Newsletter of the Northern California Contest Club
March 1998
George Daughters, K6GT, Editor
(W0YK and FrontPage take the blame in equal measure for any formatting weirdness caused by conversion from George's original copy.)
AWARDS BANQUET
DATE: Saturday, March 21
At the Pleasanton Hotel
DIRECTIONS BELOW!
Plan on attending the annual NCCC Awards Banquet on 21 March 1998! This is an opportunity for us all to gather and congratulate one another for the many contest results and awards achieved this past contest season. While there are many awards in the form of letter openers, mouse pads, certificates, plaques CQP wine, etc. you don't have receive anything to attend and socialize with other NCCC’ers. We'd like to have a great turnout not only to recognize the awardees, but also to enjoy some eyeball QSO’s with each other and our significant others.
No-host cocktails begin at 6:00PM with dinner served at 7:30PM and awards presentation at 8:30PM. The venue will once again be back at the Pleasanton Hotel with the following menu:
SALAD: Baby lettuces with julienne carrots, sliced radishes, and aged red wine vinaigrette
ENTREE: Grilled breast of chicken with tomato coulis, mashed potatoes, and snap peas ($30),
OR
Penne rigate with roma tomatoes, roasted Japanese eggplant, basil, Kalamata olives and Parmesan ($28),
OR
Seared salmon with tarragon-shallot butter, local country & wild rice, blue lake beans and crushed pecans ($34)
Sourdough bread and butter, coffee, tea included.
DESSERT: lemon-ricotta cheese cake with bush berry sauce. Please
make your reservation by sending
your dinner choice (for each person attending) and your check to:
Ed Muns, W0YK
POB 1877
Los Gatos, CA 95031-1877
The Pleasanton Hotel is on Main Street in quaint "old town" Pleasanton. Here’s how you get there. Go east on Bernal Road off 680 about 2 miles. After you pass the fairgrounds on your left, start watching for the signal light at Main Street. Go left on Main Street and go about a mile through old town, watching for the Pleasanton Hotel on your left. If you cross the bridge over the creek, you’ve gone just a bit too far! Come and share in the festivities, pick up your award, and "take home the chrome!" See you there!
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President .... Andy Faber, AE6Y ............... ae6y@aol.com
Vice President/CC ....... Bob Wilson, N6TV ......... n6tv@vnet.ibm.com
Secretary/Treasurer ... Ed Muns, W0YK ............... w0yk@msn.com
Directors ....
Carl Cook, AI6V ... ai6v@aol.com
Bruce Sawyer, N6NT ... n6nt@worldnet.att.net
Ken Silverman, K2KW ... ken.silverman@airtouch.com
Jim Hollenback, WA6SDM ... jholly@cup.hp.com
JUG Editor .... George Daughters, K6GT ... gdaught6@leland.stanford.edu
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February Meeting
"All I can say about the January meeting is WOW! If you weren't there, you missed the best attended meeting of the entire year." Those are the first few words of last month's column. Guess what? The first few words for this month's column could be: "All I can say about the February meeting is WOW! If you weren't there, you missed the best attended meeting of the entire year!"
The February meeting was our joint meeting with the NCDXC. About 60 attendees celebrated our joint hospitality and enjoyed the camaraderie and program at the Hofbrau in Palo Alto. Those in the front of the line paid for a buffet dinner, but those of us in the rear got a free dinner (albeit vegetarian) when they ran out of entrees! It seems that the place based their estimates on recent NCDXC attendance, and no one told them to expect our kind of crowd. They were very embarrassed, and even went way beyond the call of duty by ordering in some free pizzas for us. Oh well, I suspect they made up for it with the expanded bar trade.
The programs were outstanding. First up was our NCC webmeister Dave, N6NZ, who took us through a demo of ham radio web surfing. Using his laptop and a projector provided by Ted Park, K6XN, courtesy of Tandem Computers, that projected a humungous image on the upper wall (maybe 8ft by 12ft), Dave covered the basics of web searching and demonstrated a number of interesting ham radio sites, including contesting, dx'ing, equipment manufacturers, propagation, ARRL, etc. Dave had actually set up the entire presentation as a mini-web site on his laptop. The entire show, which includes the URL's of all the sites described plus others that had been suggested to Dave by members, can be seen online at our NCCC site:
http://www.contesting.com/cqp
(Click on the link for Northern California Contest Club near the bottom of the CQP main page and you'll see a further link to Dave's presentation.) Three visitors were so impressed by Dave's surfing skill that they immediately signed up as new members just to be in Dave's aura. One of them was longtime CQP participant Jerry Bliss, K6III, ex-K6SMH.
The second part of the program was a very informative presentation by ARRL Pacific Division Vice-Director Jim Maxwell, W6CF, (with a moral assist from Division Director Brad Wyatt, K6WR) on the new FCC RF exposure rules. High points of the presentation for me were:
a) The rules apply to commercial RF exposures as well as to hams;
b) The exposure limits are not based on cancer fears, but rather on tissue heating. This is an approach that can be scientifically validated, because tissue heating can be calculated and is even measurable.
c) Most hams should be able to comply with the requirement to do a "routine" RF evaluation without changing their existing stations. Routine evaluations are required any time you fill out a form 610V (e.g., when renewing a license), or in any event by Sept. 1, 2000. You do the evaluation and put it in a file somewhere for further reference. There's no particular enforcement method, but you want to have an evaluation done in case your local city gets a complaint from a neighbor and decides to look into it.
d) There are good articles in recent issues of QST, and the ARRL is about to come out with a 320 page book for $15 that will exhaustively cover the field. It will include the FCC book on the subject (also available at the FCC web site,) and contain many tables that calculate RF exposure for a variety of typical ham configurations.
e) Most everyone will want to do the calculation using the tables or a computer program, rather than actually attempting to measure field strength.
On the more controversial side, there were sentiments expressed by Jim and others that compliance will help hams by showing the world (and our neighbors) that we are operating safely, and that this in turn will help hams in the worldwide fight to retain our frequency allocations. My personal fear is that once the regulations become entrenched, then the standards will be lowered in the future based on irrational fears of carcinogenic effects of RF exposure, which will make it harder for hams to comply. If the standards are ever changed from being based on heating (which is at least measurable) to fears of cancer (which are not), then there is no telling where they will end up.
As an example of how regulations can run amok, I offer the recent California law that basically states that restaurants can no longer serve meat or eggs that haven't been cooked to within an inch of their lives (and that don't meet specific temperature criteria) to customers, absent a specific customer request. This law was passed in response to a single incident in which a 6-year old died of E. coli poisoning from poorly cooked meat at a Jack in the Box. This is a perfect example of using a blunderbuss to kill a gnat. It’s unfortunate that we have all seen the same kind of hysterical fears prompt irrational legislation in the past. Many people have such fears of RF exposure, in spite of numerous studies that fail to link RF exposure to cancer and a National Academy of Sciences position that there is no verifiable link. Does this matter to legislators seeking reelection?
Anyway, enough of this soapbox. I urge all hams to read the available source material and check out their own stations. But let's be vigilant to prevent a future tightening of the screws.
Here's a pome about the optimist's view of the rules:
Doctor RF,
or
"How I learned to Stop Worrying and
Love the RF Exposure Rules"
Exposure to RF can heat
you up, but there's no need to cheat.
So comply with the rule.
Don't act like a fool,
Your hamming will not miss a beat.
I'll repeat the comment that I made at the meeting; we are very fortunate to have two such knowledgeable and dedicated ARRL officers as Brad and Jim working for us. The amount of time and energy that they put into their jobs as Pacific Division Director and Vice-Director, respectively, is truly amazing. As a basically self-regulated entity, amateur radio depends on the efforts of the ARRL and volunteers like Brad and Jim to run smoothly. Thanks guys!
While in a limerick-writing mood, and with the bonhomie of the Dx'ers still in my mind, I decided to immortalize the difficulty of trying to work 9M0C the morning of the meeting on 80 (actually, I did get him after 45 minutes of frustrating calling just as I was about to give up)
Spratly at Sunrise
Though Spratly on 80 I crave,
My signals don't merit a wave.
While he's working JA's,
The sun's rising rays
Deep six him, as I start to rave.
Upcoming Meetings
Our next meeting is SATURDAY, March 21. This is our annual awards banquet, held this year at the Pleasanton Hotel. We have more awards this year, including SS letter-openers and mouse pads, KB awards, CQP certificates, plaques and bottles of wine, as well as our club-wide awards such as Rookie of the Year, Contester of the Year, Big Gun, Little Pistol, and a few off-the-wall awards that haven't fully been envisioned yet. A president's special award will be given to the first three people who e-mail me with the name of the actor who played the pilot in the film referenced in this column (you must be present at the awards banquet to win).
Special added attraction: A slide show on the 8Q7AA Maldives expedition by our own fearless dx-peditioner, Bruce Sawyer, N6NT, possibly assisted by Rich, K7ZV. Bruce promises radio pictures as well as candid shots of Euro beach-goers.
In April we will return to our normal second Monday date of April 13, at HP Santa Clara. This meeting features three main events: (1) Our usual schmoozing (oh, I mean camaraderie), (2) Election of new officers and Directors, and (3) The great contest software shootout featuring live demos of CT, NA and TR. This is a must program for all who want to get their feet wet in modern contest logging (oh well, as modern as DOS programs can be, anyway - maybe at the meeting someone will explain why none of these expert programmers are using Windows).
Be there or be square! Catch the Wave!
73, Andy
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In a somewhat weakened state at the January NCCC meeting, I agreed to join one of the NCCC teams in the February CW Sprint. I have to admit that Scott, W6CT, didn't need to twist my arm very hard. After years of CW SS and the like, I was ready.
As the contest approached, I realized that my good old CT program was useless for logging the Sprint. I needed something new to use. I downloaded the public domain version of TR Log, and printed out the manual. There were more instructions than I wanted to deal with for a 4 hour contest. I put the manual in the bookcase.
The week before the contest, I tried using the simulator. It certainly didn't give me a high level of comfort; I couldn't believe that I was now entertaining thoughts of using PAPER & PENCIL to log this thing. In a break in the flooding and storms on the Friday before the contest, I came home early to practice some more. I called TV-Bob to see if he had any tips. None from Bob! He did offer to send me his logcfg.dat file, so that I could take a look at what he was doing. At this moment, I started to pray for a power outage… a great excuse to get out of fooling with all of this.
Saturday at 3PM: Torrential rains; huge winds; major flooding; the PG & E substation that serves all of Marin is in danger of flooding, and might have to be shut down (the answer to my prayer); a house 2 blocks away is wiped out in a mudslide. What am I doing?? Practicing using TR Log! I can't go outside, right?
Saturday at 4PM: Contest starts. So does the thunder and lightning. I have S-9 rain static on 20 Meters. The first roll of thunder is so loud that I thought something had fallen down. The power surges start. This is a great time to try out a new contest with a new logging program!
As I get into the contest, I manage to completely confuse both myself and those on the other end of the QSO as I try to get the keystrokes down. This sure isn't like CT! Having to think about what I am doing with the computer (while copying names like "Tupac") makes it worse. I can't get the difference between S & P and CQ modes, so I reduce myself to S & P only. If I can master this, I'll go to the next step.
Boom...flash… poof. The power goes out. I figure that this could be a good thing. However, it comes back on about 20 minutes later, and I decide to dive back in. I'll master this thing yet (I have to admit that while the power was out, I wished that I had been using the name "Aristotle" just to even things out). As time goes on, I start to get the hang of the program. By the time I move to 80 M, I was (almost) having fun. I was now CQ’ing AND S&P'ing, had figured out the keystrokes, and seemed (finally) to have gotten the hang of it all.
In the end, I wound up with 140 Q's and 30 mults. That’s not very good, but it will have to do. I can see how this can be an intimidating contest. Plus, going in cold with everything new (rules, contest, logging program) is not the most intelligent thing to do. But... I had fun! And, I know that next time will be better (and a little easier). If you haven't tried a Sprint - you should. If I can live to talk about it, anyone can!
73, Ed, K6CTA
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The Good Will Continues!
When the editor of the JUG requested permission to print the following piece in this issue, this was the response received:
"Hi George,
"No problem. Use as you wish and edit to fit.
"I'd do almost anything (well, a lot anyway!) for NCCC after they made my visit to WRTC possible a couple of years ago. Simply the highlight of my contest life!
"See you on the bands."
Here is his contribution...
I just know that the old timers have all been waiting and waiting to see what has happened to GN's efforts to learn Morse!
Here it is, the very very LAST update.
As of the end of 1994 with a receiving speed of sub 5wpm I was definitely Morse challenged! Listening to Morse contests I couldn't even get a call; it all sounded like a mess of diddles and dits.
Visitors to my shack like N6AA , WN4KKN, etc. showed what was possible. I was still skeptical. I had great trouble learning Morse in the first place to get a license. I had made a 12wpm test in the 1960's but very quickly became a phone only operator.
I started practicing and sought advice from those I respect and who do this Morse thing well. I continued practicing. I practiced some more, and then I practiced. I used PED, RUFZ and TR in simulator mode. I asked questions and tried again; I persevered.
Over the last few years CW contesting from GN has either been guest ops or multi-op with me struggling to keep up. For this last ARRL weekend there were no takers for operating GN so I decided to get on, especially to make VK available on 40/80/160.
This is the last bulletin on my Morse because for the first time:
I only lost control of a pile up once
I was able to hold the rate meter over 120 for large slices of time
I was able to get repeats without a lot of hassles
Nobody got irritated with me - (with the exception of the clown who sent CALL, CALL, each time on top of the weak station I was trying to pull through. I was giving my call on each transmission. He irritated me!)
I was able to write a note to myself about an error while I still kept running stations.
The good operators out there may wonder what I am on about with this last comment, but to me this is the real clincher that I am now capable of contesting in Morse. Until this contest, doing anything but just operate and read Morse was more than I could manage. To think at the same time was beyond me. So this is a mark to me that I am in control. It also means that I can contest and not just work stations in a contest. There is a difference, and a big difference in the achieved scores.
Don't misunderstand, I am not, nor will I ever be, one of the elite that can get rates very high all day long. I do, however, feel an enormous sense of satisfaction that a goal has been achieved.
AND I'm having fun!
So when I seem to be a little impatient with the whiners who don't want to bother themselves with learning Morse because they are unique and cannot cope with the challenge you will perhaps forgive me. After all, I KNOW they are talking rubbish.
On a slightly different subject I also found in the contest that the power of individual self-set goals was still very powerful for me. I was "just" on to hand out some points. So I thought a target of 500 QSOs seemed reasonable. (Note that I always have to have some sort of quantifiable target).
I went to bed on Saturday with 460, so in the morning I changed the target to 1000, with some sub- goals on mults per band. As the contest progressed, I was sitting here more and more not only CQing but also S&P’ing. I was working at the contest. The goals and targets had sucked me in again!
Going to bed on Sunday, I was at 1095, so I set 1500 as the goal for Monday morning. Too ambitious, but I tried! If I'd had the time and set that goal at the beginning, I would easily have made the 1500.
The actual result:
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
160 1 0 0 0
80 88 88 264 29
40 419 410 1224 50
20 167 162 486 37
15 558 549 1647 50
10 97 96 285 22
Totals 1330 1305 3906 188
Final Score = 734328 points.
In the chair for 24 hours. 12 of those were over 60 in the hour with a best of 96.
I have no idea what category, certificate or trophy I might be eligible for; I have already achieved my satisfaction and pleasure by setting my goals, allocating the time I have available, having fun and "winning."
I guess I am different. I don't need a third party to tell me whether I've won. I know in my own mind when I have won; it's easily measured. I feel good!
Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on Morse. I will still strive to get better, but with your help the first goal has been officially achieved... I am a multi- mode contester!
73, Martin/VK5GN
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The NCCC by-laws were last revised circa 1984. The BOD has reviewed them carefully and recommends that certain changes be made, pursuant to recommendations by a committee of AE6Y, W0YK and WA6SDM. The conceptual changes were discussed and agreed upon at the last BOD meeting.
The revisions are shown below. Words in strike-thru are deleted, and underscored words are added.
The changes fall into four main categories:
We urge your yes vote on these changes to help position the Club to move forward into the next millenium. To be counted, you must return your ballot to W0YK so that he receives it no later than 5 p.m. on April 5, 1998.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
BALLOT
(Mail to Ed Muns, W0YK, P.O. Box 1877, Los Gatos CA 95031-1877
[ ] I hereby approve of the proposed By-Laws changes
[ ] I hereby disapprove of the proposed By-Laws changes
Date:_____________ Call______________ Signature______________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CONTEST CLUB BY-LAWS
ARTICLE I
NAME AND PURPOSES
Section 1: This organization shall be known as the Northern California Contest Club (the "Club").
Section 2: The purposes for which this Club is organized are to bring together radio amateurs interested in contests; to evaluate the standards of contest techniques and ethics; to encourage participation in amateur radio contests of interest to the members; and to compete as a club in major contest activities.
ARTICLE II
OFFICES
Section 1: The principal office of the Club in the State of California shall be located in the City of Danville, County of Contra Costa.
Section 2: The Club may have such other offices as the Board of Directors may determine or as the affairs of the Club may require from time to time.
ARTICLE III
QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS
Section 1: The Club shall be comprised of two classes of members: Full and Associate.
A. Full members shall possess a valid amateur radio operator's license and reside in the Club area. Full members shall agree to abide by the By-Laws of the Club.
B. Associate members shall be only those persons who have at any time fully qualified as Full members. A Full member moving from the Club area automatically assumes Associate member status.
C. Only Full members have voting privileges. Eligibility for Club awards shall be determined by the rules of the award.
D. The Club area is defined as Northern California from the Oregon border to the Tehachapis, and any other area within a 175-mile radius of the Club’s center.
Section 2: All new members must demonstrate an interest in contests.
Section 3: Any person desirous of becoming a member shall be nominated by no fewer than three Full members. The applicant shall file his or her application through the Club Secretary/Treasurer with nominating signatures affixed, and must be in attendance at the meeting when the application is read in order to qualify for membership.
Section 4: If the applicant has fulfilled all of the requirements of membership, the Secretary/Treasurer shall submit the application to the President on or before the first available meeting date. The President shall read, or cause to be read, the application, including call letters of the applicant, to the membership. An affirmative vote of 90% of those members present shall constitute acceptance of the applicant. The applicant shall not be present at the time of the vote.
The Secretary/Treasurer shall advise the applicant of the results of the vote and shall see that the new member is furnished with a copy of these By-Laws and a current roster.
Section 5: All members who meet the applicable criteria for a contest may submit their scores for that contest in the name of the Northern California Contest Club.
Section 6: Continuing membership shall be contingent upon active contest participation and good operating procedures. The qualifications of any member may be reviewed by the Board of Directors and reported at any regular membership meeting.
Any member may be denied continuing membership upon:
A. Recommendation by the Board of Directors,
B. An announcement in the Club’s publication, the JUG, and
C. A vote to deny continued membership by two-thirds of those present at the next
regular meeting. following said publication.
Section 7: Any former member desirous of reinstatement to membership shall make payment of prorated dues and be approved by the Board of Directors or may go through the regular new membership procedure outlined in Sections 3 and 4.
ARTICLE IV
OFFICERS
Section 1: The officers of the Club shall be the President, the Vice-President/Contest Chairman, and the Secretary/Treasurer. All officers shall be elected annually by a vote of those members in attendance at the regular April meeting. They shall hold office for a term of no less than twelve months, commencing with the meeting at which elected. No officer who has finished a full term shall succeed himself or herself.
Section 2: In the event that an officer or director of the Club becomes unable to fulfill the term of office, the President shall appoint a replacement, subject to ratification by the Board of Directors. In the event the President becomes unable to fulfill his or her term of office, the Vice-President shall become the President for the remainder of the term.
ARTICLE V
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Section 1: The affairs of the Club shall be managed by its officers and overseen by its Board of Directors.
Section 2: The Board of Directors shall consist of the three officers, the immediate Past President, and three Full members elected by the membership. The terms of office for the three elected directors shall coincide with those of the officers.
Section 3: The Board of Directors shall meet at the same time and place as the first regular membership meeting following election of officers and directors without other notice than by these By-Laws. Additional meetings may be called by the President upon two weeks notice.
Section 4: The Board of Directors shall have no power to change the By-Laws. The Board of Directors is authorized to act by unanimous written consent, which consent may be given electronically.
Section 5: The Board of Directors shall prepare a budget once each year. This budget shall be presented to the regular membership at the June meeting. Said budget shall be adopted if approved by a two-thirds majority of the members present at the June meeting. The officers and Board will be bound to the approved budget during their terms of office.
ARTICLE VI
MEETINGS
Section 1: The Club shall meet at least bimonthly at a time and place designated by the President. The membership shall be advised two weeks in advance of the meeting by the Secretary/Treasurer of the time and place selected. Meetings may be closed to visitors as the occasion requires.
Section 2: Meetings shall consist of the necessary business, conforming to Roberts’ Rules of Order, followed by an appropriate program of interest to the members.
ARTICLE VII
AMENDMENT OF BY-LAWS
Section 1: All amendments to the By-Laws shall be initiated by a written petition to the Secretary/Treasurer bearing the signatures of at least five Full members. A copy of the proposed amendment and a ballot shall be mailed to all Full members. The Secretary/Treasurer shall specify a date not less than 30 days nor more than 75 days after the mailing by which the ballots must be received. A two-thirds affirmative vote of the ballots received shall be required for acceptance of the amendment. The Secretary/Treasurer may allow electronic mailing and voting.
ARTICLE VIII
FEES AND ASSESSMENTS
Section 1: All members shall pay annual dues as set by the Board of Directors each year. The Board may in its discretion set separate dues for Full members, Associate members, members who are full-time students, and members who reside in the same household as another member paying normal dues and who elect not to receive a separate JUG. Dues are due and payable on the first day of July of each year.
Section 2: Upon decision of the Board of Directors, assessments to the membership may be made. Associate members shall be assessed one-half the amount of Full members.
Section 3: Any member delinquent in dues or assessments payable for twelve months shall be automatically dropped from membership. The mailing of the JUG may be discontinued at any time that dues are delinquent.
February 1998
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