Magic Valley Hams Idaho Society of Radio Amateurs

April 24, 2007

Hey Guys, I just wanted to give you an update on repeater and club info.

1st: The phone patch is a go!! This will be a local line only (Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey, and Bellevue) I will provide details later.

2nd: We have free space in the Galena communications building. I am working on funding to have a two meter repeater on Galena summit. (further plan is to have Galena site linked to Baldy and Shaffer Butte in Boise)

3rd: I am working to have both Galena and Baldy to be digipeater sites (invaluable in Search and Rescue) and we have donated equipment available. If you are not familiar with digipeater please research at ARRL Web site.

4th: Bill Marshall KC7UCV suggested we do some volunteer communication. (Sawtooth Relay, Wagon Days etc. Please email me if you are willing to participate. This is a great way to practice communication skills.

5th: Bill also suggested a club breakfast (Shorty's or Perry's) every other month. Please give input and if you could support?

6th: Financial report: After all bills are paid we have $300 in the account. Not bad when you consider that some thought it was impossible to locate a repeater on Baldy!!! Keep the checkbooks open!! Donations accepted 24/7 at WRARC, PO Box 2830, Hailey, Idaho 83333

7th: Last but not least!!! Thanks for your support!!! This repeater would have not been possible without all of you!!!!

73 Joe Yelda KF7AE

April 21, 2007 HAMFEST!
Voice of Idaho Amateur Radio Club will host the annual Southwestern Idaho Hamfest on Saturday, April 28, 2007. Vallivue Middle School, 16412 S. Tenth Avenue, Caldwell, Idaho. Doors open 9 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Indoor flea market, dealers, forums, VE session, and snack bar. Talk-in on 146.840 (-)(PL 100). Registration: $6 in advance, $7 at door; Tables - $10 each. Contact Voice of Idaho, PO BOX 812, BOISE, ID 83701-0812; Don Lynn ND7L 208-465-6154; ND7L@arrl.net; or on the web at http://www.voiceofidaho.org

April 21, 2007

A reminder of the 7 Land QSO Party coming very soon.. the weekend of the 6th of May. I am hoping that many or all of you will operate at least a few hours of this as to help put Idaho on the map. It is hoped that some of you might get in the old mobile and maybe go to the county next to you and put it on for a few also. The over all goal is to put on as many counties of the different 7 land states that can be done. I have volunteered to be a co-captain this year as I feel it is an event worthy to do so. All it takes is a few hours of your time and it will help make this event grow. There should be lots of activity as I think it is the weekend of the New England qso party as well and that will help get those states you may need in that part of the country. So I hope to hear you on.. or see you spotted... info on the 7QP can be found at WWW.7QP.ORG I will be going to the hamfest in Caldwell so hope to see you there.. By the way... results for the Idaho QSO Party are on my web page and I will be sending out certificates when I get back from the Hamfest. They are being made now..
My web page is WWW.NT4TT.COM and you if you have comments or question feel free to email me here or at the new call at NX7TT@MSN.COM

VY 73, Ed NX7TT Rigby, Id

APRIL 14, 2007
New Officers. We had good attendance at the Magic Valley Radio Club meeting Saturday at Perkins. There were 15 hams there. We saw some new faces (which is good!) and some of the regulars. That's good too! President Lee Kelly, K6ZVA, handed over the presidency gavel to Jay Smith, W7BMS. Kelly Klaas, K7SU, was elected the new Vice President and Rick Lang, AD7JS, was elected the new Secy/Treasurer. All are for one-year terms. The club voted to continue meeting at Perkins Restaurant at 10 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month but to continue looking for an alternate meeting place. It was decided to let the long-standing agreement for a room at CSI to expire. The club also voted to hold a Field Day activity on the regular ARRL Field Day weekend which is, I believe, the last weekend of June each year. Club members will be setting up operating stations at a public area in the valley. Nat Sou Pah swimming resort south of Twin Falls was mentioned as a big favorite. The club also voted to spend $150 to purchase a prize or prizes for an upcoming "Fox Hunt" of which details will be worked out and made available in the near future. Lee Kelly, K6ZVA, announced the details of a Near Space Balloon Launch scheduled for Saturday, May 19th. The details of this are mentioned below.
Here's a list of those in attendance at the meeting:
Rick Lang, AD7JS; Suzanne Leeny, K6OKV; Harold Leeny, K6YEX; Lee Kelly, K6ZVA; Kelly Klaas, K7SU; Dunk Layton, KD7JKB; Bobbie Kelly, KD7JKC; Rick Widmer, KD7VKZ; Dean Etherington, KI7CC; Joe Vance, KI7XV; Winter Vance, W6RCZ; Bill Carver, W7AAZ; Larry Hull, WB7NKP; Don Bornes, N7EOU; Terry Nelson, AD7P.

April 7, 2007

I plan an ATV near space balloon launch on Saturday May 19. "Should" happen in the field that will be used for the new high school at about 8 am. Will be recording video over the usefull tracking range. Lots of work goes into this effort. Really like to have those interested to give us a hand in the launch effort that morning. Contact me by e-mail or phone (208)734-7785 for more information.

Best 73 - Lee - K6ZVA

April 2, 2007

Well here is the second installment in the progress of my new vertical antenna ( HiQ 5/160 ) I have received the controller from MFJ everything intact. there nick name holds true for this piece of equipment also. After modifying it a little and adding some mounting brackets. I then made a prototype panel that will replace the panel that is now holding the other two antenna switches reference the photo of my shack they are in the black panel on the right side next to the rotor control. It will be permanently mounted in a new panel between those two existing switches. It is capable of remembering 10 settings someplace between 10 meters and 160 meters. We will see and report back. Some of the antenna came, the mast with the coil and the rods for the capacity hat. the one foot extension and the hub to assemble the capacity hat were placed on back order. " two weeks " I took the mast and coil over to Bill's W7-AAZ and he helped me to install torroids around the lead wire's up inside the mast just below the drive motor. Upon disassembly of the mounting slug in the base of the mast we discovered a bad condition where if left alone could have caused a shorting condition in the lead wire's from the antenna to the controller. So that was put straight at that time. And a plug was added to these wire's at this time so as to facilitate plugging in the wire's that lead down to the shack. With the help of another friend the fabrication of the mounting plat that will fit to the roof has almost been completed. Just the bracket that holds the coax fitting need to be welded in place. See you all at the next meeting, The 14th at Perkins. Stay tuned and you will be the second ones to know if it works as advertised. Lorand ' Dunk ' Layton = KD7-JKB

March 26, 2007
I'm not sure how the proposed meeting room at the Salvation Army is going to work. There may be some scheduling problems with regular meetings. So the next meeting of the Magic Valley Radio Club will be at Perkins Restaurant on April 14th at 10 a.m. in the meeting room. Yes, that is a couple days before taxes are due but it just seemed like the best time to meet We will discuss the meeting room situation and decide which direction to go. We also will be discussing some events for the summer. There are some exciting things in the works so please come to the meeting so we can all decide on a direction to take. AND, we will be having elections for the next club Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer. Please make plans to attend. This is a very important meeting for the future of the club. It will only take an hour or two so if you have taxes to work on you will be out of there in plenty of time to get those done. Please plan to attend the meeting. (K7SU)

March 20, 2007
New Meeting Room?
Below are two pictures taken by club president Lee Kelly, K6ZVA, of a possible meeting room at the Salvation Army building in Twin Falls. I don't know about you but it looks pretty good to me. It has tables, chairs, a roof...everything required to keep us out of the weather. Lee said it's locked on weekends but Dallas could get us in. Only thing....what if we wanted to have a meeting and Dallas wasn't around? Stuff like that we'll have to check out befoe we commit. You can email Lee, CLICK HERE, and let him know what you think. Not sure how many it will hold or anything. We may have to have at least one meeting in that room to see if it will work and go from there. But so far it looks pretty good!

March 17, 2007
MVRC Meeting Update:
WOW. We had a GREAT turnout for the meeting at Perkins! We had LOTS of ideas on how to get the club rejuvenated and lots of attendees. We had 23 call signs on the signup sheet and there were at least three there who were not licensed. We are going to look into getting a permanent meeting place. Right now the best prospect is the Salvation Army building. We have plans to have a FOX HUNT soon with a nice prize and we have some ideas in the works for a FIELD DAY operation. We've also decided the meetings should be held on Saturday's rather than the long traditional Tuesday evenings. Saturdays just seem to work out better for everyone. We're not sure yet where the next meeting will be...probably at Perkins. Please check back here for updates. Here is a list of all the hams who were at the meeting: K7SU, KD7VKZ, K6ZVA, W7AAZ, KE7LOY, KI7XV, W6RCZ, KI7CC, KD7JKC, N7JHS, KD7JKB, W7GDA, AA7BR, K7IAR, N7GUC, AD7JS, W7NVQ, WH6VI, K6OKV, K6YEX, W6OUU, KG6DGU, KE7IAC. If the enthusiasm shown by those in attendance is any indication, we are going to have a really fine and fun club. As you can see in the pictures below, the little meeting room at Perkins was filled to capacity. 73, (Kelly, K7SU)

March 17, 2007
Hey guys, this is not a typo. We now have space (free) in the communications building on top of Galena. Dave Sundholm KC7SZU alerted me that we may be able to qualify for some grant money to fund this. Sooo I am going after this!!! By the way VOI amateur club(Boise) is behind us to get a galena repeater on the air. I will supply further details as they become available 73 Joe Yelda KF7AE

March 7, 2007

Hi everyone, I just wanted all of you to know the two local papers, (Wood River Journal and the Idaho Mountain Express) ran articles on our new Baldy Repeater. Since a number of you on my mailing list live outside the valley I thought you would like to read one of the articles. The following is from the Wood River Journal and they printed it just like I wrote it.
Emergency communications repeater is now operational in Wood River Valley.
The Wood River Amateur Radio Club would like to announce a new communications repeater (frequency 147.18) is now in place on top of Baldy. This repeater is designed to facilitate communications if a disaster situation were to happen here in the Wood River Valley. This repeater has a three day battery backup and will soon have emergency generator power. The coverage of the repeater is from Galena Summit on the north to the Utah border on the south. It is also open to personal use by anyone holding an amateur radio license see www.arrl.org Back country uses such as para gliders, runners,backpackers, and climbers will now have an option for personal and emergency use by obtaining an license and purchasing a handheld transceiver(approximate cost $120) This repeater is also available for public events such as the Sawtooth Relay or the Back Country Run where reliable communications are desired. This repeater has been made possible with the support of the local amateur club, Wally Huffman from Sun Valley Company, Dean Newman from Idaho Wireless, and Kurt Funkhouser from Idaho Tower. For further information please contact the Wood River Amateur Radio Club c/o Joe Yelda at jpyelda@yahoo.com

Thanks again for all your support!! Enjoy your repeater!!! 73 Joe Yelda KF7AE

March 7, 2007
HAM CLUB MEMBERS DWINDLING IN NUMBERS?
Ham clubs all over the country are dwindling in numbers and participation. THIS LINK to the ARRL site has some good suggestions on how to revitalize and even rebuild your club. Check out THIS LINK to the ARRL site and see if some of these ideas may apply to our clubs in the valley. On that note, I think we should get all four of the clubs together sometime this summer for a big shindig/BBQ/fun time. Any ideas? (K7SU)

March 6, 2007
BPL BPL BPL (Broadband Over Powerlines)...Coming soon to a power line near you? What does it sound like? Would you know it if you heard it? Follow this link to a page loaded with WAV sound files and other links so you can hear what it actually sounds like. This is NOT something we want to hear on the shortwave bands, let alone the ham bands. Idaho Power Company has admitted experimenting with it in some areas but for now has abandoned the idea. But who knows what the future holds? Click HERE to go to the BPL sounds page: (K7SU)

March 3, 2007
The Snake River Chapter ISRA held ham testing on Saturday. There were four applicants for licenses or upgrades and ALL PASSED. One applicant was a Novice who upgraded to a Tech. One was a former licensee who's term had lapsed. One was a new licensee who got his Tech. And Don Frasher, KE7FFM upgraded from General to Extra! Congratulations to all and a big thanks to the Snake River Chapter for holding the testing session. (Thanks to Kenny, KK7QC for the update.)

March 3, 2007
Message from Joe Yelda (KF7AE) president of the Wood River Valley ARC.

Hey Guys, I just wanted to thank all of you for your support and for making this wide area repeater possible!! The Baldy repeater has only been on the air for a week now and I have never seen such excitement in the 22 years I have been involved in amateur radio!!!! I think Fred N7ACB was right when he said with no code and a new repeater a new era has started in Amateur Radio!!!!!

Here is our financial report. After all the bills are paid and rental for the site (one year) we should have about $200 in our account. Not bad when you consider some of you were wondering if we would even get this off the ground!! When I get back from vacation I plan on working on a phone patch.

What I really wanted to talk to you was about was a future vision of the repeater. When I was working with Dean Newman from Idaho Wireless (he runs the communication building we are in on top of Baldy). He mentioned that we may have an opportunity to locate a 2 meter repeater on Galena due to our public service background. Before I go any further, Dean is the guy who was instrumental in negotiating a lower rate for us with Sun Valley Company. Dean is also letting us use his (3 day) battery backup system. So if you run into Dean you need to buy him a drink or take him out to lunch!!!

Here is my vision of our repeater. We would have two open repeaters linked together (Baldy and Galena) which means you key up one repeater you then key up the other. I am talking about communications with a handheld from the Sawtooth wilderness area and Stanley back to the Wood River Valley. I can foresee every Search and Rescue guy along with many back country users with a ham license and a handheld. Now add a phone patch to Baldy and imagine your communications ability!!! The cost I estimate will be between $3000 to $4000. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for funding.

By the way some of you may know I do some free lance writing (published World Radio, Runners World, etc. I have written an article about the repeater and have sent it to the newspapers. We may get some press on the repeater Thanks again for your support!!! 73 Joe Yelda KF7AE

March 3, 2007

The latest project at the shack of KD7JKB ( Dunk ) Is going to be a vertical HiQ 5/160. Most of you know I have my shack out in the shop, The shop is a Metal clad building. The new vertical antenna will be mounted in the center of the roof. If every one will please cross your fingers for me ! I will let you know how things are proceeding. The antenna is on back order the controller is on back order. I have 102" steal whip and am working on the mounting platform. 73 Dunk

February 26, 2007
New repeater in the Wood River Valley! There is a new communication building on top of Bald Mountain in Sun Valley with two 80 foot towers next to it. The Wood River Ham Club is at 40 feet on the tower with a diamond X50N antenna. The power is set at 25 watts and we have received contacts from the Utah border and are being heard in Stanley. This is a grass roots effort put forth by about 20 hams. As always donations are appreciated to support cause. Hopefully with no code and new repeater this will jump start ham radio here in the valley. Give it a try. Receive it on 147.18 transmit to it on 147.78, no PL tone. Joe Yelda (KF7AE), the president of the Wood River Club, said they also have a chance at getting a repeater on Galena Summit. That would be nice! Check the REPEATERS link above for repeater information. For more information on the new repeater, EMAIL JOE, the president of the Wood River Club.

January 18, 2007
On December 15th the FCC reallocated some ham bands. The frequency you use to work may no longer be available to you, depending on your class of license. Click HERE to go to the ARRL site where you can print out a new updated frequency chart for US hams. (K7SU)