THE FIRST CLASS C.W.

OPERATORS CLUB

NEWS SHEET 603

(http://members.aol.com/focuk)

Editor: G4BUE

January 2000

A man should keep his friendship in constant repair - Samuel Johnson (1755)
(3525, 7025, 10120-10125, 14025, 18080-18085, 21025, 24905-24910 and 28025kHz)

BANDS OF THE MONTH FOR JANUARY ARE 160 & 20 METRES

TOPICAL ISSUES by G3SXW

The start of a new year traditionally brings resolutions to do things differently, and hopefully better, than before. This time a new century and millennium is helping to concentrate minds all the more so on the future. What needs to be done differently - and better? FOC is a highly respected organisation whose views are heeded by the powers that be in amateur radio. But these are never just the views of a Committee or a President - they are the collective views of the membership. We need to address issues that are core to the well-being of the Club and also we need to contribute meaningfully to the world-wide debate about the future of amateur radio. Here, in this column, is one way of adding colour and depth to discussions. All it needs is to send your words to me and they will (very nearly always) be printed. It is far easier by e-mail (<g3sxw@ compuserve.com>) but by post is also fine. Do please join in these important debates. The 21st century is in our hands. My very best personal wishes to everyone for a wonderfully successful New Year. DX, ragchew, awards, contests, skeds, islands, QRP , moonbounce, UHF, meteors, satellites, slowmorse, emergency - whatever is your agenda, may your on-air CW activities be immensely enjoyable. Doug, VE7NHs, proposals for a non-member award (Topical Issues, November 1999 News Sheet) have generated some responses. Here is a counter view from Dan, GW3HCL. I am against the idea totally. Our in-house awards programme is big enough already. So much so that it is ill-supported by the majority. The Marathon and Windle go well but WAFOC and WAFOCC with their off-shoot certificates do not, if the FOCUS reports are anything to go by. So more are not needed. We are accused of being an elitist group. So we are, but there is a feeling that we should not flaunt it. General use of CQ FOC or a call suffix /FOC is rather frowned on by the majority, as is frequent use of membership numbers.

Awards for non-members means that this trend will have to be reversed. Otherwise how can non-members identify us? I am even more against the idea that within the award should be a contest at least once a year (implying that more than one is desirable). There are quite enough contests already. We are not a Contest Club. In fact we aim to be the reverse, encouraging proper narrative QSOs. The suggestion that a contest-style exchange could be used to check out non-members for future sponsorship is nonsense. One gets no impression of a distant station other than it knows how to send 599001 fairly quickly. Presumably Doug would be prepared to pay for the awards and run the administration of his non-member proposal. Or does he expect them, ie some other members or our Committee to do it for him? Neither can I agree that FOC must be the only club which has no awards for non-members. Apart from clubs which are in reality national or regional societies (eg DARC), the only ones which do try to operate it as a source of revenue. They are the ones which come out with offers like Work ten stations on Vancouver Island. Claims plus $10 to VE7NH. Come to think of it even those seem to be fewer these days. Me no likee idea. Just space for June and I wish to you and your families all the very best, especially good health, for the New Year.

EDITORIAL by G4BUE

In the Millennium year 2000, the Dutch are organising the Con-Din again. The old place, Hotel dOrangerie in Vlissingen does not exist anymore. However we have found a very good place to hold this first Con-Din of the new Millennium - Maastricht, which is the oldest town of the Netherlands. The Con-Din will be held on Saturday 27 May 2000 in the restaurant of the hotel Castle Vaeshartelt in Maastricht. They have offered us sufficient privacy in a

CON-DIN 2000 INVITATION by PA5TT and PAABM

marvellous environment. King Willem II was once the owner of this Castle. The menu is Carpaccio of beef and smoked veal with olive-oil and capers, white clear soup with leeks and tender tournedos or a beautiful combination of several kind of fish prepared in different ways, and a grand dessert. There is a vegetarian meal available but please inform us if you require this. The price of the dinner is Dfl 62.50 and payment can be made on the day of the Dinner to Wino. Drinks are not included. Reservations for the Dinner have to be made not with the hotel or restaurant, but with either of us, PAABM or PA5TT. Please inform us of the choice of your meal. For the nights of 26 and 27 May 2000 the hotel (Kasteel Vaeshartelt) has reserved 15 double rooms, but they are only available up to 15 January. After that date there may be rooms available, but there is no guarantee. The rooms have two separate beds, shower (no bath), TV and telephone. The price per night for one room is Dfl 210. Single rooms are Dfl 155 per night. The room price does not include breakfast and taxes. There is an elevator for those who cannot climb steps. Those who wish to attend should make their reservation direct with the hotel mentioning FOC and indicating how many nights they will stay, but also please inform us about your plans. Details of the hotel are: Kasteel Vaeshartelt, Weert 9, 6222 PG Maastricht, The Netherlands or PO Box 4524, 6202 SB Maastricht, The Netherlands; telephone: (31) 43 369 0200; fax: (31) 43 362 6060; e-mail: <info@vaeshartelt.nl>. We investigated the area extensively (Wino was born in Zuid Limburg), and did not find many places to hold our dinner, but there are many places around where you can stay. Here are some of them: Hotel Mercure Maastricht Aachen Airport, Vliegveldweg 19, 6191 SB, Maastricht Aachen Airport, The Netherlands; telephone: (31) 43 364 2131; fax: (31) 43 364 4668. The price of a single room is Dfl 130-160 and a double room is Dfl 150-195. Botel Maastricht (yes a sleeping boat), Maasboulevard 95, 6211 JW Maastricht, The Netherlands; telephone: (31) 43 321 9023; fax: (31) 43 325 7998. The price for a single room is Dfl 60-70 and a double room is Dfl 85-95. Hostel Randwijck (five kilometres from Vaeshartelt), Edepolsdomein 30, 6229 EP Maastricht, The Netherlands; telephone: (31) 43 361 6835; fax: (31) 43 361 9007. The price for a single room is Dfl 85-95 and a double room is Dfl110-120. There are many more places to stay, even some guesthouses. The price for a double room there is about Dfl 100 and there are also many more expensive and exclusive hotels with extremely high prices. The city of Maastricht, and in the direct vicinity, has sufficient hotel accommoda-

Starred List

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION by G3MXJ

2. LY3BA: G3HZL, G3LZK, GM4SID, K4BAI, N6NT (+N6RA). 2. GJWB: G3LPN, G3MCK, GADE, W1HMD, W4QM. 1. S57NW: DJ5ZN, DL4CF, EA8CN, G4ZVJ, K1AO. An invitation has been sent to G4PDQ.

Additional Nominations

Accommodation

6. G4UZN: G4YNU, W8EGB, W1FZY. 5. OK1TN: OK1KT, OK1GT. 4. W4MQC: W4PM, K1AO, W1OT, N2UU, G8VG. 2. K1SM: K1AJ. 2. F5NZY: G3VMW, G4CEO. 2. W6EU: N6RA, N6NT. 2. KT3Y: DL8TWA, GW3SYL. 1. N7XM: K1JD. 1. VA3UZ (ex-UT4UZ): N6NT, KT5X. 1. K3IPK: G3HZL. 1. G5LP: G4XRV .

New Members

1728 W4ML (Jim) J. Green, PO Box 153, Mechanicsville, VA 23111; tel - 804 746 2122; XYL - Prudy; e-mail <jgreenw4ml@aol.com>. 1729 OK1CF (Karel) K. Matousek, J A Komenskeho 614/518, 434 01 Most, Czech Republic; tel - 35 612 3113; xyl - Zuzana; e-mail <ok1cf@atlas.cz>.

Amendments

GM3YTS (1430): new address - 19 Leighton Avenue, Dunblane, Perthshire FK15 0EB; tel 01786 824199. G6HD (1226): Silent Key. 9V1YC (1725): Correct call (Dec News Sheet) W2GW (1023): Silent Key. K2VUI (1561): tel - 781 899 0499. K8EJ (1369): new address - 165 Cross Creek Pvt Ln, Lenoir City, TN 37771, USA; tel - 865 988 0132. N8GZ (1495): new address - 13745 W. Summerstar Dr, Sun City West, Arizona 85375, USA; tel - 623 975 1484. tion. You can obtain more information from the Maastricht Tourist Information Office at VVV Maastricht, Het Dinghuis, Kleine Straat 1, 6211 ED Maastricht, The Netherlands; telephone: (31) 43 325 2121; fax: (31) 43 321 3746; Web site: <http://www.vvvmaastricht.nl>. A good camping and caravan ground is the Camping the Dousberg, Dousbergweg 102, 6212 GC Maastricht, telephone: (31) 43 343 2171; fax: (31) 343 0556. The price for two adults and a caravan per night is Dfl. 25-35. By car from Maastricht: follow Meerssenerweg and after a few kilometres take the exit to Weert (turn left) and cross the railroad (2x). Continue straight ahead entering the lane to the hotel Kasteel Vaeshartelt in front of you.

Travel Directions

By car from highway E-25/A-2 (Amsterdam Eindhoven - Maastricht): Leave at exit 51 Meerssen-Bunde and at the end of the exit on the roundabout (rotonde) turn left. Pass the viaduct and continue until the second roundabout, turn right (to Maastricht). Follow this road and after approximately 50 metres continue through another roundabout (do not change direction). Continue on this road until another roundabout and turn right, and after some about 100 metres turn right at the first street on your right (to Weert). Cross the railroad (2x) and you will see the hotel Kasteel Vaeshartelt in front of you. By car from Highway A-79 (Heerlen Maastricht): leave at exit 1 Rothem-Bunde (afrit 1) and at the end of the exit turn right. At the first roundabout (rotonde), turn left and follow the signs to Maastricht. After approximately 100 metres take the first street on the right (to Weert). After crossing the railroad (2x) you will enter the lane to the hotel Kasteel Vaeshartelt. Rail: from Maastricht Railway Station (NSstation) you have a taxi and a bus (ask either of us for more details). In case of problems one of us will meet you and drive you to the hotel. Plane: from Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) there are connecting (transit) flights to Maastricht-Aken airport where you will have to take a taxi or call the hotel for one of us to meet you. Please, if you need assistance then let one of us know.
Friday 26 May: 1000: We will set up the special event station PA6FOC (QSL via PAABM), During the week before the Con-Din, PA6FOC will be QRV from several Dutch members. 1800: Leaving the hotel for an evening trip to the old Town of Maastricht. We will have dinner in one of the many Maastricht restaurants. Saturday 27 May: We are still working on the activity list for this day and have in mind shopping and walking in Maastricht and a cave trip to the St Pieter Berg. 1830: Preparing dinner at the bar in the hotel. 1900: The Dinner. Master of Ceremony is Wino, PAABM Sunday 28 May: 1000: Get-together party in the English Garden of the Hotel. 1200: Departure for home.

aware that Margaret and Ken, GW3KGV have , booked their ferry, and June and Chris, G4BUE, will be bringing Vic, N4TO, for their first ever visit to the Con-Din. Ken tells us that you can obtain special prices with P&O Stena Line on the Dover-Calais route if you book by 7 January, (information and booking hotline 087 0600 0600 and Web site <www.posl.com>. This is a reminder that there is a Get-Together planned for 15 January on Galveston Island, Texas. We are going to meet at Caseys Restaurant at 11am. They do not take reservations, so it is important to be there at 11am when they open. Caseys is a medium priced casual restaurant with good food. This is an informal FOC event that was created for the purpose of allowing some of the South-Central US members to meet each other. A Map to Caseys can be found on the Internet at <http:// www.galveston.com/eat/caseymap.html>. Try to bring two or three photographs of your station and antennas to show around. I also hope someone will bring a digital camera so that we can e-mail a photograph to G4BUE for FOCUS. To my knowledge the following are confirmed as attending: AC5K, K5CA, K5DQ, K5DU and K5NA, plus W5ZR who is planning to attend. We are estimating at least 15 in attendance. Several others have indicated high interest. We are hoping that this initial meeting will be a fun event, and we can discuss whether to make this an annual event. If you have never been to Galveston Island, it is a great place and there are many sites to see. The weather this time of year can be anything from warm to quite cold. Hope to see everyone there. EA6ACC: Josep will be QRV as VK4FOC from 21 January for two months, including the Marathon, as VK4FOC, with an IC-706 and R7000 vertical. He will start his trip in Brisbane. F5VEX: Derek writes, We would like to thank all those members who visited us this year G3SJJ, GCMM, G3MXJ, G4ZDB and W4ML and say that we look forward to seeing them and any other members next year should they be in south-west France. I also agree with G2FFO regarding new members and their lack of activity as I still have several new members that have not been ticked off the Windle sheet yet - where are you guys!. GORH: Congratulations to Ken on his appointment as a Morse Examiner for Berkshire. G3IY: Our condolences to Jim on the passing of his wife Monica on 30 November after a long illness - thanks N4AF. G3LQI: Jean and Stan had to QRX on their QSY to EI land but are hoping to move soon. G3RWL: Richard will be QRV 14/28 February as 8P6DR while on holiday with 100 watts from a DX-70 to wire antennas on 20-10 metres (pos-

GALVESTON GET-TOGETHER by AC5K

Weekend Programme

MEMBERS NEWS by G4BUE

If you have more questions, or need some assistance, drop us a note, give us a call, or look for us at the regular spots on the bands. You can reach both of us on e-mail: Teun at <pa5tt@xs4all.nl> and Wino at <pa0abm@ zeelandnet.nl> We have also made a Web site for your convenience. If you want the latest news about the participants, or the weather conditions in Maastricht, or more information about Maastricht, then visit our Web site at <http:// people.zeelandnet.nl/pa0abm/condin/>. We are looking forward to meeting you in Maastricht on 27 May 2000. Already we are

More Questions?

sibly 6 metres), mostly early morning and late evenings local time. G4ZVJ: Andy made 18,000 CW QSOs 21 November/5 December as XU7AAV on 160-6 metres, including 3825 in the CQ CW Contest. He will be QRV again as XU7AAV in the Marathon. G6HD: Members will be saddened to hear that Lyell became a Silent Key on 13 December following an extended period of ill health. K1JD: John was pleased to reach his Windle goal of 200 for 1999 despite travelling 55k+ miles on business trips. He is now using two Elecraft K2s while the Ten-Tec Omni VI is idle on the floor!. The K2 can drive his Hercules II amplifier to 150-300 watts depending on the band. K2ZR: Lynda and Dick were due to make their first road trip to Key West, FL from Niagra 15/ 22 December and was hoping to be QRV /4 by 27 December. They plan on staying until the middle or end of April apart from a break around the beginning of February when they will fly to their daughters QTH in Baltimore, MD for a few days after becoming grand parents. K4XU: Congratulations to Dick on achieving a personal best score of 2.6M points in the 1999 CQ CW Contest, which included QSOs with over 40 members. He says, the highlight was finding VK8AV on 15 metres in the closing minutes of the contest. We did the typical Marathon drill: moving to two other bands for a total of four new multipliers. K8EJ: JoAnn and Steve were due to move to Lenoir City, TN 24 December after both retiring. Antennas will take a while to erect and Steve says the Marathon will be the first he will miss since becoming a member. KL7PJ: Chuck went back in hospital at the beginning of December - thanks KL7HF. N6NT: Bruce, who is QRV as ZF2NT until 14 May, has put his ZF2NT log on the Internet at <http://www.qsl.net/zf2nt/log_search.htm>. Bruce says today (25 December) I got my Christmas present all the way from Western Australia, in the form of a 160 metre contact with Steve, VK6VZ. ZF to VK6 is over 18,160 kilometres! Last week, I was pleased to have a 160 metre contact with Aki, JA5DQH. That was a mere 13,500 kilometres. N8GZ: After wintering in Arizona the last few years, Lee and Ted have decided it didnt work very well and have now moved there. Ted has his US Tower up with a TH11 for the five HF bands and slopers for the other LF bands. He is loading the tower on 160 metres which seems to work quite well. OZ1LQH: A bad storm at the beginning of December damaged Renes roof letting in water to some of the rooms, including his radio room, which will have to be completely dismantled for the workers to repair it. A second storm blew the temporary roof repair away and water came in for a second time. Rene will therefore be QRT for a while in the New Year. PAABM: Congratulations to Wino on making

(callsign in brackets indicate G4FOC operator)

FOC CALENDAR

Until 31 Jan VQ9DX by AA5DX (600) Until March VK4FOC by EA6ACC (603) Until 15 April NA-062 by K2ZR/4 (600) Until 14 May ZF2NT by N6NT (601) January - 160m & 20m 1 Final day for 2000 subscriptions 11/30 XZA by G3VMW (601) 15 Galveston Get-together (601) 21 VK4FOC by EA6ACC (603) 22 Committee Meeting 28 Deadline February N/Sheet a CW QSO with VKLD on Macquarie Island on 5 December, but it was not easy, following the guidelines of Alan, VKLD, just two calls were enough to put me in the log at with just 100 watts and beaming long path. It was a lucky shot, but it needed the persistence of Alan to get my report after 11 minutes of trying to send it. There where so many PAABM stations...!. VE1BN: Maxine and Don were due to be at the Florida Dinner, but just before they were due to travel Don was rushed to hospital with a suspect heart attack. He was allowed home the following day to see his own doctor for tests to find the cause - thanks K4EFZ. VE7NH: Congratulations to Doug on winning the Mens Over 70 Trophy at his local golf club. Doug says, Not bad for the first year. I just missed out on winning the Over 60s Trophy, imagine what I could have done if I had started playing at two years old like Tiger Woods!. W2GW: Members will be saddened to hear that George became a Silent Key on 7 December thanks KP4L. W4DGJ: Our condolences to George on the sudden passing of his wife Grace on 28 November. They had been married 57 years and George says her passing came as a big shock as she had been in good health. W5ZR: Bert was visited by N3JT on 2 December for his very first FOC eye-ball QSO! W9NN: It was just after midnight on 17 November 1923 when Bob (then U8CWR) in Dayton, OH and Al, K4FW, (then 9BBI) in South Bend, IN had their first QSO. 76 years later, on 17 November 1999, they had an historic QSO on 40 metres. Bob says, Best of all, that first QSO established a friendship that has endured through the years. Congratulations to both. ZL1MH: Mike has built the K2 transceiver from Elecraft and says believe it or not, the first call I heard on it was G4BUE. The 40 metre receiver was the first part of the rig to be tested, long before the transmitter was built, and so I was not able to call Chris! However, Ive now had lots of QSOs from 80 through 10 metres during the CQ CW Contest (CN8WW on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres) all at the five watts output level, so I am really enjoying the K2. I do not however intend getting rid of my QRO stuff!.