volume 37, issue 6 mike & key amateur radio club

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Volume 37, Issue 6 Mike & Key Amateur Radio Club -- Seattle June 2009 From our Club President...

M&K About To Have A Field Day by Dick Radford WA7NIW, President

CQ FIELD DAY!! OK, maybe I’m a bit premature with that, but the annual trek out to Fort Flagler is coming soon. Please be sure to attend the June meeting where all the latest details will be dis-cussed, along with the probability of many admoni-tions to bring BUG SPRAY. We do have the Wagon Wheel this year for the entire week so feel free to come early and stay late so you can enjoy camping out with your fellow hams and also have a safe drive home. Be sure to arrange your spot with the Wagon-master, and the Barracks Mom for those staying in the barracks. With Field Day come many opportunities to exercise all of the various aspects of Ham Radio. Not the least is the setting up of functional communications facilities in undeveloped areas, such as would happen after a natural disaster or other event that leaves normal communications knocked out. Then there’s the opportunity for Elmering those who are new to the hobby, or just getting interested in it. Nobody is a born contester (although this is not a “contest”), we all learned from someone. What an opportunity to pass on what we know to others. There’s GOTA for those who have not operated on HF before, and when they finish there, they can move on to one of the other stations to try out their newly learned skills and take it to the next level. Mentors and Coaches are going to be needed to help out the new operators. Sometimes there is simply the need for someone with a General, Advanced, or Extra class license to be in the tent while a fine operator who is not licensed for those frequencies gets a chance to put some points in the log. Either way you are helping someone achieve their goals and help the club effort. So there is lots to do at this year’s Field Day from braving the tower tops, to providing muscle to raise those towers and take them down safely, to just sitting in the tent while someone puts QSOs in the log that they couldn’t otherwise do without you and your license being present. Check with the various Band Chairs and they will find something that fits your talents and abilities. Oh, and don’t forget the FOOD.

We have some fine folks who have volunteered to ensure that the Potluck is the weekend highlight that it has traditionally been. Don’t forget to bring your food contribution to this annual feast.

See you at Field Day. -Dick WA7NIW ________________________________________________

WV7Q and the CW WPX Contest submitted by Michael Dinkelman N7WA

As of this writing, WV7Q (the call of our our Club Treasurer) sits among the top USA scores generated for the CW WPX contest held at the end of May. Carolyn? A CW contester? Well, not actually.

It all started as a scheme hatched by Guy N7ZG and myself back in April. The plan was to do a

serious multi-op in the CW WPX test. This test is different from most in that each unique call prefix is a multiplier. So WA7, N1, and AD5 are all considered

unique prefixes and multipliers. [Continued on Page 4] _____________________________________________________

IN THIS ISSUE:

From Our President-Dick WA7NIW 1 WV7Q and the CW WPX Contest 1 M&K Club Contact Information 2 June Club Program & Activities 3 M&K Field Day- Event Refresher 3 M&K Field Day- CW Beach 3 M&K Field Day- Barracks Mom 4 Combined AugustMtg&AnnualPicnic 5 Code Breakers at Bletchley Park 5 Special Feature- Book Review 5 Special Invitation- Digital Fun 5 Celebrate Our May Members 6 M&K General Meeting Minutes 6 M&K Board Meeting Minutes 8 M&K Reference Lending Library 8 Meet Our New Club Members 8 FD09-Map: Directions2FtFlagler 10 FD09-Map: Getting2FlaglerRoad 11 Ham Radio Nets & Events 12 ______________________________________________________

June 2009 K7LED Relay

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Postal Address: Web Site: Send dues to: P.O. Box 4234 www.mikeandkey.org Mike&Key ARC Renton, WA 98057-4234 P.O. Box 4234 Renton, WA 98057-4234

K7LED Repeaters: Email: Send newsletter submissions to: 146.82 output / 146.22 input info @ mikeandkey.org Gary Bryan, Relay Editor (PL 103.5) 34033 33rd Ave SW Tiger Mountain Federal Way, WA 98023-7724 224.120 output / 222.520 input Reflector: kg7ku @ arrl.net (PL 103.5) http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/mkarc Tiger Mountain

__________________________ Club Contacts _____________________________

President Dick Radford WA7NIW wa7niw @ arrl.net 425-828-9791 Vice President Kathy Martin KB7QMO klsmartin1 @ gmail.net 253-631-5370 Secretary Ivy Nelson-Groves WA7IVY wa7ivy @ yahoo.com 425-269-3259 Treasurer Carolyn Pasquier WV7Q carolynp @ sprynet.com 253-862-1157 Activity Mgr Jim Aigner N7MU jimaigner @ comcast.net 253-630-2752 Radio Officer Paul Roth N7DOH n7doh @ comcast.net 206-550-9690

Trustees -- No. 1 Tim Kane K7ANE k7ane @ arrl.net 206-251-7467 No. 2 Steven Cook KD7IQL kd7iql @ arrl.net 206-781-2293 No. 3 (CoB) Hal Goodell N7NW n7nw.hal @ comcast.net 253-549-4178 No. 4 Robert Grinnell KD7WNV r-grinnell @ comcast.net 425-398-1466 No. 5 Dave Smith KB7PSN kb7psn @ yahoo.com 425-235-5095

Logo Committee Dan Humphrey N7QHC n7qhc @ arrl.net 206-243-0163 & Dawn Humphrey KC7YYB Webmaster Jim Etzwiler KD7BAT kd7bat @ arrl.net 206-633-1512 VE Testing Scott Robinson AG7T sgr @ nwlink.com 425-788-0162

Mike & Key Online -- Several club resources are available online:

On the Web — The Club's site at 'www.mikeandkey.org' includes extensive information about Club activities and events, such as: VE testing, membership, past editions of the Relay and more. Reflector — The Club's public message board offers an easy and free way to converse with club members. To sign up, surf to: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/mkarc . E-Relay — Want the newsletter in color and a day or two before the print edition arrives by regular mail? You will also save the club some money in printing and postage costs. To sign up, send a message to the editor: kg7ku @ arrl.net.


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June Club Program And Activities by Jim Aigner N7MU, Activities Chair

If you stuck around for the May program on propagation, you were treated to a detailed analysis of our Field Day performance. When Scott Robinson AG7T made his presentation, I was blown away. What a great piece of work!

Scott’s presentation included graphics showing the Field Day QSO activity at various times and on various bands both for our operation and for other major competitors on the East coast. He also demonstrated some propagation prediction tools. If you didn’t get a chance to hear Scott, you can download his presentation from the Mike and Key website: www.mikeandkey.org.

With Field Day being our next big event, it makes sense to dedicate the June program to last minute planning. This is the club’s premier group activity – family oriented, outdoors at beautiful Fort Flagler. If you haven’t been to Fort Flagler with the club, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.

The July meeting program has not been confirmed yet. Watch the Relay for last minute details.

August, of course, is picnic month. Dave Smith KB7PSN is leading one last attempt to revive the club picnic. The club provides burgers, hot dogs, soda, and water. The rest is pot luck. We will distribute a sign-up sheet at the June and July meetings.

We had a good door prize drawing again in May with good prizes and lots of happy winners. I noticed among the tickets submitted there were some without names and/or call signs. Please write your name and/or call sign on the back of the ticket. That will speed up the process, especially on days with many prizes to award. For June prizes we have an Alpha-Delta TT3G50 Lightning Surge Protector, an extra large Field Day t-shirt, a Field Day hat, and a metal project box.

Again thanks to our Tokuzo AD7JA we have more hats, logbooks, and wall maps. See you again at the Club meeting on Saturday, June 20th.

--Jim Aigner, N7MU ______________________________________________________

M&K Field Day 2009 Event Refresher by Brendan Burget KD7IKV

Set Up / Tear Down This is the most critical time for you to help. As you veterans know setup and tear down has jobs for all levels of skill and physique. We need help with everything from raising towers to running power cables and setting up tents. The more people we have the faster, better and safer we can get set up. Pot Luck In the evening, once we’re done with setup, join us at the potluck for food, friendship, campfires, and stories of field days gone by. The club will provide the meat. Please bring your favorite side dish or desert to share. Once we’ve gorged ourselves on all of that great food we will make the sign up sheets available. Michelle WA7PVE will be cooking and is looking for a few helpers. The Line Up We have some old favorites as well as some fresh new faces helping out this year. First off in the 20 meter shack we have Robert KD7WNV. Next up our GOTA chair is Ivy WA7IVY. Ivy is looking for GOTA coaches. We are happy that Dean N7NKO will be pounding out the contacts on 40 again this year. 15 meters will be under the supervision of Richard N7MER and the rest of the Pasquier clan. 15 will be trying out a new 4 element beam this year. Steve KD7KRT will be handling VHF this year with Little John WA7HQG providing his expert oversight. Scott AG7T will have 10/80 and digital under his expert control as well as the duties of safety officer. Mike N7WA and his very capable crew of brass ponders are once again going to be burning up the air for double points. Last but certainly not least, Tim K7ANE will be heading up the information table. We need to have several volunteers to take shifts manning the info table. What To Bring Firewood, sunscreen, bug repellent, warm clothing, rain gear, extra blanket, flashlights, handi-talkie, spare batteries (don’t forget extras for your HT too), food for meals and snacks (you are responsible for your own lunches and breakfasts) , ice, drinks, pot-luck dish for Friday night, camping gear (if needed), matches, first aid kit, xyl, and the rest of the family.

We look forward to seeing you there. --Steve KD7IQL, Alan KB7SVU, Brendan KD7IKV, and the rest of your 2009 Field Day crew. ______________________________________________________

M&K Field Day -- CW Beach 2009 by Michael Dinkelman N7WA

The bridge is open and the weather for June (so far) has been great. I'm looking forward to a great Field Day at CW Beach. This year, we will have two healthy K3's, a new beam for 15meters, and a renewed optimism that we can work the world whether there are sunspots or not. [Continued on Page 4]


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Field Day - CW Beach... [Continued from Page 3]

CW Beach will commence at 11AM sharp on Friday the 26th. Since the SSB bluff is about exciting as watching grass grow, you might want to come on down and help us setup. You can always go back up to the bluff the rest of the weekend to get your beauty sleep. We promise not to put a key in your hand unless you ask and contrary to the rumors spread by various SSB aficionados, we do not have Cooties or West Nile Virus. What we do have is infectious enthusiasm and fun. If you want to try some CW, we might let you if you ask real nicely. Taking tongue out of cheek, we really hope to see you at Field Day. -Mike N7WA ______________________________________________________

M&K Field Day -- Barracks Mom by Rita Danielson KD7CNU

Well, Kids, the time is fast approaching. The bridge is open, the park is open, the barracks are open (we have 3 open beds) and I'm ready. Well, almost ready, just the small, minor detail of doing the shopping for two large breakfasts, and whatever else we need. No, I don't want your list. The main building is full. There are 3 beds open in the smaller barracks. If this is your first time staying at the Mike & Key 'Hilton,' you will need to bring your bedding for a twin bed, your personal items, radio (I know, it should go without saying) food for snacks and lunch, as well as a potluck item. Earplugs for your room mate(s) if you snore. Each room has twin beds, some have bunk beds, a dresser of some sort, electrical outlets for charging your radio batteries and a wardrobe type thing to hang clothes in. It gets quite warm in the buildings, so if you want to bring a 'small' electric fan, you may for your room. The windows do not have screens and in keeping with the historical structure of the building, we cannot install any. Bring your camera for the beautiful deer that are literally right outside your window and all the other beautiful sights in the park. If you forget anything, there is a QFC in Port Hadlock. I will be providing breakfast Friday, (for those few that will be there Thursday night), Saturday and Sunday. If you have special dietary needs, such as dairy, egg or wheat allergies, please let me know and we'll work something out for you. Coffee will be flowing all week end. There is a fully equipped kitchen for our use. Two refrigerators, propane range, microwave and commercial dishwasher (my favorite). You will be on your own for lunch and preparing for the potluck Friday and Saturday evenings. There are only two things the Mike & Key Hilton does not come with. 1. Room service, all meals will be served in the kitchen/dining area, and 2. Maid service. Each family will have a chore to do for Sunday check out. We always leave the barracks cleaner than when we found it. Even the kids help with the clean up.

There will be sign ups on the bulletin boards in both buildings. Check out is Sunday, noon. You are more than welcome to bring any games you have, but please bear in mind, there will be children with us, so please make them family friendly. Also, smoking is not allowed in the buildings, per state law, and no animals, unless they are service animals. It is our goal for you to come to Field Day ready to have a good time and not be concerned about the little things. If you have any questions, please feel free to call- 425-359-3764, email- [email protected]. You will have until Wednesday, June 24 to cancel your reser-vation if needed, to have your deposit refunded to you. I will be leaving for Ft Flagler Thursday late morning, early afternoon. Check-in is not until after 3PM. If you still need to make reservations, the deposit is $10.00 per person, per night and will be returned when you check in. Please make your checks payable to Mike & Key ARC. I'm looking forward to another great year. See you later Kids, 73 -Love, Barracks Mom KD7CNU _______________________________________________________

WV7Q & CW WPX Contest... [Cont'd from Pg 1]

Multipliers are applied against the points earned by working stations. As you can imagine, you can work a LOT of multipliers in this test and scores can get big.. Some, like W7 are pretty common. Others, like WV7 are downright rare. You can only work a multiplier once so the rare ones stand out A search had shown only one other WV7 being used in the past several years and that was in a WPX phone contest. As part of our plan in the multi-op, we wanted a rare prefix. Since , it's common in this contest to borrow calls with rare prefixes, I asked Carolyn if we could borrow hers and she said yes. Unfortunately, plans change and Guy had to drop out so it became a single operator entry. Add to that the wonderful weather predicted for that weekend and the lousy propagation that was expected due to our point in the sun spot cycle and it was going to be hard to KBIC (Keep Butt In Chair). Still, such hardships are known to build character (like I need any) so I slogged on. I found the call to be both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that it was truly a rare prefix and highly desired. The curse was, this call has NEVER been in a CW contest before so it doesn't pop up in the contest databases. In fact, it gets flagged by the logging programs as a UNIQUE. Uniques are a warning to make sure you copied the call right. Uniques can be valid but there are usually few of them in a contest. As such, I was constantly having to confirm that yes, I was indeed WV7Q and it was a valid callsign. This takes time. Even worse, because conditions were marginal, if the callsign was copied wrong, it was really [Continued on Page 5]


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WV7Q & CW WPX Contest...[Cont'd from Pg 4]

hard to get the other operator to recopy it correctly. This callsign was copied as W3*, W4*, WU7Q, WS*, and other combinations too numerous to mention. I eventually came upon a strategy of walking away from a contact if the other op didn't come close on the first try and then come back again a couple minutes later. (They didn't know it was second try because they were so far off the first time.) This strategy save both of us time in the end. I did actually KBIC and it paid off in the end. There were some surprising run into Europe late at night (around midnight) and some pileups on me (must have been spotted on the packet network). My goal, as a single op was to work 1000 Q's and 500 multipliers. I actually worked 1297 contacts and 570 multipliers. There were 70 unique DXCC countries in the stack so Carolyn is now 70% of the way towards her CW DXCC (if she can get 'em confirmed). I hope you have some envelopes at the W7 buro Carolyn – might be a few cards coming in. Next year, if Carolyn is willing to loan out her call again, it might be more fun. By then, WV7Q will be in the contest databases and being flagged as a UNIQUE shouldn't be an issue. Thank you for the use of the callsign Carolyn and I'll have a log for your records at the next Club meeting. -Mike N7WA _______________________________________________________

Heads-Up: Combined August M&K Club Meeting & Annual Picnic

contributed by Dave Smith KB7PSN

Our Club's August 15, General Membership meeting will be held at Liberty Park, next to the City Library, the building built over the Cedar River in Renton. This park is less than 1 mile from the Salvation Army Headquarters in Renton (see map, http://tinyurl.com/LibertyPark-Renton). For this picnic, members bring potluck salads, deserts, and other picnic fare. The Club provides hamburgers, hot dogs, and drinks. Members are encouraged to bring along any games that would be appropriate for enjoyment at the picnic. Further details available at http://www.mikeandkey.org/picnic.htm. _______________________________________________________

Code Breakers at Bletchley Park by Jim Aigner N7MU

You may or may not know about British code breaking attempts at Bletchley Park during World War II. Even if you don’t, you might know the story of the Enigma encoding machine popularized in recent fiction and movies such as U-571. Richard Green KR7L, who recently visited Bletchley Park on a European vacation, wrote a great article about the topic for the Maple Valley Amateur Radio Club’s newsletter, Hamlink. I recommend it. You can read it or download it from www.kc7key.org/presentations/Special Edition 2009.pdf. _______________________________________________________

Special Feature... Book Review:

Up Two – Adventures of a Dxpeditioner by Michael Dinkelman N7WA

Our librarian Toku, AD7JA has changed the loan policy for the Club Library so you can check books out for four weeks. That makes it easy to borrow a book from Club meeting to Club meeting. My eye fell on the book Up Two – Adventures of a Dxpeditioner and I decided to partake in the opportunity. The book is written by Roger Western, G3SXW, a well known CW contester, DXpeditioner, and founding member of the VooDoo Contest Group which is known for it's African operations. Roger started his DX career as a young pharmaceutical rep in Afghanistan and Iran (before the fall of the Shah). He also lived in Cyprus. Once based back in England he continued his DX career with frequent trips throughout western Africa, the Pacific Ocean, and even Tristan Da Cunha. (Google it, it's about as remote as you can get and still be in civilization.). The book is organized by regions rather than chronologically. The DXpeditions are organized as Asia, West Africa, Pacific, and Far Flung Places. The down side of this is that some of the stories get to be rather repetitious with the same information you just read in a previous adventure. I sometimes got the feeling they were written as individual treatises before being bound up in one book. Non-the-less, I found the book to be interesting and worth the read. Unfortunately, it has re-awakened the desire to travel to far flung places and operate radio. I've been looking at maps and doing searches on the Internet. (Don't tell my wife.) I'm sure it'll all die down again in time. Then again, maybe not. The book is available for loan at the monthly Club meeting. You might want to give it a try. ___________________________________________ Special Invitation...

Summer of Digital Fun contributed by Curt Black WR5J

The Educational Radio Net would like to invite all Mike & Key members for a Summer of Digital Fun.

We have just started a series on the PSRG 146.96 (tone 103.5) machine at 8:00pm Wednesday nights. This is a gathering of hams interested in getting up to speed on digital modes. The link to a treasure trove of informative blog postings for the Educational Radio Net may be found at: http://www.educationalradionet.blogspot.com/ For the summer digital series, we are also encouraging folks to join the WA-DIGITAL group on Yahoo! groups. That group can be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wa-digital/ and the files section of that group has illustrated guides to setting up

[Continued on Page 6]


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Summer of Digital Fun... [Continued from Pg 5]

the software we are using on the air as well as detailed instructions and hints for getting things to work. We will also be trying out a wide range of software from the popular Ham Radio Deluxe with DM-780, to MULTIPSK to the NBEMS suite with FLDIGI. We will then explore some of Joe Taylor's amazing software, WSPR (weak signal propagation reporter) and the WSJT modes like JT65A and other such curiously named modes. These modes have allowed me to be heard in Singapore, Australia and South Africa from West Seattle using just 1 Watt on 30 meters. During this extended sunspot low or if you are antenna challenged, these modes can be just the ticket. At the beginning we will be using acoustic coupling of your rig to your computer so that no hardware is needed. Later we will start working with hardware interfaces which can range from simple cable connections to devices like the Tigertronics SignaLink USB. This group is just getting started and it is not too late to read through the recent blog posts to catch up. Please consider joining in on the fun as you sharpen your digital skills this summer. See you on the waterfall - Curt Black - WR5J - West Seattle. I'd be happy to answer your questions at: [email protected] or phone: 206 755-4541. ___________________________________________

Celebrate Our June Members! by Carolyn Pasquier WV7Q, Treasurer

As of June 2009, these folks have been Mike & Key members for the number of years stated. Congratulations to all of you, and thanks for your participation and service. Each of you makes us who we are.

Dawn Humphrey KC7YYB 18 Years Calvin C. Doss KC7GZL 13 Years Terry Dettmann WX7S 7 Years Daniel Stevens KL7WM 7 Years Guy Molinari N7ZG 6 Years Phil Sheridan KD7UXT 6 Years Ross Laine W0RWL 5 Years Ivy Nelson-Groves WA7IVY 3 Years Aaron Tate KD7ZDZ 3 Years Robert Murphy KE7MER 2 Year Lee Sherry KE7NBN 2 Year Andrew Baze KE7RLJ 1 Year Karin Engstrom KC7VCD 1 Year Gabriel Kangas KE7TUS 1 Year Michael O’Day WA7MTC 1 Year _______________________________________________________

Mike&Key General Meeting Minutes Meeting held 05-16-2009

Meeting was called to order at 1002 hours Pledge of Allegiance. Announcements: The Mike & Key ARC is affiliated with the ARRL, which members are encouraged to join. Everyone, including visitors, should sign the rosters. Visitors are reminded not to vote on membership matters. If you wish to go outside during the break, the Salvation Army requests that we do so on the West side of the building. This is a small room, and if you have conversations that must be carried out, please carry them out to the other room. Members and guest introductions. Quorum present. There was one correction to the last general meeting minutes, and two to the Board meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting as printed in the K7LED Relay? Steve KD7IQL made a motion to approve the minutes as amended; Dave KB7PSN seconded the motion. Motion passed. Officer Reports: President – Dick WA7NIW: HR2160 is in the US

House of Representative and it needs our support. You can check the ARRL website for more information.

Vice President – Kathy KB7QMO: Kathy gave out a number of certificates for years of membership. Membership applications: Bill Schneider KE7YFP; Doug Chada (no call sign); Dale Tongue AC7NP; Andrew Lengenfelder KE7ZGR; William Karle KG4UPN and wife Betty Tanner KE7NBL. All were approved by the membership.

Secretary – Ivy WA7IVY: Ivy will not be at the general meeting in July and will need someone to cover for her.

Treasurer – Carolyn WV7Q: The club’s books are in good order. Carolyn thanks everyone for their support at the flea market. Carolyn reminded the club that any time you change information (address, license class, phone number, email address, etc.) please let her know so she can update the roster.

Activity Manager –Jim N7MU: Jim mentioned the raffle and how it works; some items for sale from a Silent Key; today’s program is about Field Day Propagation; next month will on Field Day itself. We need an event chair for our picnic in August. The August meeting will also be at the park unless it is raining.

Chairman of the Board – Hal N7NW: We are applying with an organization called WAACO so we can retain Michael KG7MX’s services as our club attorney; and since it’s been a while, a committee was formed to review our tax status.

Radio Officer – Paul N7DOH: Steve reported that the repeater was moved from its temporary location

[Continued on Page 7]


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M&K General Meeting Mins...[Cont'd from Pg 6]

back to Tiger Mountain. There are currently some feed line issues with the repeater that are being worked on. The repeater will be offline Sunday intermittently. The 220 repeater is offline for testing. Please remember proper repeater etiquette; if you have an issue with the repeater, please email it to the radio officer. Please watch your language while on the repeater and be respectful to others on the repeater.

Relay Editor – Gary KG7KU: Jim KD7BAT let the club know that Gary is looking for new articles, and would even like to see someone write a series of articles; and Jim relayed Gary’s thanks to those who have submitted articles.

Webmaster – Jim KD7BAT: Most of the website is up to date. If you notice a problem, please let Jim know about it.

Standing Committee Reports: Strategic Planning – Robert KD7WNV: nothing to

report. Facilities and Publicity –: Dave KB7PSN: nothing

new at this time. Education and Training –: Tim K7ANE: We have had

three inquiries about possible classes. But we’ve heard no follow up from two of them. Central Seattle Community College is also interested in having a class; contact Tim if you want to help teach a class. At the last board meeting it was discussed that we might want to start an Elmers net. The Red Cross net has an Elmer’s corner already on Tuesday evenings at 8pm. Tim encourages the membership to participate in this net.

Public Service – Robert KD7WNV: We are now entering the busy time of year for public service event, and he encourages people to volunteer for events if they are interested. Robert is also looking for people to help with the Thursday evening Public Service net. Jim KD7BAT mentioned some of the upcoming events and encourages the membership to participate.

Technical and Special Interest – Steve KD7IQL: We are going to do a survey of the membership to find out skills and interests of the club, so we can match up people wanting to learn and people wanting to Elmer. It will be both on line and on paper.

Awards – Steve KD7IQL: VE Exams -- Scott AG7T: There were 20 people who

attended the testing session in April and everyone passed: 9 Technician; 6 General and 5 Extra.

Field Day -- Steve KD7IQL / Brendan KD7IKV: Dean (40 meter), Robert (20 meter), Carolyn (15 meter); little John (VHF), Mike (CW Beach), Ivy (GOTA). We are hoping that the Hood Canal Bridge is open in time for field day; May 30th we will have a work party to fix the 40 meter antenna; Barracks mom Rita reports 4 beds remaining in the barracks; We

have the wagon wheel from Monday to Monday that week, so you can show up early if you wish. The porta-johns will be available on Friday. Dick will be the Wagon Master. Friday night will be the potluck after setup; bring a main dish/side dish and the club will provide “meat” for the club. Any leftovers will be used on Saturday night, but you are responsible for your own food. Bring some firewood for the wagon wheel. Don’t forget bug spray! There will be more information on this at next month’s program.

Picnic – Jim N7MU: The picnic will be on August 15th in Liberty Park (near the library) in Renton; we have the site from 8am-2pm. A chair needs to be selected/appointed/drafted to coordinate the effort. Scott reminded the club that the VE exams will still happen at the Salvation Army.

Flea Market: Hal N7NW/Mike N7WA: We will have the audit for the flea market prior to the next general meeting (9:15). Audit committee: Sam N7RHE, Hal N3YX, Steve KD7IQL, Dave KB7PSN, Scott AG7T.

Old Business: Alligator Award – Dean N7NKO still holds the award. New Business: Little John WA7HQG: We had some sunspots

reported last night for those who don’t believe they exist.

Dick K7NEX is asking for some antenna help, first weekend in June.

Good of the Order – Ermanno N7VIQ lost a clipboard at last month’s

meeting. If anyone has seen it, please contact him.

Bill KE7YFP: Looking for American flags that need to be retired for an Eagle Scout project.

Dawn KC7YYB mentioned for the new members that they can make club badges.

Jim KD7BAT: Last Saturday was the Letter Carrier’s food drive, and he wanted to thank the members who came and helped out. It will be the 2nd Saturday in May again next year.

Steve KD7IQL and Brendan KD7IKV presented an award for last year’s Field Day MVP to Jeff Stevens.

Frank NA7O mentioned a column in QST called Ham Speak. He recommended it to the membership as a great place for newcomers, and those who have been into ham for a while.

The next Mike & Key Board meeting will be on the first Wednesday of the month, June 3rd at 7:00 pm, at the Salvation Army in Renton.

The next Mike & Key General Membership meeting is the third Saturday, June 20, 2009.

Little John WA7HQG made a motion to close the meeting. The motion was passed. Meeting adjourned 11:17.

8 guests; 56 members (get numbers from VP) Attested: Ivy Nelson-Groves WA7IVY – Secretary ______________________________________________


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Mike&Key Board Meeting Minutes Held 06-03-2009

The M&K Board met on this day, with the following caveat-- the Minutes which would appear in this column fell prey to a subsequent computer crash. It is intended that they will be recovered from memory, then published in the July Relay. Our thoughts go out to Ivy WA7IVY who has had to struggle through this, and who also wishes to express her most sincere apology.

-Gary KG7KU, Editor.] _______________________________________________________

Mike & Key ARC Invites you to visit the NEW Club Reference & Lending Library

Volumes include the most recent Editions of: • ARRL Handbook ● ARRL DXCC Handbook

• ARRL Antenna Book ● ON4UN Low-Band DXing

• Tech Class Manual ● Em-Comm Handbook

• General Class Manual ● VHF Digital Handbook

• Extra Class Manual ● ARRL Operating Manual Due to the gracious hosting of Tokuzo AD7JA, the library is located at his business, Skyway Radio & TV Service, 11818 Renton Avenue So., Seattle, WA 98178, in the Skyway neighborhood, across from Skyway Park Bowling. (Has 5-element Yagi & tower) Club members can check-out books for a four week period, or duplicate individual articles as needed, any time between 12 noon and 4 pm, Mon thru Fri, Saturday, 12 noon to 3 pm, except on Club meeting Saturdays. Donations of select ham-related books, equipment operating and service manuals, etc., in good condition, and cash for library fund are gratefully accepted. Driving Directions: From the North or West: I-5 exit 158 (MLK), go east across MLK up hill on S. Ryan Way to end, turn R on 51st Ave S, turn L on So. Bangor St. (0.2 mi) then R on Renton Ave So. to shop (0.7 mi), on left. From the South or East: I-405 exit 2A (167), north on Rainier Ave S, L on Renton Ave Ext. (Airport Way on right), continue up hill to shop, on right. Please park atSouth fence, between shop&storage company. ___________________________________________

Meet Our New Club Members submitted by Robert Grinnell KD7WNV

I've been taking pictures of new members since March, with the idea of establishing a new members corner in the Relay, where we print their pictures, to recognize their having joined the club, and to help other members recognize and greet them. It's taken me awhile to get around to organizing, selecting and trimming the pictures, so there are three months built up now. . --Robert KD7WNV

New Members -- March 2009

Laura Bendit (Not pictured)

Nick Dundon N7DCL

David Fields KD7TTI

New Members -- April 2009

Tom Stevens KE7ZMJ

Dick Bohannon W7CTR [Continued on Page 9]


9

Meet Our New Members... [Cont'd from Pg 8]

Brett Humphrey KB0HMP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

New Members -- April 2009

Doug Chada

Bill Karle KG4UPN

Betty Tanner KE7NBL

Bill Schneider KE7YFP

Andy Lengenfelder KE7ZGR

Dale Tongue AC7NP

[Ed.Note-- 'On meeting our new members,' ...my thanks to Robert KD7WNV for this special contribution and concept for helping welcome these special Hams into the Fold.

-Gary KG7KU]


10


11

.______________________________________________________.

Jun

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12

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Even

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LY

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(M-F

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aily) 1900 -- S

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eneral /T

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18 1900 -- M

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omputer &

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(Weekly)

19 2000 -- Y

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20

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02 03

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05

06

07

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09 10 R

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volume 37, issue 6 mike & key amateur radio club

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