December 2005 "Repeeper"

Online Edition
Have an Amateur Radio story, news item, product review or related submission  - as it relates to LOCAL Ham News?

Send it to the MBARC Repeeper!!

Submissions may be sent via e-mail (preferred) to: N2FTR@arrl.net

-or-

Regular Mail to :

Andrew Schmidt, N2FTR
19 Gerry Road
Poughkeepsie NY  12603-5614

In this online edition:

President's Report

By Jim, K2JIM
President, MBARC

Well here we are at the end of another year.  It just seems like we just finished the holiday season from
last year and here we are again but not only that, the bad thing is income tax time follows soon after. 
Maybe we should try to get income tax season changed maybe to some time during the summer.  Its bad enough 
going through income tax season but to do it during the winter is even worse.
The past year for the club has been a good one and hopefully we can make the up coming year even
better.  Rich N2ZKX and his crew did a bang up job with public service events.  They did the usual 
ones that we normally do every year but he managed to put in a few new ones and even did more than
one on the same day. We can’t forget about Andrew N2FTR and his pumpkin patrol.  They pulled it off
again this year but I may suggest that next year we get some better jokes and maybe some different 
ones. Most of all it sounds like they all had fun doing Pumpkin Patrol and it is definitely a great
public service event to keep the traveling public safe while traveling under the bridges on our 
highways in the Hudson Valley during Halloween. Both Rich and Andrew have a dedicated bunch of people
and they all did a great job.
Hamfest was a great success this year also.  Weather was great along with the food and again we have
to give credit to our chairlady Colleen KC2HUT.  I think we have a great location and a big thanks 
has to go to Colleen KC2HUT and her crew for putting this all together.  It is not easy and a lot of
work is done behind the scenes that a lot of us don't see in order to make this a big financial 
success for the club.
We had our picnic this year in September and that was fun for all that attended.  A big thank you to
Janet KC2LUR and her crew for doing a great job and hope to see everyone at next years picnic.  
We also had elections for officers of the club this year and I want to thank all who volunteered to
run for the offices.  We did have to bend a few arms to get people to run but all in all it turned
out good for the club.  I personally want to thank everyone that supported me during the elections 
and I hope that I can do the job that the club members will be looking for.  We do have a few changes 
coming one of which is during the December Holiday party it will not be a combined meeting and party. 
It will only be the holiday party and the business meeting will be conducted sometime in January.  (date
to be announced)  At our first board meeting we all decided to make the December holiday party all social.
From what I gather the members are looking for more meetings per year and or more social events. 
As I end this I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.  I hope everyone gets the
toys they are wishing for and hope the New Year coming up is great for all of us.

Election Results 2005-2006

Our 2005-2006 officers (starting term 10/1/2005) were announced at the last meeting as follows 
- one year terms:
President Jim, K2JIM
Vice President Rich, N2ZKX
Recording Secretary Jim, K2CSS
Corresponding Secretary  Beth, KC2ITY
Treasurer Noel, KE2FI
Directory of Engineering  John, N2OXV 
Two new directors (two year terms):
Director Colleen, KC2HUT
Director Tom, N2FZC 
 
The two new directors join current directors KC2LUR, Janet and N2CSS, Tara for two year
terms.  N2JBA, Ed, was the chairperson of the election committee, assisted by WA2BSS, Stu.

MBARC Holiday Party


By Jim, K2JIM
President, MBARC

On Sunday December 11, 2005 from 1 pm to 5 pm the Mt. Beacon Amateur Radio Club will be holding their annual
Holiday Party.  It will be held at the First Presbyterian Church located in Wappingers Falls, New York.  The 
church is located at the intersection of South Avenue (RT9D) and Elm.  Everyone is asked to please bring a
covered dish, serving utensil and an unwrapped gift for a child that we will be giving to a charity.  The 
club will be supplying, soda, utensils, dishes, food etc for the party.  Hope to see everyone there.

Hudson Valley Net "Doings"


By Ed, N2JBA
Net Manager, Hudson Valley NET 

On August 6,  2005, the Hudson Valley Net had its first annual in-person meeting / breakfast. For some of the
attendees, it was the first time they actually met people they had been speaking to for many years. There was
a short business meeting and ARRL Local Net Certificates were awarded to net members and a special 
Certificate of Appreciation was presented to Joe Cooper, K2AVV, for his dedication to the net.  There was a 
moment of silence for Cathy Luty, KC2BUW,led by Adam Nowik, KC2DAA,  Cathy had become a silent earlier this 
year.
As in years past, HVN participated in the ARRL sponsored  SET, Simulated Emergency Test, an exercise 
which tests the strengths and weaknesses of our communications abilities. This year, Adam, KC2DAA, Emergency 
Coordinator for Dutchess County, NY, ran the test; it included the various area  VHF, UHF repeaters and
simplex operations from the DC EOC and the area hospitals where amateur stations are set up.
The exercise was very successful. The role of HVN was to pass traffic messages generated by this event.
Field Day, which is the premier event in amateur radio, produces a great deal of  traffic for the NTS,
National Traffic System and the Hudson Valley Net; taking the role of Net Control Station on the Field Day,
Saturday evening is very taxing; just ask Vinny, N2RTF, our Saturday NCS.
The net statistics for the month of October, 2005 were pretty much our monthly average: 
109 listed / 100 passed--  554 check-ins-- 687 minutes. Depending on the season of the year, the traffic 
total is somewhat higher.
One of the major roles of the net is to provide training sessions for net  members. The training sessions
have been sporadic, but will increase in the near future. With the assistance of Nick Castellano, N2QZ, the
new Section Traffic Manager for the ARRL Eastern New York Section and other seasoned traffic handlers, I plan
to have many interesting sessions. The training also includes our relationship with the ARES community which
supports served agencies like the American Red Cross. The goal is to
integrate these various communities and to standardize our
traffic handling procedures.
Finally, HVN has become a nightly forum for various timely public service announcements and items of
to the amateur community. 
Happy holidays to all and please join the net when possible. HVN meets every evening at 7:30 PM on the 146.970 (+) PL 100 (123), repeater or on  the linked Mt Beacon ARC linked repeaters 147.045 (+) PL 100  and the 
146.895 (-) PL 100, when needed. Congratulations and success to the newly elected officers and board members 
of the Mt Beacon Amateur Radio Club.
 
Best 73
Ed Rubin, N2JBA
Net Manger, Hudson Valley Net & Former Director, MBARC
(N2FTR's addendum:  Our ENY Section Traffic Manager Nick N2QZ has created a local NTS reflector - anyone
wishing to subscribe can simply do so by pointing your browser to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NTS-ENY/
then click on the "Join This Group!" button and follow the instructions!   The role of traffic handling and
the participation in the local area (and on HVN) has grown tremendously over the last few years, and both Ed
and Nick should be congratulated in creating such a fine community of participation.)

Director of Engineering Report

By John, N2OXV
Director of Engineering, MBARC
During the month of October several trips to Mt. Beacon were made by the following members: Frank W2GIO, 
Rich N2EYH, Adam KC2DAA, Brian W2BJP, Bill WA2AHR and myself. The first trip to the hill was a basic clean up 
of the inside of the shack, and to review the antenna placement on the tower.  It was noticed that the two 
meter and six meter antennas are tilted several degrees.  It was decided that we should photograph the 
antennas for a closer inspection of what needs to be done. These photographs are posted on the MBARC 
Engineering reflector if you would like to view them.
Shortly after the RNN transmitter went on the air, our repeaters began suffering from decreased receiver 
sensitivity (desense).  During one of the engineering meetings WA2AHR conducted, it was decided that all of 
the antennas needed to be grounded and bonded to the tower for better lightning protection, and to see if 
that would help with the desense we were experiencing. I had all expectations of grounding and bonding the
antennas prior to winter, until we noticed that the antennas were tilted.  At this point I decided that it
did not make sense to ground and bond the antennas without re mounting the two and six meter antennas 
straight first.  To do this we are researching different mounts, and possibly changing our positions for
better separation from the RNN antenna.
Rich N2EYH has researched filtering techniques, which led to the installation of another filter on the
146.970 repeater producing slightly better performance.  Right now we are trying to determine if the desense 
is due to a mixing product in our receiver, or a mixing product outside of our receiver.  If the mixing is 
inside of our receiver, it can be filtered. If the noise is external to our receiver, we will probably need
to move our antenna(s) for better performance.
Frank W2GIO is currently gathering information, inspecting, and repairing the former two meter antenna.  I
hope the repair and redeployment of this antenna will help in our effort to improve our two meter coverage.
One of the duties that we as a club perform is a cleanup of the area around our shack.  This has never been 
required by the landlord, but when ever it has been done, we have always benefited. My goal is to find a 
member, who would like to be in charge of the grounds keeping, so this duty is preformed on a regular basis.
If any member is interested, let me know.
I will post a schedule for engineering committee meetings, and have a regular schedule for trips to
Mt. Beacon for routine maintenance.  I hope a schedule will allow for better planning and more participation.

Stu' Notes

By Stu, WA2BSS
Former Director, MBARC
Some local nets worthy of your consideration:
To subscribe to the "ARRL Letter (If Member)", go to http://www.arrl.org, click on "Member services", 
put in your member number and look around for the part that lets you get the ARRL Letter, Hudson Division.
e-newsletter, and any ARRL Bulletins.
Saturday January 28 2006 QCWA combined Hudson Valley, CONEX Elections & Meeting - location perhaps in 
Pleasantville, NY 
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, and New Years Holidays!
73 de,Stu WA2BSS

Radio Operator's Day

"Word for the Wise"
WAMC, Northeast Public Radio
(Editor's Note: This transcript was originally aired on WAMC, 90.3/90.9 in Albany/Kingston on 
October 4th (10-4, get it?) during their daily airing of the show, "Word for the Wise".  Seeing as how it 
mentioned 'ham radio' in a local media market, I thought it worthy of publishing as well as interesting to
boot.  The REPEEPER thanks Kathleen Tailor of the show for her personal allowance for the REPEEPER to publish
the transcript. See http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/wftw_arcindex.pl) for their archives.)
If the phrase "10-4, good buddy" means something to you, then you probably know why today-the fourth day of
the tenth month-is known as Radio Operators Day. The phrase ten-four-meaning message received okay-is part of 
the codes used by CB operators-that is, by operators of citizens band radio-to communicate with each other.
Although CB radio-which requires no license and little knowledge-has cycled in and out of the public eye, its
predecessor, the more sophisticated ham radio (whose operation demands both testing and licensing), has 
maintained a low but steady presence. Today we mark Radio Operators Day by checking out how licensed 
operators of amateur radio stations came to be known as hams.
Theories abound. Perhaps ham originated as some sort of cockney h attached to the word amateur before 
shortening it? Or maybe it came from three early radio operators (supposedly Harvard students) named Hyman,
Abe, and Mark? Or was the term born as a derogatory reference (embraced by the fellow so
insulted) to a ham-fisted radio operator?
Lexicographers believe ham is a shortening of hamfatter, developed from the 19th-century minstrel song
entitled The Ham-Fat man. And yes, that same hamfatter is also responsible for the ham naming a showy 
performer.
Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com. Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes 
from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and CDs including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate 
Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.

ARES Notes

By Adam, KC2DAA
EC/RO Dutchess County
On the evening of October 14, 2005 Dutchess ARES was requested to provide communications support for the 
Dutchess County Chapter of the American Red Cross.  At that time the chapter was operating at an evacuation 
of an apartment complex in the Wappingers Falls area and was expecting 40 families to be served at a local 
shelter.
 
ARES operators were on site at the shelter within 10 minutes of the request with additional operators 
arriving at the Dutchess Chapter House shortly thereafter.  Communications operations were closed just
before midnight with the shelter housing several from the affected area.
 
Operations resumed at 08:00 hrs on October 15 with an added twist.  Due to flooding in the Dover Plains area 
the ARC was contacted to provide aid to that area as well.  At about 2:00 PM the Dutchess ERV was in route to
Dover with ARC member Mitchell Shron, KC2JEP at the helm.  All stations were cleared at 21:39 hours with the activation scheduled to resume at 08:00 hours on the 16 th.
  
The ARC Chapter House was reopened on the 16 th with ARES members staffing both the shelter and the chapter
house.  The ERV was once again deployed to the Dover Plains area to distribute "clean-up kits".  I had the
good fortune to be the operator onboard the ERV with "Butch" at the helm.  For those of you who haven't 
experienced a ride in the ERV it's quite the machine.  Carries a massive payload and feels almost like the 
last seat in an airliner, smooth ride but an annoyingly straight back seat.  Butch, Sue, Bill and the rest 
of the ARC crew did a great job going door to door seeking those in need.
 
Operations were concluded, at least on the communications end at 15:55 hours, while it took several more hours to get all of the supplies (cots, water and other supplies) returned to their proper places in the chapter house.
 
The value of these services , based upon the ARRL guidelines is:
 
- Total person hours for this event 104 hours 53 minutes (this does not include KC2LOR or KC2JEP who were 
serving the ARC directly) 
I wish to thank the following ARES members for their time and support of this mission:
 
Without your dedicated support our service would surely cease to exist.
 
A personal note working with the ARC staff was a pleasure.  I am looking forward to expanding our role with
the Dutchess ARC, we have several of their staff who are now interested in pursuing their amateur licenses,
4 in total.  This can only serve to enhance their operational ability as well as that of Dutchess ARES.  
This is truly a symbiotic relationship, in that "we" both agencies can benefit from cross training and 
personal contact between the memberships. 
Adam KC2DAA

Pumpkin Patrol 2005

Andrew, N2FTR
Co-Coordinator, MBARC Pumpkin Patrol
Over the two nights of Halloween Eve and Halloween night, MBARC participated in "Pumpkin Patrol 2005".
Pumpkin Patrol is a state-wide program of the New York State Thruway and the New York State Police begun in 
1976 as an important element of the State Police crime prevention effort.  Assisting the NYSP Troop "T" 
(Thruway) in staffing bridges over I-84 in Dutchess County to help ensure that no person throws debris over
onto the highway were the 35 members and friends of MBARC. The ham operators were linked to NYS Thruway 
Headquarters through their mobile amateur radios and cell phones.
This was the 14th year that MBARC members participated in the program, led by Andrew N2FTR and Brenda N2TTO. 
Local liaison between the NY State Police and the amateur radio operators was provided by State Trooper
Brian Kieckhafer of the NY State Police's Newburgh barracks.
The participating hams and non-hams were : 
While Mt. Beacon was the only Dutchess County organization participating, other local radio clubs and
emergency preparedness groups assisted the State Police in other counties across the state as well. 
Nineteen organizations from 21 counties have participated in this year’s effort.   In the local area,
Orange County, Putnam County, and Ulster County amateur radio clubs also participated during the operation.

MBARC Web Site Notes

From the Webmaster, Finn, WB2UWU
I have been looking at the "Visitors" data on the web site. The earliest data I have is from November 2001
when there had been 5676 visitors to the site. Since then I have recorded the numbers on a very irregular
basis,  sometimes every few days, the longest period between readings was 7 months. The latest reading in
November 2005 shows 17167 visitors. The data is in form of a spreadsheet and is available to anyone 
interested.  The average number of visitors per day was 7.76 The minimum was 2.67 per day for 6 days in May
of 2002 The maximum was 15 per day for 2 days in March of 2002 The period from July to October 2005 shows 6
visitors per day The period from September to November 2005 shows 7.26 visitors per day. I think that it
shows a very nice interest in the web site, thank you. If you have any comments or suggestions about the 
format or contents of the site, please let me know.
73 Finn, WB2UWU, MBARC webmaster

PARC Holiday Party

Herb, K2GBH
Treasurer - Poughkeepsie Amateur Radio Club
(Editor's Note: The sister club to Mt. Beacon ARC is, of course, the Poughkeepsie Amateur Radio Club, PARC,  
If you'd like to get in on their holiday party (a luncheon the day before the MBARC Party!), here's the info
from Herb:)
Saturday, Dec 10th was the winner of the polling of dates!  Our last luncheon was at Cappucino's and that
worked out well so I've made arrangements with them again.  The time is at noon. Cappucino's is at the 
intersection of South Rd and IBM Road.  Please RSVP with me (K2GBH@arrl.net) if you're planning to come by
the end of November!

Meeting Minutes are not part of the online edition of the Repeeper.

© 2003-2005 Mt. Beacon Amateur Radio Club - Permission to other radio clubs or organizations for republishing on the Internet only is permitted provided explicit attribution to the Mt. Beacon Amateur Radio Club and its webpage is specifically mentioned.  For hardcopy republishing, please contact N2FTR, editor.

(end)