RADIO ACTIVE Newsletter of the Las Vegas Radio Amateur Club October 2003 Serving Las Vegas since April 1961 ---------------- President's Corner By Charlie Kunz, AA5QJ First of all, I would like to thank all of you who supported the fundraising activity at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sep 27th. Thanks to Tom KE4ULL, Bill K8XC and Carolyn K9XC for pulling this together, and to our members, friends and family who dedicated the day to helping LVRAC meet our financial goals. Look for the details further along in the newsletter. Second, after 3 years of slugabug work, we finally have revised Bylaws to present to you for your vote. They will be presented at the Oct meeting, then published on our web site for your review, then voted on at the Nov meeting. Since revision of Bylaws requires a 2/3 vote of the total membership, you will be able to enter your vote on the members- only section of the LVRAC website, if you are unable to attend the Nov meeting. Please be sure to vote. And third, its time to elect the persons who will lead the club during 2004. Howard K3HM is recruiting candidates for all offices of the LVRAC. If you would like to take an active part in the decision-making process for your club, then call Howard today at 256-3662 or send him email to hmark@earthlink.net and volunteer. 73! ---------------- Secretary's Report By Paul Webster, KC7QJR Minutes of the General Meeting of the Las Vegas Radio Amateur Club Tuesday September 9th, 2003 Call to order 7:04pm Tom Petrakis, KE4ULL Conducting Welcome and Introductions 51 People Attending Obituaries: Bob Hodges KD7NWI, SK Earl Peterson KF7TI, SK Secretary: As contained in newsletter. Motion: Dennis Cornell N7HRO Second: Jim Basset W1RO, Passed Treasurer: As Presented in Newsletter Motion: Dennis Cornell N7HRO Second:Unidentified Passed Trustee: Problems with the link between the Hilton and Trop Repeaters. Working on it. Newsletter: 9/11 net this Thurs on 447.000, Local IRLP, and on echo-link. Librarian: Working on list for website. Antenna Analyzer repaired and available. Bob Hodges KD7NWI's donated items available for loan. Comm Trailer: No report Program Jack Cook, N8RRL, presented a powerpoint presentation on the Red Cross' Communications Response Vehicle. Channel 3 Satellite Truck and Red Cross CRV in parking lot 7:35pm dismissed to outside displays It was reported that the keys to these two vehicles were missing after the meeting. It's going to be a great raffle this month. 8:10 meeting reconvened inside. Old Business Silver State: Elliott Kushner, WD6FXK, Sept 14th and 21st. Need more volunteers for this months races. . Truck Race: September 27th We have booth F-8. This is a food stand. Need 3 more volunteers. MS 150: Oct 18-19. Need sags, rest stop operators and etc. Flamingo to Flamingo. See Joe Scanlan, N7XSD. Website: www.qsl.net/n7xsd Net Control Ops: Still short one control operator. See Howard Mark K3HM, or e-mail hmark@earthlink.net Bylaws/Elections: Howard Mark K3HM, November meeting will deal with by law revisions and elections contact Howard if you want to run for office. Ph: 256-3662 New Business Comm trailer: Tom Petrakis KE4ULL Discussed trailer accident during Determined Promise Exercise. Trailer came unhitched and was damaged. Request for donations for repair. Hat passed. Christmas Party: Friday Dec 5th at Henderson Elks Lodge. Pot luck. GPS Display: Byon Garrabrant N6BG Displayed Streetpilot GPS and discussed proposed antenna building party for 2m 3 el. Beam. Announcements: Revised By Laws to be printed in October Newsletter for a vote in the November meeting. Packet class Sept 29th here at NPC. Packet 101, please sign up. Determined Promise report in newsletter. Need to sell ourselves to govt. entities to get more involvement next year. S.E.T. Oct 4th. Want to open as many locations as possible during exercise, including hospitals and E.O.C.s. Aviation Exercise Oct 22nd. Problems with VHF – UHF link on Angel Peak. E-mail Charlie with reports. Red Mountain and Highland Peak repeaters now linked. Raffle The following won prizes. Congratulations! Bag and Pen Arnie ZeligWA2SOE Pen and Bag Bud Potter KC7QJM Radio Shack Headset Dave Friedman N0CLU Radio Shack Headset Bob Hoban KD7SWO Repeater Directory Bob Wescom AA7NR Multi-meter Curtis Cornell K5JJX Solar Panel Gary Hartman KK7LV Solar Panel Dennis Cornell N7HRO Solar Panel Richard Stage AB7ZI Solar Panel Charlie Kunz AA5QJ Radio Shack Scanner Ken Johnson W7BES Meeting Adjourned 8:55pm ---------------- Treasurer's Report By Jamie Gorr, N3TOY August – September 2003 Beginning Balance 10,028.64 Deposit 1,091.00 Sub-total 11,119.64 Expenses Misc raffle expenses 6.97 Trailer damage 500.00 Raffle Prizes 287.28 Trailer supplies 1,693.28 Trailer A/C 744.95 Misc 50.00 AES - Raffle 257.38 Refreshment 116.85 Plaque 108.82 MS Society Donation 100.00 Insurance (Marsh) 325.00 Newsletter 146.47 Sub-total 4,337.00 Ending Balance 6,782.64 ---------------- ARES / RACES Report – Sep 03 By Charlie Kunz AA5QJ Total Volunteer Hours: 200 Activities - September was a relatively quiet month, with members and leaders recuperating from Determined Promise and preparing for the Oct SET. - ARES/RACES/MARS leaders met on Sep 20 to formulate plans for the SET. - Upcoming Exercises- please mark these on your calendars and plan on participating: 1. Simulated Emergency Test (SET) Oct 4. We will be activating as many operating locations as possible and passing traffic between them and to the North during this exercise. 2. Full-scale Aviation Disaster Exercise October 22. - Vern Garman K0EGA AEC Operations/Training attended a planning meeting for the Triennial Full Scale Emergency Exercise to be held Oct 22. Although we do not anticipate any request for direct airport support, we may be tasked to support Red Cross and hospital activities. - Several ARES/RACES members participated in support of the Silver State Gold Rush road race north of Eureka NV on Sep 13th and the Silver State Classic road race from Lund to Hiko NV on Sep 20th. - Clark County ARES/RACES was included in the callout for an emergency management drill conducted Wed Sep 17th by Lake Mead Hospital. Our response was only simulated for this drill, as a precursor to more active participation in the future. - Twenty-five hams, including many ARES/RACES members, participated in a Packet 101 introductory course presented by Howard Mark K3HM, Byon Garabrant N6BG and Jamie Gorr N3TOY. The class included hands-on training in keyboard-to- keyboard packet, digipeating, and use of nodes and personal packet mailboxes. ---------------- From the Editor By Gary Hartman, KK7LV It was my intention to try larger print in the newsletter this month but so much has gone on and we have so many pictures that we are really stretching for space. We will do more experimenting as time goes on. Please don't think I have forgotten your comments. Likewise, we have so many pictures of events this month that it is impossible to get them all in the newsletter. I am going to make every attempt to have the disks at the meeting and if time permits, we will show them all to you. Not all are good for reproduction in the newsletter but show up much better on a screen. ---------------- Silver State Races By Gary Hartman, KK7LV It was reported that several members of the LVRAC club participated in the Silver State Races at Eureka and Lund to Hiko, Nevada. It was rumored that one member was hunting out of season. I am not sure that is true but the next club picnic will feature lots of venison. Arnie, WA0SOE, was reported flying pretty high during the race. He mentioned something about the guy flying like a crop duster. ---------------- Speedway Fund Raiser Results (Boy Was I Sore Sunday Morning, But It Was Great Fun). By Bill Cornelius, K8XC It was a slow and easy Saturday morning at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway as about 25 club members, their spouses, friends and children, descended upon the two concession stands that they would operate that day in support of the annual visit of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to Las Vegas. About 20,000 fans were expected. In the past six years or so, the LVRAC's operation of similar stands has provided income totaling about $50,000. That income, derived from hard work on a single weekend a year, has allowed the club to offer near free kit building projects (we bought the parts and lunch), install a linked repeater system, provided for wonderful raffle door prizes which frequently include HT radios, funded the annual holiday party with free door prizes for all, allowed for the purchase and outfitting of an emergency communications trailer, make donations of cash to the Civil Air Patrol and radios to the Metropolitan Police Department "Seniors and Law Enforcement Together" program and generally make the organization a viable amateur radio entity in the Las Vegas Valley. But what about this Saturday event? Would we make any money for a truck race? The day started very slowly. Few sales and low attendance was reported throughout the speedway complex and some gloom had set in. But what was this? A report surfaced that traffic on I-15 was backed up three miles as was Las Vegas Blvd. as it passes Nellis AFB. Who were all those people that now crowded the entrance gates where an hour earlier they only needed one ticket taker? As it turned out, the speedway had issued about 181,000 tickets, mostly for promotional purposes and the holders of those tickets had decided to come. The gates had been open five hours and no one came. It was now 4:30 PM and everyone was coming for a 7:00 PM race and they must have brought their friends and neighbors. Briefly stated, for the next four hours, the concession stands operated by volunteer groups and the several commercial vendors set new records for concession sales at a truck race and the speedway experienced attendance at what some estimate could have been up to 100,000 fans (NASCAR in the spring draws about 150,000 on Sunday) far and away the largest crowd ever to see such an event. Our volunteers went to work as only dedicated people can. If they ran out of stock they hurried to the warehouse for more. Bankers, who normally have time to organize their money, simple stuffed it in the cash box and went to the counters to sell. Our two outside beer kiosks set records and were frequently selling as fast as they could get product out of the case. And the cooks -- oh the cooks. I'm sure that no one went home to a hot-dog or hamburger dinner. They had seen about all they could handle for a single weekend. At this writing, the final accounting from the track bank is not in but it is clear that for about the fifth time in track history, with sales exceeding $41,000 for the single day, the Las Vegas Radio Amateur Club had the highest gross sales for any volunteer group at the event. And we are proud to say, that in conjunction with Nevada Amateur Radio Repeaters, Inc., (NARRI), amateur radio clubs achieved three of the four highest sales volumes at the event. Space does not allow us to list all the volunteers but they are the ones that were walking slowly on Sunday but with a big grin on their face, for they know that again they have done much to ensure the financial stability of the club and for that we will be forever grateful. Thank you one and all. ---------------- Technical Tip of the Month By Howard Mark, K3HM (AKA "The Voice of Summerlin" ) 15 Minutes – Really? The following information may be of some interest to those of us that can use AA (or AAA) NiMH cells to power our HT radios. The wizards in the Wisconsin Rayovac Corporation's laboratory have, once again, come up with new and exciting battery charging technology. Last year Rayovac announced a new one-hour battery charger. The following is a quote from my review last year: "One hour can now buy a fully charged set of up to four AA/AAA NiMH or NiCad cells or one 9 volt battery, thanks to the Rayovac Corporation's (www.rayovac.com) PS4 battery charger." Last year we thought fully charging our Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) cells in one hour was great. That was last year. How would you feel about taking discharged AA or AAA Nickel Metal Hydride cells to full charge in 15 minutes or less? Impressed? Ecstatic? Me too. With the introduction of something Rayovac calls I-C3 technology™, the company has managed to embody some very aggressive charging characteristics in its new charging system. I-C3 technology During a charging cycle the temperature and pressure in a NiMH cell increases. Normally "smart" chargers manage to keep these variables at a manageable level by externally monitoring voltage, current, cell temperature, etc., and limiting charging time and voltage/current to the cell. With "dumb" chargers, leaving a cell in the charger too long can result in excessive temperature and pressure. To protect itself a cell can vent excessive pressure, but doing so usually results in premature failure. Thinking outside the box, Rayovac put an important charge decision element in the cell rather than in the charger. The I-C3 (In-Cell Charge Control) technology utilizes a mechanical pressure switch built into each cell. During the charge cycle as the pressure rises to a point that might cause a cell to vent, the pressure switch opens the internal connection to the cell's chemistry. With the open circuit all charging ceases. As the cell's pressure decreases, the pressure switch closes and charging resumes. Rayovac is advertising these new cells can be recharged up to 1,000 times. The charger The new 15 Minute chargers are being offered in both two and four AA cell models (AAA models later). The four AA cell model, designated PS6, is approximately 1¾ inches tall, 5¾ inches front to back, and 3¼ inches wide. The charger is a new high tech silver color, has four cell bays and a built-in fan that comes on when charging starts, and goes off when the cells are charged. There are also two green charge indicator LEDS – one for each two cell bays – that come on when charging begins and go off upon charge completion. The charger's power is supplied by a wall transformer via a cable that plugs into a connector on the rear of the charger. The transformer/power supply seemed physically small for its output rating of 14.5 VDC at 4.5 Amperes (over 65 watts). This prompted me to call Rayovac to ask if the power supply was a switching design – much more efficient, but typically more costly– rather than the more conventional linear design. They confirmed that it is a switching design. Rayovac has promised a car power cord adapter for the four cell unit. As mentioned above: when charging a NiMH cell its temperature rises. charging a cell in fifteen minutes raises its temperature dramatically. when the charger completes a charge cycle the cell temperature can be as high as 65C (149F). One should allow sufficient time for the cell(s) to cool before attempting to remove them from the charger. An I-C3 cell's plastic wrapper has a conductive black band near the bottom of the cell. This band is sensed by two charger contacts located on the floor of the bay. When detected, the charger knows an I-C3 cell is in that bay and will initiate the 15 minute charge protocol. The charger will also charge non-I-C3 NiMH and NiCd cells overnight. Rayovac warns against trying to simultaneously charge I-C3 cells with any other cell type– so don't mix cell types per charge cycle. Comments I have been using four I-C3 NiMH cells and the new charger for almost a month. I've loaded the cells into a "ham" radio hand-held transceiver, a film camera motor drive, camera flash unit and in two small flash lights. The NiMH cells that came with the new charger are rated 2,000 mAh. As can be expected, they last noticeably longer then the Rayovac 1,600mAh cells I have been using and recharging with last year's one-hour charger. I've recharged the I-C3 cells at least six times in the last month and the recharge time never exceeded fifteen minutes. After using the new cells and charger I believe I'm going to relegate the older charger and cells to more mundane work and stock up on a few sets of the new I-C3 cells. I believe Rayovac has a winner with their I-C3 technology, and can only say "well done". You should be able to purchase the new charger and cells at most mass marketing outlets (Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Best Buy, etc.) by the time you read this review. ---------------- Packet Training By Carolyn Cornelius, K9XC On Monday evening, September 29, twenty-five of Las Vegas' Finest amateur radio operators gathered to participate in a new basic learning experience dubbed "Packet Radio 101". Sponsored jointly by the Las Vegas Radio Amateur Club and the Packet Users Group, hams from at least four local clubs were introduced to the basics of packet radio in a program designed specifically to allow them to bring up and operate a packet station such as that now installed at the National Weather Service, in the LVRAC Emergency Communications Trailer and soon to be in about 12 hospitals in the Las Vegas Valley. While no specific equipment was recommended, the instructors setup and demonstrated six stations, the smallest being a Kenwood HT with built-in TNC operated through a PDA; the others being more conventional arrangements of laptop computers and HT or mobile radios, either AC or battery powered, with a variety of makes of TNCs. The students, including 12 year old Ian Bradford, a ham in training, learned that a packet station may be derived from about any class of home computer (some were sorry they threw away that old 386) and is easily made portable with near any laptop computer. The class, which included more than ten "Extra" class hams who had never been exposed to packet radio, discussed continuing their packet education at a second session in October. If you would like to join this group as they explore Packet Radio 102, please call Howard Mark, 256-3662 or email to k3hm@earthlink.net. And a special thanks to Howard (K3HM), Jamie (N3TOY), Byon (N6BG) and Charlie (AA5QJ) for their time and effort in putting together a great PowerPoint presentation with a handout and for setting up the packet stations that made over an hour of hands-on individual instruction possible. ---------------- Coming Events October Meeting Demonstration on proper solder techniques for different types of coax by Bill Croghan. Lots of pictures to show for recent events that were too large to get into the newsletter. October Raffle ARRL Publications Bags with connectors Two large soldering irons By-Laws To be presented at the October meeting and voted on in November. October MS Bike Race October 18th and 19th from Las Vegas to Laughlin. Holiday Party December 5th at the Henderson Elks Club ---------------- Dear Abby, I am a grandparent who regularly takes care of our grandchild. We are not allowed to spank him or to be too harsh. Therefore, when he is acting up I take him for a little ride. That seems to quiet the little tyke right down. Yours truly, Grandma ---------------- LAS VEGAS RADIO AMATEUR CLUB P.O. Box 27342 Las Vegas, Nevada 89126 Membership Application Please Print Legibly NEW MEMBER (Please attach copy of license) RENEWAL UPDATE INFORMATION Name_______________________________________________ApplicationDate ____/______/_______ M D YR Call Sign _______________ License Class ______________ Expiration Date ____/______/______ Address _______________________________ City ___________________ State _____ Zip ______ Home Telephone (____)___________________ Work Telephone (____)___________________ Cellular/Pager (____)______________________ E-mail: ________________________________ Family Membership Name _____________ Call _______________ License Class __________ Name _____________ Call _______________ License Class __________ Name _____________ Call _______________ License Class __________ ARRL Member Signature ___________________________________ Your preference in receiving the monthly club newsletter - Club Web Page w/email notification The club operates on a calendar year (January through December) with dues presently at $20 per year. Dues are the same for an individual or family membership. Please send check or money order payable to the Las Vegas Radio Amateur Club (or LVRAC) and mail to the club's post office box listed in the heading of this application. Las Vegas Radio Amateur Club P.O. Box 27342 Las Vegas, NV 89126 October 2003 issue Internet: http://www.lvrac.org/ Radio: 146.730 MHz (QST machine) 146.940 MHZ (K7UGE repeater) 448.500 MHz (K7UGE repeater) Las Vegas Radio Amateur Club October 2003 Issue K7UGE Page 7 http://www.lvrac.org K7UGE Page 1 http://www.lvrac.org