| NIHRAC (K3YGG) NIH Building 13 Room G-903 Bethesda, MD 20892 |
Emergency Communications Center NIH Building 11 Room 308 phone: 301 496-5311 |
NIHRAC Web site http://nihac.info.nih.gov/nihrac/k3ygghp.html
The next meeting will be held at noon on Thursday January 8, 1998 in the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) located on the third floor of Building 11. An interesting year lies ahead for Amateur Radio and we'll discuss our plans for 1998.
The meeting was called to order by Vice President Larry Martin at 12:05 p.m. The minutes of the November 6 meeting were corrected to read "Larry Wolken reported that the 10 meter band is becoming useful again".... The minutes were then approved.
Attending the meeting were: Bill Hook W3QBC, Larry Martin W3IBO, Frank J. Nice, Chuck Sherman N3WTO.
We failed to receive a request to assist with communications at the Thanksgiving Day 10k Turkey Chase race. Thus, we notified members that our help was not needed. Although the race was held, the reason for the YMCA not contacting us this year is unknown. TV News reports indicated that the race ran through the NIH campus. It was gratifying that 12 NIHRAC members had volunteered to participate.
The 3 UHF Motorola JT-1000 HTs sent to Transcrypt International for service under warranty have been returned. Their problem with low transmitted audio appears to have been corrected by replacing a wrong value capacitor on a circuit board installed by Transcrypt.
We will ask the PHS DMAT to give permission for NIHRAC to use their portable radios (on amateur frequencies) to support NIH sanctioned activities. NIHRAC plans to assist in keeping DMAT HT batteries charged and in performing an inventory of their communications gear.
Eighteen additional vouchers (stamps) have been received from the CC Safety Office. Each is good for one hour parking in a visitor lot: two stamps per vehicle are usually required to attend a NIHRAC meeting. Frank Nice provided a map and guide to parking on the NIH campus. Copies will be available in the ECC.
John Muller and Bill Hook operated K3YGG and MEMA Unit 48 on Tuesday evening November 18. Our GE receiver for the 143 MHz MEMA frequency was troubled by what appeared to be interference from a commercial paging service. Possible solutions to the problem were discussed.
The Montgomery County RACES station WA3YOO did not participate in this exercise because county RACES activity has been suspended indefinitely by the county-employed Coordinator for RACES. NIHRAC has participated with Maryland State RACES (MEMA) for approximately 25 years. As long as some of our members show interest, we will continue to participate with the state in MEMA exercises.
John and Bill recommended that NIHRAC acquire a surplus FAX machine for submitting reports to MEMA and for other emergency preparedness activities.
Our unspent equipment trade-in balance of $2087 has been deposited in the NIHRAC checking account. This, plus the previous checking balance of $820 amounts to a sizeable amount of money. A strategy is needed to effectively use these idle funds to procure needed new equipment. It was noted that there is no plan in place for disposal of our assets in the event NIHRAC disbands.
An e-mail message was received by Andy Mitz on Nov. 30 from WA4MJM in Memphis, TN asking for NIHRAC's cooperation a few days later during a simulated earthquake disaster. Communications were to involve RACES, ARES and MARS. The station located at LeBonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis wanted to direct a message to K3YGG, have it receipted and a confirmation returned by e-mail or Amateur Radio. Ways to do this were suggested by Andy, Jim Hobbs and Ross Merlin.
On December 3, Bill Hook received from WA4MJM e-mail via the K3YGG packet mailbox saying that because of time constraints they had transmitted only a standard ARRL-type radiogram to be relayed to the ARES net and thence through MARS circuits to be delivered to our station. So far we haven't seen it and don't know how it was addressed. Apparently NIHRAC was selected as a participant by someone who had learned of NIHRAC's activities from our Web site.
John Muller has a new address and telephone number. Please correct your membership list to read: John D. Muller W3QF, 9307-A Wescott Place, Rockville MD 20850-3453, Phone: 301/762-4997
The FCC announced that as of January 1, 1998 new Forms 610, 610A and 610B must be used for license applications, renewals and modifications. They may be obtained from the FCC Web site at http://www.fcc.gov/formpage.html or ftp://ftp.fcc.gov/pub/Forms/. It is requested that a volunteer print a few forms for use by members. See page 74 of the December 1997 QST for details. The new forms carry a certification that states the applicant has read and will comply with 1) Section 97.13(c) of the FCC's Rules regarding RF radiation, and 2) The amateur service section of OST/OET Bulletin No. 65, Evaluating Compliance with FCC-Specified Guidelines for Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields. NIHRAC will try to obtain copies of these documents. For information on this subject see pages 50-55 in the January 1998 QST.
de W3QBC