November Meeting - Wednesday November 15

Presidents Corner

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday Nov. 15 at 7:30. This is the night we elect officers and board members for the next year.

It is now time to renew your membership for next year and while you are doing that consider sending in your money for the banquet that will be held on Jan. 19. We again this year are being joined by the Palo Alto Club.

Last year a good time was had by both groups and this is something that we can do together and enjoy what each group has to offer. Details about the banquet are in this relay.

We are planning to take the club station down on Dec. 2 starting at 8:30 AM. We would like to do this all in one day and so we need a lot of hands to accomplish this. If it rains then we will do it on Dec. 9th. I hope many of you will come and help us with this.

As of this date we do not have a new home for the station. If you have any good ideas about where this station might go please let one of the board members know about it.

November Board Meeting Minutes

Calendar

FARS Winter banquet January 19, 2001 at Michael's

Livermore Swap Meet - 1st Sunday of each month at Las Positas College in Livermore, 7:00 AM to noon, all year. Talk in 147.045 from the west, 145.35 from the east. Contact Noel Anklam, KC6QZK, (510) 447-3857 eves.

FARS NETon 145.23 repeater Thursday nights at 8 PM.
 
 
 

FARS Board Candidates
President: Jack, WA6YJR Vice Pres. Steve, KF6OIK Secretary: Martin, KD6WJW Treasurer: Shel, N6RD Radio Officer: Omri, AA6TA Training Officer: Open	Newsletter: David, KD6WRG Board Members: Herb KF6BKL, Michael KN6QI.	Other candidates are most welcome, especially since some of the club officers have been doing this for a long time. Nobody's feelings will be hurt.

 
 
 

Board members: Dirk Thiele KE6ZUY, Dick Baldwinson N6ATD, Herb Davidson KF6BKL, Larry Moore KM6IU, Charles Arney KF6CUU.

K6YA Station Trustee: Stan Kuhl, K6MA

FARS Web Page: www.fars.k6ya.org

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The FARS Relay is the official monthly newsletter of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society Meetings are held at 7 PM on the fourth Friday of each month except January (Winter Banquet); and 3rd Friday in June, Nov. & Dec. Annual membership $20; family $25. Visitors are always welcome! Directions on the back page. Talk-in: N6NFI (145.23-, 100Hz) or W6ASH repeater (145.27 or 224.36). Contributions to the newsletter from members, family, and guests are earnestly solicited! Contributions subject to editing and/or compression. ASCII files via packet, Internet or diskettes preferred; but all readable forms welcome. Here is how to reach the editor:
Internet: dwilkes@svpal.org, davewilkes@aol.com

VHF voice: KD6WRG on N6NFI, 145.23- (100Hz PL) FARS net Thursdays 8 PM; Various other times. Mail: 1093 Kelly Drive San Jose CA 95129-3222 Voice: 408-996-1613 (Until 9 PM); Fax: 408-725-1036, and at FARS meetings.
 

Station Take-down

As you may know, we have to evacuate the club station by the end of December. So, we will need to store away the station's equipment until a new site is found. We are looking for volunteers to provide storage for the following bulkiest items:

1. Force 12 7-element yagi; can be disassembled to 6 ft.
2. Two 10 ft. tower sections.
(Items 1 & 2 can be stored outdoors)
3. Operating table, 60"Wx30"Dx26.5"H
4. Operating shelf, 52"Wx12"Dx10"H
5. Operating shelf, 41"Wx12"Dx10"H
6. Metal cabinet, 23.5"Wx26"Dx67.5"H
7. Lab bench, 48"Wx30"Dx34"H
8. 6m antenna, boxed, 73"x5.5"x5.5"
9. 6 chairs, stackable 10. Vacuum cleaner
11. Heater 12. Four HF rigs
13. Two 2m rigs 14. Misc. cartons, binders, books
(items 3-14 need indoor storage)

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF:

- you can store one or more of these items; especially items 1-9.
- you have a truck suitable for transporting these items, especially for items 1-9.
- you can volunteer to help with the take-down.

Websites from Steve

There are several good white papers and other technical information on this Fatbrain site that are of interest to wireless industry professionals www1.fatbrain.com/fbt/offers/wire/home.asp

Antenna Law: Poway, CA Hams may get special protection 

Ham radio operators in the city of Poway, California may soon be allowed to install antennas taller than 35 feet. This as the result of a motion passed at a recent meeting of the Poway City Council where members directed city staff to come up with a new ordinance covering the rights of hams. 

Antennas in Poway are currently covered by rules that regulate satellite dishes. The issue of a separate ordinance covering radio amateurs arose recently after Gayle Olson, K6GO, said the city had asked her to reapply for a permit after a neighbor complained about the height of one of several antennas on her property. 

Gary Kent, president of the Poway Amateur Radio Society, called the 35 foot limitation unreasonable. Kent and several other ham radio operators also reminded the council of the critical role they play during natural disasters. 

Most of the members seemed to agree that Amateur Radio special protection. Councilman Bob Emery was quoted as being surprised that Poway did not already have some special accommodation for hams. 

Retired radio show host Art Bell, W6OBB, has settled his defamation law suit against a radio station and another talk show host. Bell said that both had defamed him. Newsline's Don Wilbanks, KC5MFA, has what there are of the scant details: 

You may recall that last year talk show host Art Bell, W6OBB, retired from broadcasting to pursue litigation against those he claimed had defamed him on the air. In his earlier May 1998 court filing, W6OBB charged that on December 9th, of 1997, one Ted Gunderson broadcast a radio show transmitted by WWCR. Bell said that during the course of that show a guest by the name of David Hinkson made statements that may have left the listening audience with the belief that Bell had been charged with child molestation.

These statements was false. In fact, Bell claimed that he would carry on his litigation until he was totally vindicated. And it now appears that he was successful. 

In an October 20th posting to the Coast to Coast AM website, it was announced that having received an apology and retraction, Bell, agreed to a settlement. One that releases Gunderson and the radio station from the legal action. The rest of terms of the settlement were termed as confidential. The statement adds that Bell is now looking forward to putting this matter behind him and moving on with his life. 

In New Orleans, I'm Don Wilbanks, KC5MFA, reporting for Newsline. 

No word yet if Bell plans to return to broadcasting on a regular basis. His former show -- Coast to Coast AM is currently being hosted by Mike Siegel from his home near Seattle, Washington. 

In DX, look for Bhutan to be on the air this winter. This with word that 9M6US and K4VUD have paid all their fees and obtained airplane tickets in advance of their planned travel to Thimphu. They plan on arriving December 1st and departing about December 9th. K4VUD says that he has paid the extra fee for permission to run a full kilowatt on all bands. The two operators will have a tribander and wire antennas. K4VUD will operate SSB and CW while 9M6US plans to concentrate on RTTY. QSL requests for A52UD go to K4VUD. 9M6US will announce a separate QSL address at a later date. 

And finally this week, word of a rather amazing ham radio rescue. This as a group of radio amateurs hiking near California's Lake Ramona save the life of one of mans best friends. 

Newsline's Tuck Miller, NZ6T has the details on a pup who should not have made a trip to the river: 

On Sunday, October 22nd, several members of San Diego's Palomar Amateur Radio Club were approaching the lake when they noticed an old and very tired German Shepherd half trying to stand on the slick underwater muck while trying to tread water. As learned later, the dogs name was Flower Girl and by the time the group of hiking hams found her she was too tired to even put a paw on shore. And this is where amateur radio stepped in. 

The hikers were split in two groups. After describing the situation to those on the west bank, two members of the east group waded into the water to help get Flower Girl out. A third person pulled from above. After what seemed an eternity, Flower was resting about 20 feet up the bank, receiving food and plenty of attention. But the problems had just begun. 

Due to her advanced age Flower Girl suffers from hip dysphasia. Because of this, she could not walk on her hind legs without being in pain. Even if she could walk it would not be an easy trek It would take a skilled hiker 20 minutes to reach the north or south ends of the lake even without the added weight of a 100 pound dog. 

But as luck would have it, the west bank hikers found Flower's owners and relayed the news back by ham radio. Flower's owners hiked to the scene and determined that the elderly dog would do best by swimming to a private access road where they could pick her up by truck. Rested, Flower got back in the water and followed her family, including their two other dogs, as they walked along the bank. The hams were released with shouts of thanks from Flower Girl's owners. 

From San Diego, California, not far from a very happy pup named Flower Girl, I'm Tuck Miller, NZ6T reporting for Newsline. 

Had the Palomar radio club hams not found her, there is a good chance that Flower Girl would not have survived.

How to get to meetings:

FARS meets at the Covington School District building, 201 Covington Road, Los Altos. Take the El Monte exit (The same exit as for the Foothill Fleamarket) off of I-280 and go East on El Monte. Cross Foothill Expressway and turn right at the next light on to Covington (Note Saint William church on corner). Stay to your left as the road forks. Just past the fork, turn left into the school parking lot. Walk through the center hallway and turn right. The meeting room is the first door on the left. Talk in on 145.23 or 145.27, negative offset, 100 PL.