NEXT MEETING: Thursday, September 2, 1999 at
Sacajawea Middle School on South 3rd at 7pm.

The Big Sky Wind Drinkers would like to thank the hams who helped with their two recent events:

Sweet Pea 5 and 10K Runs	Ridge Run
Todd Gahagan-WA7U	Vivian Linden-KC7BTH
Jack Myers-N7ODN	Don Wilson-KC7EWZ
Kurt Borge-KC7PFG	Dennis Hoeger-N7ODP
Eric Thompson-KB7PMW	Ted Hundtoft-KA7QCY

 

From our President:

Just an idea to pass along to all members.

An emergency service group in California suggested that all members in their club that are ARRL members should take advantage of the ARRL E-mail forwarding service.  This way everyone has an easy email address to remember and you don't need to keep a list of email addresses to reach someone via email.  Here is how it works:

If you are an ARRL member, you can get an email address that ends in @arrl.net to compliment your current email address plus this address is a forward address only so all email still comes to your original address.

Example:  My email address is n7lt@montana.net  as of just a few days ago, I registered with the ARRL email service and now also have the email address of n7lt@arrl.net   This is a forward address only!  If you send me email to n7lt@arrl.net I will receive it at my original address of n7lt@montana.net because it is forwarded instantly from the n7lt@arrl.net to my personal email address of n7lt@montana.net   Even if I change my address, all I have to do is goto the ARRL members page and change my info and it will forward to whatever address I chose.

Please consider this VERY nice feature which makes it very easy for other hams to reach you!

If you would like to try this service, goto: http://www.arrl.org/ and click on "Members Only" you will have to enter you info from the front of your QST magazine to get into the members pages so make sure you have your QST next to you when you logon to the ARRL web page.  Once on the members page, click on "The ARRL E-Mail Forwarding Service" and you can sign up for the email service there.

73 - Lyndel  N7LT
1999 GHRC President
n7lt@arrl.net

From: Allen Emer <aemer@monmouth.com> ~submitted by Lyndel, N7LT
Two and a half years ago when I was running a direct school contact with Andy thomas on Mir, my 9 year old son Sean who was to run the Az/El antenna controls told me he wanted to get his ham license in time for the contact. He studied each night for a month and a half and got his Tech ticket, and ran his antenna control position as KC2DIJ. Over the next two years he never got to talk directly with an astronaut but Sean has always been the technician behind the scenes on past Mir contact and SSTV. On Field day this year we set up the sat station and he suggested testing it on Mir. Much to our surprise I got a quick voice contact with JP as he went over the horizon. That night he went home to bed planning to come back in the morning. I had a voice contact with the Cosmonauts at 2:00am in the morning and got everyone nearby a contact also. When Sean came back to camp in the morning and heard all about what happened that night I think he realized he had blown his chance to make this rare radio contact. He looked so sad. We didn't say any thing to each other but we both knew he missed his chance. We have been trying each Sunday for the last three weeks for one last shot before they abandon the Spacestation on Aug 24. At 11:38 UTC (7:30am EDT) this morning,Sean, KC2DIJ made an extended voice contact with JP aboard the Mir Spacestation. Sean Called "India Juliet, India Juliet, Age 11, Age 11." The astronaut responded with "India Juliet, the young woman this is spacestation Mir" Sean gave his full call sign and name talked about being in Holmdel NJ ect. The Cosmonaut said "oh, you are a boy" and laughed he also said he had Sean's call sign & repeated it and said he would listen for him on future orbits. I was enroute to a hamfest and was listening to both sides of the conversation at a rest stop with a whole bunch of strangers listening too. Daddy was so proud he had tears in his eyes. Today was to be the last opportunity...and he did it! Not only that he did it on his own. He set the orbit tracking computers, enabled (and downloaded) 2 Slow Scan Television pictures from Mir, tuned the doppler frequency compensation, as well as continuously keeping the beam antennas pointed in both Azimuth & Elevation as the space station went over head at 17,000 MPH...and had a nice little chat with an astronaut 300 miles in space at the same time. Not bad for 11yrs old. And Thank You JP and Mir and the people of Russia for taking the time and money and energy over many years to show the children of this planet all that they can be. And as it comes time say goodbye to Mir, I can only hope that those who will run the ISS amateur station will give as much to our children as Russia did. It took our school 2 1/2 years to make a contact. It took over two years for Sean to make his. If Nasa and the ISS ham controllers can have the foresight to dedicate a permanent SSTV weekday downlink we can have school children across this planet directly participating in this wonderful adventure every 93 minutes not every 2 1/2 years. Al Emer, N2YAC

1998 10 meter contest results from the ARRL web page!

Call	Score	Contacts	Multipliers
W7ED	584,586	1,691	141
K7BG	579,348	1,227	154
AB7RS	169,078	929	91
KS7T	152,760	570	67

Congratulations to all who participated in the contest around Montana!  Congratulations to the W7ED club for top score in Montana again this year!  I look forward to trying to best K7BG again this December.  Outscoring Matt is a major feat!  For those who don't know Matt, he's one of the best contesters out there!  We'll have to work very hard to keep ahead of Matt this year!   Please join our club in operating the 1999 10 meter contest this December.  It is a great time to get together with the hams in the Bozeman area and we sure have a blast operating the contest!  If you're from another club from around the area (state) and your club doesn't get involved in the 10 meter contest but you would like to try it out, join us!  We're open to any ham or non ham who would like to see what contesting is all about.   73   Lyndel  N7LT   N7LT/BCN  28.248.5 MHz 10 meter beacon and soon another on 6 meters!

"How to sound like a LID" - from KD4DLU (sent to us by N7LT, Lyndel)

On two and six meters I have noticed a tendency of people making an effort to sound like a "LID". Since this appears to be the new style in Amateur Radio, I thought I would present this funny guide to radio nerd-dom.

Step One: Use as many "Q" signals as possible. Yes, I know they were invented solely for CW and are totally inappropriate for two meter FM, but they're fun and entertaining. They keep people guessing as to what you really meant. I.E. "I'm going to QSY to the phone." Can you really change frequencies to the phone? QSL used to mean, "I am acknowledging receipt", but now it appears to mean, "yes" or "OK". I guess I missed it when the ARRL changed the meaning. It is also best to use "OK" and "QSL" together. Redundancy is the better part of Lid-dom.

Step Two: Never laugh when you can say "HI HI". No one will ever know you aren't a long time CW rag-chewer if you don't tell them. They'll think you've been on since the days of Marconi.

Step Three: Utilize an alternative vocabulary. Use words like "destinated" and "negatory". It's OK to make up your own words here. I.E. "Yeah Tom, I "pheelbart zaphonix" occasionally myself."

Step Four: Always say "XX4XXX" (Insert your own call) "for I.D." As mentioned in Step One, anything that creates redundancy is always encouraged. That's why we have the Department of Redundancy Department. (Please note that you can follow your call with "for identification purposes" instead of "for I.D." While taking longer to say, it is worth more "LID points".

Step Five: The better the copy on two meter FM, the more you should use phonetics. Names should be especially used if they are short or common ones. I.E. "My name is Al... Alpha Lima" or "Jack.. Juliet Alpha Charlie Kilo." If at all possible use the less common HF phonetics "A4SM... America, Number Four, Sugar Mexico." And for maximum "LID points", make up unintelligible phonetics. "My name is Bob... Billibong Oregano Bumperpool."

Step Six: Always give the calls of yourself and everyone who is (or has been) in the group, whether they are still there or not. While this has been unnecessary for years, it is still a great memory test. You may also use "and the group" if you're an "old timer" or just have a bad memory. Extra points for saying everyone's call and then clearing in a silly way "K2PKK, Chow, Chow."

Step Seven: Whenever possible, use the wrong terminology. It keeps people guessing. Use "modulation" when you mean "deviation", and vice-versa. Step Eight: If someone asks for a break, always finish your turn, taking as long as possible before turning it over. Whenever possible, pass it around a few times first. This will discourage the breaker, and if it is an emergency, encourage him to switch to another repeater and not bother you.

Step Nine: Always ask involved questions of the person who is trying to sign out. Never let him get by with just a "yes" or "no" answer. Make it a question that will take him a long time to answer.

Step Ten: The less you know on a subject, the more you should speculate about it in the roundtable. Also the amount of time you spend on the subject should be inversely proportionate to your knowledge of the subject even though you have no damn clue.

Step Eleven: Always make sure you try to communicate with only a handheld and a rubber duck antenna. Also, make sure you work through a repeater that you can hear very well, but it cannot hear you. This will put out a kind of "LID mating call": "Well, Joe, I can hear the repeater just fine here. I wonder why it can't hear me?" You will score maximum LID points if you are mobile, and with the radio lying in the passenger seat.

Step Twelve: If you hear two amateurs start a conversation, wait until they are twenty seconds into their contact, and then break in to make a call, or better yet to use the auto-patch. Make sure you keep the repeater tied up for at least three minutes. This way, once the two have re-established contact, they won't even remember what they were talking about.

Step Thirteen: You hear someone on the repeater giving directions to a visiting amateur. Even if the directions are good, make sure you break in with your own "alternate route but better way to get there" version. This is most effective with several other "would-be LIDs", each giving a different route. By the time the visiting amateur unscrambles all the street names whizzing by in his mind, he should have moved out of the range of the repeater. This keeps you from having to stick around to help the guy get back out of town, later.

Step Fourteen: If an annoying station is bothering you, make sure your other "LID" buddies have a "coded" frequency list. Even though "CODES" are strictly forbidden on Amateur Radio, it's really neat to practice "James Bond" tactics.

Step Fifteen: Always use the National Calling Frequency for general conversations. The more uninteresting, the longer you should use it. Extra points are awarded if you have recently move from an adjacent frequency for no reason. Make sure when DX is "rolling" in on 52.525 that you hang out there and talk to your friends five miles down the road about the good old CB days!

Step Sixteen: Make sure that if you have a personal problem with someone, you should voice your opinion in a public forum, especially a net. Make sure you give their name, call, and any other identifying remarks. For maximum points, make sure the person in question is not on the repeater, or not available.

Step Seventeen: Make sure you say the first few words of each transmission twice, especially if it is the same thing each time. Like "roger, roger" or "fine business, fine business". I cannot stress enough about encouraging redundancy.

Step Eighteen: If you hear a conversation on a local repeater, break in and ask how each station is receiving you. Of course they will only see the signal of the repeater you are using, but it's that magic moment when you can find a fellow "LID", and get the report. Extra points are awarded if you are using a base station, and the repeater is less than twenty-five air miles from you.

Step Nineteen: Use the repeater for an hour or two at a time, preventing others from using it. Better yet, do it on a daily basis. Your quest is to make people so sick of hearing your voice every time they turn on their radio, they'll move to another frequency. This way you'll lighten the load on the repeater, leaving even more time for you to talk on it.

Step Twenty: See just how much flutter you can generate by operating at handheld power levels too far away from the repeater. Engage people in conversations when you know they wont be able to copy half of what your saying. Even when they say your uncopyable, continue to string them along by making further transmissions. See just how frustrated you can make the other amateur before he finally signs off in disgust.

Step Twenty One: Use lots of radio jargon. After all, it makes you feel important using words ordinary people don't say. Who cares if it makes you sound like you just fell off Channel 19 on the citizen's Band? Use phrases such as "Roger on that", "10-4", "I'm on the side", "Your making the trip" and "Negatory on that".

Step Twenty Two: Use excessive microphone gain. See just how loud you can make your audio. Make sure the audio gain is so high that other amateurs can hear any bugs crawling on your floor. If mobile, make sure the wind noise is loud enough that others have to strain to pick your words out from all the racket.

Step Twenty Three: Start every transmission with the word "Roger" or "QSL". Sure, you don't need to acknowledge that you received the other transmission in full. After all, you would simply ask for a repeat if you missed something. But consider it your gift to the other amateur to give him solace every few seconds that his transmissions are being received.

Step Twenty Four: When looking for a contact on a repeater, always say you're "listening" or "monitoring" multiple times. I've always found that at least a half dozen times or so is good. Repeating your multiple "listening" ID's every 10 to 15 seconds is even better. Those people who didn't want to talk to you will eventually call you, hoping you'll go away after you have finally made a contact.

Step Twenty Five: Always use a repeater, even if you can work the other station easily on simplex ... especially if you can make the contact on simplex. The coverage of the repeater you use should be inversely proportional to your distance from the other station.

Step Twenty Six: If you and the other station are both within a mile or two of the repeater you are using, you should always give a signal report ("I'm sitting under the repeater and I know you can see it from there, but you're full quieting into the repeater. How about me?").

Step Twenty Seven: In the same vein as the previous step, when monitoring a repeater, you should always give signal reports as if the repeater didn't exist ("Yep, I'm right under the repeater. You've got a whopping signal! You're S-9 plus 60. That must be a great rig!")

Step Twenty Eight: When on repeaters using courtesy tones, you should always say "over". Courtesy tones are designed to let everyone know when you have unkeyed but don't let that stop you. Say "over", "back to you" or "go ahead". It serves no useful purpose but don't worry, it's still fun!

Step Twenty Nine: Use the repeater's autopatch for frivolous routine calls... especially during morning or evening commute times. While pulling into the neighborhood, call home to let them know you'll be there in two minutes.... or, call your spouse to complain about the bad day you had at work. After all, the club has "measured rate" service on their phone line so they get charged for each autopatch call. Your endeavor is to make so many patches in a year that you cost the club at least $20 in phone bills. That way you'll feel you got your money's worth for your dues!

Step Thirty: Never say "My name is ....." It makes you sound human. If at all possible, use one of the following phrases: a) "The personal here is ..." b) "The handle here is..."

Step Thirty One: Use "73" and "88" incorrectly. Both are already considered plural, but add a "s" to the end anyway. Say "73's" or "88's". Who cares if it means "best regardses" and "love and kisseses." Better yet, say "seventy thirds"! (By the way, seventy thirds equals about 23.3).

Step Thirty Two: Always attempt to use the higher functions of the repeater before you have read the directions. Nothing will work, but you'll have great fun and get lots of people to give you advice. This works even better after a six-pack of beer.

Step Thirty Three: Test repeater functions repeatedly (that's why they call it a repeater!) Test your signal strength from the same location several times every day. Concentration on testing the things that really matter, like the number of time the repeater has been keyed-up. That stuff is fun to track. Test the outside temperature as often as possible. The farther the temperature goes from the norms, the more often you should test it. Also, if you get a pager set to the repeater's output frequency, as soon as you receive it, set it off every 30 seconds or so until the battery runs down. Better yet, interrupt conversations to test it.

Step Thirty Four: If the repeater is off the air for service, complain about the fact that it was off the air as soon as it's turned back on. Act as though your entire day has been ruined because the repeater wasn't available when you wanted to use it. Even thought you have never paid a penny to help out with the upkeep of it.

These easy steps should put you well on your way to "LID-Hood". I hope these helpful hints will save you some time in your quest to sound like the perfect "LID". I should also note that these steps need not apply to simplex operation, as nobody really gives a darn because that HTX-202 isn't going to get out too far with just a rubber duck.

In doing a search, it has come to my attention that there are several versions of the "how to sound like a lid" floating around. I have no idea who the original writer of this is but I got most of this from KD4DLU.

SACAJAWEA MIDDLE SCHOOL CLUB ROUNDUP 1999 - photos submitted by N7LT

Principal Dianna McDonough, Don N7FLT, Mal N7GS, LincolnKD7AZF, Ben & Collin	Mal N7GS, Lincoln KD7AZF, David, Nick & Bob W7LR
Andrew KD7EMO, Ben & Nick

 

CONTESTS ~ September, 1999
All Asian DX Contest, SSB	0000Z, Sep 4	-	2400Z, Sep 5
CCCC PSK31 Contest	0000Z	-	2359Z, Sep 4
IARU Region 1 Field Day, SSB	1500Z, Sep 4	-	1500Z, Sep 5
North American Sprint, CW	0000Z	-	0400Z, Sep 5
Panama Anniversary Contest	0001Z	-	2359Z, Sep 5
MI QRP Club Labor Day CW Sprint	2300Z, Sep 6	-	0300Z, Sep 7
WAE DX Contest, SSB	0000Z, Sep 11	-	2400Z, Sep 12
IRCC Bison Stampeded (Indiana QP)	1800Z, Sep 11	-	0200Z, Sep 12
ARRL September VHF QSO Party	1800Z, Sep 11	-	0300Z, Sep 13
North American Sprint, Phone	0000Z	-	0400Z, Sep 12
YLRL Howdy Days	1400Z, Sep 17	-	0200Z, Sep 19
Air Force Anniversary QSO Party	0001Z, Sep 18	-	2359Z, Sep 19
ARRL 10 GHz Cumulative Contest	0800 local	-	2000 local, Sep 18 and
	0800 local	-	2000 local, Sep 19
Washington State Salmon Run	1200Z, Sep 18	-	0700Z, Sep 19 and
	1200Z	-	2400Z, Sep 19
Scandinavian Activity Contest, CW	1200Z, Sep 18	-	1200Z, Sep 19
QCWA QSO Party	1800Z, Sep 18	-	1800Z, Sep 19
Tennessee QSO Party	1800Z, Sep 19	-	0100Z, Sep 20
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY	0000Z, Sep 25	-	2400Z, Sep 26
Scandinavian Activity Contest, SSB	1200Z, Sep 25	-	1200Z, Sep 26
CONTESTS ~ October, 1999
PSK31 Rumble	0000Z	-	2400Z, Oct 2
VK/ZL/Oceania Contest, Phone	1000Z, Oct 2	-	1000Z, Oct 3
EU Autumn Sprint, SSB	1500Z	-	1859Z, Oct 2
California QSO Party	1600Z, Oct 2	-	2200Z, Oct 3
RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest, SSB	0700Z	-	1900Z, Oct 3
VK/ZL/Oceania Contest, CW	1000Z, Oct 9	-	1000Z, Oct 10
Southern African HF Field Day	1000Z, Oct 9	-	1000Z, Oct 10
BARTG RTTY Sprint	1200Z, Oct 9	-	1200Z, Oct 10
EU Autumn Sprint, CW	1500Z	-	1859Z, Oct 9
Pennsylvania QSO Party	1600Z, Oct 9	-	0500Z, Oct 10 and
	1300Z	-	2200Z, Oct 10
FISTS Fall Sprint	1700Z	-	2100Z, Oct 9
Iberoamericano Contest	2000Z, Oct 9	-	2000Z, Oct 10
10-10 Day Sprint	0001Z	-	2400Z, Oct 10
JARTS WW RTTY Contest	0000Z, Oct 16	-	2400Z, Oct 17
Worked All Germany Contest	1500Z, Oct 16	-	1500Z, Oct 17
Asia-Pacific Sprint, CW	0000Z	-	0200Z, Oct 17
RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest, CW	0700Z	-	1900Z, Oct 17
Rhode Island QSO Party	0001Z, Oct 23	-	2359Z, Oct 24
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB	0000Z, Oct 30	-	2400Z, Oct 31
10-10 Int. Fall Contest, CW	0001Z, Oct 30	-	2400Z, Oct 31

IMPORTANT NOTICE from W7LR ~

FCC form 610 is being replaced by the ULS, The Universal Licensing System. All hams will be required to register with the ULS.  Details are given in QST September 1999 page 85. In case you dont get QST (I believe that you should), the web site is: http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/uls, then click on "TIN/Call Sign Registration".  I did this for W7LR and it is an easy task. 73 Bob W7LR