APRIL HARM NEWSLETTER

Lloyd, WBØULX May 20, July 1, Aug 12,

Sep 23, Nov 4, Dec 16

Don, KØHHZ Apr 22, Jun 3, Jul 15, Aug 26,

Oct 7, Nov 18, Dec 30

Bill, KMØF Apr 29, Jun 10, Jul 22, Sep 2,

Oct 14, Nov 25

Terry, KIØBV May 6, Jun17, Jul 29, Sep 9,

Dec 2

Jack, KØOH May 13, Jun 24, Aug 5, Sep 16,

Oct 28, Dec 9

Sam, NØOTB May 27, Jul 8, Aug 19, Sep 30,

Nov 11, Dec 23

QUESTION OF THE MONTH
 
 I am curious if you have a weather alert radio at home or do you rely on the EOC for alert and
 notification as opposed to a NOAA Weather Alert Radio. OR, do you have one but it is never on or, do you 

need to start digging through the house to find it, dust it off, and turn it on?

 Do I need to clarify the need for everyone to have a weather alert radio at home to aid in
receiving potentially life saving information?

TORNADOES HIT THE HEARTLAND

Tornadoes and severe weather on March 1 prompted ARES and SKYWARN activations in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. 

Twenty people died in the three states, including seven in Alabama. A tornado destroyed the
high school in Enterprise, and five students died when the roof collapsed as they took cover inside. Amateurs 

stationed at NWS
offices, EOCs, and elsewhere used HF and VHF to relay critical weather information to served agencies. 

The Alabama amateurs performed as professionals and many hams took off work to staff stations.




March 15, 2007 Meeting

Meeting called to order by President, Bill, KMØF at 7:10 PM at LDS Church located at 1450 Frank St. SE. with 10 members present.

Old Business: Read minutes of previous meeting - VE test sessions: Feb 24 and Mar 10 resulted in two people upgrading from Tec to General on the 24^th and two upgrades from Tec to General plus one new Tec on the 10^th --501- C-3 application is nearly ready to submit to IRS -- Special Event station at Wessington Springs was tentatively set for July 4^th provided we can get all the information as to location of trailer and other local events firmed up for that day. Laura Ingles Wilder event at De Smet date is tentatively set for July 7 & 8 but confirmation needs to be made by Watertown club. Field Day is June 23 & 24.

Club voted to accept offer on RX-1.
Events:  Mar 17 BARTG RTTY contest
 24 -25 CQ WPX SSB contest
 Apr 14 VE Test - Huron
 23 Weather Spotter Training 

 Huron 7 PM
 28 Aurora 07 - White Bear Lake, MN
 29 Des Moines Hamfest
 May 5 VE Test - Huron
New Business: Handout newsletter
Collect Coborn's receipts – Tentative VE Examiners for Apr 14 are Don, Jack, Terry and Norm – IRLP (Internet 

Radio Linking Project) was discussed. We have been requested to supply a local node which includes high speed 

internet, computer, antenna and location. Contacts with be made and discussed at next meeting – Emergency 

trailer will be available for practice drill at next meeting on April 19th 
--Meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM. 

ARRL VEC STILL "BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!"
The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) reports business continues to
be brisk following the FCC's deletion of Morse code as a ham radio licensing requirement. "Busy, busy, busy!" 

is how ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, described the situation in her department. She says nearly 800 exam 

sessions are on the schedule for March with another 600 for April, "and it doesn't look like test session 

activity will be slowing down any time soon," she added.

Meeting called to order by President, Bill, KMØF at 7:00 PM at LDS Church located at 1450 Frank St. SE.

Old Business: Read minutes of previous meeting -- Report results of VE testing on April 14 -- Update on Special Events Stations.

Events: April 21 Fargo Hamfest.

23 Weather Spotter Training. at NWPS Building at 7:00 PM

28 Aurora 07 - White Bear Lake, MN.

May 5 VE Test - Huron 9:00 AM

at LDS Church.

18 - 20 Dayton Hamfest

New Business: Handout newsletter -- Collect Coborn's receipts -- Received from Coborn's $19.35 -- Line up VE s for May 5 test.

Program: IRLP presentation by KD0S, Jim

Although Field Day 2007 is still more than three months away, many ham radio clubs and groups already have begun making plans for this year's event, Saturday and Sunday, June 23-24. Field Day has always been an ideal time for new hams to become more proficient operators and for prospective licensees to get "bitten by the Amateur Radio bug." That may be even more the case during Field Day 2007, as many radio amateurs gain new HF operating

- Activities Report:

Idea? How about a contest in April on who can contact the most special event stations, and we will have a prize for the winner.

Idea? Could we have work day on club trailer? Also we need to have training on

equipment in trailer. We have 5 cross-band radios and 4 handhelds are available for

exercises. Who would be available May 5th to fly with the CAP, Zeke and Jim Ward are

available to help if needed. We will meet March 18th at Greg Bond's house on 2829 Buhl Street at 1300 for trailer and radio training.

- Trustee's Report: Eldon made a motion to consider Jim Ward as a trustee, KD0S seconds, motion carried.

- Technical Report: we need to get an interface BOX to tie the radios together

in the trailer.

-- KD0S gives brief overview of IRLP

- Old Business: Greg talked on the importance of 2m linked net. We can't let it fall apart because it is crucial for the maintenance of the link. We need people to do the net and control it.

- New Business: Wayne believes that we may now operate on CD2 with the aircraft although CD-2 will be very busy during an emergency. The best might be to put an amateur in the aircraft. WB0RJH gives thanks to Wayne and Myra for their coordination on this matter.

March 22nd at 7:00, at the Lutheran Church we are having the 2007 weather spotting training.

KE0WM has an Echolink node set up on 146.350 MHz, simplex. It covers the Hot

Springs area real good and is seeing a fair amount of activity. Our latest exam session produced a new Tech in Hot Springs, Joe, KD0AAF. We also have a new certified volunteer examiner, Matt, KC0WET, who is a high school senior. With our club outgrowing our shack, we are looking at possible ways to get the most use out of our building or possibly adding onto the shack. We will be losing Dr. Todd, KC0KNE, to the East River area. Our loss is their gain,

in more than just ham radio. Come join us for our annual big Field Day operation in June!

Tim K0OR

The February meeting was held at the Sturgis Fire House. Gene showed ARES vests that are for sale for $10 each. There will be no SD Section convention in Sioux Falls this spring.

Minutes for March meeting:

Meeting called to order at 7:30 at the Sturgis Fire House. 11 people were present.

Public Service Activities were mentioned and explained.

Field Day was discussed. We voted to have it somewhere in the northern hills, and to consider a location that would be very visible to the public. More discussion at the next meeting. We also discussed a northern hills hamfest perhaps in September.

Next meeting will be at the Lead Fire Hall.

Gene McPherson

MS Walk: Saturday, April 14, 2007, 8:00 AM, University of Sioux Falls Stewart Center.

Field Day: Saturday -- Sunday, June 23-24, 2007. Location TBD.

MS Bike Ride: Saturday -- Sunday, August 4-5, 2007, Sioux Falls to Brookings, SD.

In re last month's item on the Kansas TRAIN training registry system,

as a long-time registered user of the TRAIN system, it is run by the

Public Health Foundation, 1300 L Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington,

DC 20005.

There is no need to log in via the Kansas site to create an account. Anyone going to <http://www.train.org> should first try their own state version using the XX.train.org format where XX is the 2-letter state abbreviation.

Their database only works well for the handful of courses for which

you can enroll via the TRAIN Web site. The method of entering "non-TRAIN" courses is awkward at best. Hopefully, this will change

Amateur Radio enforcement correspondence -- with some exceptions -- now is

available to the public on the FCC's "Amateur Radio Service Enforcement

Actions" Web site <http://www.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/Welcome.html>. The listing will be cumulative, and Special Counsel in the FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division Riley Hollingsworth anticipates updating it every 7 to 10 days.

-- and especially users of the ARRL e-mail Forwarding Service

<http://www.arrl.org/members-only/emailfwd.html> -- about bogus e-mails that claim to be from the "arrl.net user support team." There is no such entity,

and the messages do not originate with ARRL but appear to be coming from

outside the US.