THE SPARK GAP A monthly publication of the Meridian Amateur Radio Club May 2002  Bible Verse Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. 1 Corinthians 4:5 KJV Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Helen Keller (1880-1968) Social reformer and writer When we face the worst that can happen in any situation, we grow. When circumstances are at their worst, we can find our best. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler "Life Lessons" "Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us." --Voltaire President’s Comments It has been a very busy month for me. Had to get follow up test on my stomach. All test are fine so far. Still have another doctor to go. I am feeling much better now. Thanks for all of you that are working on set up for Jimmie Rodgers Day at the Train in Highland Park. Hope we can make an annual thing of it. The weather is dry and we have been blessed with no bad weather, but stand by for some bad stuff sooner or later. Hope everybody has field day marked on their calendar. Lets make this one a good one too. Our membership is great this year but we would like to have some of our ham’s friends that are not coming out, so invite your friends out to the truck stop on Saturday mornings. Hope all have a good month and see you on the ham bands. 73’s CP W5OQY Vice President’s Comments Our deepest condolences go out to the families of Howard Ward on the loss of his wife and to the Lawrence Swistek family on the loss of his niece. In addition our honorary member Ryan was taken to Jackson this evening (May 10) for medical treatment. Please keep these families in your prayers. I ruefully inform you that a couple very active within MARC have moved out of our area. Michael (N5VWS) and Patricia (N5ZSK) were active with Skywarn emergency weather nets, calling the local 2 meter nets on Tuesday evenings and the local grape jelly throw held at Queen City Truck Stop on Saturday mornings. Michael and Patricia were offered jobs with benefits in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Best of luck to both of you in your new adventure. Please keep in touch! My apologies to everyone for some of this information arriving a bit too late. The following information concerning the Jimmie Rodgers Special Event Station was put together rather quickly. Have a GREAT DAY everyday! May God bless each of you. 73, W5MAV Treasurer Report A donation has been made to the American Cancer Society in memory of Mrs. Virginia Ward. Our sincere condolences to the Ward family. Following the Fish Fry last month we have added 5 new members giving a total of 46 paid members. Thank you Mel & Margie for hosting the Annual MARC Fish Fry. If you would like a copy of the membership list please call Deb at 626-0053 or visit the club web page (http://www.MeridianARC.org). Please consider bringing a friend to Queen City Truck stop on Saturday mornings. Have a great month! 73, KD5JYJ Secretary Report Minutes from May business meeting held April 27, 2002 1. Minutes read and approved and treasurer's report given. 2. Special Event station W5FQ will operate from 0 hours UTC to 0 hours UTC on May 11th as part of the Jimmie Rodgers' Memorial Festival being held the week of May 5th. 3. Field Day site has been secured for the weekend of June 22-23 (1800 UTC SAT - 2100 UTC SUN). Details of Field Day will be worked out at June 1 business meeting. (Always 4th weekend in June) 4. Philip (KD5CBK) and Patty (KD5FJA) have been nominated to fill an "ambassador" position for the club. Duties of checking in on members and members' families sick and/or in hospital would be performed. Central MS SKYWARN LINKING TEST Report Received from KI5FW. Thank you Dennis A reminder to everyone that the SKYWARN LINKING TEST takes place on the last Sunday of each month (local net) at 8:30 pm on the 146.700/R and the link check in on 146.970/R at 8:45 pm. Report of the Central Mississippi SKYWARN Linking Net April 28, 2002 By: Ron Brown AB5WF We had a very good test of the linking system. As a mater of fact it was exciting! We had stations in Alabama communicating with station in the Shreveport area. We had over 50 check-in on the net. In addition there were 21 check-in from area nets which were relayed into the net. The 146.94 machine was linked to the new Delhi, LA repeater 145.110 which is part of the North Louisiana Link System developed by Kevin Thomas, KB5ZVT. Thanks to Kevin and his friends for the fine job they have done is establishing this link across Louisiana. The Collins repeater was linked into the 146.94. The Meridian group was able to get in to the Pelahatchie repeater 147.24. KD5KXJ, Reported 6 stations in the Leake county area net. KI5FW, reported 7 from the Meridian area. KD5JXD, reported 8 stations from the Southwest area net. The National Weather Service station in Jackson, W5JWX was on and the Shreveport NWS station K5SHV was also on. The following calls were recorded and reported to the best of my ability. From LA: KD5HHD, KC5OHO, KB5TLB, KD5SBP, N5WLG, KD5OWL, KD5JLG, KM5WF, KB5PKW, AC5DW, N5KWB, AC5VN, KB5ZUK, KD5MUL, KD5QCV From Arkansas: KD5IMP From Alabama: through Meridian. W4WTG From Meridian area: KI5FW reported 8 stations checked into their local ARES net. Others from the east via the Pelahatchie machine. KC5HHW, KC5CHE, KC5BCO, KD5GWM, KC5STC, K5YCK, K5TMA, KC5PQH. Jackson Area stations: K5VU, KD5GXS, KD5HDZ, KC5NSA, AC5SU, KC5OSM, KD5FUY, KD5NYV, N5RSR, KM5GE, AC5ZE, K5RWB,/M, KD5NRS/M, W5PPB. Thanks to everyone who participated in the event. Special thanks to control operators who made the connections to put this together. With this many checking in to the net we ran into some problems with some stations unable to get in. We will look at changing the check-in procedure to help this situation. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Contact: Bill Bob, N5XXX. Wrsekul@aol.com or Ron Brown AB5WF, ab5wf@arrl.net Ron Brown Jimmie Rodgers Special Event Station 2002 Special Event Station W5FQ. The Meridian Amateur Radio Club will be operating during the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival in Meridian, MS from 1800 (2300 UTC) 10 May 2002 until 1800 (2300 UTC) 11 May 2002. We will be operating out of the Caboose of the Memorial Train next to the Jimmie Rodgers museum in the Highland Park area of Meridian, MS. MARC members will be operating on or about the following frequencies: 28.462 / 21.362 / 18.162 / 14.262 / 7.262 / 3.862 / 146.700 / 444.500. Exchange will be Call Sign, RST and Location. Please send a 9 X 12 SASE to receive your personalized Jimmie Rodgers Special Event Certificate. Please send QSL card to W5FQ at the following address: MERIDIAN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB 7495 HWY 494 LITTLE ROCK MS 39337 Born September 8, 1897 in Meridian, MS. Jimmie Rodgers was also known as America's Blue Yodeler, The Father of Country Music, and The Singing Brakeman. He was the first inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Jimmie passed away in a New York hotel while recording twelve of twenty four songs for an album. He was 35 years old and died of tuberculosis on May 26, 1933. More info on http://www.jimmierodgers.com/   Have a great month  Last Month Next Month Back to The Spark Gap