In This Issue. March The Official Newsletter of the Tehachapi Amateur Radio Association Volume 1, Number 1. Welcome to The Dummy Load

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1 March 2017 In This Issue Welcome to The Dummy Load High Desert Trails Rally You re Invited! International DX Phone Event It s NEWS to Me! A Sense of Humor ARRL Calendar of Events TARA Calendar of Events Important Information - Local Repeaters - Club Websites - TARA Officers & Committee s - TARA Meeting & Club Information - Membership Application Info - Membership Application The Official Newsletter of the Tehachapi Amateur Radio Association Volume 1, Number 1 The Dummy Load Welcome to the new design for The Dummy Load. My goal, as this year s Editor, is to use this newsletter to share stories by our members, keep everyone informed about club activities and events. You will be provided with a calendar of ARRL events and contests along with a calendar of events for the club. Included with every edition will also be a list of local repeaters. This information has been gathered from several different sources with conflicting information. I will be working to confirm the information up to and including the date of publication each month. Please feel free to me with corrections or changes. If you would like to see other relevant repeaters posted let me know as well. Local and Good to Know websites will also be listed along with information regarding meetings, membership, and how to contact members of our Board or a Committee. All this information will be provided monthly so that you can share The Dummy Load with your friends, co-workers or anyone you meet that may be interested in the content or joining our group. High Desert Trails Rally Interested in an Action Packed weekend? Who can resist? Phil Dolber, W6WBT, is looking for volunteers to help out with the 2017 High Desert Trails Rally on May 6 th, Ham Radio operators are often a part of the backbone of such events. They assist the organizers with event communications and competitor tracking. In efforts to recruit competitors and volunteers, the organizers of this event participated as a vendor during the Palm Springs Hamfest last February. Please contact Phil for more information. Courtesy: High Desert Trails & NASA Rally Sports (via Facebook)

2 Contact Us Visit us on Facebook! TARAtehachapiamateurradio Visit our Website! tehachapiareahams.yolasite.com Mail: Tehachapi Amateur Radio Association (TARA) P.O. Box 1681 Tehachapi, CA You re Invited! Volunteer Appreciation Party!! Phill Turok, AE5PT, received a very special invitation recently. It was an invitation from Fiona Nelson, CERT and the Bear Valley Equine Group. They are hosting a Volunteer Appreciation Party on April 1 st, 2017 at the Equestrian Center Lounge in Bear Valley. All Ham Radio Operators are invited as a thank you to those who volunteered and assisted the Residents of Bear Valley during all the 2016 wildfires. This invitation is open to ALL hams. As Fiona said in her invitation, We want to have a fun get together I have included a copy of her invitation below. Please RSVP to her by no later than March 28 th, Suggestions or Comments Via Mail: The Dummy Load Attn: John Dyer KM6DXY P.O. Box 1681 Tehachapi, CA Via To: KM6DXY@ARRL.net Subject: The Dummy Load Newsletter Or Click Here

3 International DX Phone Event As a new Ham I was not sure what the International DX Phone contest was all about. While I planned to spend some time watching members of the club participate in the event, I wanted to find out more. During my research, I found a great article originally published in The ARRL Letter on February 26, 2015 and reprinted on the eham.net website. The ARRL Letter on February 26, 2015 Website: There's a Place for You In the ARRL International DX Phone Contest! Set aside your CW key, and shake those dits and dahs out of your ears. It's time to get your voice in trim or to program your digital voice keyer. The SSB weekend of the ARRL International DX Contest is Saturday and Sunday, March 8-9 (UTC), and in this major event on the radio sport calendar, the DX will be looking for stations in the US and Canada. There are entry categories for single ops and for multi-operator teams as well as a choice of power levels in each category, from QRP to full legal limit. In other words, there's a place for Big Guns, Little Pistols, and everyone in between. Excitement and enthusiasm levels will be high, and it's a terrific opportunity to boost DXCC totals too. Not only that, but the ARRL International DX Contest events offer great opportunities to expand your knowledge of MF and HF propagation and to tweak your contesting skills. The basic objective is simple: W/VE amateurs work as many DX stations in as many DXCC entities as possible on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands. Participating DX stations work as many stations as possible on the 48 contiguous US states and Canadian provinces. US and Canadian stations send a signal report and their state or province abbreviation. DX stations send a signal report and their output power. The action gets under way March 8 at 0000 UTC (Friday, March 7, in US time zones) and continues for the next 48 hours until March 9 at 2359 UTC. By the way, if you're planning to do this one without any digital voice assistance, keep those lozenges and maybe some hot tea and honey handy. A couple of 2014 participants complained afterward of hoarse throats. Complete rules and forms are on the ARRL website. DXphone@arrl.org electronic logs (Cabrillo format). Mail paper logs to ARRL DX CW Contest, 225 Main St, Newington, CT Logs must be received or postmarked no later than 2359 UTC on Tuesday, April 8, Source: The ARRL Letter

4 It s NEWS to Me! It is amazing to discover what you can learn just listening to the QSO s on the radio. Just recently, I was listening to a conversation between a ham in the United Kingdom and another gentleman in Lebec, CA on the WINSystem. At first the conversation was simply the conversation of a guy passing time on his way to work when it turned to something that refocused my attention. The gentleman from the United Kingdom began talking about a new license class that the ARRL was looking into. He had asked the operator from Lebec if he had completed the survey online on the ARRL website regarding their consideration of a new license class to attract new radio operators in the 30 year old and under range. I needed to know more. While I am a Technician Class operator, I have an interest in get more young people into amateur radio. One of my goals is to help develop a program to introduce amateur radio to local scouts of Troop 3. This would be paired with the achievement of their Radio Merit Badge. As soon as I got in front of a computer I found the page on the ARRL website entitled ARRL Seeks Opinions Concerning Possible New Entry Level License. The ARRL actually commissioned a committee to look into gathering member input and making recommendations to the Board of Directors. As a result, the committee created an online survey for members to complete regarding the idea. The survey at be found at: Entry Level License Survey. The survey needs to be completed no later than April 7 th, In addition, more information concerning the committee s work can be found online at: New Entry Level License Committee. This article details the purpose of the committee, the problems it has been tasked to solve and its mission. Regardless of what your position on the subject may be, your input is important and the survey gives each of us an opportunity to express our opinion or point of view. Take a moment to look at the committee s mission and then complete the survey. The survey is only 12 questions long plus a comment box that will except up to 500 words for your direct commentary. I have taken the suggestion from our associate in the United Kingdom and have completed the survey. While I have glanced through the ARRL s website, I find it amazing how much information and tools that are available to me.

5 A Sense of Humor I am always open to new ideas and suggestions. One of our members mentioned that we should include a few jokes in our publication. So, as a result, here a few jokes and meme s pulled off of the internet. Feel free to submit your jokes too! Credit: Pinterest Credit: Pinterest You know you have Ham Radio Issues when: - When someone tells you some bulls**t you reply You're blowing smoke up my coax! - When Someone says something stupid you reply Your grounding switch must be broken - You wonder every morning at work... Did I leave the soldering iron on? - You find yourself thinking in cw - dit dah dit dit - At local parties and bars you find yourself uncontrollably mumbling cq cq cq - When you get less than 4 hours sleep and have a big business meeting during the meeting people start looking at you funny and asking if everything is ok. Later your boss tells you they had to escort you out of the meeting because you just kept saying cq cq cq and tapping Morse code. You have no memory of this and all you remember is having a bad dream during which you just kept calling cq and no one replied. - You instinctively pull over and check your antennas every time before and after going through an area with a Low Clearance (i.e. a tunnel) even when you are a passenger in someone else s car. - When you book a hotel room at a hotel and your choice of hotels is solely based whther or not you can put out an antenna and if it is a good spot.

6 Credit: QRZ.com (Jokes adapted from the Ham Radio Jokes forum) ARRL CALENDAR of EVENTS This page will be devoted to providing our members with events sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). We will review the calendar on their website monthly and update the list below. You may also find information on their website at: March International DX Phone April Rookie Roundup Phone May 2017 Nothing Scheduled TARA CALENDAR of EVENTS This page will be devoted to providing our members with events sponsored by or involving the participation of our club. We will review the calendar on a monthly basis and update you accordingly. March International DX Phone Home of Howard Krawitz, AH6TX Jamaica Dunes, Tehachapi, CA Call Howard at (661) for more information or to arrange for a BVS Gate Pass. You may also call Dan Mason at (661) Club Meeting April Club Board Meeting 13 Club Meeting May Club Board Meeting 6 High Desert Trails Rally (See Phil Dolber, W6WBT, for more info) 11 Club Meeting

7 IMPORTANT INFORMATION This page will be devoted to providing our members with events sponsored by or involving the participation of our club. We will review the calendar on a monthly basis and update you accordingly. LOCAL REPEATER INFORMATION TARA APRS Digipeater No Tone KA6PTJ-3 APRS BVS APRS Digipeater: No Tone WA6LDQ-3 APRS BVS Repeater: Hz Tone W6SLZ BVS Repeater: Hz Tone W6SLZ Tehachapi Repeater: Hz Tone KI6HHU Tehachapi Repeater: Hz Tone KG6KKV Open Machine Open Machine Open Machine Overlooks Bakersfield CLUB & Other WEBSITES TARA TARA Facebook Page: AVARC BVSERT KCCVARC ARRL:

8 TARA Officers and Committee s President: Phill Turok (AE5PT, phill.turok@gmail.com) 1 st Vice President: Dan Mason (AB6DM, imprezaspeed@yahoo.com) 2 nd Vice President: John Dyer (KM6DXY, km6dxy@arrl.net) Secretary: Valerie Mason (KK6WLQ, val3mason@yahoo.com) Treasurer: Sylvia Dolber (KD6UUC, sylviaquilts@gmail.com) Web Page: Dan Mason (AB6DM, imprezaspeed@yahoo.com) Facebook: Aaron Ray (KG6OVR, arayboomer@gmail.com) TARA Meeting and Club Membership Information The Tehachapi Amateur Radio Association meets every second Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM (except for July - no meeting). Our meetings are held at the Mountain Aire Estates Activities Center, 600 South Dennison Road in Tehachapi, Ca. Drive in the entrance and the Activities Center is straight ahead. T.A.R.A. Member Annual Dues: Additional Family Member: $25.00/year $12.50/per person Club address: T.A.R.A., PO Box 1681, Tehachapi, CA Membership Application On the last page of this newsletter will be a copy of our current Membership Application. Applications can and will be accepted at all club meetings. If you prefer, you may mail your application along with the applicable dues to the club Post Office Box as follows: Tehachapi Amateur Radio Association (TARA) P.O. Box 1681 Tehachapi, CA A Note from the Editor If you have any questions, corrections, ideas, suggestions for content or even an article to share please send them to my attention. (See Side Bar for Information) Keep in mind that I am not only an Amateur Radio Operator; I am an amateur newsletter editor. 73 s Everyone.

9 MEMBERSHIP TYPE: Tehachapi Amateur Radio Association (Check all that apply) P.O. Box 1681 Tehachapi, CA MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Date of Application / / YEAR New Member Individual $25.00 / Year Renewal Family $12.50 / Add'l Family Member / Year APPLICANT INFORMATION: First Name Call Sign Technician General Extra Last Name License Classification / License Held Street Address Apt. / Unit City State Zip Code Home Phone Number Cell Phone Number ( ) ( ) Address Background Have you ever been convicted of a crime (misdemenor, felony, etc.)? If so, please provide details below: No Yes Details: Other Memberships ARRL ARES RACES CERT OTHER Family Members in Household (Fill out only if completing a Family Membership Call Sign Class ( T/G/E) First & Last Name Age Amount Paid Cash / Check Date Approval Applicant Signature: Date: