended shortly after 5 PM MDT (coinciding with the scheduled times of the events). Four hundred and eighteen contacts were logged. There were ten Canadian stations and three DX stations (Bolivia, Ireland, and Venezuela). Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico were also logged. As of Saturday, March 27, we have received eighty proper requests for QSLs (the calling station's QSL card and an SASE) and two stations that sent QSL cards [with no SASE]. We will continue to stockpile requests until they stop coming in. At that point, we'll count them and have printed enough QSLs to cover the requests we've received. We received a lot of kudos for remembering Bataan from many of the stations that worked us. A few actually knew Bataan victims and survivors. I was quite shocked when one station told me that their former local postmaster (now deceased) was a Bataan survivor and the man actually had bayonet marks in his back from the abuse he received during the march. There will be a session at the MVRC clubhouse [date yet to be chosen] to fill out the Special Events QSL cards, stuff the SASEs, and transport the envelopes to the post office for distribution. We hope that some of you will volunteer to help (you will learn a lot about QSLing). An nnouncement will be made via the MVRC mailing list. If we can get four or five volunteers, the work probably won't take too long. We are also planning to make an album of the QSL cards we received for the event. It will be on display in our clubhouse when it is completed. Elden Heiden (W0WGA) was instrumental in designing our K5B QSL card for 2010. He used a photograph of runners from a previous Death March along with the Bataan logo and added his own special touches. Elden is very gifted at QSL artwork. The artwork for the card was displayed at an MVRC meeting during the latter part of 2009. It was received very well by the club membership. I wonder what he will come up with for 2011? We'll have to wait and see. Thanks to everyone who came out and helped. We hope to make this a regular MVRC annual operating event. It certainly turned out to be a very special 'Special Event'. God Bless our veterans. We will *never* forget their sacrifices. RACES KD5OHA Upcoming races used to include April 10 as the Run Old Mesilla Race with Henry AD5FE as Net Control for this race. However that race has been postponed due to road repair. This was also the same weekend of the. Indian Springs Horse Race up above T or C. I will be going up to be Net Control for this race. Sunday April 18th is the rescheduled Horse Jump Event at Isacis Ranch off of high way 70. This should be all the races until the fall when the Run Old Messila might be rescheduled. OFFICERS Pres Vern Vonheeder WV5N 510-909-0069 vern@wv5n.com VPr Cash Olsen KD5SSJ 382-1917 kd5ssj@arrl.net Sec Tres Campbell KD5ZHI 373-2008 trscam@aol.com Treasurer Fred Atkinson fred@wb4aej.com BOARD Communications Henry Schotzko AD5FE 526-1922 schotzko@comcast.net Education Evan Salazar KE5ZRZ Special Events Terry Angle KF5DNS 640-9669 kf5dns@gmail.com 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?