San Antonio Hams

Ham Radio Help Desk – January 2012 Newsletter
http://www.hamradio.me

Hams helping hams make the most of the hobby of amateur radio. 

1. ‘UHF’ Connector Test Results – 2011-10-02 21:10:43-04
   Real measured data reveal the UHF (PL259 and SO239) connectors have real limitations.
2. Hexbeam Gets a Spine – 2011-10-03 00:15:49-04
   My G3TXQ Hexbeam gets a new metal backbone to accommodate a VHF beam antenna. A byproduct is a much stronger antenna assembly.
3. Installing Ground Rods the Easy Way – 2011-10-04 23:54:04-04
   Ground Rods… so easy a pre-teen can do it. Presented is a method learned from other hams on how to install a ground rod with minimal or no hammering. Using a watering can, even children can sink an 8 foot ground rod into the ground. All it takes is water and time.
4. Help: How can I Migrate Microsoft Works 2004 Logs to New Program – 2011-11-05 10:16:16-04
   K3CDQ asks: I have an old computer with lots of 2002, 3 and 4 software on it. I have thirty years of ham contacts logged in a data base that I worked up using Microsoft Works 2004. I now have a new computer with all 2010 and 2011 software on it and running XP. I […]
5. J-Pole Antenna – Should I ground it? – 2012-01-28 01:10:48-05
   To function as intended, the J-Pole antenna needs electrical isolation from its mount. Here’s why and in technicolor no less.

(c) 2011-2012 John Huggins Internet, Warrenton, VA 20186, USA

SARO has resumed publishing quarterly issues of the SARO Bulletin, their club newsletter. The newsletters are open for reading by the general public, and the January 2012 issue can be read using the link below.

NEXT SARO Memberhip Meeting – Friday, January 27th. See website or newsletter for details.

THE SARO BULLETIN (CLUB NEWSLETTER) IS BACK!

Eric Olson, WB5ZJQ, is the new editor.

Check out the newest issue on the Bulletin webpage, or click on the image to the left of this notice. This file is in Adobe Reader format (PDF) and is 33kb in size

At the Board Meeting in January the board members elected the new officers for the coming year.

• President is Royce Taylor, KA5OHJ
• Vice President is Chuck Kenworthey, WB5FWI
• Secretary is Lyle Turner, KB5SU
• Treasurer is Don Kirchner, W5DK 
• Directors Stan Stanukinos, KA5IID
• Scott Renwick, WB5ZJI
• Gordon Dial, K5SUZ

Quarter Century Wireless Association
San Antonio Chapter 38

The QCWA monthly meeting will be on Saturday, January 28th at 11am.  The meeting will take place at Sea Island located on Bandera Road just inside Loop 1604. The restaurant is located inside Bandera Shopping Center across te street from H.E.B. The restaurant’s phone number is 651-7000. The meeting starts at 11:00a.m. but many start showing up at 11:00 to order their lunch.

Program will be:

Richard Elder WB5ACN will present this month’s program entitled “Inside Your Cell”. Richard is an AT&T Engineer and is very knowledgeable in electronics and antennas. This program will prove to be a very informative presentation.

It is not necessary to be a member of QCCWA at attend any of our presentations.

Visitors are always welcome.

QCWA weekly net: Chapter 38 conducts the weekly net at 147.380- (162.2)and is conducted at 8:30 p.m. local time Sunday. Thanks for AARO for the use of their repeater.

QCWA International Net is on 14.347 at 2:00 p.m. local time.

QCWA CW Net takes place on Wednesday at7:00 p.m. local time at 7.036Mhz.

After a 6 month hiatus, the SA Hams Monthly Newsletter will be returning on a monthly basis starting in February.  I’ll try to get one published around the end of the month for the following month.  i.e. February’s issue ought to go out near the end of January, etc. We had a small issue where our mailing software wasn’t compliant with the Windows 7 64 bit operating systems we had previously upgraded all of our computers to, so we’ve now setup one dedicated laptop computer at our office to run the older 32 bit version of Vista <gasp>, and the software seems to be happy now.

If you have any CLUB news, Ham Radio related news or stories (that you didn’t already post on the website blog area), send them to me no later than the 20th of the month to be included in the upcoming issue.  

The easiest way to get your stuff included, is of course post it on the Blog.  I’ve been adding other hams as authors, so they can post their own stories without my needing to be involved directly.  That’s my preferred manner of submitting.  Let the visitors to the site read about what you or your club is doing, and then I’ll mail it out to the list of subcribers (currently about 400+ hams) at the end of the month.

SUBSCRIPTION IS FREE!  ARTICLE SUBMISSION IS FREE!

If you wish to subscribe to the newsletter, or confirm you have already subscribed, send email with your name & call sign to subscribe@sanantoniohams.org.   How much easier can that be?   Each newsletter will have a prominent “unsubscribe” link in case you changed your mind.   The newsletters will be focused on ham radio news, and may contain a minor amount of advertising by hams who want to do business with you (like my ads for example), but the majority of this HTML based newsletter will be news & photos from events.

From SARC’s website, as of 04/16/2011, San Antonio Radio Club extends dues-free membership to area active-duty military…

The following provision was made at a recent Board Meeting to SARC Constitution, Article VI – Membership

2. Military Membership in the Club of all active-duty military personnel will be at no cost for membership dues. This condition extends to only active-duty personnel assigned in the metro area and not to any other personnel not activated as active-duty, or to any retired personnel of any military service. This membership status will continue for as long as the active-duty person is assigned in the metro area. Upon reassignment away from the metro area, membership may continue if the individual maintains residence of record in the metro area. Metro area will be defined as Bexar and adjacent counties. [change 4-16-2011]

I don’t know the final figures for attendance at this event last weekend, but the main vendor hall area was packed!  I was there handling the radio talk-in, as I’ve coordinated for the past 15-17 years or so, plus I was a paid vendor in the back corner of the room as well!

It was really nice to see friends from around Texas that I hadn’t seen in ages, or since last year’s event in some cases. 

Here are some photos that I took from this year’s event, using my handy dandy Sprint HTC EVO cell phone…  (love that 8 mega pixel camera feature).

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For the past couple of years, I’ve had a free classified ads section on this website.  Every day I get multiple submissions for ads to be posted, but all ads require moderation.   The main reason I set it up for moderation?  999 out of every 1,000 ads submitted are SPAM.   The ads are from India, from folks trying to earn $77/hour from home by posting ads, Scam Ads, and in general, ads that have nothing to do with ham radio or the person posting being a ham radio operator.

We’ve had no new legitimate ads posted within the past 90 days, just SPAM ads.  Got 4 more of the bogus ads over night last night.  

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