7/13/97 due to the 4th of July weekend!

PROGRAM:  Measurements and Standards,  by Steve Adam

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.

Officers

President	Jeffrey Pawlan	WA6KBL	408-371-0256	jpawlan@pawlan.com
Vice President	Bill Rausch	AA6PA	408-637-0622	aa6pa@amsat.com
Treasurer	Will Jensby	W0EOM	408-296-6071	w0eom@aol.com
Secretary	Bill Ogilvie	KQ6FY	415-968-3707	bill_ogilvie@qmgate.arc.nasa.gov
Board Member	Art Lange	W6RXQ	408-735-1594	art_lange@trimble.com
Board Member	Jim Moss	WB9AJZ	408-746-2789	jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com

July 12/13   CQ WW VHF Contest
July 25/26   Central States VHF Conference, Hot Springs, AR
             see:  http://csvhfs.org/CSVHF97.HTML
Aug 2/3      ARRL UHF Contest
Aug 16/17    ARRL 10 GHZ and UP Cumulative Contest (part 1)
Aug 97       FP Dxpedition including 6 and 2 St. Pierre et Miquelon 
Sep 3        WSWSS Sprint (see article below)
Oct 17-19    Pacificon - 50 MHz and UP VHF+ Sessions  http://www.mdarc.org
3-5 Oct 97   Western States Weak Signal Society Conference http://www.qsl.net/n7stu 
23-26 Oct 97 Microwave Update '97, Sandusky, Ohio  http://www.wa8wzg.com/update97 

 The 50 MHz & Up group held their June meeting at the Lockheed-Martin auditorium on June 1, 1997.   Club executives and directors present were:  Jeffrey Pawlan WA6KBL, President; Will Jensby W0EOM, Treasurer; Bill Ogilvie KQ6FY, Secretary;  Jim Moss WB9AJZ, director; and Art Lange W6RXQ.   There were 20 members and visitors in attendance.   The upcoming Pacificon activities (Oct. ‘97) were discussed:   On the Saturday morning of the conference, an antenna measurements clinic, officiated by Bob Stein W6NBI and Bob Melvin KD6SZ will be held in the parking lot behind the hotel.    At 1:00 PM in the main auditorium, Herb Vanderbeek WY6G and Will Jensby W0EOM will talk about early developments in microwave technology.   At 2:00 there will be a presentation on laser communications by Jim Moss WB9AJZ.   Arrangements for the other presentations, on low noise amplifiers and VHF propagation have not been completed.   More volunteers are needed to make this a success.

 The ARRL’s support of spread spectrum experimentation on VHF and UHF bands was discussed.   The main concern was the effect this would have on the noise floor.    There is a possible example of this in the UK, which is described in detail on a web page (http://www.braeside.demon.co.uk/SSQRM/432QRM.html   ).     When viewed on a spectrum analyzer, most Amateur bands currently have a much lower noise floor than adjacent commercial bands.    Without this low noise floor, weak signal work such as long distance SSB contacts on 2 meters and 70 centimeters would be impossible.   If unrestricted spread spectrum modes are permitted on VHF and UHF bands, a lot would change.   It would blur the distinction between Amateur use of the frequencies and commercial use and result in many semi-permanent links just to support "wireless web pages".   There would be no practical way of monitoring transmissions so commercial usage of Amateur bands would be easy.  And there would be no way of communicating with a spread spectrum station that was interfering.     It was suggested that the ARRL has to get properly informed on this matter.

 A motion to move July’s meeting back a week, to the 13th  was passed.   The speaker for July will be Dr. Steve Adam, a retired HP Engineer who was involved in HP’s microwave instrument division for over 25 years.   The subject of his talk will be measurements and standards.

 During the break Jeffrey demonstrated a map program that used a GPS.    New business after the break was a request by the Western States Weak Signal Society for the 50 MHz and Up Group to host the 1998 conference.   This passed by a vote of 9 to 2.    A VHF contest on the weekend of June 14 - 15 was announced.

 The speaker at June’s meeting was Victor Frank, K6FV.   He gave a very interesting talk on 6 meter propagation, using results from computer simulations and DX reports.   He runs the 6 meter beacon on Skyline Blvd.  (50.069)  and publishes the "50 MHz  DX Bulletin".

                                                                        de KQ6FY,  Bill Ogilvie

8AM: "parking lot", Antenna Measuring Session, by 50 MHz and UP Group
1PM: "Big Room", Getting Started with Microwaves - a panel discussion  and demonstration of microwave gear, oscillators, amplifiers, mixers, and antennas
2PM: "small room", Amateur Radio Laser Communications, Jim Moss, WB9AJZ
3PM: "small room", Low Noise Amplifier Design, Jeffrey Pawlan, WA6KBL
4PM: "small room", VHF Propagation, panel

Contact Art Lange to help out in anyway, including session chair, speaker, or panel member.

7 to 11 P.M. local time, Wed. Sept. 3rd, 1997

The Western States Weak Signal Society presents the Second Annual WSWSS VHF and Above Sprint.  The object is to QSO as many stations in as many different grids as possible on the bands 50 MHz and up during the four hour contest period. This event is a good opportunity to test your equipment in preparation for the ARRL September VHF QSO party.

Classes: Single Operator, Multi-Operator, QRP (25 watts or less) and Rover.  A rover is one or two amateurs operating from more than one grid; no captive rovers or ³grid circling² allowed.

Exchange: ARRL four character grid locators. Signal reports are optional.

Scoring:  Same as the ARRL June VHF QSO Party.

Results:  All entries received will appear in the WSWSS Newsletter. The highest entry from each ARRL-defined Region (West Coast, Midwest, etc.) and the highest entry from each ARRL section within the West Coast Region only in each of the above classes will be highlighted in bold.

Send logs, summary sheet, and S.A.S.E. within 30 days to Erik Dean NI6G, 3813 N. State Av., Fresno, CA 93722.  Electronic submission of logs is encouraged in any of the following formats to ni6g@amsat.org: ASCII, CT
(versions 7 or 8), or LOGPlus!, on DOS formatted 720k or 1.44mb floppy disks.

*Antenna Gain Measurements and Noise Figure Testing
*Equipment testing and tune-up!
*ARRL VEC license exams
*W6JKV Banquet Speaker (Travelogue)
*Many high-quality technical presentations!!

The 1997 Western States Weak Signal Society Technical Conference will be held on Friday through Sunday, October 3 to 5, at the Montecito-Sequoia Lodge.  The lodge is located in the Sequoia National Forest between Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, 65 miles east of Fresno at 7500 feet, just minutes from Grant Grove & the famous Giant Sequoia Trees!
For rates and reservations, call Montecito-Sequoia at (800) 227-9900.

The Conference Technical Program will include the following presentations:

NU8I  ---- VHF amplifier design using Svetlana tubes
K6QXY ---- 6m EME and large array engineering
W6JKV ---- VHF expedition travel log (dinner presentation)
W6GGV ---- Designing N-Way power dividers
K6WR  ---- Regulatory issues of interest to the weak signal enthusiast 
                  (Brad is the ARRL Pacific Division Director)
K6MYC ---- TBD

Conference pre-registration is $15; or $20 at the door.

For more information on our 1997 Conference, visit http://www.qsl.net/n7stu/ or contact Robert Brown, N7STU, at n7stu@psnw.com.

Sue and I have put the final touches on a little run from Vacaville, CA CM98 to Yellowstone Park, DN44...

On the move we will have:
6 meters  IC-706 and a KB6KQ Maxi Loop
2 meters  TM-255 and a 350 watt TE amp and a pair of KB6KQ Mini Loops
70 CM     TM-455 and a 150 watt Telex amp and a pair of KB6KQ Micro Loops

At Rest, on very Large Mountains, we hope...
6 meters stays the same, pray for E....
2 meters goes to a pair of Cushcraft 13B2s
70 CM goes to a 16 element Yagi

CM98 SAT 12TH JUL       DN44 SAT 19 JUL
CM99                    DN43
DM09                    DN32
DN00                    DN22
DN10                    DN23
DN11 SAT 12TH PM        DN13 SAT 19 PM
DN20                    DN03
DN21                    CN93
DN31                    DN02
DN32 SUN 13TH PM        CN92
DN42                    CN91 SUN 20TH PM
DN43                    CN81
DN44 MON 14TH PM        CN80
                        CM89
                        CM88
                        CM98 MON 21ST PM

We have known sites in DN11, DN21, DN13, DN03, DN02, CN93, CN92, and
CN91.  Any input would be of help...Thanks....

"The Plan"
To call on 50.125 on the hour and 1/2 hour....Busy 50.150
To call on 144.200 at 5 past the hour and 35 past the hour...Busy 144.165
To Call on 432.100 at 10 past the hour and 40 past the hour...

If hearing nothing its On, but squelched...15 mins On, 15 mins squelched.  I know Ive forgotten something...Please remind..Ill post now as Ill forget if I don't...Many thanks for the space...
--
73 WB5OMF CM98ai LARRY HOGUE

http://www.qsl.net/wb9ajz/laser/laser.htm

Lots of bright stuff and archives of the LASER mail reflector. 

This situation may remain this way until WRC 97 opens in Geneva in November. However, other country's delegations may yet propose this or some other scheme as the Little LEO companies have been busy in other parts of the world trying to sell their ideas. Also, while it is possible that in WRC 97 nothing may come of this matter, the Little LEO companies are not giving up. Regardless of what happens at WRC 97, they are sure to be back for WRC 99. However, their fate may be resolved for them by the financial markets as it evaluates Little LEOs with other competitive satellite programs. See page 71, July QST for more information.

  ARRL continues to be deeply involved with this matter.
  So WHAT do we do now?
1. Continue to monitor the progress of this unfolding drama! For the latest news on this volatile issue, read QST, Pacific
Division Updates in hard copy. Read ARRL Letter, Pacific Division Updates on e-mail; visit Pacific Division WWW site. Visit the ARRL home page at http://www.arrl.org/ and select "Band Threat News."
  2. Join ARRL! The ARRL is the only effective national organization fighting for YOUR 2 meter, 1.25 meter and 70 cm
operating privileges. It is easy to join and help us win this battle to preserve our privileges. Think positive thoughts!
  3. Contribute to the Fund for the Defense of Amateur Radio Frequencies! (See page 76 of October 1996 QST for all the details.)

  On another topic, unhappily we may be coming closer to having the wind profiler devices in the 70 cm. band. Details are very sketchy, but ARRL is trying hard to be sure that if there are any allocations they are not in certain key parts of the band. Remember that our allocation at 70 cm. is secondary not primary.

 There is some interesting news on the entire Spectrum Auction process. Some in Congress are having second thoughts on several aspects of this process. See page 16, June QST and page 16, July QST.

  Unfortunately, the future of all these threats is unknown. We won't be able to breathe easily about WRC-97 issues until the final gavel comes down on Nov. 21, 1997.
 

Jeffrey WA6KBL has for sale: commercial solid 10' dish, call him at his phone listed above.
Jeffrey WA6KBL needs: 16' dish for 10 GHz operation, call him at his phone listed above.
Jim, WB9AJZ has for sale: 4x500's, 4x150's, 4cx250's, 4x250's, parts for 4cx250 amps.