NETNEWS

by WB6IXN

1/02/2005 OCWN 40m CW Net - SCN/UEB checked in IMW/6, IB/6, OIO, GVG, KS6CW, KA6G, RND, IC, VDP, IXN, and NT.  Results of the 1st Annual OCWN SKN Contest: UEB - 3 contacts, CW - 3 contacts, IMW - 2 contacts, IB - 2 contacts…Comments UEB, “With this highly competitive group of contesters, it’s a foregone conclusion that in next year’s SKN, UEB and CW will be in the sights of contenders fer the top spot, and UEB and CW will hve a score to settle”!  UEB did sum 4-wheeling on Liebre Mt. on New Year’s Eve, and yesterday, Rick hiked the Chiquito Trail off Hwy 74.  He navigated much of the return trip by starlight!  UEB worked 13 SKN contacts total.  IMW/6 was using his new FB paddle frm Bengali, 12RTF, and IB worked 6 stations on SKN, including UEB and NU6T, using his old faithful Nye Master.  OIO now has enuf CC numbers for the Platinum 250 FISTS award!…Congrats, Ann!…And Ann’s wrist failed her on SKN.  GVG worked 14 stations on SKN, and Roy listened to marine broadcasts on 426 KHz.  CW passed kudos to RND fer working 28 SKN stations…Kathy worked 6 SKN stations.  KA6G, not quite ready to resume contesting, just listened to station on SKN, and RND congrats Ann on her Platinmum 250, and Rick on the use of his new paddle…It sounds great!  IC, on the straight key, worked 4 SKN stations, and Fred invited Walter, KB6NUY, to join us!  VDP worked K6KPH on SKN, but heard most stations using keyers…HI!…Looks like more rain!…Boo!…HI!  IXN heard Kathy in QSO wid AC5JH, and GVG ragchewing wid W7FF on SKN.

(Ed. note:  The OCARC owes Rick, KF6UEB, a great debt of gratitude for:

1.  promoting the use of CW on the amateur bands.

2.  faithful dedication to the success of the OCWN.

Rick, NCS for the OCWN, has been working for many weeks out of town.  Having many family duties, recreation, etc., he still finds time to convene the Net on 7.086 MHz, every Sun. morning at 9:00 am, plus, write up a Net summary which he E-mails to each Net member…Rick, the OCARC appreciates your work and dedication!…Congratulations!)

NT had NCS confirm that he had output since Ray had no power output indication!   Ray dropped his keyboard and a relay fell out of it, so he used his old bug for the Net.  NT had one SKN contact.

 

1/05/2005 10m Phone Net - W6ZE/AF6C checked in PEQ, CCD, HHC, IXN, NOL, and WP.  The two PEQs will help wid the Club audit, and plan to attend the Club Bfast too…And Dan is bk in the old 5-day work sched. once agn. AF6C thanked Dan fer the FB report on the safety of the DXpedition group located in the earthquake & tsunami region.  CCD, gone all last week visiting the grandkids in AZ, is enjoying the new TS-570 rig…Tom wished all Ops a HNY and went off to din-din. HHC is ready to construct the new shortened 40m dipole after figuring specs wid his antenna modeling program, and, discussing the construction of a loading coil wid AF6C.  IXN, wishing all a HNY, said the American death toll frm the tsunami has risen to 36!…And Bob warned OPs abt a future tsunami, anytime, along the California coast.  NOL said that JAY is has the January Club meeting talk ready to go, and Richard mentioned that he is in a radio contest almost every week.  NWP continues to mate his rig wid the computer, and AF6C congrats PEQ, CCE, and the group for placing #8 in the IARU HF World Championships Contest!

 

1/05/2005 2m Phone Net - W6ZE/IXN checked in JD, HHC, KFW, KTS, CCE, AF6C, and BSV.  JD, wid no rain damage, reminded OPs abt the Sat. Club Bfast at Carrows on Chapman Ave.  HHC said that his brother confirmed lots of rain in Pittsburgh, PA., and Ken congratulated ‘Dapper Dan’ & Kennan & crew on placing #8 in the HF World Championships Contest.   Ken also commented on gud PR fer ham radio communications in & out of the tsunami regions.  KFW’s in-laws confirmed heavy rains in PA, and Chris warned OPs abt the ‘pineapple express’ storm due to hit us Friday.  KTS has been vy busy wid no time to ‘play radio’, but David said hello & HNY to OPs.  CCE said that the IARU contest operated under the call WK6O, and Kenan & Dan, PEQ, plan to go Extra in the near future.  AF6C, joining us after a bite of din-din, said that KD6NOT was on his way bk to the Middle East for his 3rd tour of duty!…And Bob, wid the new programmer built, is updating sum computer programs.  BSV, glad to be bk in town frm travels in Singapore and Illinois, made his 1st contact wid the AO-27 satellite last Sat.

 

1/09/2005 OCWN 40m CW Net – NCS/UEB checked in IMW/6, IB/6, GVG, HKT, OIO, KS6CW, RND, KFW, NT, and IXN.  UEB will spend time later today working practice college entrance exams wid his daughter.  IMW, wid cold & rain in Irvine, said that UEB was 25% faster using paddles!…Then IMW QNXed to get sum work done.  IB, wid rain in Granite Bay and a dancing key on the desk, heard NU6T try to QNI a ’lil off frequency.  GVG said all sigs but IB’s were down this morning in rainy Bonsall, and HKT, in Laughlin last week, missed SKN and the Net…But Homer did get sum gud dirtroading in the mountains east of Kingman, and getting thru the Cajon Pass before snow closed it on his way home!  OIO, staying warm and dry, printed out her CC list coming up 4 short, so it may be next month!…Bummer!  CW received her package frm AES, getting a IC-706 and the ADSP2…Now using the ADSP2 speaker, Kathy said copying is so much better…And Kathy will put the new IC-706 in the truck.  RND thanked UEB fer the vy nice picture QSL card…Rick noted that the pix was taken at a campground on Pine Mountain in Ventura County near Ojai.   KFW, trying to keep dry wished all OPs a HNY.   NT hasn’t fixed his broken keyboard yet, and Ray told OPs that his new home is being renovated, wid no definite date set fer NT to move off the Hill!  IXN’s QTH has a leaking roof, so next summer, it’s a new roof!

 

1/12/2005 10m Phone Net - W6ZE/AF6C checked in LDC, CCD, HHC, IXN, NOL, and Bill(KZ6VPU).  A mini-twister moved through LDC’s backyard, doing sum minor antenna damage, and Larry said that the police said that the ambulance driver was at fault in his recent auto accident…LDC suffered a fractured scapula!  CCD is buying parts to build his own computer, and AF6C suggested that Tom take advantage of the computer parts sale in progress at Micro-Center.   CCD visited Crystal Coves, which was really torn up by the recent storm and high tides!  HHC said that ‘Dapper Dan’,(PEQ), is now on PSK-31    Ken is hving trouble wid AOL rejecting new E-mail addresses sent to the OCARC.  AF6C had 5” of rain at the QTH between Fri. nite and Mon. morning! IXN and Lee hve a leaking roof at the QTH, and Bob told OPs that Impacter space probe will collide wid Comet Tempel 1 on July 4!  NOL said that JAY’s Club program is ready fer the Jan. 21st Club meeting, and Richard is ready to do sum contesting this weekend.  Bill, VPU, checked in frm the backside of the Cleveland Nat. Forest out in Corona…Most OPs heard Bill, VPU, easily, and we hope that VPU will be a regular check-in to the Net!

 

1/12/2005 2m Phone Net - W6ZE/IXN checked in JD, TRA, AF6C, KFW, HHC, NOL, BWH, WTQ, and MPW.  JD is growing a ‘jungle’ in the backyard since the rains began, and TRA, no problems wid the rain, said that the XYL’s last cancer tests show her to be in remission!  AF6C, wid a new computer chip, is ready fer sum more programming, and Bob is reading a new detective story by Richard Patterson, “The 3rd Degree”. AF6C has measured abt 10” of rain frm the last storms!   KFW, HHC, and IXN briefly discussed flooding and barge/tugboat accidents in the Ohio River Valley.   Ken said that Dan, PEQ, made his 1st PSK contact last weekend.  NOL told OPs abt Microsoft’s new anti-spyware beta program which can be downloaded frm Microsoft’s website.  KG6WTQ(Robert), and KG6MPW(Frank), checked in frm Buena Park, saying that they had no rain damage…WTQ did the talking, while MPW was playing wid the computer.  BWH said the new roof did a FB job during the rains, and Bob said that the oxalis & clover, growing on the lawn, needed mowing…Then Bob aired Newsline #1430, where we learned that Gordy, NOA, had a small tornado tear dwn his tower, and, leaving Gordy & Suzie to pick up diapers off the front lawn to prevent clogging drains in the rain!

 

1/16/2005 OCWN 40m CW Net – NCS/UEB checked in IMW/6, IB/6, GVG, KS6CW, KA6G, KFW, HKT, OIO, IC, RND, VDP, NT, and IXN. UEB tried to drive up into the Angeles Nat. Forest to observe effects of the rains, but Rick found roads blocked!  However, Rick did observe a strong flow in the San Gabriel River a bit north of Azusa.  IMW got up early & went to the Chino Hills swap meet…Ian picked up a DX20, and is now looking fer a transformer…Then IMW 73’d, QNX’d, and was off to work.  IB worked W6SQL yesterday on his vy FB K2, and GVG told OPs that the weeds in Bonsall are growing vy fast now that the rains have passed.  CW had the pleasure of meeting Bruce Morse, son of Samuel F. B. Morse 3rd on Jan. 12 at the Fullerton Plaza Assoc. meeting! KA6G is copying a little bit, the rain is going away…HI…the grass is cut and it’s pretty again!  KFW, wid the rain gone, hopes it stays sunny so the ground can dry out.  HKT said there is no more rain, no phone service, and no Internet in Soth Torrance fer at least a week!…Next week Homer is off to Quartzite, AZ.   OIO, fading away in the QRN, reported via E-mail, a temp of 33 deg. in the mountains, wid 2 ft. of snow melting in the rain, and warped windows!…Says Ann, “I don’t think I would care to live this way!”  IC was having trouble reading sigs thru the QRN, and NCS told RND that IC’s QTH was in Oceanside, and John told Rick that he wud be reading QST, World Radio, and Keynote magazines during the week.  VDP told OPs that he never heard the band drop out so far before, and Larry is glad that the rain has stopped.   NT lost a halyard on the antenna, so the ant is lying on the roof, and Ray is using a temporary wire wid 579 Sigs!  IXN told OPs that the OCARC website has been receiving a great number of hits…So the OCWN should be getting sum publicity frm the Net Notes page!

 

1/19/2005 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in VKZ, CCE, LDC, IXN, AF6C, and HHC.  LDC, acting NC at Net’s beginning, is leaving early in the morning to attend a rockhound & RV show in Quartzite, Az…And Larry is installing a 11m rig in the RV to facilitate communications wid other RVers.  VKZ wants to meet up wid CCE tomorrow morning, and CCE’s TS-850S, that he picked up frm an OP in Illinois, is doing a FB job!…And Kenan has finished Jan. ‘RF’ which is up on the website, answering IXN’s inquiry.   HHC thanked VKZ fer contact wid the City of Tustin fer a FD site at the old marine base.     HHC reported that the Club has 4 possible FD sites in the works!

 

1/19/2005 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/IXN checked in JD, WTQ, MPW, KTS, HHC, and AF6C.  JD, alerting all to Friday nite Club meeting, is enjoying the heat here and the snow up on the mountain tops.  WTQ’s S-2800M and the Cushcraft ant. are doing a FB job! MPW ‘flew in and flew out’, and KTS was up in the Pacific Northwest during our big rain storms…David then announced that the Tech class fer a Tech ticket has been moved to Mar. 16, 19, and 20, in Huntington Beach.  Contact David, W7KTS, fer further info…Then David told OPs that Mt. St. Helens is rebuilding its dome at the rate of a dump truck every second!…At that rate, the dome will be rebuilt in 11 years!  HHC, bk frm AF6C’s QTH, is looking forward to JAY’s program on radio direction finding at Club meeting this Friday evening.  And IXN will check the website to see AF6C’s decorative OCARC orange "ornament" on the cover page of Dec. ‘RF’!    Kenan, CCE, did a FB job on editing and publishing Jan. ‘RF’ newsletter as a "rotating editor"!

 

1/23/2005 OCWN 40m CW Net - NCS/UEB checked in IMW, IB, KFW, VDP, NT, RND, KS6CW, KA6G, OIO, IXN, and IC.  Vandals ripped 3 radials out of UEB’s ground plane, and Rick heard NT make contact wid a U.S. Virgin Islands OP last nite.  IMW thanked VDP fer supplying the transformer for his DX-20, and IB & Leslie left foggy Granite Bay and traveled to the foothills to find the sun on Saturday.  KFW said that the OCARC had a great meeting Fri. eve. wid a gud young speaker, W6JAY, who spoke and showed operating gear for Radio Direction Finding…JAY has won several medals from various U.S. & International Contests! VDP gave IMW sum needed parts yesterday, and Larry also had a tree trimmed…Now fer the cleanup!  NT made a couple of DX contacts on his temporary ant. yesterday, and Ray suffered a break in the 50 year old water line to the house…Said NT, “I think it’s time to leave the sinking ship…HI!”   RND is looking forward to two upcoming football games today.  KS6CW has been vy busy wid the Morse Telegraph Club the past few weeks.  KA6G, not seeing any gloom this morning, has been reading Kathy’s nice write-up in ‘Dots & Dashes’.  Going up Hwy 38 last week, OIO moved vy slowly as they cleared traffic thru a bottleneck…At one spot, pebbles rained down on the car, and yesterday morning, the whole thing came down!  IXN listened to the vy clever song, tapped out in CW, by NY6Q, accompanied by CQ being tapped out in the background.  IC’s XYL had a BD on the 13th; they are both 29 now…HI!…Their newest grand harmonic arrived on 19 Jan., so they’ll be leaving fer a 2-week visit to Tallahassee, FL, to visit her.

 

1/26/2005 10m Phone Net - W6ZE/AF6C checked in PEQ, CCD, NOL, CCE, IXN, HHC, WK6O, and MIH.  PEQ, CCE, and WK6O worked the VHF Contest last weekend, and CCE questioned OPs abt threaded PVC rod needed fer a backpack ant described in the Dec ’04 issue of QST…And PEQ will submit a product review article on the IC-7800 rig he added to the shack.  CCD ‘flew in and flew out’ to din-din, and Tom, wid a cold fer the past week and a ½ , cudn’t hear anyone last Net…He had the attenuator on!  AF6C named a couple of places fer CCE to check fer threaded PVC rod, and OPs had nothing but praise for JAY’s Club presentation on ARDF!…If you weren’t there, you missed a good one!  NOL informed OPs about the Hospital Support Group’s involvement in today’s train wreck near Glendale, and IXN said that Metrolink was not an innocent bystander!  HHC heard slight hum on PEQ and WK6O’s audio sigs.  Ken also told OPs that we need snow in the Mts. fer good skiing, and, reported that N8WP got permission to use Los Alamitos Naval Air Station fer FD.  CCE will be hiking in the local foothills this weekend, needs a portable ant. fer his backpack, and is now working on getting speaker wire ready fer the stereo system.  MIH checked in wid voice clipping…Kevin backed off on the audio gain and voila!…no voice clipping!  And WK6O, wid slight hum on his sigs, is looking forward to OCARC Field Day if he is in town.

 

1/26/2005 2m Phone Net - W6ZE/IXN checked in AF6C, MIH, MIG, KFW, HHC, BWH, WTQ, MPW, KTS, and JD.   AF6C, wid bouganvilla thinned out and weeds in the backyard bet that there was no rain in N. Dakota, to which BWH replied, “Don’t be too sure, it’s white rain!”…And BWH is hosting visitors frm North Dakota!  And MIG & MIH are glad to hve XYL Bobbie & daughter bk frm Orlando so that everything gets back on sched!  KFW, HHC, and IXN all discussed snow bk in Pittsburgh, PA.  Was it BWH or someone else that mentioned ‘a Field Day in North Dakota?…(interesting idea!), as Bob described a blacksmith shop on 40 acres of property there.   WTQ & MPW said that they got vy little rain frm Wednesday’s cloudy skies.  HHC asked KTS to send a notice of the Tech training class, scheduled fer Mar 18, 19, and 20, to Dan, PEQ.  HHC told OPs abt possible use of Los Alamitos Naval Air Station as a FD site.   KTS was out of town for most of the heavy rain.  JD told us that COAR is checking out equipment fer a new police substation in Orange.    Lowell also mentioned an upcoming Baker-to-Vegas meeting concerning Orange, Cypress, and Garden Grove participation in the event.   BWH measured a 1/10th of an inch of rain today in Garden Grove, and then Bob aired Newsline #1432…THE EUROPEAN UNION SAYS NO TO BPL!!(Now, how about the IARU coming out with a similar statement!)  Then Gordy, NOA, checking out digital TVs, said that they are well shielded, no Tennessee Valley Indians in or any RFI out!…Tnx, Bob-BWH!   

1/30/2005 OCWN 40m CW Net - NCS/UEB checked in IMW, IB, HKT, OIO, RND, KS6CW, KA6G, NT, IXN, and SHU.   UEB got a much awaited contact frm Michigan, and Rick has a partial work day today in preparation fer a trip to Sacramento next week.   IMW, still working, went to TRW yesterday and met sum QRPers and Glowbug people.  IB hit the split button by mistake and was transmitting on 7090 fer a bit…HI!…Well, bk to sleep…HI!  HKT left fer Quartzite during last week’s net, wid two days of gud dirt road trips, car camping, shopping, and much fun!  Yesterday, OIO walked around Huntington Beach Central Park where she found the old dry lake bed full of water, ducks, and geese!  RND is enjoying the sun, and the nice BD party he had this week.  CW, completing a small shelf unit for all the desktop radio gear, has posted a link in an E-mail so all can view photos of her updated station.  KA6G is recovering nicely frm his recent stroke, and NT says his next QTH is likely in Mesa Verde in Costa Mesa.  Tax time again, and IXN didn’t get his form 1040, and had to send fer one.  Last weekend, SHU was in the VHF Contest frm Vandenburg Air Force Base…Ed made abt 8 QSOs.

  

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