In This Issue Megan's Message and Musings 1 Meet, Greet and Eat 4 Public Service Opportunities 4 ED’S HAM BIO 4 Nets of Interest 6 General Meetings 2nd Monday each month at 7:00 pm Ottawa County Red Cross 270 James Street Holland, Michigan 49424 Date Presentation June 13, 2011 Ham Radio Deluxe Logging July 11, 2011 NWS Field Trip August 8, 2011 Working Satellites - Demonstration September 12, 2011 New DX Logging Software October 10, 2011 “Make and Take” Project Night November 14, 2011 Annual Banquet December 12, 2011 Year-end business and elections Megan's Message and Musings Recently the national nightly news has reported several tragic weather related situations, such as floods, fires and tornadoes. Locally, it is tornado season again. So far we have missed several severe weather events and damage in our own area. This started me wondering... What would happen if we had locally severe weather on such a scale? “As seen on TV” Amateur Radio is on the front lines of emergency communications. How would we fare here locally? Well, we as Amateurs are always prepared to assist, right? I wonder... Tulip Time presented a perfect opportunity to test our organizational and communications skills that will be needed, and I'm afraid we came up short. Tulip Time needed 30 Amateur Radio communications positions, but several went unfilled. This is an annual event, presenting one of the largest local Public Service opportunities in the area. We had a full year to to prepare, and could not fill the slots. So, why did this happen, especially when we have a pool of hundreds of licensed Amateurs in our area? Some time back, our Club decided that Ottawa County Emergency Management and its Emergency Communications arm (OCEC) should take over the duties and responsibilities of organizing and running amateur communications this event. We even 'voted' that Tulip Time would not be a “HARC Event” but while we voted not to 'run' the event, we certainly did not vote to boycott it! Perhaps many assumed that OCEC would bring 'their own' Amateurs from somewhere else, and they felt no need to sign up. Well, the OCEC does not have 'their own' Amateurs; 'their' amateurs are volunteers in the county who sign up to help! We advertised the need for Tulip Time volunteers at meetings, on the club website, through email from our reflector, and by announcements made during our weekly Net. Did we somehow fail to make the need clear? In short, from a pool of 300 licensed amateurs in the Holland area, 60 are members of the Holland Amateur Radio Club, and only a few dozen volunteered their time and talents to support an event that was as well organized as possible. Given these statistics I have concerns that Amateur Radio may not be able to provide emergency communications support in our area. So, I dusted off my copy of FCC Part 97and noticed right away that the “Basis and Purpose” states: The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles: (a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications. (b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art. (c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art. (d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts. (e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill. I found that the title is “Amateur Radio Service” and that “voluntary noncommercial communication service” is right up front. I also searched, but the word “hobby” does not appear anywhere in FCC Part 97, or in our Constitution or By-Laws, either. So, it seems that our participation in this 'hobby' is really training in disguise, and that the FCC expects us to participate. The Basis and Purpose , with its emphasis on Service, is incorporated into the Preamble of our Club's Constitution. We have been recognized as a Special Service Club by the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) so I wonder if we will continue to deserve this recognition without service to the community? While we proudly point to Amateur Radio and how we would will serve when called, without training and exercise we may find that we have become of little or no service. Is the Holland Amateur Radio Club a Service Club, or would the members prefer a social club? Plan to attend the September 12th General Meeting (member or not) to discuss your views. The Board would also welcome your feedback before the meeting. Please think this over while you enjoy a fun and safe summer. Megan Heyl WO0MEG President Meet, Greet and Eat Times and places to meet for food and refreshment Donuts at Donutville Each Wednesday at 2:30pm, Donutville - 676 Michigan Avenue in Holland. “HAM is for Breakfast” Last Saturday of each month at 9:00am. Southside Inn - 192 West 35th Street in Holland (just east of Washington Avenue) in the back room. Members, spouses, friends, family, and anyone else interested in amateur radio, or food, are welcome. Public Service Opportunities Please contact each event's coordinator for more information. Parade of Lights November 2011 Ivan DeWitt, K8EMU idewitt@charter.net ED’S HAM BIO My first license was issued in the fall of 1985, KA8VPO. That Christmas vacation our family traveled to Florida for a week of fun at Disney. All the way down and back I tried hard to make a contact on the handy-talkie and my “rubber duckie”. I learned fast that some power and a little gain would have helped a lot. Prior to 1985 I had some decline in my eyesight thus didn’t participate in games with baseballs, basketballs and volley balls. No one wanted to wrestle with me either. So I started looking for a hobby in which I could have fun safely. One warm summer night my family and I were camping when I picked up one of the “talking books” to read and it was an Introduction to HAM Radio. By bedtime the book was done and I was hooked. Soon after that I called Dave, WA8RSA, because I knew him from Boy Scouts and High School and that he talked on HAM Radio. The Holland Amateur Radio Club offered a Fall Novice class and I enrolled. By Christmas I had the Novice and Technician tickets. So I took that first Kenwood 2500 HT to Florida. My interest from the beginning was really to talk around the world. To do that I needed a General license. Dave fired me up again by inviting me to tour his shack. I remember talking on his rig to a Canadian somewhere in the “prairie provinces”. That synched it for me. No classes above Novice were offered by the HARC at that time. So I studied on my own with the help of tapes from the HANDIHAM organization and passed the General exam and became N8GMJ BY Spring. Early the next Summer Jim, KC8KE and Dave, WA8RSA helped me put my first beam up above the big maple tree next to my house. Shortly after that on a warm summer night I sat in my shack scanning the phone bands when I heard a call from the South Pole. It was a research scientist who wanted a phone patch to relatives in Ohio. It just so happened that I was set up to do the phone patch operation. I responded and said I could help. I sat in wonder as I connected him via my station and the phone patch to his relatives. I continued to run patches for a number of missionaries who were located in South America. That gave me much satisfaction knowing I was helping someone get in touch with friends and relatives. I had been teaching sixth grade for a number of years and was always looking for ways to spice up the lessons. I became one of the few licensed amateur radio operators to get paid for teaching about HAM radio. Now there are many classroom teachers who also have a HAM ticket. The HARC helped locate a rig and antenna for my class of sixth graders. Over the next 15 years I made classroom QSO’S with many Canadian and Latin American operators. They helped make the learning about those parts of the world a little more real to the kids. After retirement from teaching in 2000, my wife and I began to travel across the country. That’s when my interest in operating mobile intensified. Our red truck hosts up to seven antennas at one time. The frequencies range from HF, to VHF, to UHF, to satellite. (But of course the last is XM radio) I have met many very friendly HAMS in our travels, both on the air and in person (eyeball contact) When I call CQ and say my QTH is Sugar Island, it starts some nice QSO’S. While traveling in Alaska in 2009 I had a great time talking with KL3BD, Bob when he was climbing Mt. Mckinley. That was a thrill! Still today I communicate with several people whom I met on the air in Alaska via IRLP. Over the years I have helped with the MS bike ride, Tulip Time, Skywarn, swaps, talk-ins, as have many HARC members. The favorite activity for me, however, over the years has been “Field Day”. I served a couple of years as the HARC secretary and It has been my pleasure to be the education chair for HARC since 2000 and the Monday night net manager for several years. The HARC members have given me much help with antennas, rig set-up and other types of assistance;. So it has been great to contribute to the welfare of the HARC in ways I could. My current call is KF8EV. So if you hear me on the air, give me a call and another “bean for the pot” log. I might be in Zeeland or somewhere around the country. 73, Ed Heyboer, KF8EV Editor's Note: Ed currently serves as Education Committee chair and Net Manager for the Monday night 2M Net. Nets of Interest Compiled by Tom Wilson, KD8DEG. All frequencies are in MHz unless otherwise noted. Times are Local (Eastern) unless noted as UTC Sunday 8:30 AM 50.400 AM Grand Rapids 8:00 PM 145.270 FM Lowell Club 8:00 PM 50.400 AM Kalamazoo, Gary K8BKB 8:00 PM 147.240 FM Allegan, Jim AC8AG 9:00 PM 50.150 USB Zeeland, Charlie N8QEM 9:30 PM 144.155 USB Holland, Bill K8NFT 2000 UTC 14.053 CW 3905 Century Club 20M CW WAS Net 0400 UTC 3.547 CW 3905 Century Club slow speed CW Net , or down 1-2 kHz Monday 7:30 PM 147.060+ FM HARC 2m Net. Ed, KF8EV, Net Manager 0200 UTC 7.046 CW 3905 Century Club 40M CW WAS Net Tuesday 7:00 PM 144.222 USB Kalamazoo, K8BKB Gary 8:00 PM 144.222 AM Kalamazoo, WJ8L Phil 9:30 PM 50.300 USB Kalamazoo, K8BKB Gary 9:00 PM 145.270 FM MDXA, Dave KC8PCL 9:30 PM 50.400 AM Kalamazoo, K8BKB Gary Wednesday 8:00 PM 28.380 USB Allegan 8:00 PM 28.058 CW West Michigan Hams CW round table and rag chew 9:00 PM 50.140 USB Cedar Springs, AC8AH Jerry Thursday 6:30 PM 147.520 FM 2nd Thursday each month, OCEC Simplex Net 7:00 PM 147.060+ FM 4nd Thursday each month, OCEC Repeater Net 7:00 PM 147.160+ FM Michigan youth, 22 and younger 8:00 PM 146.800+ FM MAARC weekly Net 0300 UTC 3.547 CW 3905 Century Club 80M CW WAS Net Friday 0000 UTC 7.114 CW Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) Novice Day for CW beginners, slower ops, or anyone who wants help. Saturday 0400 UTC 7.045 CW 3905 Century Club 40M CW Late Net Daily 7:00 PM 50.200 USB Cadillac, round tables NOTE: You do not have to be a member of the 3905 Century Club to participate in any of their Nets. You can find more information at www.3905ccn.com