Just a reminder! CVARC President Rory Eikland announced in May that the CVARC has authorized an incentive program to young hams (or ham wannabes), 18 years of age and under. Whenever a young person attends a CVARC meeting, they will receive a ticket for a drawing to be held at the end of the year. At the annual CVARC holiday gathering, one lucky youngster will win a brand-new transceiver!

The more meetings attended, the better the chance of winning. The giveaway is also open to non-licensed youngsters, on the condition that they become licensed before being eligible to win the transceiver.

"This is a new way for CVARC to tell young hams we're interested in helping them along and telling them they're not only welcome at our meetings, we want them to know how much we value their energies," Eikland said.

I am pleased to report that the Field Strength meter project is progressing quite well. This months speaker and presentation of the Field Strength meter will be hosted by three of our club members. Rob our technical chair W6RH, Greg our area 2 EC K7SDW, and Hugh KF6HHS member at large. Hugh will kick off the presentation with an overview on antenna beam patterns and "know your dBi’s and dBd’s", followed by construction details and a circuit description of the meter. Rob will follow and explain the "black magic" of how this thing called RF gets converted to a field strength meter reading, and if I get him a meter in time, he may have some relative calibration numbers for us. Greg’s demo is going run us through some practical uses for the meter. Keep the Saturday following this month’s club meeting open if you plan to attend the FS meter construction workshop at the ECSS. For the 22 folks that signed up, we will be collecting the project fee at the meeting. Oh, did I mention the meter will have a blinking light! Bring your HT to the meeting, all ker-chunk-ers welcome, HF through 1.2GHz.

Hugh KF6HHS

CVARC hosts FCC License Examinations at 8:30 AM on the second Sunday of even numbered months at the Ventura East County Sheriff Station on Olsen Rd. (near the Reagan Library). CVARC conducts exams for all license classes . Exam candidates must bring a form of government issued photo I.D., the original AND a photocopy of any existing license or Certificate of Exam Element Completion, a Social Security (or government issued Taxpayer I.D.) number, and $12 ARRL VE Exam fee (cash is preferred). No advance reservation is necessary, walk-ins are welcome. Advance notice is needed for special circumstances, such as reading the exam to sight-impaired candidates. If you have any questions, contact CVARC VE Coordinator Jeff Reinhardt at 818-706-3853.

The next CVARC Amateur Radio course for the Technician Class license will start on Tuesday August 19, 2003. The class will run for eight weeks through October 7. This schedule has been selected so that students will be ready to take their Technician Class license test at the CVARC VE Session on Sunday October 12. The classes will run from 7:00 PM to 8:45 PM on each Tuesday evening at the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints at 3645 Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks, California. This location is one block East of Olson Road on Moorpark Road. Karl Moody, KE6WVZ, will teach the class. The cost of this class is $20.00 which covers the cost of the study manual "Now You’re Talking" and all necessary classroom materials.

Interested persons should contact Karl Moody at (805) 523-0622.

A digital workshop will be held on Saturday September 13 at the East County Sheriff’s Station on Olsen Rd (take the Hwy 23 freeway Olsen Rd exit and go east about 1 mile). The workshop will start in the morning at 9 AM. Greg has reserved the room until 5 PM so that the workshop can proceed at a leisurely pace and not be rushed. The workshop will include lectures on digital communications followed by demonstrations and hands on exercises.

The CVARC Communications Van is in need of one good laptop computer with a color display that does not wash out in high ambient light and with as much memory as possible. The Van’s IBM Thinkpad is on its last legs. The Thinkpad works ok in the dark, but during daytime activities it is very hard to read its display screen. In addition, the Win 98 operating system installed on this old machine hogs most of the computer’s memory and speed. Trying to demonstrate APRS has been very difficult due to the computer’s slow processing speed. So, if you know of any company or individual that would like to donate a laptop computer to CVARC (CVARC is a 501C nonprofit organization), so we can improve our APRS system in the CVARC Van, it would be most appreciated.

Operating on 2-meters single side band (SSB) using a horizontal 10 element beam, one would expect the best signal to be toward the front of the antenna, correct? Well probably, but it depends on terrain also, I guess, or mainly on who’s listening.

Most of our 2-meter non-local contacts during Field Day were with stations in the Los Angeles Section, which were anywhere from directly east, to south-east of our Field Day location. The antenna was normally aimed through what appears to be a pass in the SE direction. The nearest hillside higher than our Field Day location was directly east of our site. The next high hills were about a mile or two away. Besides LA, there were a few contacts to the SE with the San Diego Section, and one with San Joaquin Valley, in Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite direction (N by NW). The San Joaquin Valley contact was directly off the back side of the antenna, with no nearby obstructions.

What seemed strange was a total lack of any contacts with Orange County, even though the antenna appeared to be aimed in that direction. Several stations in the Orange County Section could be heard, but none of them responded to our transmissions. Late Saturday Roy, KE6UMW, mentioned a possible 6-meter opening with Hawaii. So as an experiment, the 2-meter antenna was moved around toward the west to see if there was anything on 2-meters in that direction. Nope, and nothing Sunday morning either.

There was a surprise, however. With the beam facing west, we contacted Orange County instead of Hawaii! With some head scratching on the meaning of that, a small mountain could be seen several miles away in the direction where the antenna was pointed. While the mountain didn’t seem to be much of an obstruction, it could have been acting as a mirror. Our 2-meter signals apparently bounced off that mountain and headed directly for Orange County. That had to be how Orange County heard our signals. We took advantage of that path for a while and made more contacts with Orange County. In using the mountain as a reflector, we were using one of the earliest known repeater techniques.

Governor Davis signed legislation on 07/15/2003 that would ensure that amateur radio stations' communication will not be obstructed by any city or county ordinance. Due to the wide number of volunteers who utilize their amateur radio licenses during times of natural disasters or emergency situations, maintaining amateur radio stations' ability to broadcast is an important resource to security and rescue aid. "Licensed amateur radio operators give thousands of hours of volunteer service to the state and local governments," Gov. Davis said. "They are an important part of our public safety network." AB 1228 by Assembly member Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) mandates that city or county ordinances that regulate amateur radio station antenna do not obstruct the communication abilities of the station. It also allows the antenna structures of the radio stations to be constructed to effectively maintain their broadcast services; therefore, preserving the integrity of the radio communication system. There are nearly 5,000 volunteers in the state of California who hold amateur radio licenses. These volunteers play a crucial role in events of natural disaster or emergency situations when telephone systems are inoperable by utilizing their broadcast ability. By providing a reliable communication system during an emergency situation, such as a terrorist attack, amateur radio stations provide an invaluable service to the state of California.

US amateurs had been counting down the weeks, days and hours. Now, the five new 60-meter "channel center" frequencies--5332, 5348, 5368, 5373 and 5405 kHz--are available! Given the constraints imposed on the five lightly used government frequencies, ARRL advises members to demonstrate their best operating behavior and to use common sense when operating under the new rules. The channelized domestic, secondary allocation at 5 MHz marks the first new HF amateur band since the 1980s.

The only legal mode is upper sideband voice (USB), with a maximum bandwidth of 2.8 kHz (centered within each channel). On July 3, the first day the band was available, hundreds of operators opened up on one of the channels to grab their first contacts. The friendly free-for-all took place on a fairly level playing field, however, since the FCC has imposed a 50 W effective radiated power (ERP) limit. The new FCC rules--§97.303(s)--define this as the transmitter output in peak envelope power (PEP) multiplied by antenna gain relative to a half-wave dipole or the equivalent calculation in decibels. The Commission presumes that a half-wave dipole on the 5 MHz allocation has a gain of 0 dBd. Licensees using antennas other than a half-wave dipole must maintain in their station records either manufacturer data on the antenna gain or calculations of the antenna gain. The bottom line for most hams will be to erect a wire dipole, set their transmitter to 50 W PEP output and enjoy the new band.

Amateurs in the US and the United Kingdom share one 5-MHz channel—5405 kHz. While it's legal for US hams to work UK amateurs--and some transatlantic contacts already have been reported--the RSGB 5 MHz Working Group says UK hams are on the band specifically as part of propagation and equipment experiments, not to make general contacts.

For more information, see the 60-Meter FAQs posted on the ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/faq.html>.

Ventura County Area 2 R.A.C.E.S. members are encouraged to check in every Tuesday night at 7:00 pm on the Area 2 Check-in Net. Specific ARES/RACES times and frequencies are as follows:

The Net Controller’s script for the Area 2 weekly RACES check-in net is on the CVARC website, in printable form. Every member is encouraged to periodically serve as net controller. RACES members should remember that their RACES card is issued for only two years. When your card is due to expire call Jackie at the Office of Emergency Services in Ventura for an appointment to renew your card. Call (805) 654-2551 or toll free from the east half of the county at (800) 660-5474. For packet, call coordinator Dan Dicke KE6NYT (805) 983-1401. To register for Red Cross Disaster Services Classes, call (805) 339-2234 ext 0 Ventura County ARES/RACES web site: http://home1.gte.net/res19999/

The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL affiliated Special Service Club. Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month, unless otherwise noted. Meeting location is at the Elks Lodge, 158 Conejo School Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA. Meetings start at 7:30 pm. with a pre-meeting social and technical assistance session, for those who are interested at 7:15 pm. Meetings are open to the public, and members are encouraged to bring their friends.