Field Day is Here!!! -------------------- That's right, *next* Saturday is Field Day! Ham radio's premier operating event begins at 1 PM (1800 UTC) *next* Saturday and lasts until 4 PM the following day. This year we have chosen the Agri-Park, located on Garland Avenue in Fayetteville as our FD site. All are welcome to drop by and operate at any time during the 24+ hour event. Those interested in assisting in the set-up should be at the radio room by 12 noon Saturday. The exercise is designed to test our skills at operating under sub-optimum conditions in order to prepare for emergency situations, such as those that were encountered during Hurricane Andrew. The object is to get on the air as quickly as possible using emergency power and contact as many other stations as possible. Planning/preparations is/are going well so far. Dan KB5UPY, Clendon, and I will be test assembling the tri-band beam tommorrow (Sunday). Press releases go out Monday. As far as equipment, etc. goes, here is what folks have committed to so far: Equipment --------- Clendon SWL -- Tarp, rope (for shelter) Dan K5FXB -- nylon cord (for antennas), PuPoPa (8-)), HT Walt N5YGR/AG -- HeathKit HF rig, dipoles, HT Peter N5UWY/AG -- KB5TFX's Icom HF rig, HT, discone, solar panel Lynn N0PMQ -- 3750 W (!) generator Don KB5WPM -- Flourecent (sp?) lights, Kenwood HF rig, HT Creature Comforts ----------------- Dan KB5UPY -- Hibachi (charcoal too?) Walt N5YGR/AG -- Soft Drinks, Cooler Peter N5UWY/AG -- Hot Dogs, Hamburger meat Congratulations --------------- Kudos to Walt Carter N5YGR/AG who upgraded to General and to Don Faulkner KB5WPM who upgraded to Technician Plus (and passed the General written, so he only needs to get his code speed up ...). Exams, etc. ----------- The next ham exam in NWA will be on July 10th in Bella Vista. Please let me know if you are planning to attend as I am probably going to go there myself. Also note that if you are planning to take the Novice (element 2) or Technician (3A) be aware that the current question pools will expire June 30th. The new pools are available in electronic form from ARCUA. ARCUA also has available several exam "drill" programs. Autoexam (by Rich Bono NM1D) gives you the choice of taking any of the written elements. There is also a set of five programs (one for each test element. By Rich Barker) that do basically the same the same thing except that they are in color and have graphics for the questions that require them. The Novice and Technician programs also include the new question pool. Both varieties will give you a standard test (i.e. 50 questions from a pool of >500 for the Advanced test) or they will allow you to drill on the entire pool. OnLine Resources for Hams (and Ham wannabes ;-) ) ================================================= By typing 'nn' at the engr or uafhp system prompt, a user gains access to UseNet, a worldwide information exchange. Of the thousands of newsgroups available, there are several that are of interest to the radio hobbyist: rec.radio.amateur.misc rec.radio.amateur.packet rec.radio.amateur.policy rec.radio.shortwave rec.radio.swap alt.radio.scanner An explanation of the 'nn' newsreader is displayed the first time you issue the 'nn' command. Additional help is available by typing 'man nn' at the prompt. A summary of commands is available by typing '?' while in nn. Email Lists ----------- In addition to UseNet newsgroups, there are also electronic mailing lists to which one may subscribe. HAM-UNIV covers topics of interest to members of University Amateur Radio Clubs. To subscribe, send mail to 'listserv@hertz.njit.edu' with subscribe ham-univ ' in the body. INFOHAMS is a digest of articles that appear in the amateur radio related UseNet. To subscribe, send mail to 'listserv@taunivm.tau.ac.il' with 'subscribe infohams ' in the body. Online Callbook --------------- By typing 'telnet callsign.cs.buffalo.edu 2000' at the system prompt, you can access a digital version of the Ham Radio Callbook. This database lists all licensees from the US and Canada and is current through about March 2, 1993. The database is searchable on just about any field (i.e. call, name, city, zipcode, etc) *************************************************************************** If you need any more information regarding any of these topics, feel free to contact me in person, via Email, by phone 443-2598, or of course via Ham Radio, callsign N5UWY. 73, Peter Laws N5UWY/AG / V31WY / VE2??? President, Amateur Radio Club, University of Arkansas / W5YM