Next Meeting, SUNDAY, 1/11, 1PM at Lockheed
Bldg. 202.
PROGRAM: Art Lange has asked Lou Dietz
(formerly with Trimble) to speak. Lou will present the technical details
of the link analysis, error budget, and system design for a transceiver
system that combines GPS with INMARSAT communications. INMARSAT is not
available for ham use, but the difficulty of the system design is applicable
to some ham systems. The first round of nomination of officers and board
members at large will take place in this meeting. Please read the article
on the elections.
DIRECTIONS: The meeting place will be the Lockheed Auditorium in bldg. 202 on Hanover St. in Palo Alto, California. Access Hanover from Page Mill Road (between 280 and El Camino). Follow Hanover as it curves right and up the hill. Watch for the Lockheed sign indicating Bldg. 202 on the left side, about 2/3 of the way up the hill.
February Meeting, Sunday, 2/1/98 at Lockheed bldg. 202
Program: Elections of officers and directors at large. It is very important that you read the article on the elections and attend this meeting. There will be a technical program on the modification and repair of commercial "bricks" to cover the 10GHz and 24GHz ham bands.
Officers
| President | Jeffrey Pawlan | WA6KBL | 408-371-0256 | jpawlan@pawlan.com |
| Vice President | Bill Rausch | AA6PA | 408-637-0622 | billraus@ix.netcom.com |
| Treasurer | Will Jensby | W0EOM | 408-296-6071 | w0eom@aol.com |
| Secretary | Bill Ogilvie | KQ6FY | 415-968-3707 | wogilvie@best.com |
| Board Member | Art Lange | W6RXQ | 408-735-1594 | art_lange@trimble.com |
| Board Member | Jim Moss | N9JIM | 408-746-2789 | jmoss@rockie.nsc.com |
VHF+ WeakSignal NETS
| Sunday | 8PM | 144.240 | Southern California WSWSS |
| Sunday | 8PM | 144.250 | Central California WSWSS |
| Sunday | 8:30PM | 432.100 | Central California WSWSS |
| Tuesday | 8PM | 144.250 | Northern California SWOT |
| Tuesday | 8PM | 144.200 | Arizona WSWSS |
| Wednesday | 8PM | 144.240 | Southern California WSWSS SWAP |
| Thursday | 8PM | 144.250 | Northern California SWOT SWAP |
| Thursday | 8PM | 432.120 | SCAL General, Oceanside, DM13 |
50 MHz & Up Group Minutes
The 50 MHz & Up group held their December meeting at the Lockheed-Martin
auditorium on Dec. 7, 1997. Group executives and directors present were:
Will Jensby W0EOM, Treasurer; Bill Ogilvie KQ6FY, Secretary; Jim Moss N9JIM,
and Art Lange W6RXQ, directors. There were 17 members and visitors in attendance.
Will Jensby W0EOM chaired the meeting, and started by reminding everyone that the annual elections would take place during the December meeting. The group's constitution stipulates that the President and Vice President can serve no more than two consecutive terms and that two years must pass before either can be re-elected as President or Vice-President.
An attempt at new records for the 47 and 78 GHz records will be made soon by Lars Karlsson AA6IW, Will Jensby W0EOM, and Al Ward WB5LUA. (Al Ward is active in the North Texas Microwave Club.)
Rex Allers KK6MK, displayed his rendition of a group logo. It met with a lot of approval, as well as some advice from those less talented. There was some discussion about lowering the group fees, and it was assumed that the board of directors would have to vote on the issue before the next meeting. However this is not the case, since the constitution states that a 2/3 vote of 50 MHz and Up members, in attendance at a regularly scheduled meeting, is sufficient to change the group dues.
Steve Muther gave a very interesting talk on the WA6CGX Black Mountain ATV repeater; which he has been maintaining for several years. It has several input frequencies, and supports wide band FM modulation on some bands. It broadcasts standard NTSC vestigial sideband AM at 2425 MHz. This makes it easy to receive, using one of several readily available downconverter systems. The polarization is vertical, which minimizes interference from the educational television transmitters that are also on Black Mountain, and are close in frequency. There are VSB AM inputs at 434 MHz, and 910.25 MHz, but these are subject to interference. The WBFM inputs at 1255 and 10425 MHz are the most popular. At the close of the meeting, everyone went to the back loading dock and got a firsthand look at the ATV hardware that was set up and running.
de KQ6FY, Bill Ogilvie
The January meeting is the time for the first round of nominations of officers and Board Members-at-Large. The nominees must have been a member of the group the previous year (1997) and must be present to accept nomination. All of the officers and board members have one year terms so all positions are available each year. The President and the Vice-President have term limitations and may only serve for two consecutive years. They may not serve as either President or Vice-President for a period of two more years. They may be elected as Board Members or Secretary or Treasurer, however. The President and Vice-President have both served their two year terms and will be stepping down. This was expressly designed to give others the opportunity to participate in running and developing this group The final call for nominations will preceed the elections in the February 1st meeting. Again, it is stressed that the nominees must be present during the election.
Dues to be reduced to $15/yr and are payable now
The officers and the Board Members-at-Large have all agreed that in
light of the decision of the membership to defer a VHF/UHF/Microwave conference
until Jan. 1999, we can reduce the dues back to $15.00 per year. It is
also suggested that a special rate of $25 for two years
be implemented. According to the Bylaws, a 2/3 majority of the members
present at the Jan. 11 can officially change the dues rates. We will assume
that this will easily pass and ask you to provide your dues and the brief
questionnaire in the return envelope provided. If , for some reason, this
does not pass, you will be asked to provide the balance next month.
Plans for a Group Station
As our group is primarily devoted to experimental scientific and educational research in VHF/UHF/Microwave communication techniques and propagation, we will build a group station in 1998 that will provide microwave EME capability for the members. The longterm plans are to fully remote control it so that in the absence of contests, one might use it from your own house! This will require donation of substantial equipment and antennas. We are therefore rushing our application for full Calif. and IRS non-profit charitable corporation status. I have been revising the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws and will file them this week with the state. I have also been in contact with a corporation that may be donating substantial equipment for our group.
de Jeffrey, WA6KBL
Photos of the F6KSX microwave station near Versailles
William, F6DLA Jeffrey, F/WA6KBL Monica, F/KQ6PY and Jean Jacques, F1EHN
Detail of the 10GHz feed system. The feed, LNA, D/C, and waveguide relays are in this box.
Do you have a webpage relevant to our members? Let
us know and we will put it here. (you must be a member)
ARRL Pacific Division Web page: http://www.pdarrl.org/
Ham RF Exposure Guidelines Effective Jan. 1, 1998: http://www.arrl.org/news/rfsafety
Vanity Call Sign Gate 4 to Open Dec. 2, 1997
Rex's Place - KK6MK: http://www.dnai.com/~rexa/ Microwave stuff
Laser Communications Home Page! http://www.qsl.net/wb9ajz/laser/laser.htm Lots of bright stuff.