Frontier Amateur Radio Society.doc

							                             Frontier Amateur Radio Society
                                          Newsletter – May 2004
                                              “WE SHALL ALSO SERVE”
                                                             Since 1986

Club Officers
President          Butch Bussen           WA0VJR         butchb@shellworld.net      702-255-4388
Vice-President     Ted Wilson             KA7LVT                                    702-361-5328
Secretary          Robert Johnson         N7FLR          sharonj@aol.com            702-361-3647
Treasurer          Robert “Bob” Buck      W7IZU          w7izu@msn.com              702-457-6635
FARS Annual Elections
Butch Bussen, WA0VJR presided over our April meeting as our new club President. His agenda was
informal, and certain matters such as the repeater status and ARRL Field Day support were discussed.
Several members suggested other matters which were not pressing, but might shape activity in the
current club year. – Ted Wilson, KA7LVT who was not present, was elected club Vice-President and
was informed by telephone. Ted has served in past years in several offices. The offices of Secretary
and Treasurer stand with the previous members without opposition. The club welcomes our newest
officers and we should support them by helping to make our activities possible on schedule.
ARRL Newcomer Licensing and Operating Proposal Approved by FCC
This latest proposal is about to be implemented with a few changes. It essentially says that in the future,
only 3 classes of operating licenses will be issued to individuals. This will be Novice (newcomer),
General, and Extra. The Novice class will have no-code operating privileges in a large part of the HF
spectrum. This action initiated by the ARRL is designed to attract newcomers to the hobby, especially
younger persons, rather than changing the status quo arbitrarily. By doing nothing, ARRL envisions
loss of the ham population, either by attrition or other means, which has negative effects beyond the
ARRL itself and could relegate ham radio to a minor status in the future. – Extracted from the ARRL
Letter, includes FARS editorial opinion.
An Arizona County Won’t Limit Ham Antennas
This is from an article in a Tucson, Arizona newspaper. A standing local ham antenna ordinance in
Pima County, Arizona allowed ham antennas in residential areas to be installed up to 100 ft., with safety
setbacks observed. This was recently challenged by a few homeowners in an up-scale, deed restricted
area, that didn’t have antenna restrictions. A ham put up a 100 ft. tower allowed, and the homeowners
with their lawyer went to the county to have that tower disallowed, as well as challenging the ordinance
itself to their interpretation. These changes allowed only a single tower, with antenna plus hardware to
be no higher than 34 ft., the same height limitation for residential houses. Numerous additional nuisance
restrictions were also proposed. A powerful county supervisor sided with the homeowners. Sixty-five
hams and their attorney showed up to oppose the new ordinance. Non-ham witnesses agreed with the
hams that past service by hams in emergency situations was more valuable than perceived aesthetics. In
a 4 to 1 vote, the ordnance overturn was denied. – Extracts from the Tucson Sentinel, April 13, 2004.
FCC Happenings
The commission has approved Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) operations in the amateur 70 cm
spectrum at 433.5-434.5MHz. A for profit firm, SAVI Technology says they need this for “national
security”. Bottom line security seems more like it. – By the way, a most important matter – on the air
use of the “F” word is again not allowed. – Extracts from the ARRL Letter.



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BNC and TNC?
Everyone knows that these are connector style identifiers, but what do BNC and TNC stand for?
Chop Suey 2 Meter “Net.”
A Chinese restaurant called Best Wok in Westville, NJ was recently found to be using a “long distance
cordless telephone system” to contact its delivery people on 145.8376MHz, right in the amateur band.
The restaurant owner had obtained the equipment offshore. When notified of the violation by the FCC,
the restaurant owner purchased commercial legal MURS equipment operating on 154.600MHz. That
“didn’t work as well” as the illegally deployed 2M equipment, so the owner went back to violating the
law, using the former 2M equipment. The FCC cited the restaurant twice under various Communications
Act rules and fined them $10,000, subject to appeal. – Extracts from the ARRL Letter
Past and Future Officer Elections
Bob Buck, W7IZU, club Treasurer recounted in our April meeting that the March 2002 election was an
exception to past voting due to unusual circumstances. The normal time and dates should be noted in
the By-laws and Constitution and future elections should reflect this. For our State of Nevada non-profit
status we are required to have officers.
Pending Business
Our continuation as an ARRL Special Service Club (SSC) is an action item to be pursued by a collective
of volunteers under the guidance of the club President. Those who support the ARRL SSC program are
reminded that our paperwork submission to ARRL was required in April unless an extension was
approved.
June 2004 ARRL Field Day (FD)
Changes in plans for the FARS supported FD operation are to be finalized at the May meeting. At the
April meeting there was unanimous support to change the FD place and operate as a joint operation with
other clubs at Sunset Park. All interested parties should contact Fred Homuth, K9GAJ at 396-7959. He
is a volunteer “assistant interim Field Day chairman”. The operation by Robert Davidson, NV7NV, at a
Spring Mountain location will probably take place, but as an independent operation.
Repeater Committee Field deployment
At the April meeting, Butch Bussen, WA0VJR, Club President and member of the Repeater Committee
suggested that a trip to Black Mt, to the repeater site was imminent. A logistical meeting will probably
be held by telephone first, pending obtaining adaptation hardware to mount the repeater antenna on a
commercial broadcast tower.
E-mail voting
FARS will further adopt the process of voting on-line by E-mail for some issues, especially those
occurring between club meetings. This process requires that we adhere to the present club constitutional
quorum of at least 11 votes. The ideal would be for club members to attend all club meetings and vote in
person. That is impractical and unworkable for keeping all club business moving.
Constitution and By-laws Action Group
The interim “temporary volunteer FARS acting board” tenure has ended with election of new club
officers. Holdover business of the By-laws and Constitution updates are to be tackled now by Sandy
Padilla, KB6EK, J.D. Jones, N7WL, and Bob Buck, W7IZU.
Code Practice
This activity is sponsored by the Nellis Amateur Radio Club on 147.06MHz on Monday and Wednesday
evenings at 7 PM PDT. Those of you who know the code are urged to join the FARS gathering at 7 PM
PDT on our club repeater 145.39MHz on Wednesday evenings.
Quotation
I’m not young enough to know everything! – J.M. Barrie
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Special Thanks to an Important FARS Booster
Ken Hoppe, KH7R, a non-club member and world class DXer, has donated a modern design 70CM
repeater to FARS for its permanent ownership. This will facilitate the update program for a FARS
sponsored public service open repeater operation for all local hams, and especially area visitors. Our
objective is reliable Las Vegas valley coverage service for regular, special, and emergency
communications. Please accept a sincere Thank You from all our club members.
Appointees and Regular Volunteers
Club Technical adviser/RFI consultant – Dave Floyd, W9MPD
Education Coordinator/Librarian – Robert Johnson, N7FLR
Interclub Facilitator – Fred Homuth, K9GAJ
ARRL DXCC/WAS Awards Manager – Hal Waite, K3AB
ARRL VUCC Awards Manager – Al Olcott, K7ICW
Newsletter – Al Olcott, K7ICW, and Sandy Padilla, KB6EK
Club Activity in the Coming Year
Although no serious discussion or vote was held at last month’s meeting, activity in the first half of 2004
will concentrate on finishing internal organization business previously scheduled. Future projects on
hold will be prioritized as necessary. One member suggests the club increase contest operating activity
on both HF and above. Pat Hess (294-1040) of the “Area 51 Contest Club”
(http://members.cox.net/nvqso2004/) is looking for operators to support the Nevada QSO Party Contest
on May 8-9.
Next Meeting
The next FARS breakfast meeting is scheduled for Saturday, May 8, 2004, at 8 AM, at the Instant
Replay-Villa Pizza Sports Pub & Grille, located at 9495 Las Vegas Boulevard South at Richmar
Avenue, on the SW corner. Look for us in the private dining room on your left as you enter.
FARS Financial Report
Cash in Wells Fargo bank:     1 April 2004                                   $ 2004.34
       Received:              Members Dues                      $ 40.00
                              April Raffle                      $ 28.00
      Total received:                                                           $ 68.00
Account Sub-Total                                                            $ 2072.34
      Disbursements:          Marsh-Seabury & Smith Ins        $ 325.00
                              March Service Charge                $ 6.40
       Total Disbursements                                                    $ 331.40
Cash in Wells Fargo Bank 1 May 2004                                          $ 1740.94
– Robert E Buck, W7IZU
Moment of Zen
We shape the clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. – Tao De Ching
Did You Know?
There are 5 local area repeaters on the 902MHz band.
BNC and TNC History
In case you didn’t know, just forgot, or didn’t care, BNC stands for Bayonet-Neill-Concelman, and TNC
stands for Threaded-Neill-Concelman. Who are these folks anyway? Paul Neill of Bell Labs invented
the Type N connector in the 1940s, and Carl Concelman, an engineer at Amphenol, invented the Type C
connector. They collaborated to develop miniature versions of these connectors, hence BNC and TNC.
However, the inventor and patent holder of the design that eventually became known as the BNC
connector was Octavio M. Salati, invented while he was employed at Hazeltine Electronics, circa 1946-
48. He received his Ph.D. in 1963, and appointed Professor of Engineering of the Moore School of
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Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania in 1975. Dr. Salati died January 27, 2004 at the age of
86.
WW2 radar required a better connector than the original PL-259 UHF connector, and the two designs
followed. The first attempted to make a connector look like a piece of 50 ohm coaxial cable; this was
the type N connector by Neill. However, Concelman noticed that there was a small lumped inductance
where the center pins of the N connector met. By changing the position of the dielectric used to fill the
connector he was able to introduce some reactive cancellation, this design, known as the type C
connector, allows the cable to be used well into the Gigahertz range. Shortly after, Neill and Concelman
cooperated on the design of a miniature bayonet locking connector. This combined Neill's mechanical
design with Concelman's reactive dielectric and his twist-on locking ring. The Bayonet-Neill-
Concelman connector had arrived. But, because of the noise generated by the BNC connectors under
extreme vibration conditions, Neill and Concelman created the threaded version. The Threaded-Neill-
Concelman connector was developed in the late 1950's.
– Sandy Padilla, KB6EK.
Member Ham Radio Items For Sale or Trade, or Wanted
This space is available for club member needs. Submittals must be in writing (E-mail OK). The
Newsletter reserves the right to edit the content.
Commercial Community Club Supporters
Amateur Electronic Supply  Radio World
4640 S Polaris Avenue      1656 Nevada Highway
Las Vegas, NV 89103        Boulder City, NV 89005
Phone: (702) 647-3114      Phone: (702) 294-2666
Disclaimer
The Newsletter provides a forum for FARS members to express their thoughts, opinions, or impressions.
Submissions may not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Frontier Amateur Radio Society.
Members are invited to submit counter or supporting opinions or variations to the themes presented.
The Newsletter reserves the right to edit submissions.
73 ... GAO




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