Amateur Radio “only fail -safe system” of communication K4ZDH HIGH DESERT AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, NM5HD May 2018 Editor, Jerry Aceto K6LIE CLUB MEETING MAY 19 at 10 AM Email: [email protected] President’s Corner - Jerry Aceto K6LIE Greetings! Well, it is May and that means Dayton Hamvention! Except I will not be attending this year…..UGH ! But the usual club members will be attending. Bill Kent, Terry Zipes and Dave Johnson will be going again this year. My wife and I have a trip to the Maryland coast planned through that weekend. Hmmmm...wonder if I could break away!? Oh well, there will be next year, if I am still kicking. Vice President Frank Kelley will be running the meeting this month. I have a great program lined up. See the program box on page 2. I want to thank Gerry Jurrens for stepping up with a program this month. I was really starting to panic trying to secure one. Gerry, thank you! Several of you received an e-mail from me reminding you to renew your dues. We have some members on the roster that have not paid since 2016 and everything in between. I gave everyone that is really very late 30 days to renew. The deadline is May 18. If I do not hear from you by then, you will be dropped from the club roster. I certainly do not want to drop anyone, but we must get our roster accurate and we must collect our dues to keep the club financially viable. I do hope those of you that are in arrears will go on our website (www.nm5hd.com) and fill out a new application and continue with the club. You can fill out the application and pay by PayPal right on our site. If you question when your dues are due, contact any of our officers and we can tell you if you are cur- rent. Hope you can all attend the meeting. Much to discuss regarding Field Day and other upcoming events. 73! Jerry K6LIE HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS MAY PROGRAM Next VE Session Gerry Jurrens, N2GJ The next High Desert Amateur Radio Club VE session will be held on Gerry Jurrens, N2GJ, will present a report about Saturday, May 19 at 12:30 pm, at the West Albuquerque Police station. operating "QRP": amateur radio (typically on HF - Please bring the following: - high frequency bands) using transmitters that  Photo ID (drivers license)  Original Amateur Radio License generate 5 watts or less of output power. He will  Copy of Amateur Radio License discuss a number of advantages and disadvan-  Original CSCE's  Copy of CSCE tages of this type of operation. Several kits that  Test fee is $15.00 . can provide a low-cost entry point to HF opera-  Proof of Tech Plus if before 3/21/87 and doing paper upgrade to tion will be highlighted. He will also bring some General.  SS Number will be needed if you commercially-available rigs from his collection for don’t have an FRN number. "show-and-tell." * NOTE-NO WALK INS. PLEASE SCHEDULE YOUR TEST WITH JIM. May HDARC Birthday Greetings! We want to extend warm HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to our club members celebrating their birthday in the month of May: Adrian Miura W 5ASM Dave Johnson N0LVA Nathan Gordon K F9LI Jim Kajder AF5FH Johanna James K F5CRQ Joseph Barfoot KG5QNB Brian Cooke KG5SLF Peter Coffin KG5YLY HDARC NEWS IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY, JERRY ACETO, K6LIE, EDITOR 771-1323. NON COPYRIGHT MATERIAL CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE REPRINTED WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION WITH CREDIT GIVEN TO THIS PUBLICATION * PRESIDENT – JERRY ACETO, K6LIE, 771-1323 * VICE PRESIDENT – FRANK KELLEY, KB7PVU, 350-2402* SECRETARY – JIM KAJDER, AF5FH, 298-9353 * TREASURER – BOB WITTER, W5IV, 404-8333 * CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD – BILL FIRTH, KE5TOB, 899-0950* BOARD MEMBERS – TOM WINFIELD, WA9LKD, 891-1930 , ED POCCIA, KC2LM, 922-8524, MARCIE CLARK, KG5DOO, 331-3951, BILL KENT, N5UJC, 898-9194* LICENSE EXAMS – JIM KAJDER, AF5FH, 228-3704 * NM5HD TRUSTEE – JERRY ACETO, K6LIE, 771-1323 * WEB MASTER - BILL FIRTH, KE5TOB, 899-0950. HDARC IS A 501C3 NONPROFIT. PageP age# 2 May 2 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS BOARD MEMBER NEEDED VE TESTING REPORT FOR MARCH For the month of April, HDARC had 10 people test with the fol- I received this note from Board Member Marcie lowing results: Clark: 6 people passed Element 2: Technician All, 4 people passed Element 3: General (or received exam credit) 1 person passed Element 4: Extra It is with a heavy heart that I send this. I need Overall results: to resign my position as a member of the BOD effective immediately. I have received my notifi- 5 Technician cation that my start date at the Pentagon will 4 General be 24 Jun 18. My brother and sister-in-law are 1 Extra moving my mom to Colorado on 16 May 18. I have too much on my plate at the moment. I do Congratulations to all who passed! Thank You to the VE Team Mi- wish to stay a general member of the club even chael Rohrkemper, Van Evans, Jack Nutter, Robert Witter, Marty if long distance. Soffran, John Tribou, and Terry Zipes! Jim Kajder I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone in AF5FH the club and forming friendships with you. I will HDARC VE Liaison definitely keep in touch. With a sincere 73..., Marcie Clark WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! KG5DOO We would like to extend a BIG HDARC WELCOME to Needless to say, Marcie will be sorely missed. I our newest members: could always depend on her to help out with Leah Persons KF5VSX various tasks. But I do know that she has been Clarence Peckham NT7V working on advancing her career and this job at the Pentagon will certainly be a great career Craig Neri KG5WOI building endeavor! Best of luck to you and Joe, Tom Rader KG5YYF Marcie. Please do keep in touch. Richard Neiser KG5YLW We hope you will have fun learning and experiencing With Marcie leaving the Board, we need a all that our great hobby of Amateur Radio has special election at our upcoming meeting. I would like any of you to consider this posi- to offer. tion on the Board. The Board would be a great way for, especially a newer member, to help out regarding club business. It is a very CLUB REPEATERS easy position, requiring minimal time since most of the operation of the Board is 145.370 Mhz PL 162.2 Hz IRLP Node 7706 through e-mail. Except in extreme cases are actual Board meetings called. So very little 224.480 Mhz PL 100.0 Hz IRLP Node 3285 time is required to fulfill this position. 444.200 Mhz PL 67.0 Hz Please let me know ASAP if you would like to be considered for this Board position. In addition to IRLP, EchoLink is now available on 145.370 Node 980760 Jerry K6LIE Our club repeater systems, including our IRLP & [email protected] ECHOLINK systems are open to our members as well as the entire Amateur Radio community. PageP age# 2 May 3 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS SOCIAL COMMITTEE REPORT Greetings All, Because of Memorial Day weekend, there will be no club breakfast, lunch or dinner scheduled for the 4th Saturday of this month. We hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend with your family and friends! Refreshments We will be setting out a container and accepting donations to help offset the club cost for the donuts and drinks. We are suggesting a $1.00 donation to help out (any amount you can donate will be greatly appreciated). This is working great so far and THANK YOU to all who contribute. We have been able to offset the club reimbursement by almost half. 50/50 Raffle We will continue to have a 50/50 raffle at our monthly meetings with half of the proceeds going to the New Mexico Veterans Integration Center (NMVIC). The tickets are 5 for $4.00 or $1.00 each. Please try to bring small bills as I turn in the money to the treasurer and do not have a “bank” to make change for large bills. Social Media - Facebook Did you know the HDARC has a Facebook page? Well, we do! Please check us out and “like” the page: https://www.facebook.com/nm5hd/. As always, if you are interested in helping out the social committee please let any one of us know. We would love to have you join us. Your Social Committee, Anne Kircher KG5FMT Karen Elkin Kathey Meland WB6JAN Gloria Watts, KG5IFJ Robert Bogaski, KF5NXC PageP age# 2 May 4 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS Getting Ready for Field Day by Ed Poccia KC2LM Field Day is arguably the most popular operating event in the Ham Radio calendar. It is the chance for clubs and individuals to operate under emergency conditions. Antennas and Ra- dio stations set up in open fields using portable generators, solar panels and batteries for power make contact with stations throughout the U.S. in order to demonstrate our ability to provide communications during times of disaster. It also provides an opportunity for us to show the public what ham radio is all about. Beyond the Herculean efforts made by members of the club to make each field day an en- joyable experience, perhaps we all could do just a few additional things to get the most out of the event, individually and for our hobby. May I suggest that our members seriously consider participating in some of the contests on the bands to perk up our operating skills. I don’t usually operate SSB Phone so for the March ARRL DX Phone contest, I dug through my desk to find my microphone, dusted it off and participated. Although I worked it for only an hour with my modest station I got into the swing and definitely improved my contest mode operating skills. Contests demand a skill set not found in rag chewing. You need an ear and a sense of timing, knowing when to jump in to make contacts (just like field day). Skills very helpful during FD but hard to develop the day of. It is just a matter of getting ready. There was probably a time when you used or at least knew Morse code. Even if you haven’t tapped on a key since Boy Scouts, it shouldn’t be too hard to dig up your old key and dedicate some of your operating time to improving your skills. De- coding software is available free on the Internet to help you. You can listen in, copy what you can and then check your copy with the one displayed on your computer screen. None of us will be able to operate like George or Jerry but we would all benefit from knowing how to use “the code”. Finally, a digital station will be part of this year’s Field Day demonstrating PSK 31, PSK 63, RTTY, even SSTV. Learn about and practice operating these modes by participating in the Club’s “Outback New Mexico” program. We should re- mind ourselves that Field Day’s purpose is to demonstrate our operating ability under simulated emergency conditions to the public. The easy to read text from the digital modes displayed on a TV screen, could only help to meet this purpose. Perhaps such a station could even motivate our own mem- bers to join the ever expanding ranks of Hams enjoying the digital modes. PageP age# 2 May 5 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS Rationale for a Second Field Day Operation to Take Place at the Taylor Ranch Library by Ed Poccia, KC2LM The Taylor Ranch Library offers many distinct features that would make it a suitable site for our club’s Field Day operations. * The Library will provide greater access to the public than the Haynes Park site. In the past, very few young people have visited our operation there. However, when we operated from the TRL as part of the ARRL’s Solar Eclipse Experiment, several hundred people visited our operation. The location on the covered patio at the rear of the TRL offers a large, well shaded facility perfect for operating a station. Access to the street parking beside the patio makes set-up effortless. The location of a large grassy area next to the patio would ease the installation of antennas. As Field Day takes place at a time of the year when temperatures are extreme, last year 106 de- grees, access to the near-by, air conditioned library would provide a safer environment for our participants. This second operating position would allow for a more relaxed station operation. The dem- onstration of the different modes in which Hams function would provide the pubic with a greater appreciation of our capability. The Haynes Park site could be our contest mode site and the TRL, a site in which our club members with less operating experience can get on the air and get a more comfortable HF learn- ing experience. Having the TRL available to the club as an FD site would mean we would have a “Back-Up” plan if we were to lose the Haynes Park facility for any reason. Or the club decides to abandon Haynes Park due to extreme weather conditions. Inclement weather, excess heat, wind, and rain, have less of an impact at the TRL location. * The library has an area within its facility that they will allow us to put up a display detailing Ham Radio’s role in providing emergency communication services. The down side of operating from the TRL is: - the limited time operations there would be permitted. (Sat. only until 6PM) - a different call would have to be used due to the distance from Hanes Park - our operating points would NOT be able to be added to the Club’s score PageP age# 2 May 6 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS DUKE CITY HAMFEST ARRL ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION CONVENTION ALBUQUERQUE, NM SEPT. 21 - 23, 2018 New Mexico Hamvention, Inc., organizer of the Albuquerque Duke City Hamfest, is delighted to announce that the hamfest will host the ARRL's Rocky Mountain Division Convention this year. The combined meeting, which runs from Sept. 21-23, 2018, will be held at the Isleta Resort and Casino's convention facility, on the historic Isleta Pueblo, just a stone’s throw south of Albuquerque's Sunport. Note that all of the convention facilities are designated no- smoking areas. We extend a chili-warm invitation to amateur-radio operators in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and beyond to join us for this event. Our program, still under construction, will include day-long deep dives into satellite communications and emergency communications, in addition to a new version of our popular HF University. These will be taught by hams well-versed in these fields. For seasoned hams and newbies alike, we're planning more than 50 additional individual sessions on topics ranging from DIY station gear and primers on digital mobile radio, to how to squeeze the most fun out of your operating privi- leges, how to use your gear more effectively, and how to make a difference in the lives of young people through STEM education. For those with their eyes on the sky, we’ll be hosting a National Weather Service SKYWARN® training session. You'll be able to stock up on parts, check out the latest gear, or pick up a new radio from our commercial vendors, as well as harvest treasures from flea-market and tailgate participants. Stop by our special-event station for some oper- ating time and get a taste of what it's like to be on the other end of a pile-up. Prospective ham radio operators can bone up for their exams at review sessions, then take their tests, administered by ARRL-approved volunteer examiners. A special gift, courtesy of the Hamfest, awaits all who show proof of pass- ing their exam. A Friday night mixer, two breakfast banquets, plus a Saturday night banquet will help keep you fueled for the week- end. Several notable amateur radio celebrities will provide you with interesting tidbits to talk about on the air and at future club meetings. A cash bar will be open during the mixer and Saturday night's banquet. We'll hold raffles throughout each day and at each of the banquets. For those who wish to banish rotten operating habits, we will be holding an induction ceremony for the ARRL's prestigious Royal Order of the Wouff-Hong, a society open to all li- censed hams who are also ARRL members. We’ll provide pins and certificates for all inductees. But wait! There's more! The week prior to the hamfest will be unique in the annals of amateur radio in New Mexico. It begins Sept. 14-16 with the ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference, also in Albuquerque, includes New Mexico’s participation in Route 66 On-the-Air operating event, and ends with the Albuquerque Duke City Hamfest/ Rocky Mountain Division Convention. That's worth planning a vacation around! Continued on page 8 PageP age# 2 May 7 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS DUKE CITY HAMFEST Continued From Page 7 You can reserve rooms today at the Isleta Resort. To register, go to https://www.dukecityhamfest.org/ reserveandregister. Snag your room at our special convention rate before they're gone. Isleta Resort and Casino As hamfest planning progresses, we'll keep you updated via our email lists and our Twitter and Facebook ac- counts. If you'd like to be added to our email list, please send your request to [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you! 73, Bill Ripley, KY5Q . President, NM Hamvention Inc Chairman, 2018 Albuquerque Duke City Hamfest PageP age# 2 May 8 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS AMATEUR RADIO PUBLIC SERVICE EVENTS CALENDAR – 2018 Ed Ricco, N5LI Notes and comments: 1. Changes from last list: New list for the 2018 events season. 2. Here are known dates for future events for your calendars. Also, I am taking signups for the two events in May. 3. I cannot let the recent passing of Dick Powell AD5CS go unremarked. Dick was a mainstay of our public service enterprise for many years. His absence will be deeply felt. 4. One consequence of Dick’s loss is that we need someone to take over as the communications coordinator for the Tour of the Rio Grande Valley, to occur in September. Thanks to Dick, there is an established comm plan that can be used as a basis for this year’s plan, and the connections to the event organizers are in place. This event almost runs itself but we are going to need someone to pull it together. Please, someone, volunteer so we can keep up our years of assistance to the TORGV. May 19, 2018 – Jemez Mountain Trail Runs. This event consists of three long-distance runs (50 mile, 50 k, 15 mile) in rug- ged country. Information from John Zoltai KF5REI, the event coordinator: This year we will need more operators than usual. The 50 mile race is going to be longer, more difficult, and slower due to some changes that had to be made in the trail system. As a result, several aid stations will be closing late enough that it really makes the most sense to operate two shifts at those stations. Please visit the site for current information. Note that the runner’s manual has not been updated from last year, so it’s got old information. There will be more information as well as aid station schedules in the coming weeks. We can always use new hams on events like these and it’s a chance to get real world field experience for those that are new to amateur radio. If you would like to volunteer, please let John know. ([email protected]). Also let John know if you have a preferred aid station. Here’s the map for this year’s event. May 20, 2018 – Santa Fe Century. This is mainly a casual 100-mile bike ride that begins in Santa Fe, heads south through Madrid and Golden, turns around, eventually heads east to Galisteo, loops through El Dorado and returns to the starting point. There are several major changes this year, some temporary and some permanent. This year only, the route has a turnaround point near Cedar Grove returning to Madrid and then County Road 42 to Galisteo. A permanent change has the start/finish point now at the Santa Fe Community College and the addition of a "Rail Trail" mountain-bike route. It is a large- scale event that puts thousands of riders on the road. We need minimally 20-W portable or mobile stations with external an- tennas to be positioned at the start/finish area and at rest stops and mobile stations to cruise the course to keep an eye on the riders. More details to follow. This event will be coordinated by Richard St. John, K5RSJ. Please contact me to volun- teer. August 5, 2018 – La Luz Trail Run. August 25-26, 2018 – MS 150 Bike Tour. September 23, 2018 – Tour of the Rio Grande Valley. October 21, 2018 – Duke City Marathon. 73, Ed Ricco N5LI PageP age# 2 May 9 HDARC on the Web: http://www.nm5hd.com HDARC NEWS PLEASE HELP THE HDARC MAINTAIN OUR ARRL CLUB AFFILIATION The HDARC is an ARRL Affiliated Club. To maintain this status with the ARRL, we must have a minimum of 50% of our membership in the ARRL. If you are joining the ARRL for the first time, please consider joining through our club. For every new subscriber that joins through our club, we will receive a $15 commission from the ARRL. For every member renewing their ARRL membership, the club will receive a $2 commission. Go to nm5hd.com, click Member Services, then Membership Information, then click ARRL Membership Application Form. Fill out the form and bring it to a meeting or send it to the club address. CLUB ADDRESS 1023 Purple Aster Dr. Bernalillo, NM 87004 HDARC will be working with APS to do another Space Station contact! We had a successful con- tact back in April of 2016. This year, it looks like CLUB BADGES we will be scheduled sometime in the week of October 15 to the 21st. The exact pass and day will be decided about 6 to 8 weeks before the We have club badges available. If you contact. would like to order one, go to our web- site, www.nm5hd.com and click I have never heard of a club or school system getting another shot at it within 2 years, but we “Ongoing Activities”. Scroll down to did. It is lots of work, but hopefully it will be a lit- the bottom, where you will find a link to tle easier this time, knowing what is involved. The Signman, where you can order Any of you are welcome to join our team. If you your badge directly on line! are interested in learning about satellite work, this is your chance to learn it all. You new mem- bers joined an active club and you have a great chance here to get your feet wet in many facets of our hobby through our club. This, again, will be an exciting project for our club. PageP age# 2 May 10