December Program Submitted by Michael, N7WA

There will be a short video presentation (under 10 minutes) by the King County Search and Rescue Organiza-tion. Following that, we will

be holding the raffle to end all raffles. For the past 12 months, the members of this Club have been buying tickets to the monthly raffles. All those raffle tickets have been piling up in a coffee can in my ga-rage. So have the profits from the raffle—to the tune of nearly $800! I had the pleas-ure of going down to Radio Depot and ex-changing most of that money for a variety of prizes. It was rather amusing to watch them count out all the $1 bills. Now, how’s it going to work?

There will be two raffles this month. The regular raffle and the Grand Raffle. Tickets bought this month only go for the regular raffle. Tickets bought from last December through November paid for the Grand Raffle prizes so ONLY those tickets are eligible for the grand drawing. (Tickets bought this month go towards next year’s Grand Raffle.) You cannot buy a ticket to the Grand Raffle—it wouldn’t be fair to those who supported the past year’s effort. Unlike the regular raffles, you do not have to be in attendance to win at the Grand Raffle. As long as the ticket is clearly marked, we will get the prize to you if you cannot make the meeting. Finally, I want to thank my tickets sellers—Jo and Dawn– for their help the past year. I hate selling tickets and they have made my ten-ure as Activity Manager much more pleas-ant as a result.

Volume 29, Issue 12

December 2001

Holiday Party 2

Club Bell Ringers 4

Minutes 7,8

Inside this issue:

K7LEDK7LED RELAYRELAY

President Jack Grimmet N7IHS Vice-President Mark Whitaker KD7KUN Secretary Curtis Hanner N7MWC Treasurer/ WebMaster Jim Eztwiler KD7BAT Activity Mngr/ Newsletter Michael Dinkelman N7WA Radio Officer Harry Lewis W7JWJ Trustee #1 Brendan Burget KD7IKV Trustee #2 Steven Kaney N7MUT Trustee #3 Steven Cook KD7IQL Trustee #4 Mary Lewis W7QGP Trustee #5 (CoB) Alan Hughes KB7SVU

Mike and Key Amateur Radio Club - Seattle, Washington

The Prez Sez Club President Jack Grimmett, N7IHS The November Executive Board meeting was primarily

devoted to the development and approval for the Mike & Key ARC budget for the year 2002. The budget that is printed in this month’s Relay has been approved by the Board and will be presented as a motion for approval by the membership at the Mike & Key ARC December general membership meeting. The general membership will be asked to approve the bottom-line budget number. It is the responsibility of the Execu-tive Board is to manage each of the line items shown in the budget to insure that the expen-ditures do not exceed the total amount ap-proved by the membership. This year’s Board set a goal to reduce the deficit spending that we have had for the

past several years. We were only partially successful. I believe that if we would have had another meeting and had the capability to calculate the total budget on the fly we could have done a better job. It should be noted that historically we have not spent all of money that has been approved by the mem-bership. It is my opinion that Club reserves should be used to purchase and maintain capital equipment and should not be used to support our basic operating costs. The reserves are there to provide support if we have lower than expected income from the Flea Market. I recommend that the membership ap-prove the proposed budget but I also recom-mend that the Executive Board assume more responsibility for managing the budget and achieving a goal of zero deficit spending ex-cept for capital expenditures for the year 2002.

PAGE 2 K7LED RELAY VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12

We had a party Submitted by Michael Dinkelman, N7WA

As I write this, it’s almost mid-night following the Club Christ-mas Party (well, I went and sat in the hot tub first). I held off on publishing because I wanted to be able to include photo’s from the event. We had just under 60 people sign up. I think we had closer to 80 show up. It was a great time—a little crowded but

a great time. The potluck was a little heavy on desserts and we could have used more diet soda (this is a Diet Pepsi crowd) but there was plenty of meat, stuffing, and potatoes to go with all the sweets. I don’t think anybody went without and I know we fed a few tired and hungry kettle workers as well. My thanks to everyone who came down and participated. I really need to thank Frank Krieger, Fred and Dorothy Lowell, the entire Calvin Doss family, and Mike and Ronnie LaFerla for their contributions. It was a lot of fun doing setup and cleanup as well as have the dinner. Last but not least, thanks to my wife Diane for taking over and making me look good once again. Join us next year!

Christmas

Party

2001

PAGE 3 K7LED RELAY VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12

Alphabet Soup By Michael Dinkelman, N7WA A bunch of us jumped into the fray last month and had a Club contest that coincided with the ARRL Phone Sweepstakes. The goal was simple, work stations and fill out the alphabet using the first letter of their suffix. As a tie breaker, the one with the most number of multipliers out of the 26 stations would reign as champ. Well, even I was surprised as to how easy it was to fill out the 26 stations. In fact, I think everybody that participated did that in rather short order. Several of us managed to get 26 different sections along with the 26 letters. What it really comes down to is that the test was so easy that everybody was a winner. I gotta figure out

something special I guess. Let me think about it. Who participated? Beyond myself and Ric K7RIC who thought up this fun idea (and even upgraded to Extra to make it easier), there was Jo KB7UFM, Scott AG7T, Dan N7QHC, and Fred W6TKV who participated from California. It was a good excuse to get on HF and work the country—even if on phone. Next year, we’ll need to find a way to make it a bit more challenging though I did sweat those last couple of letters. I thank all who got on and par-ticipated and congrats go out to Ric on his upgrade. Maybe we should do it on CW next year… huh Ric? (Now that you’re an Extra? )

220MHz Repeater By Michael Dinkelman, N7WA The 220MHz repeater was brought down from Tiger Mountain last month. It would appear a power input surge protector device has been blown. Estimated cost for repair of the repeater is under $10 worth of parts. However, the Department of Natural Resources rules re-quire that another isolator be installed when the repeater goes back on the hill and there will be significant cost (about $500) to provide one. The straw poll taken at the last Club meeting would seem to indicate that there is support for continuing Mike & Key sponsorship of the 220MHz repeater. A num-ber of people have come out of the wood work asking to

help lead the charge and even volunteer as control opera-tors. Certainly, the repeater is a dependable and useful machine. I’ll be the first to admit that 220MHz equipment is a pain. The rest of the world, particularly Japan, doesn’t use it. As such, few radios are made in that range and the one that are tend to be relatively expensive. Still, there is equipment available and I hope to provide an article soon that might help provide direction. Actually, it would really be nice if one of YOU with experience in the world of 220MHz could provide a syn-opsis of available new and used 220MHz gear. Any vol-unteers?

The Budget and the Board Submitted by Mike, N7WA Attached to this Relay is the proposed budget for 2002. What can’t be seen is the amount of work that went into the budget. The Board spent a long meeting going over every line. We had several goals. First, making the budget more clear as to where money was going by consolidating some line items into related categories and by breaking some expenditures out others into their own line items. As the Club lives, some line items no longer make sense and others be-come apparent. Second, we tried to make it easier for the Board to allocate money without going back to the membership for votes. You elect the Board so it can run the Club, it makes no sense to run back to the members when discre-tionary allocations need to be made. Finally, we tried to do some pruning. We have

been spending way more than we bring in for several years. I’ll be the first to admit we have plenty of money in the bank and we shouldn’t be afraid to spend it on worth-while causes. However, common sense also says you can’t do that forever (unless you’re the Gov’ment). This year, we will still spend over $5000 more than we have coming in. That figure was actually pruned at the Board meeting. Of course, that could go up or down depending on actual income and expenses. Maybe if that money was coming out of dues, it would make more impact—it’s easy to spend money that isn’t coming out of your own pocket and dues only make up 1/8th of the Club budget. Either way, this Board is trying to get the best bang for the buck. On that note, I would really like to thank my fellow Board members for their work on this budget. Special thanks to Jim Etzwiler, our Treasurer, for keeping it all straight and providing all the documentation. Nothing was rubber stamped and many ideas and options were pre-sented. This is a good Board and I have enjoyed working with the members.

VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12 PAGE 4 K7LED RELAY

Bell Ringing Submitted by Mike, N7WA Speaking of challenges, the Captain of the Salvation Army threw one out last Club meeting. He said that lots of Club’s challenge each other to raise funds by manning kettles. The challenge was accepted and Carolyn WV7Q accepted the organizational duties. Notice was short so most of it happened through the Club reflector. We were as-signed the Fred Myer store on Rainier in Renton. There were two entrances to be covered and it looks like we had plenty of people. I don’t have the names of all the participants (and they are not all shown) but your help was appreci-ated by the Club and the Salvation Army. I found it interesting to see who donates and how much. I know we had to regularly push down the contents of the kettle so more could be added. What really made my day was when an em-ployee of the bakery came out with fresh hot cookies—that was nice. If my arm recovers (it’s still sore from ringing that darn bell) , it would be fun to do again next year. Thanks to all.

VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12 PAGE 5 K7LED RELAY

Fleamarket Committee News By Michael Dinkelman, N7WA

The committee met De-cember 4th At 7:30PM at the Salvation Army HQ. Most Com-mittee members were present. Synopsis of items discussed:

• Ticket drawing. Drawing will be moved upstairs to Country Store. There is more room and it will keep the crowd from jamming the PA Area up as has been in the past. Tickets will be announced by color and number to avoid duplicate number issues such as occurred last year. There will be a drawing at 11AM and redraw at 1:30PM for unclaimed prizes. After that, all prizes will go into the Club raffle pool.

• Security—the fairgrounds may have a heightened

security policy this year due to 9-11. Needs to be checked out with the Fairgrounds.

• Public service pamphlet is selling advertising space to offset rising costs.

• We have reached about 30% of capacity in table and

booth sales. Flyers have been mailed to all previous vendors and mass mailing is being labeled.

• We will provide a trial for booth vendors this year pro-

viding a simple PVC frame to hang banners. • Will check with food vendor to see if they would be

willing to provide box lunches to vendors that cannot break for lunch.

• Will check with 4-wheelers to try to coordinate our

egress with their entry. • New signage, hospitality for workers, setup, post

event dinner. The next meeting for the Committee will be Janu-ary 8th. All members of the Club are welcome. Please signup in the worker book available at each Club meeting. There are few reasons for any active Club member not to be available to work this event at least a few hours.

Children Should Never Be Hams submitted by Mitch Gill, K7TUT

I am one of those fathers who thought how great it would be to have a son or daughter who shares the same inter-ests as me. Ok, I have to be honest as I also knew that with Tyler, KD7MJO, the XYL stood no chance of saying "no" to our requests for a small portion of our land for ad-ditional antennas. However, after spending several months with this energetic Ham, I have found that he learned in his twelve years just how to manipulate both of us. Oh yes, I have more antennas up now but Tyler has conned me out of more money and equipment than any salesman I have ever known. He has also been promot-ing Ham Radio to other members of the family which will continue to drain my bank account. Let me give you some examples of what he has done to me. One of our older boys KC had adopted a young man. Tyler immediately started showing him how much fun Ham Radio is. Needless to say, Andreas, is now KD7OLR and he has a large list of wants for Christmas. Ok, I can handle that but when he started explaining Ham Radio to his class of home school kids, I knew that trou-ble was lurking as now I am teaching 25 fifth to seventh graders the Tech license. Of course I have to encourage them to go after the license so I am raffling off a 10 meter mobile and a 2 meter. Of course that was Tyler’s idea and

of course he has no money but Dad does! The money will go to a project of theirs where they are sending money to the White House to help feed the kids in Af-ghanistan. I wish I had more items but that’s all I can af-ford to give up right now as Tyler has drained me dry. Now, you would think that this would be enough for Tyler but noooooo! Tyler has now convinced his older brother KC of the benefits of being a Ham in this family. He is presently studying with KD7OLR, his son. Now they want me to help them build a rhombic on their property and they don't even have a General license yet! The bands are starting to get crowded! Of course you all know KD7 Master Kilowatt Linear. Tyler has taught him the technique of getting items out of me like a power supply, coax etc. He has been challenging Tyler to get his General and I know he will succeed. More QRM! Last and worst of all, the XYL is now studying for her Tech. Tyler has been working on her for months and she is finally convinced of the virtues of emergency communi-cations. Eventually he will convince her of getting her General as well. Even more QRM! Now most of you are laughing at me right now and think-ing how great it is to have a family of Hams but let me tell

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VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12 PAGE 6 K7LED RELAY

you about my weekend. Usually I am up early and go to my office in the garage which doubles as a Ham Shack. I turn on the radio from 7-9am listening to and occasionally calling a DX station on the DX net (14.245). At the same time I am enjoying a cup of coffee and browsing the inter-net. It is a peaceful time as my XYL and Tyler both sleep in until about 930. Imagine that one morning I get up to find Jan on the ICOM working DX on 20 meters and Tyler on the Swan on the 80 meter net. That leaves zip for me! I cant sit in the office as it will only barely fit two chairs so I cant even browse on the internet. Worst of all, I cant interrupt and ask for a turn on the radio because I know already what I will here. My loving XYL will respond, "Mitch, you have been a Ham for many years and we are both new Hams. Tyler has been doing some math, which I am proud he is using the math you have taught him. He came up with the following. You have about 20 years of being a Ham not counting the 11 years you were inactive. He has fig-ured that you have spent a minimum average of 1 hour a day during those 20 years. Based on that you owe us each 7,200 hours before you can even start to ask to use a radio. So, don’t even try!". Better yet, just think of the vacation I will have. I used to be able to bring my radios and I could string up a dipole and work some DX. Oh yes I heard the complaints and the jokes about how all I love is Ham Radio but I could take that as I could go for a ride with my mobile rig and find some secluded spot to have some peace. But now, that’s gone! I can see this summers family vacation. No longer will we all meet at a campground on a lake where we relax and enjoy the sun and the waves. Noooo.....now they are talking of a mini DXpedition to some remote Ca-nadian Island and I can just imagine the horror as I cant

get away mobile and every time I transmit Tyler or Jan or KC or Andreas or God knows which other family mem-bers will be hams by then, will be yelling that I am causing QRM! So let me give you fair warning. Don't ever get your kids interested in Ham Radio as they will spread it like the flu to the whole family! Oh yeah it was great in the beginning as Tyler could con Mom into all those antennas that I just happened to use as well. But, the end result is that I no longer will have my private sanctuary. I no longer will be able to brag about the DX but instead will have to com-pete for it. I will no longer be able to talk to anyone on 2 meters without the possibility of hearing about it from someone in the family. My peace and tranquility is rapidly dwindling away and part of it is your fault! If you all would not have encouraged Tyler then I would not be in the situation today. That's why you haven't seen me as much as before. I am afraid to bring him to the meetings and I can not sneak away. Every time we leave the meeting he thinks of things that I do not want to think about. The last time we came he heard about someone who got their li-cense in their seventies and now he is trying to convince his grandfather in Georgia to get his license. He keeps telling me how much we will save in phone bills. I hate when he does that. As for me, all I can think of is more QRM! So the next time I appear at the meeting with just Tyler, go ahead and tell me it will be OK. But the next time you see me at a meeting and I bring the whole family and all those young hams that I have taught, just remember that you all played a part in it. And if just one of you says to me, "Hey Mitch this is great!" or "Hey Mitch it could be worse!", don't blame me if I deck you! You have been warned!

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FCC Announces Mail Changes for Gettysburg Office from the ARRL The FCC's Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, office has moved its mailroom offsite. Effective immediately, all overnight couriers--including FedEx and UPS--require the ''ship to'' address for the FCC Gettysburg office to be Rear entrance, 35 York St, Gettysburg, PA 17325. The FCC said it's trying to balance accessibility with the need for heightened security and encouraged its customers to make full use of the Commission's elec-tronic filing systems. The Gettysburg office is where Ama-teur Radio applications are processed and licenses is-sued by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. It's also where Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforce-ment Riley Hollingsworth has his office.

The change does not affect US Postal Service deliveries. The FCC said the USPS will continue to ac-cept and will divert all mail addressed to 1270 Fairfield Road, Gettysburg--the office's physical location--to the off-site mailroom. Until November 30, the FCC itself will divert overnight courier deliveries to 1270 Fairfield Road to the new off-site mailroom. ''This new off-site mailroom facility does not affect applications or any other filings requiring a fee,'' an FCC Public Notice said. Unless paid on-line using a credit card, amateur vanity call sign fees go to the FCC's con-tractor in Pittsburgh. Requests for amateur fee refunds, however, are sent to Gettysburg.

VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12 PAGE 7 K7LED RELAY

General Meeting Minutes, November 17th, 2001 Officers present: President – Jack Grimmett (N7IHS); Vice President – Mark Whitaker (KD7KUN); Secretary – Curtis Hanner (N7MWC); Activity Manager & Relay Editor – Mike Dinkelman (N7WA); Treasurer – Jim Etzwiler (KD7BAT); Radio Officer – Harry Lewis (W7JWJ) Trustees Present: Trustee #1 – Brendan Burget (KD7IKV); Trustee #2 – Steve Kaney (K7MUT); Trustee #4 – Mary Lewis (W7QGP); Trustee #5 – Alan Hughes (KB7SVU) The meeting was called to order at 10:00 AM with all members and guests repeating the Pledge of Allegiance at the Salvation Army Building in Ren-ton. Introductions of members and guests were made. The President made announcements regarding taking breaks on the west side of the building at the request of Salvation Army. The coffee and donut fund is self-supporting. We are an affiliated club are encourage to join and sup-port the ARRL. Please sign the rosters at the table. Visitors are asked to refrain from voting on club matters requiring a vote. Minutes: It was moved by Sam (N7RHE) and seconded by Nils (W7RUJ) to approve the minutes of the previous meeting as printed in the Relay. The motion was approved. Officer Reports President: Jack (N7IHS): Nothing to report Vice President: Mark (KD7KUN): Presented new members Dave Mackin (KB4ERF), Jerry (KE4ZDY) and David (K7OV). All three new members were unanimously approved by the membership. Treasurer: Jim (KC7BAT): Only expenses in the last month were for the Relay. Working on putting together the 2002 budget. Activity Manage & Relay: Mike (N7WA): Electronic Relay started this month; currently 10 people are signed up for it. Saves the club over a dollar a month per member. December Relay deadline is December 7th. December 8th is the Christmas party. Please sign up for the flea market that is rapidly approaching. HF Alphabet Soup club contest will happen later on today (November 17th). Radio Officer: Harry (W7JWJ): Was hoping that he would have the new 2m repeater here to demonstrate but it has not yet arrived. The 220 repeater is currently off the air and Hal is performing repairs. Standing Committee Reports Those committees not reporting in the RELAY are asked to report be-fore the General Membership. Facilities: Mary (W7QGP): Not able to locate one of the antenna ana-lyzers since last year. Since it seems unlikely it will be found it will be removed from the inventory log. Strategic Planning: Alan Hughes (KB7SVU): He is hoping that next month they will have a meeting. Technical: Steve Kaney (K7MUT): Nothing to report. Jack (N7IHS) is the new committee chairman. He will be scheduling a meeting. Public Service Committee: Barry (KC7YB): is now the chairman of the public service committee. They will be meeting following the general meeting at the Yankee Diner in Renton. The public service pamphlet will now have ads in it to subsidize the cost of printing. Full-page ad is $225, if interested please see someone on the public service committee. Next Sunday is the Seattle Marathon. They need lots of hams to volun-teer. Please see the 2001 Public Service pamphlet for public service event details. Education: Mary (W7QGP): Last two classes have produced another 2 dozen new amateurs. The next amateur class is January 26 and 27th at the Sand Point Naval Base. You must register in advance or you will be

not allowed onto the base. There is no age limit for attending classes, just need to have the attention span needed to make it through. Public Service Events: Gary (KG7KU): Next major event is the Seattle Marathon on 11/25, if you can help email w7aka@arrl.net. Public Ser-vice net: Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM on 146.82. For information please see www.mikeandkey.com/pubserve.htm or call Gary at 253-661-7882. Field Day: Alan (KB7SVU): We came in fifth place for field day. Need lots of operators for Field Day 2002 so please plan to sign up and par-ticipate. New Business Nils (W7RUJ): 220 MHz repeater. Industries are chipping away at our frequencies. He would like us to get back the repeater back up on 220 MHz and to get members up and running on 220. Jack (N7IHS): The board is discussing the 220 repeater and looking at the cost of maintaining the repeater equipment and the cost of the rental. We will be discussing the future of the 220 repeater at the next board meeting as we discuss the budget. One suggestion was made to link the 220 and 2m repeaters to increase the traffic on both. Harry (W7JWJ): The 220 repeater is on West Tiger Mountain. The 2m repeater is on Squak Mountain. Jack (N7IHS): We have been challenged by the Captain of the Salvation Army to ring bells for the Salvation Army. Carolyn (WV7Q) has ac-cepted the position as the chair of the Salvation Army bell ringing fund-raiser. Good of the Order Jo (KB7UFM): Collecting business cards for a girl who has is terminally ill with advanced leukemia. She wants to have the largest business card collection ever. Please send your cards to Jo. There being no further business Sam (N7RHE) moved to adjourn and Brendan (KD7IKV), seconded the motion, Jack (N7IHS) closed the meeting at 11:10 AM. Attested: Curtis Hanner, N7MWC Secretary

Board Meeting Minutes, Nov 28, 2001 Officers present: President Jack Grimmett (N7IHS); Secretary – Curtis Hanner (N7MWC); Treasurer - Jim Etzwiler (KD7BAT); Activity Manager – Mike Dinkelman (N7WA); Radio Officer - Harry Lewis (W7JWJ) Trustees Present: Trustee #1 – Brendan Burget (KD7IKV); Trustee #3 – Steve Cook (KD7IQL); Trustee #4 - Mary (W7QGP); Trustee #5 and COB – Alan Hughes (KB7SVU) Visitors: Jack Burrell (N7ZS), Chuck Jones (N7BV) Officer Reports COB: Alan Hughes (KB7SVU): Called the meeting to order at a little after 7 PM. Secretary: Curtis Hanner (N7MWC): Fee due for Post Office Box. No other correspondence. Treasurer: Jim Etzwiler (KD7BAT): Things are looking good. We will roll over the CD at 6% for another year. Activities Manager: Mike Dinkelman (N7WA): Christmas party is De-

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VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12 PAGE 8 K7LED RELAY

cember 8th. Doors open at 5pm and dinner starts at 6pm. The flea market committee meeting is December 4th at 7pm. Isolator and new surge protector is needed to keep the 220 Mhz repeater on the air. The cost is approximately $500. Radio Officer: Harry Lewis (W7JWJ): Due to September 11th the deliv-ery of the repeater has been delayed. We should receive the new re-peater in December. Committees Liaison Reports Technical: Jack (N7IHS): Will have a meeting at 9:15 AM (before the next general meeting) and two people are interested in being chair. Public Service: Brendan Burget (KD7IKV): Work on the pamphlet is moving ahead well. We have several large ads already for next year’s pamphlet. Education: Steve Cook (KD7IQL): Class held earlier in the month at Boeing with a 98% pass rate. Strategic Planning: Alan Hughes (KB7SVU): Will have a meeting fol-lowing the next general meeting. Old Business Alan spent $260 hauling in gravel so that the trailer would have a dry place to park. Wayne is very concerned that no cover is currently on the trailer. The board has decided to go ahead and purchase a tarp to cover the antenna trailer. Jack (N7IHS) makes a motion that we reimburse Alan (KB7SVU) for the gravel $60 and $75 for the tarp. Harry (W7JWJ) seconds the motion.

The motion is approved unanimously. Repeater control operator issue: Jack and Jim withdrew their previous motion regarding repeater control operators. Much discussion followed regarding the number, privileges and requirements for repeater control operators. New Business Mary has a question, did we have $1000 for the ARRL defense fund. We have a public relations budget item of which the majority was spent on Public Service Pamphlet, Friends of Fort Flagler, Renton River Days and QSL Cards. Budget Jim presented the proposed budge for 2002. Mush discussion followed and the budget was finalized for membership approval at the next gen-eral meeting. Jim (KD7BAT) makes a motion that we recommend the budget as amended to the membership. Harry (W7JWJ) seconds the motion. The motion passes. Motion made by Brendan (KD7IKV) to approve the minutes as printed in the Relay and seconded by Jim (KD7BAT). The motion passes. There being no further business a motion by Brendan (KD7IKV) sec-onded by Jim (KD7BAT) to adjourn was made, and the chairman closed the meeting at 9:35 PM. Attested: Curtis Hanner, N7MWC Secretary

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Technical Committee Meeting Submitted Jack Grimmett, N7IHS The Mike & Key ARC Technical meeting will be held at 9:15 AM on December 15th prior to the general member-ship meeting. This meeting will be an organizational and hopefully we can select a committee chairperson. All mem-bers are welcome to attend the meeting. You don’t have to be highly technical to serve on the committee but be will-ing to spend some time helping to coordinate the activities of the committee.

K7TUT Update Here is a picture of 2 of my students. The class has now swelled to 28 and I am now teaching three different days of the week. Ashly is 7 and her sister Amy is 12. More pictures will be sent next week. Sorry I could not make the Christmas party but wishing all of you a very Merry Christ-mas from my house and from all the stu-dents as they are thrilled over the equip-ment for the club. In addition to the kids, I also have 4 parents taking the class as well.

VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12 PAGE 9 K7LED RELAY

The RELAY is the official tabloid of the Mike and Key Amateur Radio Club. The Mike and Key is dedicated to the growth and betterment of Amateur Radio. We meet the third Saturday of every month at the Salvation Army Renton HQ, 720 Tolbin St., near the SE corner of the Renton Airport. The Club operates repeaters on 146.22-146.82 (PL103.5), and 222.52-224.12 under the call K7LED. The Club mailing address is: POB 4234, Renton, WA 98057. All persons interested in Amateur Radio are invited to participate in the Mike and Key Amateur Radio Club and it's activities. Yearly dues are $12 for individuals and $6 for each additional family member.

Club Contacts PRESIDENT Jack Grimmett N7IHS n7ihs@aol.com 425-271-7955 VICE-PRESIDENT Mark Whitaker KD7KUN mcw@nwlink.com 425-881-6260 SECRETARY Curtis Hanner N7MWC curtis@hanner.com 425-829-1407 TREASURER Jim Eztwiler KD7BAT kd7bat@arrl.net 206-633-1512 (for dues: 3935 Interlake Ave North, Seattle, WA 98103) ACTIVITY MGR Michael Dinkelman N7WA mwdink@eskimo.com 253-631-3756 RADIO OFFICER Harry Lewis W7JWJ w7jwj@aol.com 206-523-9117 TRUSTEE #1 Brendan Burget KD7IKV kd7ikv@arrl.net 206-362-4807 TRUSTEE #2 Steven Kaney N7MUT n7mut@arrl.net 425-277-3933 TRUSTEE #3 Steven Cook KD7IQL kd7iql@arrl.net 206-781-2293 TRUSTEE #4 Mary Lewis W7QGP w7qgp@aol.com 206-523-9117 TRUSTEE #5 (CoB) Alan Hughes KB7SVU kb7svu@juno.com 253-840-4947 WEBMASTER Jim Eztwiler KD7BAT kd7bat@arrl.net 206-633-1512 Badges/Logo Dan Humphrey N7QHC n7qhc@juno.com 206-243-0163 Chair Fleamarket Hal Goodell N7NW goodellh@gte.net 253-549-4178 Christmas Party Michael Dinkelman N7WA mwdink@eskimo.com 253-631-3756

From the Writer’s Block Submitted by Michael, N7WA

The Electronic Relay has arrived. Those who have signed up will have read all this 2 days before the rest of you. Also, they will have seen it in color, saved the Club a buck each, and received an ex-tra page of photos from the Christmas

party I just couldn’t fit into the hardcopy version. How can you beat that? Don’t feel bad if you prefer the hardcopy - I still have QST’s back to 1976 in my garage even though I have compact disc’s with the same information on my com-puter. The work that Mitch K7TUT is doing as a Ham Ra-dio instructor has reminded me that there is an upcoming event that many of us could use to expose our kids and maybe the neighbor’s kid to Amateur Radio—Kid’s Day! It’s actually a phone event sponsored by the Boring Amateur

Radio Club of Oregon. It runs from 1800Z to 2400Z on Janu-ary 5th. For more information, check out http://www.jzap.com/k7rat/. Finally, it’s traditional for editors to do an end year synopsis of events. I think that 2001 was a year that many of us will not soon forget. Personally, for me, it was a year of extreme highs and lows. Certainly, none of our lives will ever be quite the same due to events way beyond our control. Luckily, we have a unique hobby to fall back on—to make life seem sane even if the world is going nuts around us. We can chat with people just like ourselves, irregardless of borders, dis-tance, politics, religion, and economics through the magic of radio. It’s a magic that can’t be replaced with the internet or the cell phone and it’s different for each of us even as we hold that common bond called a ticket. Use that magic in 2002. With that, Diane and I wish all of you the best that life can bring over the next year and may the holiday’s bring you peace and happiness.

100TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARCONI'S HISTORICTRANS-ATLANTIC RADIO TRANSMISSION The Marconi Radio Club, W1AA and The Falmouth Amateur Radio Association Amateur Radio operators are making plans to celebrate a Marconi world historical event. December 12, 2001 will mark the 100th anniversary of the first Trans-Atlantic radio transmission by Guglielmo Marconi. That signal was a series of "S S S" transmitted on CW across the Atlantic from Poldhu, Corn-wall England to St John's, Newfoundland. The Marconi Radio Club will be using the call sign W1AA/CC and will be operating from Cape Cod, MA, U.S.A. the location of Marconi's 1903 Trans-Atlantic radio station. Marconi's 1903 call sign was "C C" See this link for times, frequencies and modes of operation for W1AA/CC. http://www.qrz.com/database?callsign=w1aa Voice of America Marconi Event Broadcast - http://www.trsc.com/cw

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr i Sa t

9 Veterans Day RN

10 11 DA

12 13 PSN

14 15 Club Meeting 10AM ARRL 10M MKN

16 RN

17

18 DA

19

20 PSN

21

22

23 RN

24

25 Christmas DA

26 Board Meeting 7PM

27 PSN

28

29 Stew Perry 160M contest

30 Stew Perry RN

31 Straight Key Night

1 New Years Day DA

2

3 PSN

4

5

6 RN

7 8 Fleamarket DA

9 0 PSN

11 Relay Deadline

12 NAQP CW

December-January 2002

RN – ARES Regional Net, 8PM, 146.82 DA – ARES Damage Assmnt Net, 8PM, 146.82 PSN – Public Service Net, 7PM, 146.82 MKN – Mike & Key Net, 9:15AM, 146.82 Contests

PAGE 11 K7LED RELAY VOLUME 29, ISSUE 12

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Party 2001