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N.O.R.M.A. NEWSLETTER THE NORTHERN OHIO REPEATER ASSOCIATION, INC. P.O. BOX 562, GATES MILLS, OHIO 44040 September, 1999 NEW MEMBERS: RENEWED MEMBERS: W8UDG, K8BXY, KB8VIX/KC8IYI, K8UBA, K8EVB/N8HWE, KB8YJY,. N8XAB, KB8ZNI, W8VRJ, WB8PHH, KB8ROP/KB8SZB/KB8VSM/KC8JKV, W8UMA, KB8TMY, KC8BWG, KC8BYP, N8OKI (through August 15, 1999)MEMBERSHIP: by WA8TPPWe also want to thank all those that renewed their memberships. Your continued support is encouraging. Again, the date of your last dues contribution is on the mailing label after your name and call, and, again, the dues are whatever you can afford or feel appropriate for you. Don’t forget to let me know if you have a new call or if someone else in your family (at the same address) gets a new call and please put your call on the checks. Changes in address are also appreciated. Thanks! THE REPEATER WORKING?: by W8OKE So you thumped the repeater (W8OKE/R) quick like and got nothing in return, it wasn’t working? Oh yes it was, it was on guard and you did not energize the receiver long enough for your 110.9 Hz tone signal to activate the circuitry to permit the repeater transmitter to pass your transmission onto the ham radio world. The moral of the story is to mash the button for at least a second or two, don’t be in such a hurry. If the system is on GUARD you will know because the transmitter will answer you with --. which is the letter G in morse code. There are several other courtesy signals used by W8OKE/R. "S" indicating that yucky weather is on the way, and "W" indicating bad weather is just around the corner or already here. "N" indicates a directed net is in progress and "RC" indicating American Red Cross Disaster communication are being handled in a special directed net. "EMA" indicates a Geauga County Emergency Management Agency directed net. The letter "B" , _... , can appear singly or proceeding other letters indicating that W8OKE/R is being powered by batteries due to local electrical utility failure Again, when the letter "G", __. , is present, press the PTT for a second and then talk otherwise the first excited word(s) you transmit my be swallowed up in the equipment and be lost forever. LOCATION, LOCATION: by W8OKE Location, location. We all know how important it is to a convenient store or a McDonald’s or a Burger King. Your location when using W8OKE/R is very important to W8OKE as your signal strength and clarity correlated with time of day and climatic conditions indicates the quality of W8OKE/R system receiving conditions. This applies to both mobile and fixed stations. Please try to identify at least once in each QSO where you are (location) so that the repeater maintenance personnel can keep tables on the sensitivity patterns of the receiving antennae. Since no remote receiving sites are used in the W8OKE/R repeater system, close attention has to be paid to the sensitivity patterns of the antennas atop the 750 foot tower at Newbury, Ohio. BATTERIES: by WA8TPP The Geauga Amateur Radio Association recently had a speaker from a battery company. He spoke about the care of batteries -- all types from cars to HT’s. The one main point he made was that the biggest cause of battery failure was the improper charging. He said that batteries should be charged at one tenth of the capacity. If the discharge rate is 10 amps then the recharge rate should be one amp. He said to stay away from fast chargers where possible. Of course, an occasional fast charge will not kill the battery immediately, only the repeated use of a fast charger. He quoted that NiCad usually can be recharged up to 500 times and NiMH 250 times. The advantage of NiMH is that they do not have a memory and are usually a higher capacity over NiCad’s. Again the key to long life is recharge slowly and with NiCad’s only when they are completely discharged unless your charger has a conditioning cycle which discharges the battery. NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS: by WA8TPPYour input is important to this newsletter. We want to make this publication more interesting to every reader by including articles that you, the reader, would like to see. Only your input will help improve this newsletter. If you want to write a short article or suggest a topic PLEASE submit it to my email address or mail it to N.O.R.M.A.’s P.O. Box or my QTH address. Announcements pertaining to amateur radio are fine but don’t forget the news letter only is published every three months. We hope you had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day. Your directors, |