NETNEWS

by WB6IXN

3/03/2010 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in WB9YCJ, NI6E(Peter), W6EZY, and WB6IXN.  IXN had a S8 QRN level!  Later, Bob found a noisy scanner near the rig responsible for most of the QRN.   AF6C announced that Carl Gardenias, WU6D, will be March Club speaker. Bob reported that his sister, in Plimpton, Mass., is bracing fer a new snowstorm!  IXN finally gave in and went DSL. Wid the high QRN, Bob cud not hear Peter, NI6E, in Newport Beach.  EZY warned OPs not to give census takers social security numbers, etc.   Jeff was copying IXN well.  Ken-WB9YCJ got a ’lil salary increase, and Ken warned OPs abt identity theft of your health insurance numbers to gain access to your healthcare benefits!

3/03/2010 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/IXN checked in AF6C, KB6CJZ, W6EZY, AF6CF, and Kenan, KR6J (after Net).  AF6C got the bougainvillea bush trimmed (ouch!), and Bob must replace a deteriorated wood strip between concrete sidewalk blocks. Watch fer a new tech article from AF6C involving an antenna wid L-matching network.  CJZ, HHC, and CF are busily preparing fer Baker-to-Vegas on Apr 16.   KR6J checked in after Net…Kenan is happy to be back working wid his old boss in a new company!  EZY, a MacIntosh guy, checked into Net wid 1.5W on a HT wid strong sigs, and Jeff said rain for the weekend!

3/10/2010 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in W6UX, W6HHC, WB9YCJ, WB6IXN, and AF6CF.  IXN still has QRN of S7 at the QTH, and UX, wid his new Extra license, in the DX Contest on 15m!...Jeff’s ant. is working extremely well!  XYL Diane told HHC that Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend!...And HHC & W6FKX are co-Field Day Chmn…Ken is enjoying the 2-way worldwide correspondence wid his DATV projects.  AF6C swings the beam around to improve communications wid OPs, and Bob & IXN are now attacking weed problems at their respective QTHs.  YCJ is looking forward to a boxing match Saturday involving the Phillipine champion, and Ken asks abt plans for upcoming Field Day only 12 weeks away…Then off fer sum shut-eye before graveyard shift work!  IXN finished his research on Focal Mechanisms (beachballs), and IXN cannot hear CF above the S7 QRN at the QTH!

3/10/2010 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/WB6IXN checked in W6UX, KC6ACT, AF6C, W6HHC, KF6EVX, AF6CF, and KE6YHX.  Like IXN, UX experienced background QRN on 10m, and IXN congrats Jeff on advancement to Extra!...Jeff’s ant. is a dipole up abt 32 ft.  ACT thanks HHC & AF6C fer e-mail reminders abt Club Nets on Wed. Eve…And Greg, a member of the Cactus & Succulent Society, has been out wid members in the Anza-Borrego/Joshua Tree regions inspecting plant growth after the big rains.  AF6C cut back the bouganvilla, getting only one ‘wound’, getting rewarded wid his first ripe tangerine this year…Now he & IXN will be attacking the lawn weeds!   HHC enjoyed skiing at Mammoth wid his younger daughter & her family last week.  Ken enjoys reading e-mail from other DATV enthusiasts.  EVX will be getting a new rig to help out wid future communications in amateur radio and community activities.  CF, wid 2m rig problems, finally checked in wid gud sigs near Net’s end…And Nicholas is still researching rig problems.  YHX, just home frm college classes, is enjoying his trigonometry class!

3/17/2010 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in W6HHC, W6UX, and WB6IXN.  QRN was reversed at AF6C/IXN QTHs…AF6C high tonite while IXN was vy low!  AF6C is busy servicing a rotor control circuit board, hasn’t heard any ARRL Audio News as yet, and completed and sent in his taxes.  HHC said COAR has finished equipment checkout fer B2V, and HHC received and successfully played a DVD of he and CJZ’s TechTalk to the TAPRS meeting in Chicago…Ken said that 2010 FD site will again be Walter Knott School in Buena Park.  UX continues to sort out station software, working on PSK-31, working DX, and getting ready for RTTY!  IXN said there might be liquid lakes of carbon on Uranus & Neptune with diamonds floating on the carbon lakes!

3/17/2010 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/WB6IXN checked in K6VDP, KB6CJZ, KR6J, W6HHC, and AF6C.   VDP announced that Ed, K6JGN is now a Silent Key, and VDP will dispose of all Ed’s hamgear.  Ed was a member of the NARSmen many years ago.  HHC told CJZ that Dolby sound on the TAPRS DVD is not normally supported by WindowXP, but works on Windows7…Ken said that there is a series of 6 DVDs covering the Chicago TAPRS DCC Conference.   KR6J was hopping between a schematic diagram & radio deciding on what parts were needed to repair it…Kenan will probably FD on Onyx Summit this year.  HHC announced Fri. eve. Club meeting & program, and said that some OCARC members will be in the Carribean for FD, and B2V is upon us!!  And AF6C enjoyed a traditional St. Patty’s dinner of corn beef & cabbage, and, Bob will miss B2V this year wid other commitments.

3/24/2010 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in WB6IXN, WB9YCJ, and W6HHC.  AF6C & HHC like football, and IXN & YCJ like baseball.   AF6C asked OPs if they ever watched any of the ‘Dr. Who’ TV Series on BBC.  YCJ’s mouse is RF sensitive, shutting down when Ken transmits!...And YCJ, a new DMC-LR1 Panasonic digital camera.  IXN is looking forward to the end of the basketball season, and Bob alerted OPs to full power-up of the Large Hadron Collider in early April.  HHC has had 2 rooms painted in the QTH, now Ken has to move everything back into the two rooms!...And HHC told YCJ that ‘RF’ might be getting back into the shack on his outer coax shield.

3/24/2010 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/WB6IXN checked in K6VDP, AF6C, KR6J, W6HHC, and WB9YCJ.  AF6C & IXN suggest a quick tour of the Club Website at a future Club meeting.  And VDP checked in on a 2m EICOM donated to the Club, wid a future list of donated equipment to be posted on the Club Webpage.  AF6C emailed IXN info. on a useful calculator on the Club website!  KR6J enjoyed last Club meeting, leaving Net early to continue stirring strawberry jam.  HHC suggested a ‘Show & Tell’ (abt 10 min) on the Club Website at a future Club meeting, and Ken is ready fer B2V in abt 3 weeks!...Ken will also be writing an article for the Spring issue of the TAPR Journal, and, ARRL is well aware of the Club Website as a source of DATV information!  YCJ & IXN enjoyed figure skating at the Winter Olympics, and Ken is preparing for the Angels baseball season.  AF6C suggested a Club trip to a future baseball game, and Bob suggested an emergency 2m setup of OPs fer a future net night.

3/31/2010 10m Phone Net – W6ZE/AF6C checked in W6UX, W6GMU, WB6IXN, KE6YHX, WV6V, W6HHC, and WA6PFA.  UX helped install a antenna base and support for DHT’s new antenna, and Jeff has been messing wid digital mode, setting up a computer and working DX wid Australia and Cook Island.  IXN couldn’t hear GMU, but discovered that Paul has just retired!  AF6C will go after the burr clover in his lawn wid weed killer, and Bob said that his sister is in the basement at her QTH in Plimpton, Mass, pumping about two inches of water outside..(huge rain storms in Boston area!)…And Bob dubbed tonite’s Net the April Fools Net!  YHX, home on Spring Break, checked into Net telling OPs that he got a new cell phone.  WV66V, back from rifling in the desert, and XYL, WU6U, along wid AF6CF, will man the Pahrump location during B2V.  All ears perked up when HHC said that he had ordered 4 new I-Pads fer the Company, and AF6C, HHC, and IXN had a roundtable discussion abt Iron City Beer, and, Old Frothingslosh ( the beer with the foam on the bottom)!  IXN & Lee will be in the San Jacinto Mts. next Wednesday, and PFA got checked out at UCI Med, Center after suffering a TIA (slight stroke)…gud to hear Tommy on the Net tonite!

3/31/2010 2m Phone Net – W6ZE/WB6IXN checked in W6GMU, W6HHC, WV6V, WU6U, KR6J, K6VDP, AF6C, and KF6EVX.  GMU retired a couple of days ago…Congrats, Paul!  HHC reported that N6HC, AF6C, W6UX, and KI6VEN, all helped KI6DHT wid his antenna project, and, Ken HHC will miss next Club meeting wid the Visalia DX Convention, B2V, and a family reunion all planned fer the same weekend!  WV6V was doing some hunting around Montgomery Pass, NV, and XYL, WU6U, popped into Net ot say ‘HI’.  KR6J’s strawberry jam turned out FB last week, & Kenan came in the top 20 in a bicycle race in Long Beach!  Now KR6J will be playing wid his new MFJ 269 ant. analyzer.