Site last updated 05/08/2008

MS Walk 2008

 Sunday April 27th, the 2008 MS Walk took place in Wausau . I would like to thank the following Hams for their participation: Jerry W9GLG, Michael KB9VBR, Mark N9MEA, Dan KB9RXA, Dennis W9PBB, Mike KB9DED, Sherrill N9UAG, Bob WA9NBC, Bob W9BVX, Terry KB9YPS and his son Liam KC9NGW. We had 210 walkers, down from the over 360 walkers we had last year. Although we had mainly hams that had volunteered in the past, we did have some new volunteers this year. Again, I want to thank all the hams that volunteered this year and hope you will be able to help out again next year. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the MS Walk, you can email those to me at n9lia@wvraclub.org.   73, Jack N9LIA

New Club Officers for April 2008 - April 2009

The new board members for the WVRA board were voted on during the April general meeting.  Here are the board members and their positions.

• Kim Baumann KC9LFH - President

• Dave Levorson N9KNY - Vice President

• Sherrill Baumann N9UAG - Secretary

• Joe Mullan KC9GRD- Treasurer

• Jerry Graebel W9GLG - Activities and Public Education Director

• Mark Rasmussen N9MEA - Equipment Manager

• Matt Baumann N9NMH - Net Manager

Membership Reminder

Membership dues were due on April 1st.  If you have not paid your 2008-2009 dues, please send them to the club PO Box or get it to the club treasurer.

Everyone that has paid for the 2008-2009 membership year should have received an email from Mark N9MEA with the login information for the membership roster and repeater guide.  If you did not get this email, please email Mark and let him know.  He can be reached at n9mea[at]wvraclub[dot]org.  The updates have also been done to the club email list so everyone that is paid up should have a working email address of their callsign [at]wvraclub[dot]org.

Marathon County ARES Weather Spotter Training

Marathon County ARES will be putting on a Weather Spotter class on May 20th at 7:00pm at the UW-Extension Office at 212 River Drive in Wausau.  Remember, Marathon County ARES/RACES requires this training at least once every 2 years. If you need more info or plan to attend please email Mike KB9VBR or Dave N9KNY.

Strange Antenna Challenge or Learning Antennas the Fun Way

A tornado rips through your neighborhood. A large tree crashes onto your garage crushing your car. All your base and mobile antennas are now trash and your HT is just about out of power. What are you going to!

Well find two lawn chairs, place them about a foot apart on your roof. Connect each one to your feedline and connect to your tuner. Start searching for a band with a match and start talking! It’s just that easy! Well you should know just a little bit more but not much.

A few of your local HAM’s with maybe a bit more than normal or maybe healthy imagination have been discussing the KØS, Strange Antenna Challenge^SM . THIS IS NOT A CONTEST. It’s just fun. You can find the detail at http://www.n0ew.org/k0s/ . Anyway we were just wondering how strange of an antenna we could build. One person found a material that most would not think of as antenna material then conversations with different HAM’s took this idea up, up, and away. Be careful when you tell a HAM the sky’s the limit. Right now the plan is to try and build a one full wavelength 80M whip on the back of a car! That’s 262 feet high!! Watch out for overhead wires.

I’ll bet a lot of people think this is silly, stupid, or a waste of time. Is it? Well field day is coming soon and the idea is to get on the air quickly and reliably in and after an emergency. This kind of antenna event helps teach and refine the skills needed to do that. Think what you can do with your base setup after you just placed two pickup trucks back to back hooked on a feedline and made some 20M contacts.

On that web site is a field guide to antennas, feedlines, and tuning. It is written so this newbie and any other HAM can make sense of it. It does not go way off into theory land but focuses on practical application. Take a read, I think a lot of people will enjoy it. http://www.n0ew.org/book/k0s_field_manual.pdf

73 from W9DAK see you on the nets.

Program Ideas Needed

If you have any ideas for a program at the monthly general meetings, please contact Dave N9KNY with your ideas.

WVRA Interview with WAOW Channel 9

On the afternoon of Tuesday September 11th, WVRA members gave interviews to WAOW Channel 9 out at the WVRA main transmitter site at the Fox 55 tower site.  Here is a link to the article on the WAOW website.  Thanks go to Jon KC9AEJ, Kim KC9LFH, Mark N9MEA, and Michael KB9VBR.  Nice Job!

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New Email Address Reminder

If you have changed your email address since you joined the club, please notify Joe Mullan KC9GRD so that the club roster can be changed and also Jon Gelhaus KC9AEJ or Mark Rasmussen N9MEA so that the club email reflector can be changed.

Ask the Experts

The WVRA has compiled a list of people who are willing to elmer other hams or people interested in amateur radio and answer questions for them and help them out if needed.  The areas of interest could be HF, antennas, Packet, APRS, SKYWARN, ARES, contesting, or anything else you can think of.  We will publish the list of volunteers here and their areas that they would like to answer questions for, so that other hams can contact the correct people to get their questions answered.  If you would like to volunteer to be one of the "Experts", please email Mark N9MEA, with your name and area or areas of interest.  The elmers can be contacted either on one of the club repeaters or by email at their callsign at wvraclub.org.  If you would like to contact all the elmers with you question, they can be reached at elmers[at]wvraclub[dot]org.

• Dennis Shawl, W9PBB - Basic electronic theory

• Michael Martens, KB9VBR - HF digital modes, Antennas, APRS, ARES/RACES

• Dave Levorson, N9KNY - SKYWARN, ARES/RACES

• Mark Rasmussen, N9MEA - APRS, Repeaters

• Jerry Graebel, W9GLG - Antennas, CW

• Matt Baumann, N9NMH - Mobile radio installations

• Travis Augustine, KC9JVC - Winlink 2000, SKYWARN, ARES/RACES

WVRA Club Systems Updates

Updates on all the club systems, whether it be a voice or digital system, can be found on the web page for that particular system.  You can either select the tab for Physical Systems on the left and then select the system you want information on or you can just click on the link at the top of this page.  If you have any questions about the club systems, contact Mark Rasmussen N9MEA.

WVRA Contact Information

If you would like to contact the club, you can reach us at:

Wisconsin Valley Radio Association
PO Box 363
Wausau, WI     54402

We can also be reached at w9sm[at]arrl[dot]net.  You can also contact any of the board members listed on the Membership, Roster, and E-Mail page by emailing them at their call sign at wvraclub.org or the entire board by emailing board[at]wvraclub[dot]org.

WVRA Memberships and Suggestions

Memberships run from April 1 of 2007 to March 31st of 2008.  Dues are $25.00 for a single membership or $37.50 for a family.  The membership form can be found here.  Please send the completed form to: Wisconsin Valley Radio Assoc.  PO Box 363  Wausau, WI  54402.

If you would like to make a suggestion to the WVRA, you can print this form, fill it out and mail it to the club or bring it to a club meeting and give it to a board member.

Pick n' Save Contributions

Just a reminder that the WVRA is a registered non-profit organization for the Pick n' Save We Care Community Dollar Program.  Please consider selecting the WVRA as one of your designated organizations.  This can be done at the service desk at any of the Pick n' Save grocery stores.  Our organization number is 942660.  The more people that select the club as one of their recipients means the club receives more money from the We Care program.

The WVRA 147.135 (114.8)/146.865 (114.8) is the official primary Marathon County ARES SKYWARN repeater system.  Just a reminder that if you hear a SKYWARN net in progress, please hold your traffic until after the net has ended.  The Rib Mountain Repeater Association (RMRA) 444.300 repeater will now be used as the primary link to NOAA weather at Green Bay for the region using IRLP, node number 4380.  The 443.750 repeater at Mosinee Hill will be the back up link to NOAA.  See the Marathon County ARES website for the Severe Weather Communications plan.  Also, check out the Northeast ARES District simplex frequency plan here.