K9MCE Officers: K9MCE QSN President: John Nalezyty, KD8KVO Vice-President: Mark Lewis, KD9EFO Volume 5, Issue 11 November 2017 Secretary: Paul Durand, KC9YCP Treasurer: Tim Coonrod, KC9HQA Trustee: Skp Riba, WS9V Board of Directors: Mark Osborn, WA9SXK Bill Ogle, W9FJ Jim Pitchford, N9LQF Skip Riba, WS9V (1 yr) Webmaster: Isaac Pizzo, WX9SRV K9MCE Club Meeting on Wednesday, 1November Happy Thanksgiving! Inside this issue: Club meeting 1 ARES Update 3 Dues are due 3 Tabletop exercise Beaver Dam Dash 4 SET, New Hams 5 Region 8 Map Caps Chart 6 7 Club Minutes 8 Mark your calendars now and plan on attending this month s meeting of the Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, November 1st. We meet on the second floor of the Macoupin County Sheriff Department, 215 S. East Street, Carlinville, IL 62626. Prior to the club meeting the club has an informal dinner gathering, this month, at the Reno s Pizza in the Carlinville square starting around 5:00 pm. After the business meeting, FCC VE testing is offered. Call Lou, KC9YFUfor an appointment @ 618-977-4658. Be sure to bring a copy of your license, some pencils and a non-programmable calculator.
Page 2 K9MCE QSN K9MCE TRY GRIDS HONOR ROLL These club members earned the Try Grids Award and are Honor Roll members. Wayne, KC9ZYQ is in EM58 and Dirk, W9OSI is in EM49 and these gentlemen are available for VHF skeds for those working for the Try Grids Award HONOR ROLL MEMBERS: Jim Pitchford, N9LQF Mark Kerhlikar, WD9HBF Jeff Naville, KC9WZO Paul Durand, KC9YCP Ed Kallbrier, KC9QHJ Bill Ogle, W9FJ Skip Riba, WS9V Mark Lewis, KD9EFO Lou Bartels, KC9YFU Debbie Ochu, KC9ULA Dave Reynolds, WA9OEX Judy Reynolds, KA9ACM The K9MCE Try Grids Award was established two years ago to encourage Macoupin County ARC club members to experience the joys of VHF/UHF communications. Members are encouraged to learn more about VHF/UHF propagation, antennas and coax and to improve their stations. Towards that end the award was created Macoupin County ARC Mission Statement: and the goal is to successfully establish two-way VHF/UHF contacts either from your QTH or mobile with amateurs in three grids. More information pertaining to grids can be found at this ARRL webpage: http://www.arrl.org/ grid-squares QSL cards confirming the Qs need to be presented to the committee and then you, too, will be eligible for this prestigious accolade at a club meeting and to have your call inscribed in the K9MCE Try Grids Award Hall of Fame. Who will be next? We, the undersigned, being desirous of securing for ourselves the pleasures and benefits of the association of persons commonly interested in Amateur Radio, by promoting civic interest, specific application, social activities and developing individual efficiency, while improving the general interest in amateur radio, do ordain and establish this Constitution and By-Laws of the Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club Inc., a non-profit corporation. We do further agree that in pursuit of these purposes, this organization shall be non-sectarian, non-partisan and that it shall lend neither support or influence to any political party or candidate for office. The Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club, Inc., shall afford all persons, regardless of race or creed an equal opportunity to join, participate, hold office and enjoy in the benefits of this organization and the challenges of amateur radio.
Volume 5, Issue 11 Page 3 K9MCE MEMBERSHIP DUES ARE NOW DUE Have you paid your annual club dues? In fact, dues were due at the October club meeting. However, It s not too late. The K9MCE dues structure is as follows: Regular membership is $20.00/year. Family membership is $25.00/ year. Senior membership is $15.00/ year. Full-time Student is $10.00/year Lifetime membership is $200.00. Checks are payable to Macoupin County ARC. Part of your club dues go towards the repeater maintenance fund which, in a small part, helps WS9V maintain such an excellent repeater system that benefits us all. The rest of the dues serves as the primary club income source. Hamfest, Christmas party and Field Day expenses are financed through this funding. Make checks payable to Macoupin County ARC and club treasurer, Tim Coonrod, KC9HQA will be happy to accept your check Macoupin County ARES Meeting Recap On Saturday, October 8th, Macoupin County ARES members met with ARRL SEC Fritz Brock, WD9FMB for an Illinois ARES update. Fritz drove from Peoria to attend the meeting. Afterwards he was heading to Chicago to participate with communications supporting the annual Chicago marathon. Fritz told the group that ARRL HQ is now receiving monthly ARES reports from Illinois. HQ records this information and uses it to inform legislators of the tremendous cost savings to government agencies that ARES volunteers provide to their communities. Currently, the ARRL uses $19.00 per hour to assess volunteer contributions to their communities. Illinois ARES groups volunteer $150,000 a month and nationwide ARES contributes $1 million dollars a month! WD9FMB also stressed the importance of having a communications plan on how and when to activate. The next meeting is set for Saturday, January 13th. All are welcome. The next meeting is set for Saturday, January 13th. All are welcome. Your ARRL Central Division Contacts: Director: Kermit Carlson; w9xa@arrl.org 630-879-0983 Vice Director: Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, k9la@arrl.org; 260-637-6988 Illinois Section Manager: Ron Morgan, AD9I, AD9I@comcast.net
Page 4 K9MCE QSN The Devil is in the details K9MCE Not Compliant With Constitution To some members this issue may seem petty or too picky. Why quibble over small details? Well, a counter argument is that the devil is in the details. Dotting one s Is and crossing one s Ts is a hallmark of a conscientious, professional, dedicated club. As ham radio operators we pride ourselves on maintaining broadcast quality transmissions. Lackadaisical attention to detail lends itself to a club becoming lackadaisical about other activities as well. It needs to be guarded against. Consequently, the club needs to vote on three new board members this meeting. It was an oversight at the September meeting. As per the club s constitution: In Article III, Section 2. There shall be a Board of Directors at Large (consisting of the immediate Past President and three (3) members, (each who shall be elected by the membership). Section 3. The immediate Past- President shall serve on the Board of Directors for one (1) year. However, if the immediate Past-President is elected to any office for the ensuing term, the last Past-President shall serve as a Director, on the Board of Directors. Each year one Director shall be elected for a term of two (2) years, except the first year when one Director shall be elected for a one (1) year term and the other two Directors for a two (2) year term. Section 6. The Board of Directors shall meet not less than two (2) times each year. What, you don t remember reading or hearing about this event? Mark, KD9EFO Participates in Tabletop On Saturday, October 21, Montgomery county was struck by a tornado which touched down in Macoupin county near Hornsby and traveled northeasterly into Montgomery county destroying the Litchfield Walmart and nearby structures before proceeding to Butler. What, you don t remember reading or hearing about this event? Thankfully, the scenario above was only a tabletop exercise and not a real event, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility. Montgomery county EMA director Greg Nimmo had just under one-hundred county and state officials and leaders attending his tabletop exercise at the Magnuson Grand Hotel and Conference Center and ham radio was invited to attend! Mark Lewis, KD9EFO did an excellent job of making conference participants aware of the contributions that the Amateur Radio Service and ARES can provide during a disaster. In the exercise, some repeaters were non-functional and Mark explained in layman s terms why repeaters are used and what it means to first responders and community officials if a repeater suddenly becomes unavailable. The tabletop exercise was a huge success in bringing agencies together and identifying potential problems and pitfalls. Beaver Dam Dash, Saturday, Nov. 11th Saturday, November 11th from 10:00 to Noon marks the third running of the Tri-County Running Club s Beaver Dam Dash. Each year the club asks K9MCE to provide communications support and the club has not failed to provide! It is a easy, two hours in the beautiful setting of Beaver Dam State Park about 8 miles south of Carlinville. All you need is a few hours, an HT or mobile radio and some extra batteries. This is a cross country course so some ops will need to hike in about a quarter of a mile to get to their communications assignment. KC9YFU Photo Besides providing personal EmCom training, participation in this event showcases ham radio to the public and provides a valuable community service. + +
Volume 5, Issue 11 Page 5 Inside Story Headline Congratulations are in order to the following newly licensed ham radio operators: Dylan Goldsmith, KD9JKM of Nokomis; Tyler Beeler, KD9JKN of Hillsboro and Doug White KD9JKO of Litchfield. These gentlemen attended Ron, KO0Z s September Technician License class in Farmersville and successfully passed their FCC exam. All of these new ops are interested in Skywarn and community service. Please welcome them into our ham radio community and invite them to your shacks. Once a new ham enters into our ranks, it is vital to be a friend and mentor. Please share with them the excitement you ve discovered with amateur radio! Get involved! Area SET for Saturday November 4 Many, longtime, area hams are not familiar with the acronym SET. It stands for Simulated Emergency Test. Your ARRL promotes members to participate in SET, usually around October, but the dates are flexible. In Illinois, our ARRL SEC (section emergency coordinator) Fritz Brock, WD9FMB is encouraging state ARES (amateur radio emergency service) groups to develop a communications plan and a drill over the weekend of November 3-5. Towards that goal, Macoupin County ARES will conduct a drill on Saturday, November 4th at 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Macoupin county lies within Illinois Emergency Management Agency Region 8. Region 8 contains the following counties: Macoupin, Montgomery, Greene, Calhoon, Jersey, Bond, Clinton, Washington, St. Clair, Madison and Monroe. The drill scenario consists of Region 8 being struck by a massive earthquake which disables the power grid. Thereby rendering critical infrastructure such as electricity, running water, fuel supplies almost useless. To add insult onto injury, area repeaters are also off the air. That mean simplex communications will be the flavor of the day. Our drill goal is to activate all corners of Macoupin County via 2 meter simplex (147.480 MHz). KO0Z will serve as net control. The first order of business is to ascertain simplex communications paths between all check-ins. Next, infrastructure needs will be accessed and relayed back to net control who in turn will relay this information back to Macoupin County EMA manager Jim Pitchford, N9LQF. Mark Lewis, KD9EFO will be conducting the same drill in Montgomery County on simplex 147.420 MHz. Jeff Naville, KC9WZO will activate Greene county. There is a chance Sangamon county will participate as well, which is another drill objective; namely, to conduct simplex communications with nearby counties. This is a big undertaking, but a necessary one. All of us think that we are ready if and when the time comes, but are we really all that prepared? Can you operate from your QTH, now, if all the AC power was turned off? Do you have a back-up plan. What happens if Plan A fails. Do you have a Plan B? What happens if there is a prolonged power outage from an earthquake or an ice storm? Can we provide communications over a prolonged period of time? Best to work on those issues now, before they become REAL issues! Everyone is invited to participate. You need not be an ARES member. Hear you on the drill, Saturday, Nov. 4th. All of us think that we are ready if and when the time comes, but are we really all that prepared?
Page 6 K9MCE QSN Illinois EMA Region Map
Volume 5, Issue 11 Page 7 Reading Capacitor Values For some reason, reading the numbers on a capacitor to determine its value is a bit tricky. At first glance reading a capacitor is not as easy as reading a resistor. Here are some handy charts that can make the job of determining a capacitor s value a bit easier. Do keep in mind that it s always a good idea to actually measure a capacitor s capacitance because, with time, capacitors change in value. A capacitance meter will aid you in determining the capacitor under test s true value.
Page 8 K9MCE QSN MINUTES - K9MCE ARC MEETING Submitted by Paul Durand, KC9YCP - Secretary October 4, 2017 - Macoupin County Board Room-Sheriff s Complex. Meeting called to order by President John Nalezyty KD8KVO @ 7:00 pm. Officers Present: President John Nalezyty KD8KVO, Vice President Mark Lewis KD9EFO, Treasurer Tim Coonrod KC9HQA, Secretary Paul Durand KC9YCP. Directors Present: Skip Riba WS9V, Jim Pitchford N9LQF. Other Members Present: Carlos Arzuagos W9FE, Chuck Baker N9LVY, Charlie Ritter KB9OXH Minutes: Motion to approve the minutes was made by Jim N9LQF and seconded by Chuck N9LVY. Motion carried. Club Officer Reports. Treasurer Report: Tim KC9QHA reported that the club treasury balance would be $3,562.98 after payment of hamfest tickets and payment of a fee to the Illinois Secretary of State. Club dues are due ($250 lifetime, $15 annual fee for seniors, $20 for regular members, $25 for a family membership, $10 to be an associate member and $10 for student membership). Committee Reports 1. West Central Illinois Hamfest: Chair Tim Coonrod KC9HQA and Co-chairs (or honorary Co-chairs) Ron Ochu KO0Z, Jim Pitchford N9LQF, Lou Bartels KC9YFU. Jim N9LQF initiated a discussion about how to disburse Hamfest gate receipts. In the past, receipts were split with the Montgomery County club. That was the plan for this year. Jim suggested the club consider sharing some of their gate receipts with Sangamon and Okaw Valley clubs since they contributed resources to putting on the hamfest. He also suggested we invite Montgomery County club consider doing this as well. The primary purposes of the hamfest is to promote a social gathering of people interested in ham radio. After some discussion, it was suggested that representatives from all participating clubs should meet and discuss how to disburse receipts from future hamfests. Skip WS9V noted that there are 2,600 ham operators within a 75 mile radius of Springfield. Attracting more operators to a regional hamfest is best done with the participation of other clubs throughout the region. Skip suggested the club provide $100 in gate receipts monies to the Sangamon and Okaw Valley Clubs. This was tabled until the subject could be shared with Montgomery County Club. Jim N9LQF made a motion to provide Montgomery County club their half of the receipts (estimated to be $431); motion seconded my Mark KD9EFO. Carried. Tim KC9QHA made a motion to recognize Roger and Vicki Whitaker s participation with a gift certificate for dinner. Seconded and approved. 2. Field Day Co-Chairs: Mark Kerlikar, Jared Stumke KC9ZMD. Co-chairs were not present. 3. K9MCE Website Committee: Isaac Pizzo KC9NJW was not present. 4. VP of Emergency Communications: Chair: Jim Pitchford N9LQF. Jim N9LQF reported that the Flu Clinic drive through at the Macoupin County Fairgrounds went well. Participants with the Public Health Department were pleased. 5. Emergency Communications Report on ARES in Macoupin County: Chairman Ron Ochu KO0Z. Chairman Ron KO0Z was not present. The ARES net meets on 147.480 MHz simplex at 8:00 pm every Thursday evening. There is a SKYWARN.NET practice check-in on 146.820 at 8:15 pm on the first Thursday of each month. The next ARES club meeting is scheduled to meet at the Refuge Coffee House in Carlinville on October 7, beginning 10 am; ARRL IL SEC Fritz Bock, WD9FMB will be the presenter.
Volume 5, Issue 11 Page 9 Old Business: None. New Business: Chuck N9LVY suggested club members begin thinking about the Christmas dinner. There was also some discussion of whether or not the club should invest in a DMR repeater. After some consideration, the sense was that a DMR repeater might not be cost effective. Adjournment. Motion to adjourn was made by Tim KC9HQA and seconded by Chuck N9LVY. Meeting adjourned. Program: Tim KC9HQA reviewed a recent book put out by ARRL entitled Grounding for Beginners. Tim highly recommended the book and said it came out about 4 months ago. Tim described some examples of bad grounding he has encountered in his work as an electrician. He emphasized he has often seen gas lines used as grounds which obviously is a very poor choice. If you want to talk grounding, Tim KC9HQA is a good resource. The ARRL book too would be an excellent edition to your reference library.
Page 10 K9MCE QSN Jim of Jim s Engraving is a local ham KF4NBG from Pocahontas, IL. K9MCE QSN Contact Information: K9MCE QSN is a monthly publication of the Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club. Our club meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm on the second floor of the Macoupin County Sheriff Department in Carlinville, IL Editor: Ron Ochu, KO0Z. ronochu.sky@gmail.com Repeaters: 444.250 (103.5 pl); 146.865 (103.5 pl). Website: www.k9mce.org Webmaster: Isaac Pizzo, WX9SRV Testing: Lou Bartels, KC9YFU, 618-977-4658 Macoupin County Amateur Radio Club P.O. Box 253 Carlinville, IL 62626-0253
Volume 5, Issue 11 Page 11 K9MCE November 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1K9MCE Club premeeting dinner, 5:00 pm @ Reno s; club meeting, 7:00 pm, at the Sheriff s office in Carlinville 2Macoupin County ARES Net, KO0Z net control 147.480 MHz simplex @ 8pm K9MCE Club net, WD9HBF, 444.250 @ 8:30 pm 3 4 ARRL Sweepstakes-CW 5Okaw Valley ARC Net@9:00 pm, 444.250 K9MAF Net 146.805 @ 9 pm \ ARRL Sweepstakes CW 6Lewis & Clark ARC, K9HAM 8 pm 145.23 (79.7) W9VEY Memorial Net @8:30 pm, 146.820 7Old Capital ARC, Vandalia, 146.745, 88.5 pl, 8:00 pm 8 9Macoupin County ARES Net, KO0Z net control 147.480 MHz simplex @ 8pm K9MCE Club net, WD9HBF, 444.250 @ 8:30 pm 10 11 12Okaw Valley ARC Net@9:00 pm, 444.250 K9MAF Net 146.805 @ 9 pm 13Lewis & Clark ARC, K9HAM 8 pm 145.23 (79.7) W9VEY Memorial Net @8:30 pm, 146.820 14Old Capital ARC, Vandalia, 146.745, 88.5 pl, 8:00 pm 15 16Macoupin County ARES Net, KO0Z net control 147.480 MHz simplex @ 8pm K9MCE Club net, WD9HBF, 444.250 @ 8:30 pm 17 18 ARRL Sweepstakes-SSB 19Okaw Valley ARC Net@9:00 pm, 444.250 K9MAF Net 146.805 @ 9 pm ARRL Sweepstakes- SSB 20Lewis & Clark ARC, K9HAM 8 pm 145.23 (79.7) W9VEY Memorial Net @8:30 pm, 146.820 21Old Capital ARC, Vandalia, 146.745, 88.5 pl, 8:00 pm 22 23Macoupin County ARES Net, KO0Z net control 147.480 MHz simplex @ 8pm K9MCE Club net, WD9HBF, 444.250 @ 8:30 pm 24 25 CQ WW DX CW 26Okaw Valley ARC Net@9:00 pm, 444.250 K9MAF Net 146.805 @ 9 pm CQWW DX CW 27Lewis & Clark ARC, K9HAM 8 pm 145.23 (79.7) W9VEY Memorial Net @8:30 pm, 146.820 28Old Capital ARC, Vandalia, 146.745, 88.5 pl, 8:00 pm 29 30Macoupin County ARES Net, KO0Z net control 147.480 MHz simplex @ 8pm K9MCE Club net, WD9HBF, 444.250 @ 8:30 pm
K9MCE QSN BACKPAGE IL NOAA NWS WX Radio Stations Ward Silver, N0AX makes it a point to program his VHF/UHF FM radios with the seven frequencies nationally assigned to NWS so that when he is on the road he is within the coverage area of a NWS transmitter. These frequencies are 162.400, 162.425. 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 and 162.550. Keep in mind that not all NWS transmitters have the same output power. For instance, KD089 out of St. Louis and WXJ75 out of Springfield, IL have 1000 watts; whereas, KXI79 in Hillsboro runs 300 watts. A good URL to see the various NWS stations and their respective output power is http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/maps/php/il.php We re on the web! www.k9mce.org Besides being up to date with the latest NWS information these stations can also serve as good VHF propagation beacons. Listen to the various frequencies and see where and how well the station is coming in to your location. Springtime and summer months brings enhanced VHF propagation during the morning and evening hours. Illinois HF Traffic Nets, Times and Frequencies... Local weekly nets: Sunday: Okaw Valley ARC, 444.250 @9:00 pm Sunday: N9MAF Net, 146.805 @ 9:00 pm. Monday: Lewis and Clark ARC, 145.23 @ 8:00 pm Monday; W9VEI Memorial Net, 146.820 at 8:30 pm Tuesday: Old Capitol ARC, Vandalia 146.745 @ 8:00 pm Thursday: Macoupin County ARES, 147.480 @ 8:00 pm Thursday: Macoupin County ARC Net, 444.250 @ 8:30 pm. Illinois Side Band Net - Net Manager WB9QPM Daily on 3905 at 1800 local time Illinois Emergency Net - Net Manager K9HEZ & Illinois Phone Net Sunday on 3940 at 0800 local time North Central Phone Net Net Manager K9HEZ M-F on 3912 at 0700 local time Illinois CW Net (ILN) Net Manager WB8SIM W9NXM reporting Daily on 3838 at 1915 local time Dave O Dell LUTCF 145 E. Jackson St., Virden, IL 62690 217-965-5888 Annuities, Auto, Financial Planning, Home, Life & Mutual Funds