THE SPARK GAP

A monthly publication of the Meridian Amateur Radio Club January 1997


Club Information

President:
Vice Pres:
Secretary: Bill KB5ASR
Treasurer: John W5DEJ

President Report: From the editor-At the meeting on Saturday, December 28th, we had some discussion about the election of 1997 officers. We would like to do this at our next official business meeting, which will be this Saturday January 4, 1997. We would like to have as many paid 1997 members as possible present so this election can take place.

Secretary Report: Don't forget to check into the Tuesday evening 2-meter net at 7 P.M. each week on 146.700. Any announcements, emergency traffic, or a simple hello and 73 can be passed along to others. Let us know how you are doing.
Treasurer Report:
Please remember dues for 1997 will be due in January. You may mail your dues to Mr. John Davis, 2215 28th Ave
Meridian, MS 39301.


FCC Delays New RF-Exposure Rules
From ARRL Headquarters, December 24

The FCC has postponed the date for hams to comply with the new RF-exposure regulations from January 1, 1997, to January 1, 1998. The ARRL was among those requesting the delay. The League said that the additional time was needed for the FCC to draft implementation guidelines and for amateurs to use them to comply with the regulations. The time extension will allow changes to Amateur Radio operator examinations to be made along with routine revisions between now and July 1, 1998, rather than requiring hurried special revisions. Among the reasons for requesting the extension was the desire to permit licensees to make a more orderly entrance into this new area, to allow time for information to be promulgated to hams to ensure that they have the information at their disposal to comply with the new rules, and to allow time for appropriate questions to be inserted into the question pools for the various amateur license exams.


Propagation Forecast

From Tad Cook,KT7H, December 27,1996

• Solar flux wound down over the past week after the fading movement
across the Sun of region 7999. Flux is expected to decline to the low seventies over the next few days, and then should rise again around January 4 to a peak in the mid eighties around January 14. The A and K indices have been low, except for an instability on December 23 where the planetary K index rose to four. A and K indices are expected to remain stable, with a slight rise to an A index of 15 around January 6.

• Having just passed the longest night of the year, expect 160, 80 and 40 meters to be at their best over the hours of darkness. 20 meters remains the best band for worldwide coverage during daylight and a couple of hours after sunset.

• Sometimes there are questions about the effect of a solar or lunar eclipse on propagation. I'll include here some notes from Dave Palmer which present some interesting thoughts about eclipses: ''Solar and Lunar eclipses do not represent anything special in terms of planetary positions. They're really just a matter of perspective.

Solar eclipses occur only at the New Moon, when the Moon is between the Earth and Sun. Lunar eclipses happen only at Full Moon, when the Earth is between the Moon and Sun. But Full/New Moon happens about every 28 days. The reason we don't get eclipses (on Earth, at least) twice a month is that the Moon's ''orbit about the Earth'' is tilted, and the coincidence of an exact line-up of the Sun-Moon-Earth (as seen from some spot on Earth) happens only a couple times per year.

However, every New Moon, there IS a solar eclipse out in space either north or south of the Earth, and every Full Moon, there's a Lunar eclipse north or south of the Moon (OK, really, there's a solar eclipse SOMEWHERE in space for as long as the Moon is not obscured by the Earth, and a Lunar eclipse for as long as the Moon is totally obscured by the Earth). The point is that the eclipse's shadow usually just misses hitting the Earth (or the Moon)''.


TRANSATLANTIC ANNIVERSARY A SUCCESS


The W1BCG operation from Greenwich, Connecticut, to commemorate the 75th anniversary (December 11, 1921) of the first successful transatlantic tests on ham radio was a huge success. The operation made over 800 contacts with the replica 160-meter transmitter. The antenna was an 80-foot shunt-fed tower with 50 temporary radials laid out on top of the ground. Transmitter output was 300 W. The group used a modern transceiver as a receiver for the event. After the operation was over, event coordinator Tim Walker, N2GIG, took up the more than one mile of wire used for the radials! W1BCG is the club station call sign of the Shoreline Amateur Radio Club.


Hamfest

January 18, 1997
Southeast Louisiana ARC, Hammond, LA
Jack Stang, N5XVJ
47081 Scott Dr.
Hammond, LA 70401
504-542-7605
------------------------------------
February 1-2, 1997
MS State Convention, Jackson, MS
Contact: Travis Cliett, AB5ZE
117 Beechtree Lane
Florence, MS 39073
601-939-9236


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