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Owatonna Steele County Amateur Radio 14-Apr-2017

OSCAR News - October, 2Ø1Ø

OSCAR Meeting
The next OSCAR meeting is 09-Oct @ 9:00 AM, the second Saturday of the month. Meetings are held in the meeting room at the Owatonna HyVee, 18th Street @ Oak Avenue.

SKYWARN Meeting
The next SKYWARN meeting is 21-Oct @ 7:00 PM, the third Tuesday of the month. Meetings are held at the Owatonna Fire Station.

Charlie KØHNY SK
Charlie Srsen died Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010 at the age of 70. Charlie was active in the ham community as an instructor, Volunteer Examiner, and overall "Elmer" by every definition. He is being missed by everyone he met. Suggested recipients of memorials in Charlie's honor are Owatonna Steele County Amateur Radio Club , the Mayo Clinic for Alzheimer’s disease research, Homestead Hospice House, Trinity Lutheran Church, and the 4-H Foundation. Thanks, Charlie, for the contributions you made to the Amateur Radio community.

Local News

  • Reinhardt KDØKSB recently upgraded to General.
  • Dave KDØKSC recently upgraded to General.

RACES/ARES Activation
Steele County RACES/ARES was activated on 25-Sep, at the request of Steele County Emergency Management. The activation alert was included with the SKYWARN Instant Alert. CERT was also activated at the same time. Steele County is fortunate to have individuals that participated in the training for several groups. The cooperation between the groups allowed volunteers to be deployed based on the skill sets the individual had. This flexability is invaluable aspart of a disaster response. Thanks you to everyone that responded.

Offers of assistance came from outside the area. Communications were reliably being handled with county resources. We did not make a request for additional assistance.

OSCAR Newsletter Index
Do you remember reading something in an OSCAR Newsletter, but can't remember when? An index of topics was compiled and available as a pdf file. The list provides the "heading" for each topic and the month it appeared in. The index is cross referenced by month and topic.

Field Day Logs
A couple of versions of the Field Day log are available in pdf format:
Raw QSO Infomration
Sorted by Operator
Sorted by Band/Mode

Logs from previous years were also added to the Archives.

ARES Frequencies
The SeptemberNewsletter included a link to the MN ARES simplex frequencies. A good question was asked -- "Why do some of the simplex frequencies have PL tones?" The PL tones are used to minimize conflict with the MN Repeater Council Band Plans. The ARES "HV-DELTA" thru "HV-SHELTER" are designated as simplex frequencies in the MRC Band Plan, unless there are repeaters in the 147.XXX segment using a low (-600) offset. ARES "HU-BRAVO" and "HU-DELTA" are link frequencies in the MRC Band Plan. ARES "HU-CHARLIE" is a non-standard simplex spacing in the MRC Band Plan. ARES "HU-COMMAND" and "HU-SHELTER" are repeater outputs in the MRC Band Plan.

Incandescent Lamp SK? From Multiple Sources
The April Newsletter included a blurb about Toshiba ending the production of incandescent light bulbs. This month, General Electric closed its last incandescent light bulb factory in the United States. The General Electric Company is closing its last incandescent light bulb factory in the United States. The closing is casued, in part, by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Under the law, most incandescent bulbs are phased out between 2012 and 2014. Exceptions include bulbs less than 40 watts or more than 150 watts, appliance lamps, "rough service" bulbs, 3-way, colored lamps, and plant lights. The facility is not being converted to the production of compact flourescent bulbs.

Water Antenna
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) is a Navy laboratory. This YouTube video shows a technology using a stream of salt water to create UHF/VHF/HF antenna.

Tower Lights From Radio World
Tower lights are important safety features for aviation. Tower lighting today is a combination of white strobes and red lamps. Tower lighting has been investigated for attracting birds during migration, called a night nuisance for those living near by, and inefficient use of energy. A company is proposing controlling lights using radar. The lights would be activated only when needed, such as when aircraft approaches.

Curved Laser Beam From New Scientist
The basic application of a laser beam is based on the fact that it is a single color and straight. Scientists have demonstrated curved laser beams. Laser pulses are generated that cover a wide range of color frequencies rather than a single color. As the pulse moves away from the lens, energy flows between the different intensity regions. In the demonstration, the beam bends 5 millimetres to over its 60-centimetre measured length.

Portable Solar Cell From PC World
Sanyo's Eneloop line can be used to charge gadgets via USB. It combines a portable solar panel with a Lithium Ion battery pack. Panels can be placd in the sun and connected to a Lithium Ion battery "booster". It could take 3 days for the booster to charge up to its 5 volt, 1 amp-hour capacity.

Lithium-Air Batteries From
It seems like Lithium is continually being combined with a host of other materials to produce batteries. Researchers are exploring the promise of a new kind of battery called lithium-air. Lithium-air batteries have a lithium anode that is electrochemically coupled to atmospheric oxygen through an air cathode. The obstacle to development is understanding which electrode materials could be used to promote the electrochemical reactions. Substrates such as platinum, gold, and aluminum-polymer laminates are being looked at.

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