OCARC NETNEWS 2004 February

NETNEWS

by WB6IXN

2/01/2004 40m OCWN CW Net – NCS/UEB checked in IMW/6, KS6CW, IOA/6, KA6G, IB/6, OIO, GVG, RND, VDP, NT, and HKT…Gud check-in, OPs! NCS tnxed all OPs fer the smooth QSY to 7097 KHz. UEB, getting over a bout wid the flu, made his 1^st JA contact wid JA1NUT in Mohka City, Japan! IMW had a few test QSOs wid Henry, the tube transmitter, and Ian thanked all who helped wid the tests, and Ian said it sounded like he was receiving VDP multiple path! CW said that the Net freq. was too close to W6ADO…NCS suggested that Kathy use filters if available. CW & mom went to the choir festival and sang frm 9AM to 3PM, then went to the CERTS/RACES banquets. IOA, at his shop station in Oxnard, worked France this morning on 17m! KA6G, after cleaning the shack, said it made all sigs sound better, And IB copied all sigs in Loomis wid light rain falling and temp. abt 42F, and Casey hear Rich/N6UT calling during QNI! Rich did not hear NCS…UT said his ears were worn out! OIO reported gud sigs on all in Barton Flats…Wid a temp of 22F and much frost, Ann was waiting fer a backhoe. GVG reported all OP sigss 5NN in Bonsall. Roy missed the past few weeks due to travelling. RND enjoyed working the Henry, had a great BD party on Wed., and planned to watch ‘the big game’! VDP cleaned the shack, had a QSO wid a FISTS station in Wisconsin, wid temp there –17F! Wid a cheery day on the Hill, Ray sent the ‘college horse’ bk to Fresno State…Wid half of the ant. on the roof…?…(Where’s the rest of the ant., Ray!?) HKT tried to call IMW twice yesterday unsuccessfully, I still learning to send left-handed, and had a gud trip to Laughlin.

2/04/2004 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in IXN, HHC, and VKZ. All OPs were glad to hear that VKZ is bk frm Oregon and settled in his trailer! AF6C, wid the old Apple II GS packed away, has been transferring 5 ¼ in. disc data to CDs. KTS told IXN that he will take his ailing microphone to AF6C for further ‘surgery’, and IXN & AF6C briefly discussed the future of the Hubble Telescope. HHC & Diane were out ‘feeding their faces’ during the famous breast exposure at half-time during the Superbowl game, and HHC’s computer ‘hiccupped’ today, sending out many copies by E-mail, of the same joke…Needless to say, repetition is the mother of study!! And HHC will soon be busy taking a ARRL antenna modeling class. Then Ken told us that he got away cheap on the vacuum valve repair to the auto that caused the engine to rev at 3000 rpms! IXN said that brother Lee has a doctor appt. tomorrow, and VKZ is glad to be bk in the Southland!…Frank said that he cud write a short book on his medical experiences thus far! Able to walk short distances, Frank propels himself around in a wheelchair once he tires…Welcome bk, Frank!!

2/4/04 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/IXN checked in AF6C, JD, VKZ, HHC, and BSV. HHC will attempt to pick up VKZ and transport him to the Club bfast come Sat. morning…It was gud to hear Frank’s ‘gentle voice’ once agn on the Nets! JD had a meeting wid the CORE group, and Lowell told OPs that the Baker-to-Vegas Run, Apr 24-25, is looking fer communications volunteers. VKZ described the swimming escapades of his dog when it discovered that it likes water! HHC told OPs abt upcoming Club speakers, and Ken’s repetitious E-mail joke was briefly discussed. HHC said that XYL Diane is off to a gem show in Tuscon this weekend. BSV has had a hectic week travelling to several customer sites in the LA area, and Carl will be working a desert race in Lucerne Valley this weekend.

2/08/2004 40m OCWN CW Net – NCS/UEB checked in IMW/6, IB/6, KS6CW, KA6G, OIO, KFW, RND, IOA/6, VDP, and NT. Mother Nature decided that UEB shud radiate horizontally polarized!…So she huffed, and she puffed, and Rick found his glorious SD-20 tilted 90 deg. frm the vertical! IMW/6 is still wrestling wid 4-paws feline over who gets the key!…HI!…And Ian told UEB that he wasn’t using ‘Henry’, due to a switching problem between transmit and receive. IB, prepping fer a technical class, gave another OP his first CW QSO yesterday. CW went QRT and was off to church after giving tnx to UEB fer a pix of his ant. setup. KA6G’s 33ft. radiator wire ant. solution fer weak NCS sigs at Jim’s QTH did not improve reception…(What do we try next, Jim). OIO, in Chapter 3 of ‘Ann’s Adventures Aloft’, was foiled agn as water once more seeped thru her patchwork on the roof!…Ann then sent a roofer aloft, who spent more than an hour up there!…(Stay tuned fer further developments!) KFW ‘flew in & flew out’…Chris had a high SWR! RND, running QRP, 10W to a dipole, told UEB that his sigs picked up when the ant. once agn bent over to a 45 deg. angle during Net! UEB got a 589 sig rpt frm IOA in Oxnard, and Ron said that Rick was getting sum pile-up practice during check-ins…HI! VDP, requesting the present position of UEB’s ant., hopes that the SA winds will soon go away, and NT, using his computer controlled rig, didn’t notice that Newton’s law of gravity had pulled the ’lil ball out of the mouse!…Problem quickly fixed!…HI.

2/11/2004 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in IXN, LDC, KB1GZ, CCD, and HHC. IXN was busy updating the E-mail address list, and AF6C is preparing fer a sister visit…She’ll be flying into Long Beach on an ‘Airbus’. LDC said that there was vy little wind in GG, and Larry says his rotor turns in one direction only! AF6C may have a manual on LDC’s rotor. LDC has to get the oven repaired in the motor home, and Larry is off to the desert fer sum dirt biking this weekend. OPs discussed the presence of hematite on Mars after IXN read a short article on the subject to GZ. GZ was sick on Sunday wid fever, etc…Steve went bk to work today. HHC, AF6C, CCD, and possibly LDC, will meet at VKZ’s trailer at 4:30pm tomorrow to repair Frank’s wind damaged ant. CCD, bk frm a 4-day visit wid grandkids and friends, said that the revamped bathroom is just abt completed. HHC approved AF6C’s preview copy of Feb. ‘RF’, and AF6C & HHC briefly discussed signature fonts.

2/11/2004 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/IXN checked in AF6C, KFW, HHC, MIH, MIG, and KD6CQS(Tom) in Covina. AF6C checked in, then departed to the kitchen to get something to eat…Bob just got bk frm a rigorous physical exam! KFW was using a SB-100, at 50W, on 2m tonite…armchair copy the whole way, Chris! And KFW says we’ll be using the new touch voting machines, come Mar. 2, in Orange County! HHC said the strong SA winds opened his gate and blew open the garbage can lid! And Ken said that he is still working on Feb. Club meeting program. MIH, wid MIG in the background, said that he’ll be attending Gordy’s Handy Hams Camp Courage program to get his General ticket…(Right On, Kevin!) This program is advertised in QST for disabled hams! CQS, Tom, in Covina had FB armchair sigs in Santa Ana. Tom was using a FT-897 wid magmount ant., lighting half the bars on IXN’s rig…Tom expects to join us agn on the Net!

2/15/2004 40m OCWN CW Net – NCS/UEB checked in IMW/6, IB/6, CW, KA6G, KFW, OIO, RND, IOA/6/QRP, VDP, NT, and HKT. UEB was running 50W on his ‘KA6G vertical’…13 ft. of wire hanging frm the top of a 20’ mast!…And Rick told OPs to visit QRZ.com to see IMW’s pix of ‘Henry’(the tube xmtr). And IMW told OPs that ‘Puffle’ is a Bridge system used by the ‘Puffle Club’(explaining the ‘Puffle Club’ embroidered on Ian’s shirt in the pix wid ‘Henry’). Then IMW QNXed to go on a hike at 10 AM. IB reported 56N sig rpt fer NC wid slight QSB, and Casey reported 56N fer IOA’s QRP sigs, too. CW reported Gud sigs on all, and Kathy is off fer a day in San Diego tomorrow. KA6G tnx Rick fer trying the ant. idea, and Jim enjoyed UEB’s nice touch answering check-ins wid OM and YL!…HI. KFW told OPs that Orange County will be using the new voting machines called E-Slate, and Chris will be working at the polls, and KFW told OPs that the high SWR last Sun. was caused by a bad ground! OIO hopes to be up in the mountains wid the QRP rig next Sun., and Ann awaits for the next rain to see if the roofer has squelched further adventures aloft! Last week, RND had a gud time playing two Valentines Day dances, and John was sorry that he missed the FISTS Winter Sprint. IOA was surfing at Leo Cabrillo Beach today…To NCS’s request fer power & ant., Ron was running 5W into a Force 12. VDP gave all OPs 5NN sig rpts, and Larry is preparing fer the Cal Poly Swapmeet next Sat. Wid NT getting the other half of his ant. aloft once more, Ray gave NC a 5NN sig rpt., on a vy fine day on the Hill. HKT will be buying a Tacoma TRD truck, and he’ll give the harmonic his Chevy 7R2…Homer said his daughter has been judging horse shows at Fresno State.

2/18/2004 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/LDC checked in CCD, KB1GZ, IXN, AF6C, and VKZ. AF6C checked in and left Net quickly to be wid his sister frm Boston, and eat din-din. GZ, LDC, and IXN briefly discussed black hole event horizons, and HHC, CCD, and AF6C got VKZ’s ant. problem solved. VKZ has a couple of boxes of technical books to donate to the Club, and Frank needs a ride to Club meeting Fri. eve. LDC got new windshield wiper blades (expensive!), and Larry said they got .33” of rain in GG.

2/18/2004 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/IXN checked in KTS, W6KAT(Don), KB6UJW(Wayne), N6CCE(Ken), KFW, and MIG. We welcomed new check-ins Don, Wayne, and Ken to the Net! KATS was watching his friend, Matt, compete on American Idol…(Matt was selected as one of the winners!) CCE told KAT abt the Net (tnx, Ken!), and KAT’s QTH is in Whittier, in LA County (just over the OC line). Wid 150W, Don made OP’s rigs dance to his sigs! Don is looking fer OPs who have an understanding of slow-scan TV. UJW is involved wid Anaheim RACES, and Wayne is a member of the Motorcycle ARC. They help out a charity events. Check out their website at www.marc-hq.org . CCE, wid armchair copy 5W sigs, hasn’t set up his base station yet, and KFW said that his OCWN problem of high SWR, turned out to be a bad ground connection on the vert. Ant…Chris asked IXN if he received his snailmail copy of ‘RF’…Affirmative, said IXN! IXN and KAT talked briefly abt earthquakes on the Whittier fault.

2/22/2004 40m OCWN CW Net – NCS/UEB checked in IMW/6, CW, KA6G, GVG, KFW, OIO, RND, VDP, HKT, and NT. The Net was visited by a SSB QRMer and duly ignored by all OPs. UEB’s ‘buggy whip’ ant. seems to be working well…after Rick foiled Mother Nature’s wind attempts to horizonatally polarize it! IMW/6, wid keyclicks, told NCS that he wasn’t using ‘Henry’ today…And Ian re-installed the vertical using two bags of quickcrete. CW liked the temp. Net freq. of 7095 KHz much better, and Kathy sent John a QSL. KA6G wasn’t used to sitting in his metal shack listening to CW in the rain, and GVG gave all OPs 5NN frm the QTH in N. San Diego County, wid the disappearance of the Mexican SSB QRM. KFW was just trying to stay dry, and Chris told Larry that he was unable to attend the OCARC Club meeting. OIO went to the mountains on Fri. It snowed all day…Unable to get the chain tightners on Sat. morning, Ann came home when the road was clear to discover that she no longer needs to go aloft!…The roof is no longer leaking! RND made a few QSO’s yesterday…Rain always gets John on the air! Wid 5NN sigs on all OPs, VDP said that he is still going through parts frm a silent key, amplifier-building Ham. HKT said that it had been raining in Torrance all day Sat., including last nite, and Homer will be in Arizona next week. Wid the rain, NT is preparing fer the next weed onslaught on the Hill, and Ray, working the WW DX Contest, found a couple of locals in far places…W6SJ is C6A in the Bahamas, and (NCS missed call)____ is VP5M in Bermuda or near there.

2/25/2004 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in VKZ, CCD, IXN, and HHC. IXN guessed correctly that tonite’s storm would veer off to the NE, and Bob & Lee just got bk frm picking up a few bits at Homebase. AF6C, watching the rain guage, started Net wid 0.04”, and ending Net wid 0.07” of rain, and Bob has started sanding off rust spots on his old auto. VKZ ‘flew in & flew out’…Frank wanted to watch a PBS program on ‘The Bombing of LA’ during the WWII era. CCD, finally getting the bathroom revamping done, said that he was in Hollywood when the WWII LA bomb scare took place. HHC, getting ready fer a ski trip to Mammoth Lakes, didn’t hear his ‘favorite carrier’ on frequency tonite. And HHC & AF6C are both enrolled in an ARRL antenna modeling class via the internet.

2/25/2004 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/IXN checked in KFW, AF6C, FUZ, AJE, and BSV. KFW & XYL are off on a cruise tour of the Hawaiian Islands come Mar. 6. And IXN & KFW briefly discussed OCWN news. AF6C, greeting FUZ and KFW, told OPs that he has completed 4 lessons from his antenna modeling class. KFW & AF6C then discussed transferring audio tapes & video tapes to CDs and DVDs. AJE checked in mobile on the way home frm work. John had already temporarily took dwn the quad at the QTH to avoid damage frm the oncoming storm. Carl, BSV, checked in oblivious to the falling rain…He was in the center of his apartment wid no windows available. IXN & Lee were glad to be inside the QTH on this nasty evening!

2/29/2004 40m OCWN CW Net – NCS/UEB checked in IMW/6, KS6CW, KFW, KA6G, IB, OIO, RND, GVG, and VDP. UEB QSYd to 7085 KHz after strong SWB on the Net freq., and Rick is working on an article he’ll submit to WorldRadio. IMW, on the air wid ‘Henry’, got sum tubes fer ‘Henry’ at the TRW Swapmeet. Ian will miss next Net, he’ll be in Temecula. Both UEB & CW viewed “Passion of the Christ” in different theatres, wid CW commenting that this movie is a ‘must see’!…Kathy felt like she had actually witnessed the Crucifixion! KFW told NCS that he was ready fer ‘Super Tuesday’, and Chris cud not hear CW’s sigs. KFW & XYL will cruise to Hawaii soon, and KFW QNXd to meet a friend. KA6G QNXd after telling UEB that he likes Rick’s ant., giving UEB peak sigs of 5NN! IB worked 9 countries in 45 min. in the DX Contest on 10 & 15m, and Casey started his new job at WebEx in Rancho on Mar. 8. OIO will be working on the construction of her new ‘come-in-a-box’ computer desk, and RND, reading & taking it easy, had gud copy on all OPs, and John wants to see sum more rain in our future. GVG said UEB’s ant. is putting FB sigs into Bonsall, and VDP, preparing to verify QSL cards fer a VUCC award fer a local OP, has been fighting a cold the past week.

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