Eeting D
Bergen Amateur Radio Association
BARA Bulletin July 2015
Volume 52 Number 7 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
July 5, 2015
7:30 PM
Municipal Building Senior Center
350 Hudson Avenue.
Township of Washington, NJ
07676
BARA Family Picnic 1
VHF Lite 1
July Meeting Program 1
Upcoming Events 2
New Members 2
VE Exam Schedule 3
Public Service Information 3
Link of the Month 3
June BARA Meeting Minutes 4
Hamfests 4
For Sale 4
Bergen County RACES 5
From the Division Director 5
Member Contest Scores 6
DX Insights 6
BARA Member Awards 6
VHF Contest Photos 7
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.
July Meeting Program
“Summits on the Air”
Presented by:
Guy Hamblen (N7UN).
Summits on the Air (SOTA) is an
award scheme for radio amateurs
and shortwave listeners that encour-
ages portable operation in moun-
tainous areas. SOTA has been care-
fully designed to make participation
possible for everyone – this is not
just for mountaineers! There are
awards for activators (those who
ascend to the summits) and chasers
(who either operate from home, a
local hilltop or are even Activators
on other summits).
VHF Lite
The weather forecast dictated that we
cancel our usual 2-day high power
ARRL VHF June contest from Nike
Overlook Park in Orangeburg, NY.
As one of our BARA EC members
remarked: "I don't care how
"scattered" the storms are, sitting on
the highest point in the area waving
aluminum in the air sounds like a
really bad way to spend a weekend."
I couldn't agree more, safety first!
As luck would have it the weather
cleared for the weekend and so the
plan to operate a scaled down contest
effort was born. A group of BARA
VHF contesters gathered at the gar-
age on Sunday morning at 8:00am to
load up some gear and head up to the
mountain. A couple of pop-up tents
were setup along with a single mast
and rotator to hold the four antennas
and K2BAR was on the air at
11:30am.
Eleven BARA VHF contesters rotat-
ed through the four operating posi-
tions throughout the afternoon giving
everyone an opportunity to make
some contacts. The operators were:
Jun Soo KD2EXV, David K2DSL,
Bennett KO2OK, Jim K2ZO, Rachel
AJ4WD, Noel N2OEL, Ted
KC2YKA, Bill KB2OCJ, Chris
KD2IMV, Bruce WA2QBC, and
Steve WI2W.
Walter KC2WDJ helped with setup
and took some photos. (Continued on page 7)
Save the Date
BARA FAMILY PICNIC
Sunday, August 9th
Wood Dale County Park
Woodcliff Lake
10 am - 3 pm
Page 2 Bergen Amateur Radio Association
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
July 5 - BARA Business Meeting
July 7 - Kit Night
July 14 - Kit Night
July 18, 19 - North American QSO Party - RTTY
July 21 - Kit Night
July 28 - Kit Night
August 1,2 - ARRL UHF Contest
August 1,2 - North American QSO Party - CW
August 2 - BARA Business Meeting
August 4 - Kit Night
August 9 - BARA Family Picnic
Welcome New Members:
Qinjian Li, KD2IYJ - Wayne
Yan Goldovskiy, KD2IVD - Fair Lawn
Philip Cheski, KD2ENP - Elmwood Park
BARA KIT NIGHT 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Washing Twp. Senior Center
350 Hudson Ave., Township of Washington, 07676
Build a kit related to Amateur Radio (partial BARA funding available)
Diagnose/repair a defective piece of equipment
Discuss radio and computer problems
Technical assistance available
Seek/give technical opinions
Page 3 Bergen Amateur Radio Association
PUBLIC SERVICE
BC RACES 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 June VE test session
is scheduled for:
September
7 PM
at
Westwood Regional H.S.
Room 123
Enter school grounds from
drive at right side of school.
Cross in front of school and
turn right into parking lot. En-
ter side door with Gymnasium
sign over door.
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, a
signed copy of current
FCC license
Questions may be directed to:
Don Younger, W2JEK
201-265-6583
Question Pool Revision:
The General exam question pool
wasrevised on July 1, 2015.
Current Question Pool:
Technician, Element 2-July 1, 2014
General, Element 3 - July 1, 2015
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
Introduction to HF Radio
Propagation
http://www.ips.gov.au/Category/Educational/Other%20Topics/Radio%20Communication/Intro%20to%20HF%20Radio.pdf
- - Tnx to WI2W
BC RACES
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:
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
2 Meters: 146.79 MHz.
PL 141.3
Net Control: Hector, W2NPR
Thursdays 8:30 pm
70 cm: 444.100
PL 141.3
Net Control: Marco, K2ZMA
Thursdays 9:00 pm
Technical Net
2 Meters: 146.955 MHz.
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.
Page 4 Bergen Amateur Radio Association
Hamfests
Sussex County ARC
Sunday, July 12
Sussex County Fairgrounds
Augusta, NJ
http://www.scarcnj.org
BARA Meeting Minutes
June 7, 2015
7:30pm - Meeting called to order
by President Weiss
7:32pm - President Weiss lead the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and
a minute of silence for all those who
have passed.
7:34pm - There were no Health &
Welfare reports to be given.
The president then welcomed guests
Roger, NJ2R; Wendy, KC2YLF;
Woody, AK2F; Jonathan, KD2HTM
and Peter, KC2ASA.
There were no new members pre-
sented or any upgrades mentioned.
7:36pm - There was an introduc-
tion of officers and EC Staff:
Chuck KC2SST
Jim K2ZO
Bennett KO2OK
Harry W2FT
Tony K2AMI
David K2DSL
Steve WI2W
7:37pm - The President reminded
members that Sign-Up Sheets are
being circulated for VHF Contest
and Field Day.
7:38pm - The President turned
the meeting over to Woody for to-
night’s program “Modern 2 Meter
EME & Weak Signal Operation”
which went until the 8:55pm Break.
Break 8:55pm – 9:18pm
9:18pm - VP Steve called up
the following operators:
Larry WA2ALY
Ben KF2ID (SK)
Roy KD2CMS
Denver K2DEN
Ted KC2YKA
Charlie N3CRT
Steve W2STV
Bennett KO2OK
Paul W2APP
Steve WI2W
They were presented with a certifi-
cate for operating at the VHF contest
of June 2014 in which BARA won
first place in Limited Multi Ops in
the Eastern New York Section.
9:19pm - Reports were given for
the BARA Nets:
Monday YL Net, President Weiss
noted this net is need of more YL’s
and a new control operator due to
vacations, relocations and other op-
erator interruptions. The president
stated that she hoped these interrup-
tions would be just for the summer.
Monday 10 meter Net- Jim, K2ZO
noted many check-in’s including
some DX!
Wednesday VHF Net- Hector,
W2NPR noted he has had 10 to 12
Checks –ins per week.
Thursday UHF Net- Marco, KC2Z-
MA noted he has approximately 6
FOR SALE
Moving - Beam Antenna and Tower Sections for sale
Mosley TA-33M triband beam with 12m and17m. Only 2 years old.
3 - 8ft sections of tower.
$500.00
W2IUC - George Dansen, Rochelle Park
201-845-7782
check-ins and last week he operated
form his car.
Thursday Tech Net- Noel ,NO2EL
stood in for Gordon, W2TTT who
was away. Normally this net runs for
1hr and has about 20 Check-ins
9:22pm - Call for any Old Busi-
ness, none was brought up.
9:23pm - The President brought up
that we will need a new banner. Jim
noted the present one he bought in
1968. The president noted Fairlawn
just got a new banner from Vista
Prints. A motion was made from the
floor to authorize a new banner by
Rich, K2ZB and seconded by Roy,
KD2CMS. The motion was carried.
9:25pm - An announcement was
made by President Weiss that a Me-
morial Service for (SK) Jim Jackson,
NS2K, will be held at St. John’s
Church basement in Bergenfield at
2pm on June 19, 2015. All are invit-
ed to attend.
9:27pm - 3 BARA boxes were do-
nated by Bill, KB2OCJ: ½ Flex line,
¼ flex line and a length of RG142.
These items were auctioned off by
President Weiss.
9:33pm - The meeting was
adjourned
Respectfully submitted
Recording Secretary,
Bill Montague, KB2OCJ
Page 5 Bergen Amateur Radio Association
Bergen County RACES - Important Infomation
Thanks to all personnel who attended the May 20, 2015 BC-RACES presentation in Fair Lawn Community Center. In
the presentation I emphasized why, legally and insurance-wise, a CURRENT member profile is required and im-
portant to be a BC-RACES member.
I posted three files on BC-RACES Yahoo Group as attachments to an e-mail sent to the Yahoo Group members. They
may also be found in the Files Section of this Yahoo Group if you are a member. The same e-mail with attachments
was sent to the 75 BC-RACES members who do not subscribe to the Yahoo Group.
The first file, “Member Profile Not Current 052215”, lists those operators who do not have a CURRENT membership
profile submitted. The column at the far right shows either “NO” or OLD”.
NOTE: These operators MUST submit a CURRENT profile, also attached as file “RACES Data Form Fill-
In032115”, NLT July 15, 2015, in order to be included as a qualified BC-RACES member. If not submitted by
that date, the operator will NOT be permitted to participate in drills, exercises, bi-weekly nets, or other BC-
RACES activities, and if a member of the BC-RACES Yahoo Group, access will be removed from the Group.
The second file, “Members by Profile YES--NEW 052215”, lists all operators who HAVE submitted a CURRENT
membership profile and are considered qualified BC-RACES members.
NOTE: Those on this list who are not a member of the BC-RACES Yahoo Group and receiving e-mail through the
Group, need to join using their own e-mail account by clicking on the ur l [email protected] at
the bottom of the Group homepage, to receive e-mails. Also, if you do not have a YAHOO account profile, then you
will only receive e-mails and not have full access to the files, etc.
FYI, there are over 30 operators without e-mail addresses in the BC-RACES master db who are scheduled to
be deleted on 07/15/15 if they do not send me an e-mail address. An e-mail address is REQUIRED on the User Profile
form in order to be a member since that is the only way we can communicate with the BC-RACES members between
nets and for activations, drills, calendar events, etc.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
73, Stanley A. Kober, (KC2ZXB), CERT/RACES Deputy Liaison
Wind Towers
Have you ever wondered how they put up wind towers?
Interesting video.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/84BeVq2Jm88?feature=player_detailpage
Tnx to K2RRV
From the Hudson Division Director…
I am happy to tell you that as of late last week, S. 1685
was introduced in the Senate by Senator Wicker (R-MS)
and co-sponsored by Senator Blumenthal; (D-CT). This
bill is a companion bill to HR-1301, and is identical in
language and intent. Both Senators are on the subcommit-
tee which will hear the bill, and, in fact, Senator Wicker is
the Chairman of the subcommittee.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU WRITE YOUR SENA-
TORS ASKING FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THE
BILL!!!!
http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act contains the complete text of both bills as well as instruc-
tions on how to send letters.
House Bill 1301 now has 84 cosponsors.
The following Congressmen/women have not yet signed
on to the Bill.
Scott Garrett (NJ-5)
Albio Sires (NJ-8)
Bill Pascrell (NJ-9)
Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12)
From Mike, N2YBB
Page 6 Bergen Amateur Radio Association
MEMBER REPORTED CONTEST SCORES SUBMITTED
FOR AGGREGATE CLUB SCORE
CQ WPX Contest - CW
Power QSOs Points WPX Score
K2ZC Low 279 789 224 176,736
DRCG RTTY Contest
Power QSOs Points Mults Score
K2DSL Low 26 472 18 8,496
ARRL VHF Contest
Power QSOs Points Grids Score
K2BAR Low 271 320 61 19,520
K2AMI High 105 122 44 5,368
K2ZC* Low 42 42 20 840
* Single band - 50 MHz.
Field Day
Power Class QSOs Points Bonus Score
W2JEK QRP (X5) 1E 72 360 200 920
K2ZC Low (X2) 1D 142 430 860
K2DSL Low (X2) 1D 57 56 112
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.
Willis Island DXpedition
An international team of amateur radio operators
will activate DXpedition station VK9WA from
Willis Island, November 12-21st, 2015.
Willis is currently #34 on the ClubLog's most
wanted list and has not been activated since 2008.
The team will depart Cairns, Australia, on the
"MV Phoenix" vessel for the 30 hour trip to
Middle Cay Island in the Willis Islets. The island
is only 4 acres in size and uninhabited.
They will operate high power CW, SSB, and
RTTY on 10 through 80 meters (possibly 160 me-
ters) for 10 days (subject to weather, etc.). The
primary focus will be providing all time new con-
tacts with this highly demanded, rarely activated
entity.
Additional details are available at:
http://VK9WA.com
Rob, N7QT
(From WA2PNI)
DX Insights
WI2W Earns First Place in CQ WW VHF
Contest in the QRP Hilltopper Category.
Congratulations Steve.
ITU 150th Anniversary Award
To commemorate 150th anniversary of the
ITU, 11 special call stations were active in
May 2015 on all bands.
K2FJ earned the Platinum Award by working
at least six different stations, each in at least
three bands. Jim was ranked #50 in the USA
for contacts with all eleven stations in 71
band slots. Congratulations Jim.
AA2WP Receives Award
AA2WP, Bill Peters, received the 2015 Tom Brennan
Lifetime Achievement Award, given by Fire Engi-
neering Magazine at its annual Fire Department In-
structors Conference International, held in Indianapo-
lis, IN, this year.
Appointed to the Jersey City Fire Department in 1975,
Peters quickly rose through the ranks from firefighter
to lieutenant, captain, and battalion chief, earning sev-
eral departmental commendations for heroism includ-
ing the rescue of civilians and saving the life of a fel-
low firefighter. From WB2GAI, Tnx
Page 7 Bergen Amateur Radio Association
Guests included Glen N2CJ, and visitors Karen
and her son Nehru.
We operated low power for a total of five hours
making a total of 271 QSO's resulting in a score of
19,520 points. Bravo! There were a couple of brief
6M openings into the Southeastern USA and the
Caribbean adding some excitement to the day.
It was great to see some new faces making contacts
and everyone present agreed it was a lot of fun.
Plans are underway for the ARRL September VHF
contest. Hope to see you there!
73,
Steve WI2W
(Continued from page 1)
VHF Photos courtesy of
Walter, KC2WDJ.
Page 8 Bergen Amateur Radio Association
Bergen Amateur Radio Association
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
Bill Montague, KB2OCJ
KB2OCJ’at’AOL.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, July 5th at the
Twp. Of Washington
Senior Center
Presidents Emeritus
Bill James, WA2QHL - SK
Dominick Interdonato, NB2F - SK
Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML - SK
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