February 6, 2006 the regular meeting the SEMO Amateur Radio Club was callled to order by President Willie Sandin at 7:00 P. The Secretary's minutes were approved as read. The Treasurer reported two new members and a total of $887.12 in the bank.

Old Business: Collinsville was good hamfest. 146.685 is now on the high antenna. Due to the noise it is believed that the antenna or the feed line probably sustained damage also. The technical committee will be working on that project. No meeting of the by-law committee was held so it is to be tabled for another month. Our web site www.semoarc.org should be up in a couple of weeks.

New Business:There is a computer show at Collinsville on the weekend 18th of Feb. The Memphis Hamfest is scheduled for March 4. Is anyone interested in field day? Any ideas? Bob Seabaugh gave a report on the communication equipment he has been installing at the Red Cross. He worked repeaters from Ste. Genevieve to New Madrid. Also the low band is hooked up. Joe Marsh brought copies of the new Missouri State map for all. If you are a new member contact Jim Bowers to get an ID pin.

John Frye made a motion to adjourn which was seconded bySteve Hay the motion carried and the club adjourned for social hour at 7:30 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted, Martha Vandivort

Just when the FCC will act on the ''Morse code'' proceeding, WT Docket 05-235, remains hazy. The Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) last July proposing to eliminate the Element 1 (5 WPM) Morse code requirement for all license classes. The Amateur Radio community filed more than 3800 comments on the proceeding, and additional comments continue to show up, even though the formal comment deadline was last fall. The next--and most-anticipated--step for the Commission is to formally adopt any revisions to its rules and conclude the proceeding with a Report and Order (R&O) that spells out the changes and specifies their effective date.

''There really is no news,'' an FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) staffer told ARRL this week on background. ''We certainly hope to release WT Docket 05-235 sometime this year, but we're not making any predictions at this time.'' The WTB staffer indicated there would be no ''big announcements'' at the Dayton Hamvention FCC Forum either.

Beyond eliminating the Morse requirement, the FCC declined in its NPRM&O to go forward with any other suggested changes to Amateur Service licensing rules or operating privileges.

The proceeding began with 18 petitions for rule making--many just calling for the elimination of the Morse requirement but some asking for more far-reaching changes in the Amateur Service rules. The various petitions attracted a total of some 6200 comments. The FCC subsequently consolidated the petitions--including one from the ARRL asking the FCC to establish a new entry-level license class and to retain the Morse requirement for Amateur Extra class applicants--into a single proceeding designated WT 05-235.

Worth noting is that the FCC did not propose in WT 05-235 to extend HF privileges to current Technician licensees who have not passed a Morse code examination. In its NPRM&O the FCC suggested that in a no-Morse-requirement regime, such ''codeless Techs'' would be able to gain HF access by taking the Element 3 General class written examination.

Before it releases an R&O on the Morse code proceeding, however, the WTB wants to wrap up action in another Amateur Radio-related docket--the ''Phone Band Expansion'' (or ''Omnibus'') NPRM in WT Docket 04-140, released last April 15. A dozen petitions for rulemaking, some dating back to 2001, were consolidated in the Omnibus proceeding. In that NPRM, the Commission proposed to go along with the ARRL's Novice refarming plan aimed at reallocating the current Novice/Tech Plus subbands to expand portions of the 80, 40 and 15 meter phone bands. The FCC also agreed with an ARRL proposal to extend privileges in the current General CW-only HF subbands to present Novice and Tech Plus licensees (or Technicians with Element 1 credit).

Any FCC decision to eliminate the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for HF access would have no impact on either the current HF CW-only subbands or on the CW privileges of Amateur Radio licensees. The Morse code proceeding neither put forward nor recommended any changes in CW allocations or privileges.

SKYWARN is a concept developed in the early 1970s that was intended to promote a cooperative effort between the National Weather Service and communities. The emphasis of the effort is often focused on the storm spotter, an individual who takes a position near their community and reports wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that could signal a developing tornado. Another part of SKYWARN is the receipt and effective distribution of National Weather Service information.

The organization of spotters and the distribution of warning information may lies with the National Weather Service or with an emergency management agency within the community. This agency could be a police or fire department, or often is an emergency management/service group (what people might still think of as civil defense groups). This varies across the country however, with local national weather service offices taking the lead in some locations, while emergency management takes the lead in other areas.

SKYWARN is not a club or organization, however, in some areas where Emergency Management programs do not perform the function, people have organized SKYWARN groups that work independent of a parent government agency and feed valuable information to the National Weather Service. While this provides the radar meteorologist with much needed input, the circuit is not complete if the information does not reach those who can activate sirens or local broadcast systems.

SKYWARN spotters are not by definition "Storm Chasers". While their functions and methods are similar, the spotter stays close to home and usually has ties to a local agency. Storm chasers often cover hundreds of miles a day. The term Storm Chaser covers a wide variety of people. Some are meteorologists doing specific research or are gathering basic information (like video) for training and comparison to radar data. Others chase storms to provide live information for the media, and others simply do it for the thrill.

Storm Spotting and Storm Chasing is dangerous and should not be done without proper training, experience and equipment.

The National Weather Service conducts spotter training classes across the United States, and your local National Weather Service office should be consulted as to when the next class will be held.

Can I Help?

Even in these days of technological advances and Doppler radar, there is still a definite need for the extra "eyes and ears" of trained, qualified weather observers. There are no special qualifications other than a desire to help. . Your "watch" begins when severe weather is in the area, whether at home, work, school, or in your car.

How Do I Report Severe Weather?

Call SKYWARN Net Control on 146.625 (This person should identify with Callsign using SKYWARN Net Control after his/her).

WATCHES A Watch tells you that conditions are favorable and there is a pretty good chance that the event may happen. When a watch is issued begin making preparations for the upcoming event. Listen to your local media to know when warnings are issued. Watches are intended to heighten public awareness of the situation. WARNINGS A warning means that a certain weather event is IMMINENT. Measures should be taken to safeguard life and property IMMEDIATELY.. ADVISORIES Advisories are issued when events are expected to remain below the warning criteria, but still cause significant inconvenience. Most common in association with snow events

Weekly Skywarn Nets

Weekly SKYWARN nets are held on Thursday of at 8:00PM on the 146.820 amateur radio repeater (146.685 is the backup frequency). Join us to "check-in", hear upcoming training information, severe weather safety information, and related weather news. The nets may also be monitored on "scanner receivers". Participants from the SEMO (Cape Area) SKYWARN Program and observers from other area SKYWARN programs are welcome.

Nets also test the weather net activation tones used in actual severe weather situa-tions:

DTMF tones 8, 2, 0; and paging tones 1433.4 Hz. followed by 903.2 Hz. (Motorola code sequence W999). Either decoding method may be used. If you have decoding ability, this may be tested each week. This decoding feature allows monitoring of the 146.82 repeater in a "quiet" mode until a severe weather net is initiated.

I plan on maybe trying to get someone from NWS to the club or getting info form NWS in the event that the guy that Dave was going to have come does not show up as I feel some kind of training would be helpful. I have a Kenwood Radio with 2-Tone, but anyone with DTMF can use the DTMF codes to let people know we are in SKYWARN Mode). Richard N. Piper IV

I like ham radio. Ham, in the true sense of that word: experimental, seat-of-the-pants radio. I'm also a little cheap. Why pay $200, when it can be done for $20? So with this mind, you'll understand my motivations in working on 33 cm in both a mode and an amateur band I have never explored before.

It seemed to me there are a lot of wireless devices available now that can be incorporated in our modes of communication, particularly if those devices are no longer marketable, out-of-date, and subject to "close-out" sales. The 900 MHZ cordless phone falls into this category. In some venues, they're advertised for as low as $9.99. I've read some web articles about folks using cellphones and converting them for 33 cm, but nothing about using the cheaper "cordless" phones. So, I decided to try my hand at using a 900 MHz cordless phone unit on the amateur 33 cm band. Here are my first results.

Hardware: 900 MHz analog cordless phone set, PC, dual-band FM rig.

Software: SSTV software capable of transmitting and receiving.

I purchased a VTech T2101 900 MHz cordless for $14.95. Most 900 MHz cordless phones are analog and use wideband FM modulation. Perfect! I downloaded and used Chroma Pix SSTV software (I do plan on registering my copy, it's so useful). It's available from… http://www.barberdsp.com/cpix/chroma.htm

Most dual-band rigs have receivable cellphone frequencies blocked above 913 MHz. So, it's necessary to have either the base unit or handset unit of the cordless phone transmit in the 902-913 MHz range. Having the base unit transmit in this range is a bonus as the base unit now becomes a full-duplex repeater and extends the useable range of the device.

The first JPG shows a compressed version of my QSL as transmitted.

The second JPG shows the tranmission of my QSL card as it was transmitted from a laptop. The 900 MHz cordless phone handset was carefully modified with an audio cable and 3.5 mmm plug to interface the laptop's soundcard. The handset transmitted the SSTV image on 924 MHz to the cordless phone base unit.

The third JPG is the received QSL card that was re-transmitted from the cordless phone base on 903.0 MHz to a FT-7800R dual-band FM rig. The external speaker output of the FT-7800R was connected to the soundcard of another PC. The line-of-sight distance between transmitting laptop and receiving PC was ~ 1 mile.

As I said, this was a first attempt, but I consider it somewhat successful. I continue to refine my technique. Maybe even do some "mods" to the cordless phone to enhance both transmission and reception. Hope you find my experiment interesting enough to invest ten bucks and give it a try! 73,

Ham radio received positive mentions in post-Katrina reports from the US House of Representatives and the White House. References to the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and the HF digital e-mail system Winlink 2000 appear in "A Failure of Initiative"--the final report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to investigate the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina (see http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/17/2/).

"Like all levels of government," noted the 364-page report released February 15, "the National Communication System (NCS) "was not able to address all aspects of the damage to the communications infrastructure of the Gulf States."

MARS was cited for its role as part of the Shared Resources High Frequency Radio Program (SHARES), a federal emergency communication system. The report says that "within days" of Katrina's landfall, NCS called upon more than 430 SHARES stations across the US to, among other things, assist first responders conducting search-and-rescue missions by relaying information to government agencies, by relaying logistical and operational information among FEMA EOCs in Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana, and by handling health-and-welfare messages between volunteer agencies in Georgia and the American Red Cross national headquarters.

"Additionally, the NCS coordinated the frequencies used by the nearly 1000 Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers across the nation who served in the Katrina stricken area providing communications for government agencies, the Red Cross and The Salvation Army," the report continued. "Emergency communications were conducted not only by voice, but also by high-speed data transmissions using state-of-the art digital communications software known as Winlink."

The report further noted, "In Mississippi, FEMA dispatched Amateur Radio operators to hospitals, evacuation centers, and county EOCs to send emergency messaging 24 hours per day. Cited were comments by Bay St Louis Mayor Eddie Favre that Amateur Radio volunteers "were especially helpful in maintaining situational awareness and relaying Red Cross messages to and from the Hancock County EOC."

According to the report, radio amateurs at airports in Texas and Louisiana "tracked evacuees and notified families of their whereabouts," while the Red Cross "deployed Amateur Radio volunteers at its 250 shelters and feeding stations, principally in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida."

The Salvation Army, the report pointed out, operates its own system of Amateur Radio volunteers known as SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network). "During the Hurricane Katrina response and recovery effort, SATERN joined forces with the SHARES program and received over 48,000 requests for emergency communications assistance utilizing federal frequencies made available via the SHARES program," the report noted.

"A Failure of Initiative" asserted that the loss of power and the failure at various levels of government "to adequately prepare for the ensuing and inevitable loss of communications" hindered the hurricane response "by compromising situational awareness and command and control operations."

"Despite the devastation left by Katrina, this needn't have been the case," the report stressed. "Catastrophic disasters may have some unpredictable consequences, but losing power and the dependent communications systems after a hurricane should not be one of them."

The White House report, "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned" http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned.pdf released February 22 also cast Amateur Radio in a favorable light--in its Appendix B, "What Went Right."

"Amateur Radio Operators from both the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the American Radio Relay League monitored distress calls and rerouted emergency requests for assistance throughout the US until messages were received by emergency response personnel," the report said. "A distress call made from a cell phone on a rooftop in New Orleans to Baton Rouge was relayed, via ham radio, from Louisiana to Oregon, then Utah, and finally back to emergency personnel in Louisiana, who rescued the 15 stranded victims."

The report also points out that Amateur Radio volunteers were on duty at the National Hurricane Center, the Hurricane Watch Net, Waterway Net, SKYWARN and the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN).

The report's Appendix B cites specific reports in the general news media about Amateur Radio activities following Hurricane Katrina and points to several news stories that appeared on the ARRL Web site.

Source: The ARRL Letter Vol. 25, No. 09 March 3, 2006