SATERN Coordinating Committee Riverside/San Bernardino County

Summary of the 7 December 1998 SATERN Committee meeting.

Attendees: Tony, KE6JZF; Jack, KF6DMM; Larry, KF6LVE

Missing: Mike, WB9MJQ; Larry, KE6IRG.

Open action items from the November committee meeting completed.

A. Summary of the previous committee meeting to be part of the VHF net.

B. Detailed of the committee meeting be sent out by e-mail

C. Emphasize net radio check-ins.

December 7, meeting Agenda with comments:

1. San Bernardino Canteen antenna mounting

Tony brought in a top of car window mount with cable for a 1/2 or 5/8 dipole collapsing antenna that was portable and more suitable for the canteens which lack ground planes because of their plastic roofs. A further benefit is it can be used on either left or right side windows. They are a slip fit to the window, easily removable and easy to store inside the canteen when not in use. There was unanimous agreement to test their radiation patterns and if acceptable, use them.

2   Victorville Antenna test

Antenna Test was performed November 12th with contact being made at: San Bernardino Corps, Larry, KF6LVE with 5W HT; and Ontario Corps, Joe, KF6QLD acting as Net Control. Contact was steady and clearly readable at San Bernardino but was lost occasionally at Ontario when Jack and Tony moved their portable antenna around in Victorville. We have submitted our SATERN antenna cost for Victorville and are waiting for the OK to mount. We will be mounting both a 2 meter beam and a J pole.

3. IECARO  (Inland Empire Council of Amateur Radio.) update

A Special Committee meeting was held with Tony, Jack, Mike and Larry (LVE) to review the IECARO draft response to the FCC regarding amateur radio license restructuring.   The net result of the meeting and subsequent events was that we have requested that the SATERN Riverside/San Bernardino Counties section name be removed from the IECARO submittal, since we felt there would not be enough time to get SATERN membership comments and arrive at a “SATERN” position.  We did not agree with the position taken in the IECARO paper. As previously announced, IECARO is handling DX QSLs addressed to the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau.  All you need to do is to prepare your QSLs in “DX prefix” order and give them to your Delegate(s).  They will combine them into one sorted stack and deliver them to the IECARO QSL Manager who will forward them to the ARRL.  IECARO funds this service as a benefit to its Members (and their individual members).

4. SATERN Web site

A need was stated for someone to take responsibility for the SATERN web page, i.e., to generate the contents of the page and make revisions in a timely manner. Without resolving the issue, the committee agreed to let LVE to review the situation, to familiarize himself with what's involved, and make a recommendation.

5.  SATERN First Response Procedure

Tony passed the papers he has collected relating to a First Response Action to the members present for review and comments at the next Committee meeting.

6.  January 30 Seminar.

Tony reviewed again the progress of the seminar. In particular he noted the interest in the NTS presentation and James Pike "J" poles may exceed our expectations. He has no way of knowing  until reservations start arriving in January.

7.  Salvation Army Council Review

Jack and Tony attended the Council meeting at which Tony gave  a report on SATERN’s progress. He reported on the progress of installing Corps  antennas. At the present time there is only two  Corps in our area that do not have VHF SATERN antennas, Redlands and Victorville. We were asked when we were going to radio test at the   Banning field location. I said in the near future.

8. December 2,1998 Banning Antenna Radiation Test

Tony and Jack conducted a test at the new Banning Salvation Army Office from the roof of the building, using a j-pole antenna and an HT Radio to test reception and transmissions from and to that location.   Here are some of the interesting findings: Operating at Cathedral City with his HT at 5 watts, Larry KF6LVE heard and communicated with Mike, WB9MJQ in Ontario and Bob, WB6EQB in San Bernardino. Initially both were copyable, but somewhat noisy and scratchy. Mike increased his power to 10 and then 50 watts providing a good signal at both levels. Banning was heard by all of these locations initially, but became intermittent as we moved the j-pole antenna around. We finally found a kind of  “sweet spot” location  where performance was best, and we marked that spot for final antenna installation.

9. PASSCOM

Larry KF6LVE has been representing SATERN at Passcom,  which is the San Gorgonio Pass Emergency Services Committee in Riverside County.  This is a Banning/Beaumont volunteer organization that includes fire, police, and utility representation.

10. Antenna installation status:

New proposed location added, Banning Salvation Army Field location.We plan to mount the antenna at Banning Dec. 17 starting around 0930. All bosses, watchers doers etc. are welcome. As you know, SATERN has completed VHF antenna installations at the San Bernardino Corps, as well as Cathedral City, Riverside, Hemet, Perris, Ontario, and the Corona Shelter.  The next three locations on our schedule are Banning, Redlands and Victorville.

After the next committee meeting, we'll give a brief summary of committee actions on the next regularly scheduled net, and follow that up by e-mail with a more detailed review of committee actions and SATERN activities. We hope you're interested in keeping abreast of what's going on in the committee meetings, and other SATERN activities, and if you have any questions about any of this, drop us an e-mail or call any of the committee members by phone.   Tony KE6JZF SATERN Committee member