BELLBROOK

AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

W8DGN — Bellbrook, Ohio

Organized in 1974 as the Communications Group for the Bellbrook—Sugarcreek Township Disaster Plan

Officially founded July 4, 1976

February 2010 Newsletter

Volume 35—Number 2

NEXT MEETING

3^rd Thursday, 18 January 2010, 7:30 PM

BARC Clubhouse & Communications Center

Sugarcreek Elementary School

51 South East Street, Bellbrook

Talk-in on BARC 147.045(+) Repeater & 147.405 Simplex

PROGRAM

Antennas—Basic Practical Designs

by Ed Kulesa, K2VEE

Ed will briefly suggest how to make basic antenna selections

— especially for new “HF hams.”

His presentation will cover the workhorse dipole—in its many variations,

the G5RV multibander, and the not so well known horizontal loop antenna.

A few construction practices will be thrown in for good measure.

This is a program you won’t want to miss.

Inside This Edition

Minutes—January 21 Meeting

BARC Weekly Lunch Get-together

BARC 34^th Annual Dinner Meeting

BARC 2010 Dues—Final Reminder

BARC 2010 Membership Directory

Greene County License Courses

Greene County ARES

Montgomery County ARES

Greene County SKYWARN Training

Montgomery County SKYWARN Training

ARRL Discounted Membership Offer

Hamvention 2010

BARC Calendar

BARC 2010 Officers

Minutes—January 21 Meeting

By BARC Secretary Ed Kulesa K2VEE

Attendance

The January 2010 BARC General Meeting was attended by 18 club members and guests.  Taking the reins for the first time as BARC President was Chris Stauter, KD8APN.  Chris called  the meeting to order at 7:34PM.

Minutes

The minutes for the December 17, 2009 BARC General meeting were approved as published in the Newsletter.

Treasurer’s Report By Dave Walton, WD8GCR

Public Service By Chris Stauter, KD8APN

No public service activity was reported for the immediate future.  The Bellbrook Sugar Maple Festival Parade on April 17th is the next public service event to be supported by BARC.

Repeaters By Henry Bussey, W8TOG

Both BARC repeaters are OK for now and users can easily talk over any noise that might appear on the 2m repeater.

Clubhouse By Ron Sprauer, WD8AZC

BARC’s commitment to move the remaining materials from the Sugar Maple Festival Committee room in the school to the church was completed recently.  Many thanks to all who helped out and made the work easy and quick.

Education By Fred Stone, W8LLY

The Spring 2010 Greene County amateur radio license courses will begin on February 14th and end April 18^th with an exam session on April 25^th.

Old Business

a) The BARC dinner meeting will be held on March 18 (Thursday) at Der Dutchman in Waynesville, Ohio.  E-mail RSVP invitations will be sent out in February.  It will request an invitation head-count and vote for the dinner meat course selection.

The members present voted to hold this dinner meeting at Der Dutchman again this year.

The Ohio Section Manager, Frank Piper, KI8GW and the Great Lakes Division Director, Jim Weaver, K8JE will be invited to the dinner meeting.  For this year's dinner presentation, Don Dubon, N6JRL and his wife will show us their photographs and comment on their recent ham-expedition to Costa Rica.

b) To better select the programs for the general meetings, the vice president Darryl Fowler, KD8JQE, graciously volunteered to head a group to make plans for generating and scheduling these monthly presentations. 

New Business

a) Fred Stone proposed that the Club eliminate the repeater autopatch telephone line.  The autopatch seldom is used anymore since everyone seems to have a cell phone.  Fred then proposed that the Club purchase a Magic Jack device which would access telephone service via an internet connection from within the Clubhouse. The Magic Jack requires a USB connection to a dedicated computer for its operation. After a discussion of Fred's proposal it was seconded by John King and unanimously passed by the members present.

Ken Gunton, W8ASA volunteered to do a quick test to assure that the Magic Jack solution to telephone service was feasible at the Clubhouse.

b) John Mullins, N8ZGQ took a few minutes to pass on several interesting URLs that hams can use to check out weather conditions as required. John suggested the following interesting sites:

www.ambientweather.com

www.wunderground.com

www.hwn.org

c) Chris Stauter then enumerated the major positions he would like club members to consider filling. Chris published these positions in the January 2010 Newsletter.  Please give them your consideration and help out by volunteering for one or more of these positions or committees.  The Club needs everyone to contribute something toward the organization—that is what makes it grow and flourish.

d) The first planning committee for the Clubhouse is scheduled to take place the first Thursday in April--the goal it to have all of the major renovations and antenna systems available by the 1st of July 2010.

Program

Fred Stone, W8LLY gave a presentation on notes from the Haiti earthquake taken from a ham-radio perspective. Fred discussed how all communications was initially cut off and that only a couple Haiti hams could get through to Cuba while their batteries lasted.  Eventually, the Cubans set up a watch net and stayed in contact with the Cuban geological survey center.  Individuals like Fr. John, operating just off the coast of Haiti, and the IARU both set up nets in the early days after the earthquake to pass the necessary traffic. 

As days passed, more traffic began to flow out of Haiti when some of the cellular telephone service returned.  Echolink service added further to the capability for passing information.

Fred reported that W8BI was enabled to monitor for traffic and to assist as a backup Net Control.  ARRL reported there currently were no plans to send anyone to Haiti.

Many thanks to Fred for the timely emergency-related report.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30PM.

BARC Weekly Lunch Get-togethers

A couple of years ago, several BARC members started meeting about once a week for lunch at different area restaurant.  Currently, there are 18 people on the “BARC Go fer Lunch Bunch” email list, and average attendance is around 10 people.  This is not an exclusive group and you are invited to join us.  Email Fred at   HYPERLINK "mailto:W8LLY@ARRL.net" W8LLY@ARRL.net if you would like to be added to the Email List. 

BARC 34^th Annual Dinner Meeting 

BARC’s 34^th Annual Dinner Meeting for members, spouses and guests will be held on March 18 (regular 3^rd Thursday meeting night) at Der Dutchman Restaurant in Waynesville.  This is a great evening of Food, Fun and Fellowship that seems to grow every year.

Special guests will be ARRL Great Lakes Division Director Jim Weaver, ARRL Ohio Section Manager Frank Piper KI8GW, Don N6JRL & Sandy N3TQU Dubon and Dave Kalter KB8OCP.  Jim and Frank will make a few brief remarks regarding ARRL activities especially in our Division and in Ohio.  Don and Dave will wrap up the evening with an excellent video of their 2009 DXpedition to Costa Rica in which they participated.

Cost of this year’s dinner is $16 per person and the family style menu includes salad, two meat entrees, potatoes, vegetable, breads, drink and dessert.  Each person may vote for his(her) two preferences from the following meat offering: Broasted Chicken, Roast Turkey, Roast Pork, Roast Beef and Ham.

Please RSVP to Ed Kulesa at  HYPERLINK "mailto:K2VEE@ARRL.net" K2VEE@ARRL.net with the number of people in your party and your two preferences The gathering begins around 6:15 PM, seating is scheduled for 6:30 PM and dinner will be served at 6:45 PM.  The restaurant is located on the east side of US-42 about ¼ mile north of SR-73.

BARC 2010 Dues--Final Reminder 

In accordance with BARC’s Constitution & By-Laws, 2009 members become delinquent if their membership is not renewed by the February meeting.  A new BARC Member Directory will be distributed soon based current membership as of March 1.  We sincerely hope that you will be included in the 2010 Directory.

Our Treasurer will accept 2010 dues at the February meeting or you may send your check via U.S. mail to:

Dave Walton KD8GCR

BARC Treasurer

PO Box 73

Bellbrook OH 45305

Annual dues are $15 per member and $3 for each additional family members living at the same address.

The free membership for new hams extends for one year from the end of the month in which the first license is granted by the FCC.  The Treasurer will send a reminder to those new hams whose renewal will occur during the year.

Dues help support club activities such as the Clubhouse, the repeaters, Field Day expenses, guest dinners at the annual dinner meeting, and other purchases and activities as decided by the Club during the year.

BARC 2010 Membership Directory 

When you pay your 2010 BARC Membership Dues, please make sure the BARC Treasurer has all of your current contact information.  This includes name, call sign, license class, street address, email address, home phone number, cell phone number, work phone number, and any other pertinent contact information.

Please include ALL of this information for club records but indicate any information you do not want published in a club roster to be distributed to all members.  Send information to BARC Treasurer, Dave Walton KD8GCR, at:

 HYPERLINK "mailto:DaveNKate@ameritech.net" DaveNKate@ameritech.net.  Thank you.

Greene County License Courses

The Greene County Spring 2010 Amateur Radio License Courses began Sunday, February 14, with 16 Technician Class students, 7 General Class students and 9 Extra Class students.  It is not too late to join a course if you are interested.

Technician Class and General Class courses will conclude Sunday, April 11 and the Extra Class course will end on Sunday, April 18.  There will be no classes Easter Sunday, April 4. The Test Session will be held Sunday, April 18, at 6:00 PM.

These courses are sponsored jointly by the three Greene County amateur radio clubs (BARC, UVARC and XWARN) and GCARES.

Greene County ARES 

The next Greene County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (GCARES) meeting will be February 22 (fourth Monday), 7:30 PM, in the Training Room at Beavercreek Township Fire Station 1 (Dayton-Xenia Road just west of Orchard Lane).  All Greene County hams are encouraged to be Active members of GCARES.

Greene County SKYWARN Training 

The annual Greene County Skywarn Training class scheduled for Tuesday 9 February, 6:30 PM, at Greene County Media Center on Ledbetter Road was cancelled because of the Winter Storm Warning last week.  The new date will be announced soon.

Montgomery County ARES 

Although the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is organized by county, BARC members who reside in Montgomery County are welcome to participate with BARC in supporting the Bellbrook / Sugarcreek Township community.  However, they also are encouraged to be aware of and participate in activities of Montgomery County ARES.  Therefore, the BARC Newsletter will attempt to publicize information about Montgomery County ARES and Skywarn meetings and activities as available.

The next Montgomery County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (MoCoARES) meeting will be February 23, 7:00-9:00 PM, at the Miami Township Government Center on Lyons Road (behind the Police and Fire Department buildings).  Future meetings are on the last Tuesday of even months.  For more information, contact Rob Flory, Assistant Emergency Coordinator—Administration/Planning  at  HYPERLINK "mailto:KA5RUC@MoCoARES.com" KA5RUC@MoCoARES.com.  An application form is available on the MoCoARES web site at  HYPERLINK "http://www.MoCoARES.com" www.MoCoARES.com; click on FSD-98

Montgomery County SKYWARN Training 

The annual Montgomery County Skywarn Training class is scheduled for Saturday 13 March, 9 AM-12N at Miami Valley Hospital Berry Women’s Pavilion Auditorium.  The Auditorium is located on the corner of Brown Street and Wyoming Street.  Enter at the main entrances from Brown Street or Wyoming Street, park in the Parking Garage, exit the Parking Garage elevator and walk across the driveway to the Berry Pavilion.  For more information, contact Louis Long KB8TCK at LouisPLong@aol.com.

ARRL Discounted Membership Offer 

BARC members and new hams are reminded that they may become an ARRL member or renew an existing ARRL membership at a discounted rate.  BARC is an ARRL affiliated club and receives a commission for ARRL memberships transacted through the club.  BARC passes on this discount as a club membership benefit in order to promote ARRL membership.  New ARRL members receive a $15 discount on first year cost.  Please contact the Treasurer for details.

Hamvention 2010 

This is an early reminder to mark your calendar for May 14-15-16, 2010 for Dayton Hamvention.

DARA can always use additional volunteers to help run the Hamvention event.  Check out the Hamvention website at  HYPERLINK "http://www.hamvention.org" www.hamvention.org  for more information.  Volunteers receive a free Hamvention ticket and possibly a parking pass depending how much time is volunteered.

Please see BARC Calendar and 2010 Officers below.

In the event of an actual,

suspected or pending

emergency situation,

MONITOR  (or ACTIVATE)

a Greene County

Information & Alerting Net

On 147.165 MHz

BELLBROOK AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

PO Box 73,  Bellbrook OH  45305

2010 Officers, Committee

         Chairs & Coordinators

President

Chris Stauter KD8APN 313-4100

(CStauter@aol.com)

Vice President

Darryl Fowler KD8JQE 310-1039

(Dfowler@woh.rr.com)

Secretary

Ed Kulesa K2VEE 848-2256

(K2VEE@ARRL.net)

Treasurer

Dave Walton KD8GCR 426-3923

(KD8GCR@ARRL.net)

Senior Director

Jim Lusk KC8EFD 848-4086

(JLusk@woh.rr.com)

Junior Director

John King KA8OYH 376-2111

(KA8OYH@yahoo.com)

Newsletter Editor

Fred Stone W8LLY 470-6948

( HYPERLINK "mailto:W8LLY@ARRL.net" W8LLY@ARRL.net) - - (FStone@ThinkTV.org) 

Committee Chairs, Coordinators and

Other Positions To be announced