Eeting D BARA Bulletin · BARA Bulletin March 2015 Volume 52 Number 3 NEXT MEETING Meeting Programs...

Eeting D

Bergen Amateur Radio Association

BARA Bulletin March 2015

Volume 52 Number 3 www.BARA.ORG

NEXT MEETING

Meeting Programs

Are there any topics of interest to the

club that you would like to see a presen-

tation or demonstration? Is there a sub-

ject you could lead a discussion on?

Please contact Steve Holly, WI2W

WI2W ‘at’ ARRL.NET

March 1, 2015

7:30 PM

Municipal Building Senior Center

350 Hudson Avenue.

Township of Washington, NJ

07676

BARA Auction 1

HF Band Plan Proposals 1

2015 Dues 1

Upcoming Events 2

New Members 2

VE Exam Schedule 3

Public Service Information 3

Link of the Month 3

February Meeting Minutes 4

ARRL DX Phone Contest 5

Member Contest Scores 6

DX Insights 6

General Class License Course 6

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Our 52nd Year

2015 BARA DUES

BARA Dues for 2015 are $25 for an

individual member and $35 for a

family membership.

Please pay at a business meeting, kit

night, or mail to the Treasurer.

BARA Auction

Sunday, March 15, 2015

1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Open for sellers at 12 Noon

Westwood Regional High School

Cafeteria

No admission fee

Refreshments available

12% commission paid by seller to

BARA on sold items.

Time for a last minute check of the

items you’re selling. Are all the

parts/cables there? Attach an index

card stating features and condition.

Pack everything up and let’s go to

the Auction.

Consider donating a few items to the

BARA table to support the club.

Meeting Presentation

"Getting Started in RTTY

Contesting"

by David , K2DSL

and Dave, K2ZC

From the ARRL ...

ARRL Seeks Member

Input on Draft

HF Band Plan Proposals

The ARRL is asking members to

comment by April 19 on possible

changes to the League's HF Band

Plans suggested by the HF Band

Planning Committee. The survey is

part of the committee's efforts to

tweak the band plans for the RTTY/

data/CW portions of 80 through 10

meters -- excepting 60 meters. The

committee developed its suggested

revisions to the voluntary band

plans after reviewing some 400

member comments in response to a

March 2014 solicitation that sought

suggestions on how to use the spec-

trum more efficiently, so that data

modes may coexist compatibly.

"The committee concluded that

most of the concerns voiced by

members could be addressed by

modest adjustments to the existing

band plans, and mainly by confining

data modes with bandwidths greater

than 500 Hz to the FCC-designated

segments for automatically con-

trolled digital stations (ACDS) …”

The proposed changes differentiate

among ACDS, narrow RTTY/data

modes having a bandwidth no great-

er than 500 Hz, and wider data

modes having a bandwidth up to

2700 Hz.

(Continued on page 7)


BARA BULLETIN

BARA RESOURCES

The BARA Bulletin is published monthly by the Bergen Amateur

Radio Association. Subscriptions are included in the annual member-ship dues. Membership is open to anyone interested in radio communi-cation.

QSL Bureau:

Warren Hager, K2UFM

Public Service:

Club Contesting:

Phil Barber, WA2LXE

VE Exams:

Don Younger, W2JEK

Donnan917’at’aol.com

Hamfests:

Jim Joyce, K2ZO

Webmasters:

wm’at’bara.org

Tony Izzo, K2AMI

David Levine, K2DSL

MEMBERSHIP

APPLICATION

Interested in learning more about amateur radio and meeting new

people? Then join the Bergen

Amateur Radio Association (BARA). Dues are $25 per year. Send your application request to:

David Levine, K2DSL

11 Mackay Ave.

Waldwick, NJ 07463

e-mail to k2dsl’at’arrl.net.

Please include your name, address, town, zip, call sign, license class, and phone number.

Upcoming Events

March 1 - BARA Business Meeting

March 3 - Kit Night

March 6 - 8 - ARRL DX Contest - SSB

March 8 - Daylight Savings Time Begins

March 10 - Kit Night

March 15 - BARA Auction


March 20 - 22 - BARTG RTTY Contest


March 27 - VE Test Session

March 27 - 28 - CQ WW WPX Contest - SSB


April 5 - BARA Business Meeting

Welcome New Members:

Karl Frank, W2KBF - Fair Lawn

John Zaleskie - Hackensack

James Crisall, KF4UGR - Valley Cottage, NY

Gregory March, K2GFM - Montvale

Keven Rooney - Emerson

Matthew Berman, KC2YDT - New Hyde Park, NY

Ronald Loree - Norwood

Jonathan Venusti - Mahwah


PUBLIC SERVICE

BCRACES NET 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month.

7:45 PM on the W2AKR Repeater

146.790 Mhz; PL 141.3 Hz.

Net control is NJ2BC

Directed training net for all authorized

Bergen County RACES stations and

authorized liaison stations.

K2BAR NETS

VE EXAM SCHEDULE

The next VE test session

is scheduled for:

February, 27 2015

7 PM

Westwood Regional H.S.

Room 123

The FCC has imposed a

Testing fee of $15.00

per exam/retest.

Required documents:

Two forms of ID required

for all transactions.

Social Security Number

if unlicensed or FRN

Number if licensed.

Original CSCE if prior

test credit is claimed.

If license upgrade.

original and a copy of

current FCC license

Questions may be directed to:

Don Younger, W2JEK

201-265-6583

Question Pool Revision:

The current General exam question

pool will be revised on July 1,

2015.

Current Question Pool Effective

Dates:

Technician, Element 2-July 1, 2014

General, Element 3 - July 1, 2011

Extra, Element 4 - July 1, 2012

Sample tests available at QRZ.COM

http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

Daily FCC report of new and re-

newed callsigns available at:

http://www.qrz.com/new_hams.html

Link of the Month

Those who wish to operate 60 M.

may be interested in the following

web site.

http://hflink.com/60meters/

Operating Guide for USA 60 meter

Band - Modes

- - Tnx to WB2GAI

BCRACES

Communications Unit Any licensed ham operator in Bergen

County, if not already a member, is

asked to join the BCRACES team by

sending an e-mail to:

[email protected]

with your name, callsign, e-mail, and

municipality.

SSB Net:

Mondays 9:00 pm

10 Meters – 28.375 MHz

Net Control: Jim, K2ZO

FM Nets:

Mondays 8:00 pm

YL Net

2 Meters: 146.79 MHz.

PL 141.3

Net Control: Joanne, KC2QGH

Wednesdays 9:00 pm


PL 141.3

Net Control: Hector, W2NPR

Thursdays 8:30 pm

70 cm: 444.100

PL 141.3

Net Control:

Thursdays 9:00 pm

Technical Net


PL 141.3

EchoLink via K2FJ-L

Net Control: Gordon, W2TTT

New HF Digital Net

Focused on EMCOMM

The New Jersey Narrow Band

Emergency Messaging System (NJ

-NBEMS) Net meets every Sunday

Morning at 9:30 AM on 7.073

MHz using OLIVIA-8-500. This

net is NOT affiliated with RACES

or ARES, so any Radio Amateur

with appropriate operating privileg-

es may participate.

FLDIGI is the preferred sound card

software because FLAMP and

FLMSG are used for message han-

dling. This is a training net for

new users, so operator error is ex-

pected and well tolerated.

For additional information contact

Bill, KC2VUT at arrl.net, Rick,

N2PHI at comcast.net or Karl,

W2KBF at arrl.net.


BARA Meeting Minutes

February 8, 2015

The meeting commenced at 7:50

PM at the Township of Washington

Senior Center.

Officers Present: President

Rachel Weiss, AJ4WD, Vice Presi-

dent Steve Holly, WI2W, Secretary

Peter Schneider, KC2QYM, and

Treasurer David Levine, K2DSL.

Trustees: Bennett, KO2OK, Harry,

W2FT, and Chuck, KC2SST. Advi-

sors, Jim, K2ZO and Tony, K2AMI

were also present.

The Pledge of Allegiance was ad-

ministered followed by a moment of

silence observed for silent keys

(SKs)

Health and Welfare: We wish all

our members and their families

dealing with illnesses a speedy re-

covery. Please let us know how you

are doing.

Guests to the Meeting: Kevin

Rooney (Emerson) will take his test

at the next VE session. Good luck,

we look forward to welcoming you

to BARA!

Officers’ Reports: Peter, KC2QYM r equested ac-

ceptance by the membership of the

secretary’s minutes as published in

the last posted bulletin. This was

accepted by Jim, KC2VRY and se-

conded by KC2QGC.

David, K2DSL read the treasur -

er’s report and requested acceptance

from the membership. Accepted by

Don, W2JEK and seconded by Jim,

K2FJ.

Rachel, AJ4WD stated that

ARRL Hudson Division director,

Mike Lisenco would not be availa-

ble to make his presentation this

evening. Instead, Rachel will pre-

sent a video. Rachel also an-

nounced that the upcoming BA-

RA auction on March 15 will

require a number of volunteers to

help make the event a success.

This event is one of three poten-

tially large fundraisers for

BARA. The two Hamfests are

the others. Monies raised from

this event support many BARA

activities throughout the year.

We really need your help so

please sign up when the sheet

comes around or speak to any

board member. Also, email is

another way to communicate

with the board. Our email ad-

dresses are in the bulletin and on

the website, www.bara.org. The

auction takes place on Sunday,

March 15th at the Westwood high

school and the BARA team is

requested to arrive at 11am to

help set up and organize. The

sellers arrive at about 12:00pm

(noon) and doors are open for

buyers at 1:00pm. Rachel dis-

tributed auction flyers to the

membership requesting that they

distribute copies to friends and

members of other clubs to help

promote participation for both

buyers and sellers.

Steve, WI2W announced that

next month’s speaker presenta-

tion will be ‘How to get started

on RTTY contesting’. David,

K2DSL and Dave, K2ZC will

present this interesting topic.

And by the way, we encourage

all BARA members to invite

their friends to our monthly

presentations. Steve appealed to

the membership to come forward

with any ideas you might have

for presentations and even pre-

senting a topic yourself. We

need your input so contact Steve

[email protected]. Steve also an-

nounced that a new position was

created at BARA; Public Infor-

mation Officer. This position

carries the responsibility for out-

reach to other clubs, the ARRL,

and the community, which in-

cludes the promotion of our speak-

er’s program among other things.

Phil, WA2LXE has stepped up to

take on this important role.

Thanks Phil and please reach out

to us for any support you need in

promoting BARA.

Committee Reports:

BARA Kit Night: J im, K2ZO

reports continued interest in this

most popular BARA activity.

Tuesdays, 7pm at the Westwood

high school.

BARA Nets are reporting decent

participation with the exception of

the Thursday UHF net on the

444.1MHz repeater. Jim, K2ZO

reported that there only 2 or 3 par-

ticipants. The net control for this

net had been Ben, KF2ID (SK) so

we really need someone to step up

to run and promote the net and

build participation. If interested

please reach out to any board

member (officer, trustee, and advi-

sor). Gordon, W2TTT continues to

report tremendous enthusiasm for

the Thursday ‘Tech Net’ on

146.955 MHz with some sessions

extending over two hours. Gee,

those guys love to talk.

VE Sessions: Don, W2JEK re-

ported the VE session of January

16th yielded one technician, two

generals, and one extra per the four

tests administered. The next VE

session will be held on Friday,

Feb. 20th at 7 p.m. at the West-

wood high school. See more de-

tails on the BARA website –

www.bara.org

Presentation: Rachel, AJ4WD

presented a video of a Toastmas-

ter’s presentation interview where

(Continued on page 5)

http://www.bara.org

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.bara.org


she was the guest presenter.

Rachel’s subject was of course

amateur radio and its influence in

her life. This program aired on

the New York City community

access channel back in November

2014 and was repeated a number

of times late last year. It was a

great overview of the impact and

contributions amateur radio makes

to society. She finished the

presentation with Walter

Cronkite’s (SK) famous short vid-

eo on ham radio’s contributions

during disasters. Good show Ra-

chel!

Business Meeting:

A volunteer signup sheet for the

upcoming BARA auction was cir-

culated among the membership.

We need your help on March

15thto be successful. Please con-

tact any BARA board member to

let us know if you can lend a hand.

Support needed for cashiering,

forms processing, etc., runners

help move sold items to the cash-

ier tables, auctioneer(s) are need-

ed, food support or any combina-

tion of support you can provide.

Proposed budget approval discus-

sion: The purpose of this discus-

sion was to show the membership

BARA’s 2014 actual budg-

et/expenditures and to promote a

thought out plan for budget alloca-

tions and expenditures in 2015.

The proposed 2015 budget exhib-

ited a deficit from the onset which

prompted much detailed discus-

sion. A valid point made by Tony,

K2AMI and Gordon, W2TTT

prompted an adjustment to elimi-

nate the deficit as previously dis-

played. The key variables in 2015

are the three fundraising events

that occur; the auction and the two

hamfests. There is inherent risk if

we lose money in these ventures

(Continued from page 4) with weather as a primary inhibi-

tor. Therefore, any proposed

budget for future expenditures

that depend on future net reve-

nues must be considered proposed

only. The board must exercise

prudent use of funds and justifica-

tions for all expenditures through-

out the year. The proposed budg-

et was accepted and approved on

behalf of the membership by Jim,

KC2VRY and seconded by Rich,

K2ZB.

Helmut, KA2BDU donated his

50/50 winnings to the club. He

generously volunteers his time at

many BARA activities and we

thank him for this gesture.

KB2OCJ made a motion to close

the meeting; Jim, K2FJ seconded

the motion.

The meeting adjourned at 9:45

pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Peter Schneider, KC2QYM

BARA Secretary

From the ARRL...

There’s a Place for You

in the ARRL DX Phone

Contest, March 7-8

Set aside your CW key, and shake

those dits and dahs out of your

ears. It’s time to get your voice in

trim or to program your digital

voice keyer. The SSB weekend of

the ARRL International DX Con-

test is Saturday and Sunday, March

7-8 (UTC), and in this major event

on the radiosport calendar, the DX

will be looking for stations in the

US and Canada. There are entry

categories for single ops and for

multioperator teams as well as a

choice of power levels in each cate-

gory, from QRP to full legal limit.

In other words, there’s a place for

Big Guns, Little Pistols, and every-

one in between. Excitement and en-

thusiasm levels will be high, and it’s

a terrific opportunity to boost DXCC

totals too.

Not only that, but the ARRL Interna-

tional DX Contest events offer great

opportunities to expand your

knowledge of MF and HF propaga-

tion and to tweak your contesting

skills. The basic objective is simple:

W/VE amateurs work as many DX

stations in as many DXCC entities as

possible on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15,

and 10 meter bands. Participating

DX stations work as many stations as

possible on the 48 contiguous US

states and Canadian provinces. US

and Canadian stations send a signal

report and their state or province ab-

breviation. DX stations send a signal

report and their output power.

The action gets under way March 8

at 0000 UTC (Friday, March 7, in

US time zones) and continues for the

next 48 hours until March 9 at 2359

UTC.

Complete rules and forms are on the

ARRL website.

Checking the B+


DX Insights

By Harry, W2FT

MEMBER REPORTED CONTEST SCORES SUBMITTED

FOR AGGREGATE CLUB SCORE

CQ WPX RTTY Contest

Power QSOs Points Prefixes Score

NO2T High 913 2597 498 1,293,306

K2DSL Low 576 1419 363 515,097

K2ZC High 601 1803 266 479,598

N3CRT QRP 88 - - 20,400

ARRL DX Contest - CW

Power QSOs Points DXCC Score

K2TWI Low 480 1437 199 285,963

W2DZ Low 97 888 165 146,520

WI2W QRP 196 588 129 75,852

W2JEK QRP 143 429 90 38,610

Members are encouraged to show “Bergen ARA” as the club

when submitting contest logs and send a copy of the summary

sheet to WA2LXE for inclusion in the Bulletin. A minimum of

three individual submissions are usually required for the “Club”

category.

HEARD ISLAND #5

Heard Island is a remote Australian Territory in

the Antarctic. This land is among the most remote

places on earth. Located approx. 2,547 mi from

Perth, the Heard Is group is the largest group in

the area. Its mountains are covered with glaciers

with an Antarctic climate. Snowfall oc-

curs throughout the year with an average winter

temp. of 30.6 to 32.5 F.

With Navassa Is. now in the history books, no

other in the top 10 have been inactive longer than

Heard Is. The last activation from Heard Is. was in

1997, which put Heard Is. in as # 5 in the Club

Log list of most wanted.

GOOD NEWS !!! VK0EK

A large team led by Bob KK6EK is planning a

DX perdition to Heard this November. The voy-

age to the island is scheduled for Nov.10 to Dec.

22 with actual operation running from Nov. 22 to

Dec. 8th.

Mark your DX calendars as there are some rare

DX stations coming in 2015. Stay tuned later this

year for VK0EK Heard Island.

73, W2FT

General Class Licensing Training

Start/End Dates: 3/23/2015 - 4/27/2015

Times: from 6:45pm - 9:45pm EST

# of Sessions: 6

Dates: 3/23, 3/30, 4/6, 4/15, 4/20, 4/27/2015

Instructor: NU2E

Location: Wayne Municipal Building (475 Valley

Road, Wayne, NJ 07470) Health Room#2

Training Fee: Free for full time students, $15.00 for

others

Pre-register required: Preferable

Sponsoring Club: Wayne-NJ Amateur Radio Club

Contact Person: Kiran Dasgupta, NU2E

Email: [email protected]

Online Contact Link:

http://www.waynenjarc.com/Contact.aspx

Pre Study Required: No


Band-by-Band Draft Recommendations

On 80 meters, the committee suggests several modifications to the band plan. FCC action in 2006 reduced the 80 meter RTTY/data sub band to 100 kHz and limited access to the 3600-3700 kHz segment to Amateur Extra class licensees. "Unless and until the FCC Rules are modified, changes in the band plan for 3500-3600 kHz will not improve the situation," Sumner said.

The HF Band Planning Committee recommends that the League petition the FCC to move the boundary between the 80 meter RTTY/data band and the 75 meter phone/image band from 3600 to 3650 kHz and restoring that segment to General and Advanced class licensees. Members are being asked to comment on this proposal, as well as on whether or not the ARRL should petition the FCC for these other changes:

Shift the ACDS band segment from 3585-3600 to 3600-3615 kHz, consistent with the IARU Region 1 and 2 band plans.

Extend the current Novice/Technician CW segment of 3525-3600 kHz to 3650 kHz.

Add 80 meter RTTY/data privileges for Novices and Technicians.

On 40 meters, the committee concluded that it would be unrealistic to try to bring the ARRL band plan into alignment with the rest of the world, particularly with Regions 1 and 3 where operating patterns developed when the entire band, including phone, was just 100 kHz wide -- and is still only 200 kHz. While 7040 kHz is a recognized RTTY/data DX frequency in the band plan, the best place for other RTTY/data activity in the US is above 7070 kHz.

The committee proposes aligning the band plan with the "Considerate Operator's Frequency Guide," with wide data modes -- out-side of ACDS -- at 7115-7125 kHz. The "Guide" shows 7070-7125 kHz for RTTY/data, while the ARRL band plan shows 7080-7125 kHz. The FCC mandates that ACDS be confined to the 7100-7105 kHz segment.

On 30 meters, the committee recommends confining wide data modes to 10.140-10.150 MHz, separated from other RTTY/data at 10.130-10.140 MHz.

On 20 meters, the committee recommends using the 1 kHz IARU/NCDXF beacon network frequency (14.0995-14.1005 MHz) as a line in the sand between wide ACDS in the 14.1005-14.112 MHz segment, and narrow ACDS in the 14.095-14.0995 MHz segment.

The committee recommends 14.070-14.095 MHz for RTTY and narrowband data, noting that so-called "weak-signal" data modes often are used between 14.070 and 14.078 MHz.

On 17 meters, the committee recommends confining wide data modes to the FCC-mandated ACDS segment of 18.105-18.110 MHz, separated from narrow RTTY/data at 18.100-18.105 MHz. FCC rules do not permit RTTY/data above 18.110 MHz, limiting options for this band.

On 15 meters, the committee recommends that 21.070-21.090 MHz for narrow RTTY/data modes, the FCC-mandated ACDS seg-ment of 21.090-21.100 MHz for both narrow and wide automatically controlled data station activity, and above 21.100 MHz for any additional wide data activity.

The ARRL Board also wants members to comment on the desirability of adding RTTY/data privileges for Novices and Technicians in their existing 15 meter segment, where they're now limited to CW.

On 12 meters, the committee recommends confining wide data to the FCC-mandated ACDS segment, 24.925-24.930 MHz, separat-ed from narrow RTTY/data operation at 24.920-24.925 MHz. FCC rules do not permit RTTY/data operation above 24.930 MHz, lim-iting options for this band.

On 10 meters, the committee recommends that wide data be confined to the FCC-mandated ACDS segment, 28.120-28.189 MHz, separated from narrow RTTY/data modes at 28.070-28.120 MHz.

How to Comment

The League has set up a web page to record members' preferences and comments, which includes links to the HF Band Planning Committee report to the ARRL Board and to Sumner's April QST article (and high-resolution band charts). Those wishing to of-fer more detailed comments may e-mail ARRL at BANDPLAN@ARRL>ORG. The comment deadline is April 19.

(Continued from page 1)



169 Woodland Ave.

Westwood, NJ 07675

President

Rachel Weiss, AJ4WD

RACHEL.A.WEISS ‘at’

GMAIL.COM

Vice-President

Steve Holly, WI2W

9 Passaic Ave.

North Haledon, NJ 07508

WI2W’at’ARRL.NET

Secretary

Peter Schneider, KC2QYM

50 George St.

Tenafly, NJ 07670

Pxschneider’at’juno.com

Treasurer

David Levine, K2DSL

11 Mackay Ave.

Waldwick, NJ 07463

K2DSL ‘at’ARRL.NET

Trustees

Bennett Norell, KO2OK

KO2OK’at’ARRL.NET

Harry Johnson, W2FT

W2FT’at’AOL.COM

Chuck Lemken, KC2SST

CLEMKEN’at’HOTMAIL.COM

BARA Bulletin

Phil Barber, WA2LXE, Editor

WA2LXE’at’ARRL.NET

Next Business Meeting

Sunday, March 1st at the

Twp. Of Washington

Senior Center

Presidents Emeritus

Bill James, WA2QHL - SK

Dominick Interdonato, NB2F - SK

Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML - SK

Eeting D BARA Bulletin · BARA Bulletin March 2015 Volume 52 Number 3 NEXT MEETING Meeting Programs...

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Transcript of Eeting D BARA Bulletin · BARA Bulletin March 2015 Volume 52 Number 3 NEXT MEETING Meeting Programs...