Good-Bye, Hara Arena! Hamvention to Relocate in 2017!

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1 Club President: Larry Unfried (WA9KJV) Vice President: William Dusenbery (N9OQK) Secretary: Mary Ellen Sundstrom (KA9ZTJ) Treasurer: Mike Phillips (N0RSP) Board Members: Bill Schmidt (WA0JCO) John Sundstrom Sr. (WA0LIS) Repeater Chair: Marty Schultz (N9PPJ) Newsletter Editor: Jason Cato (KB9LBC) Our website is; Our Facebook Page is; Our Facebook Group is ; / Our repeaters are: PL in downtown St. Louis, MO with an EchoLink Node # PL in Edwardsville, IL No PL in Edwardsville, IL PL in Edwardsville, IL August 2016 Good-Bye, Hara Arena! Hamvention to Relocate in 2017! 07/29/2016 [Updated @1807 UTC] Hamvention has announced that Hara Arena, the home of Hamvention since 1964, is closing, but Hamvention will continue. Hamvention 2016, the event s 65th running, was also the last held in the six-building Hara complex. Hamvention 2017 will be held at a new, yet-to-be-disclosed location in the Dayton area. The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) regrets to inform our many vendors, visitors and stakeholders that, unfortunately, Hara has announced the closing of their facility, a news release from Hamvention General Chair Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, said today (July 29). We have begun execution of our contingency plan to move Hamvention 2017 to a new home. DARA and Hamvention have enjoyed many successful years working together with Hara Arena and we wish the Wampler family the best. The news has struck the Amateur Radio community like a lightning bolt albeit tempered only by DARA s assurances that Hamvention will not be going away as well. We are painfully aware of the loss this announcement will generate, which is why we have fought so long and hard to prevent it, Hara Arena Marketing Director Karen Wampler said in a news release. According to Cramer, DARA and Hamvention have been working on a contingency plan in the event that the deteriorating Hara Arena ever should become unavailable. We have spent many hours over the last few years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we believe will be a great new home! The announcement said that DARA and Hamvention expect to make a formal announcement soon introducing our new partner. We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our beloved event, Cramer said. Please rest assured we will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned for Hamvention 2017

2 should not be affected. We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future with The Dayton Hamvention. A hockey team s cancellation of its upcoming season earlier this month had raised questions about the future availability of Hara Arena for Hamvention. Hara Arena has been facing long-standing financial problems including unpaid property taxes. Renovations promised for the 2016 Hamvention never materialized. Hamvention attracted more than 25,000 visitors this spring and is worth millions of dollars to the Dayton area economy. The Wampler family has owned and operated Hara Arena since its humble origins in the 1950s, when Wampler Ballarena then a dance hall and now an exhibit hall familiar to Hamvention visitors was built in what had been a family-owned orchard.

3 Georgia Radio Amateur Fined $1000 for Failure to Properly Identify 07/29/2016 The FCC has fined a Georgia radio amateur $1000 for failing to properly identify. A Forfeiture Order issued to David J. Tolassi, W4BHV, of Ringgold, was released on July 29. The FCC had proposed the fine 1 year ago in a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL), noting that Tolassi had been warned the previous summer about not following Part 97 ID rules. The FCC said at the time that Tolassi s deliberate disregard of the earlier warning warranted the proposed penalty that it now has reaffirmed and assessed. Failure to transmit call sign information undermines the purpose of the Amateur Radio Service by preventing licensed users from identifying a transmission s source, the FCC Enforcement Bureau Forfeiture Order said. The FCC said Tolassi did not deny that he transmitted on MHz on the date in question, but argued that his comments were within the 10-minute window mandated by the rules. The FCC disagreed, however, noting that Tolassi never identified during 15 minutes of transmissions that agents had monitored. The FCC turned away Tolassi s request to cancel the NAL and substitute awarning Letter, asserting that the FCC has issued multiple warnings before imposing fines in similar cases. The FCC countered that Tolassi was not being treated any differently than other licensees have been. Considering the entire record and the factors discussed below, we find no reason to cancel, withdraw or reduce the proposed penalty, the Forfeiture Order said. As the July 2015 NAL recounted, FCC agents used direction-finding techniques to pin down the source of a signal on MHz to Tolassi s residence. The agents monitored and recorded transmissions during which Mr Tolassi failed to transmit his assigned call sign, the FCC said. The agents interviewed Mr Tolassi later that evening, and, while he admitted operating that evening, he denied making the unidentified transmissions. Nonetheless, the FCC determined that Tolassi apparently repeatedly violated Section (a) of the rules, and it reaffirmed that conclusion in the Forfeiture Order released on July 29. Tolassi has a history with the Enforcement Bureau. In 2005, the Commission warned Tolassi, then WA1BHV and living in Vermont, that he risked a substantial fine if he continued to violate the conditions of his 2004 license renewal. After a series of enforcement issues relating to the operation of KB1EVE, his call sign at

4 the time, the FCC had renewed Tolassi s General class ticket on the condition that he refrain from 20 meter voice operation for 3 years. The FCC had referred Tolassi s renewal application to the Enforcement Bureau for review the previous year, after then-fcc Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth alleged that Tolassi had engaged in inappropriate on-the-air behavior. Tolassi has 30 days to pay the fine.

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6 Alert: Alert: From the top... **DE W9GIG: "I'm 77 years old and I still have pretty good health despite my slow recovery from a shingles attack that hit me last December. However, It's time that you have a younger Central Division Director. This weekend I attended the July ARRL Board of Directors Meeting. After serving on this board for 15 plus years, I resigned Saturday afternoon July 16th, and Kermit Carlson, W9XA is now your director. I firmly believe he will do a better job than me. A candidate is being vetted to serve as Kermit's Vice Director. An announcement should be forth-coming in a few days. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and talking with many of you over these many years and from time to time, there will be future opportunities for this activity. Sincerely - George R. (Dick) Isely, W9GIG ARRL Past Director, Central Division" **The fact that some of us were privy to this beforehand makes it no less of a shock. There are things and situations that we take as a given and as fixed points in our little world. Dick Isely as an ARRL Director is one of those fixed points. His tireless promotion of both the League and Amateur Radio is known to all of us. Whether it was in the halls of Congress or an out-of-the-way hamfest, Dick carried the same message of the value of both the Service and the League. He was always available to provide guidance to me in those early, confusing months of my tenure as SM. And now, we wish Dick health and happiness in whatever comes next for him, and look forward to seeing him around both on the air and wherever we gather. **Our new Central Division Director is Kermit Carlson W9XA. If you don't know him, you have been affected by his work. Kermit has been a fixture in many League committees and groups that shape things like bandplans, contest rules and approaches to technologies. I personally have known him since meeting him during 220 weak signal activity years ago (when it was 220 instead of 222). I'm confident that he will be an excellent Director. **Issues in my own town requiring EMA participation kept me at home during Field Day weekend. By all accounts, it appears that everyone had a satisfactory exercise, except for the "meh" band conditions. Get informed... **If you are a Boy Scout Radio Merit Badge Counselor and can participate in the upcoming Space Jam in Rantoul, please me at my arrl.org address. It's the weekend of 5-7 August, and your help is sorely needed. **The amended version of HR1301 has passed out of committee and now goes to the full House of Representatives for consideration. If you have not gotten your Member of Congress on board, now would be the time for that final effort. **From Dirk Esterline KG8JK cones the following: "The third annual Civilian Conservation Corps On-The-Air weekend will be held the second full weekend in August, The event will start Saturday at 14:00z (10:00am EDT) and run until Sunday 21:00z (5:00 pm EDT). The Civilian Conservation Corps came into being in the spring of Its goal was twofold: to provide needed economic relief to families suffering from the effects of the Great Depression and to protect and develop the natural resources of the United States. CCC Amateur Radio Ops strives to honor the contribution that "The Boys" of the corps made to our country and to our natural environment. As radio played a big part in how the camps communicated with each other, our goal is to put the sites of the CCC camps back on the air. We would encourage you to activate the actual location of one of the camps however, if it is no longer accessible or you cannot get permission to set up on the site, you may operate from one of the project sites the camp worked on. Many state local parks have buildings that were constructed by the "CCC Boys" and would make a suitable place to not only honor them but also promote amateur radio at the same time. For more information see our website or contact KG8JK via ccc@qsl.net " Around the Section... **From Ron Ochu KO0Z: "Over three months in the planning between the IL Public Health Department and the Macoupin County Public Health Department for a simulated state-wide emergency drill. The test drill scenario: An anthrax outbreak between the Illinois and Wisconsin state borders. The Illinois Public Health Department notifies county Public Health Departments to get head-counts for distribution of ciprofloxacin or doxycycline. On Monday, the state alert went out Macoupin County Public Health alerted the state of its medical requirements. Macoupin County

7 ARES was alerted to activate on Tuesday, June 14th. ARES team members deployed county-wide to Bunker Hill, Staunton, Gillespie, Carlinville and Girard. ARES role was to provide back-up com for cell phones and Starcom21. Part of the drill called for those systems to fail and to use amateur radio. Drills are conducted to determine strengths and weaknesses. Happily, Macoupin County ARES team members received excellent reports from EMA coordinator Jim Pitchford, N9LQF and from Macoupin County Health Director Kate Petroline! A big thank you to the following participating ARES drill members: Carlos, WD9T, Gayland, N9VFP, Chuck N9LVY and his XYL Sarah, Lou, KC9YFU, Bill, W9FJ, Jared, KC9ZMD, Debbie, KC9ULA, Roman, KD9COA, Mark, WD9HBF, Paul, KC9YCP, Jim, N9LQF and Ron, KO0Z." **Getting to peak hamfest season, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of you in my travels. I've expanded a little bit this summer, and am filling the off season with visits to club meetings where I'm invited. Be seeing you around!

8 Cecil Higgins, AC0HA, MO SM The ARRL Field Day was the big Amateur Radio event of June as usual. Individuals and Amateur Radio Clubs got on the air and made lots of contacts. The operation could easily be characterized as a national, as well as an international emergency exercise. I want to thank those stations that picked up Field Day Traffic for me. I also want to thank the Tri Lakes ARC in Taney County for having me at their Field Day event. They had a great turnout for the ARRL Field Day and we got to use some newly constructed antenna. There was a cook-out in the afternoon that had some great food, friends and Ham happenings. I am sure that all those that participated this year enjoyed the friendship, excitement, and training opportunities that the ARRL Field Day provides. There will be much more about Field Day once the reports have been filed, reviewed and posted. That said, congratulation to all that participated and made Field Day special in the Missouri Sections. Amateur Radio in the Missouri Section was in full gear during the month of June. There are lots of Hams that feel Extra good because of the many opportunities to upgrade in June. Because the Extra Class Exams were being changed on July 1st, many Amateur Radio Clubs held special Volunteer Exams to allow all operators a chance to upgrade. In some communities like Independence, MO, and elsewhere there were even training sessions to help Hams get ready to take the Extra Class exam. It would be interesting to see just how many new Extra Class operators the Missouri Section has after the flurry of testing in June. JULY 2016 HAMFEST The Warrensburg Area Amateur Radio Club Hamfest will be held at the Johnson County Fairgrounds on July 16, The Fairgrounds are at 386 NW 145th Road Warrensburg, MO To get a more information, check out the Website: The Hamfest contact person is Kenneth Smith, KO9R. Ken can be reached at PO Box 1364 Warrensburg, MO Phone: or hamfest@waarci.org The Zero Beaters Hamfest will be held July 17th at the Elks Lodge in Washington MO. The Elks lodge is located at 1459 West Fifth Street Washington, MO To get more information about the Zero Beaters Hamfest you should look at their Bruce Serbus, KD0KCF, is the contact person for the Hamfest and can be contacted at PO Box 277 Gray Summit, MO 63039, Phone: or kd0kcf@sbcglobal.net AUGUST 2016 HAMFESTS The St Charles ARC Hamfest will be held at the Elks Lodge 1163 Tom Ginnever Avenue in O Fallon, MO on August 14thhttp:// The August 27thJoplin Amateur Radio Club Hamfest will be at the Joplin Convention and Trade Center located at 3535 Hammons Blvd in Joplin, MO The website is: The Public Contact for the Hamfest is Jim Johannes, N0ZSQ, PO Box 2983 Joplin, MO You can also contact Jim by phone at or by e- mail at n0zsq@joplin-arc.com AFFILIATED CLUB NEWS KEITH HAYE, WE0G, ACC of North Missouri. This report is included because of the involvement of a very large number of Amateur Radio Clubs across all A mega Public Service Event and ARES training opportunity happened this month. The Bicycle Across Missouri

9 group aka the BIG BAM asked for support of all kinds for their 7 day ride across North Missouri. An important need of BIG BAM was reliable health and safety communications assistance. A large number of individual Hams and Amateur Radio Clubs and ARES groups answered the call. The BIG BAM ride began on June 11th and ending on June 17th. The total route covered 301 miles and traveled through 10 counties as it meandered on and near U.S. Highway 36 from St. Joseph to Hannibal. Because of the scope and expanse of The BIG BAM, it was also a designated SEMA emergency exercise. This allowed SEMA to test their MACC or Multi- Agency Coordinating Center concept for disaster management. Amateur Radio operators along the BIG BAM route provided vital communications to served agencies through the MACC during the ride. There were a large number of Amateurs all across Missouri who helping with the safety and health communications at BAM Rest Stops. The total number of Riders varied from Day to Day. There were over 600 riders at Chillicothe and 400 plus in Brookfield and Macon overnights. There were 500 riders on the final stop in Hannibal, MO. Don Vary, KDØHHN, served as the leader of the District B the eastern half of the Big BAM and George Pease, KCØGP was the lead organizer for District H which was the western half of the ride. The success of the BAM event was clear evidence that both Don and George did a great job. Purposely this report avoided listing the names or calls of all the individuals and Amateur Radio Clubs that participated. Because the volunteer operators came from all over North Missouri and from virtually all of the County ARES groups, Amateur Radio Clubs along the route, and it would be easy to not have overlooked someone or group by mistake. The next BIG BAM will be happening next year and you may get your chance to be part of a really outstanding event. The St. Charles Amateur Radio Club again had planned a float in the City s Independence Day July 4th Parade. The SCARC s outstanding effort didn t happen because the Parade had to be cancelled due to rain. The SCARC had planned a Float that included working Amateur Radio Stations operating on Mhz, Mhz, and on the Repeater. One of the highlights of the Float was to have Ward Silver, N0AX, dressed as Abe Lincoln top hat and all. Ward had planned to send the Gettysburg Address on Morse Code at 20 WPM during the Parade. Congratulations to the SCARC members for their efforts. The 4th of July parade in 2017 is only a year away and the SCARC will be again representing Amateur Radio in the best possible way. Randy Schulze, KD0HKD, President of the Raytown Amateur Radio Club reported that the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen for the City of Raytown presented the RARC with a Proclamation at the City Council meeting June 21st at Raytown City Hall. The Proclamation recognized that the Raytown Amateur Radio Club has been incorporated since February 1991, and had existed for a considerable time before that date. The Proclamation recognized that for 25 years the Raytown Amateur Radio Club has been part of the Emergency Management Plan for the City of Raytown, and that the upcoming ARRL Field Day is a demonstration of The RARC emergency communications capability. Most importantly, the proclamation also recognized, Abigail Brown, KE0HVX, who is one of the Raytown ARC Youth Members and a third generation member of the Raytown Amateur Radio Club.

10 EGYPTIAN RADIO CLUB MEMBERS MEETING DATE: MEETING PLACE: Anderson Hospital in Maryville, IL in the POB classroom 1 BEGAN: 1825 PRESIDING: Larry Unfried, WA9KJV OFFICERS IN ATTENDANCE: Bill Dusenberry, N9OQK, Mike Phillips N0RSP, Mary Sundstrom, KA9ZTJ, Bill Schmidt WA0JCO, John Sundstrom, WA0LIS MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Pat Walkup KC0ZIW, Bob Young K9MO, Nolan Zobrist KA9VKC, Robert Evans AA9FQ, Marty Schultz N9PPJ, John Fuesting KD9DXD, Jean Wilson KC9MDC, Randy Werner KD9BQK, Kerry Green KD9RX, Lynn Neumann KD9RSQ, Bill Coby KB9MWG, Justin Garde WA9JTG, Bob Crosby, David Miller KF9EV Treasurer s report given and accepted by members and the ham fest was a success Secretary report/ham Fest report given and accepted. Many thanks to all members that assisted in ham fest and field day. Both were successful only due to the hard work of the club members that attended. Keith Unfired has been granted his grandfather s call sign and is now KA9BGI. Congratulations Keith. Repeater report given and accepted by members. 76 is back up and running. There are some fine tuning issues to be fixed but it is running again. Yaesu fusion radio is now here. Marty suggests putting it in the Edwardsville water tower since there is already a dual band antenna sometime within the next year, however there may be space on the KDNL tower in the future but may have issues with HF. Larry suggests the KDNL tower and not to wait a year. Firmware updated in the weather station so there will be special messages broadcast from the National Weather Service.

11 Field day was a lot of fun. CW and phone ran and CW ran more points than phone. 80 meters worked terrible. John WA0LIS states he did everything he could to get it to work. Antenna will need to be checked. Field day will be done the same next year. 164 CW contacts and 152 phone contacts were made. 6 QRP contacts were made by WA0LIS for an extra 100 bonus points for solar powered contacts. 100 bonus points for a government official (Bill, KB9MWG) and 100 bonus points for being in a public location will be awarded as well. Marty is currently working on a final tally. Larry made the suggestion for the club to purchase solar panels and a motion was made and approved by club in order to charge batteries. A motion was made and accepted to accept donation of three batteries from Larry and to purchase others. Bob K9MO contacted ARRL and found that to be a club sponsored VEC the club will need to sponsor 4 test sessions a year in order to receive that box for free. Next meeting will be the first test session. Testing will begin at Examiners cannot give classes but suggestion was made to start giving classes. Annual review was not made on ARRL since 2014 so we are not technically affiliated. This will be corrected. Update: corrected as of The month of July is Boeing s (BEAR S) 100 th anniversary and will be having many special contact contest throughout the month. Please see for more information. Special event and QSL cards may be available. The club room is open for members to use at any time. If you do not have a key to the club room, contact Larry WA9KJV and he can make sure doors are open. Hospital drill is held on the second Friday every month for Madison County. No outside amateur use- must report to a hospital to test equipment. Several ARES nets are held on Tuesday. Patches are available for members that want one. They are $10 a piece. Adjournment was called at Washington ham fest next weekend. Bike MS is coming up also.

12 The meeting was adjourned at 7:15pm and the meeting after the meeting will be held at the Red Apple on HWY 159. There were about 8 people that attend the meeting after the meeting. A good time was had by all.

13 Advertisements The Podunk Hollow News is a monthly publication of the Egyptian Radio Club, Inc. Advertising space is available in the Podunk Hollow News at $12.00 per business card size ad per year. Larger advertising space is available, per month or per year. All advertisers are welcome in the Podunk Hollow News. Ads are now clickable North Illinois Street, Fairview Heights, IL (618) The Egyptian Radio Club uses only Heil Headsets and Microphones. Watch HamNation on TWiT-TV, every Wednesday at 8pm Central. Or download it later from TwiT-TV.

14 Anyone interested in joining the Egyptian Radio Club will find an application at the end of this newsletter. Contact us; WebMaster - webmaster@w9aiu.net Ham Fest Chairman - hamfest@w9aiu.net Field Day Chairman - fieldday@w9aiu.net Newsletter Editor - newsletter@w9aiu.net General Club Information The club holds a monthly meeting on the first Thursday of the month and is open to all. Visitors are always welcome at the meetings. The next meeting is August 4 th, at 6:30pm at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, IL. It is in the Physician's Office Building. Check the display by the elevators for the location. Members tend to arrive early to socialize, and the actual meeting starts at 6:30pm. After the meeting, there is usually a social gathering at a local restaurant. The meeting after the meeting. The club has a informal net every Tuesday at 8:00pm on The PL and time-out timer are turned off for the net. You do NOT need to be a member to participate or use the repeater, as it is open to ALL licensed Amateurs. Be sure to stop in and say hi! US Mail; Egyptian Radio Club, Inc. P. O. Box 562 Granite City, Illinois Our website is; Our Facebook Page is; Our Facebook Group is ; Our repeaters are: PL in downtown St. Louis, MO with an EchoLink Node # PL in Edwardsville, IL No PL in Edwardsville, IL PL in Edwardsville, IL

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16 Artwork by Phillip Gil Gildersleeve, W1CJD/SK. Longtime Staff Artist at ARRL HQ This painting is the property of the Egyptian Radio Club and is on loan to the ARRL. It hangs in the entrance foyer at HQ.