OSCAR Meeting
The next OSCAR meeting is 12-Mar @ 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 15-Mar @ 7:00 PM, the third Tuesday of the month. Meetings are held at the Owatonna Fire Station.

Elmer Session
An Elmer Session is scheduled for Tuesday, 21-Mar at the Owatonna Fire Station. The session is an opportunity for new hams (and others) to get help with getting on the air and solving problems.

Technician Class
OSCAR hosted the 2011 edition of the Technician Class in February. There were nine participants this year. This was the first class using the new question pool that took effect 01-Jul-2010, so there was a fair amount of effort to update the slides. Thanks to the instructors Dale WBØPKG, Dennis NØRPI, Jeff KCØUOW and Tom NØUW. The instructors also appreciate the support from other OSCAR members that attended in the "peanut gallery".

New Licensees and Upgrades
OSCAR hosted a VE session as part of the Technician Class on 24-Feb. Junior NXØP was the lead with support from Larry WDØAKX, Dennis NØRPI, Dennis NØRPJ, and Larry KRØK (L-R below). Larry WDØAKX posted a video of the VE Session to YouTube.

New Technician licenses were earned by:

The new Technicians are all articipants in the OSCAR class and receive a complimentary membership to OSCAR for the balance of the year.

Upgrades to General Class licenses were earned by:

KBØRXR Videos
Michael KBØRXR posted several YouTube videos about his home staion:

• Station with backup power supply.
• Updated battery backupsystem.
• Solar charge controller.

Happy π Day From Multiple Sources
Most people will recognize the approximate value of π (pi) as 3.14. The most common use of π is in calculations regarding circular components. π is "officially" celebrated on 14-Mar (3-14). Extend the number of digits used for π and you get 3.14159. Enhance the experience by celebrating "pi minute", which occurs at 1:59 PM.

MN Repeater Council
OSCAR will host the Spring gathering of the MN Repeater Council. Matt KAØPQW offered Owatonna as a meeting location at the Fall meeting. MRC will meet at the Owatonna Fire Station on 09-Apr at 1:00PM.

Flood Preparations
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the potential for flooding across the upper midwest this spring (see image at right). RACES/ARES was activated several times to assist locally and across MN in recent years. Now would be a good time to prepare ourselves to respond. Be sure your Ready Kit is up to date. Look at the expiration date of perishable items and be sure there is a good supply of batteries. Remember that we are responsible to take care of ourselves.

The IP Address You Pinged Is Not Available From Multiple Sources
Virtually all devices connected to the Internet are assigned a unique identifier called the IP Address. The format for the address is a series of four numbers, each ranging from 0 to 255 (e.g. 123.123.123.123). This 32-bit scheme provides over 4x10⁶ (billion) IP addresses. The last series of available IP Addresses were recently allocated, meaning there are no more to issue. An interesting side to this story is that one estimate suggests only 14% of the addresses are actually being used. The future of additional addresses being available is contained in an updated IP protocol. The new protocol supports 128-bit IP addresses, or over 3x10³⁸ unique identifiers. The problem is less than 0.25 percent of the internet is wired to work with the new protocol. Upgrades to the networks involve software and hardware.

Origin of the Meter From Multiple Sources
As Amateur Radio operators, we often refer to the bands we operate in in metric wavelengths (e.g. 40 meters). The definition of "meter" has changed over the centuries on different physical measurements. Back in the 18th century, the meter was based on the distance between the equator and North Pole, passing through Paris. A meter was 0.000010 of that distance. The definition was replaced in the 19th century with a bar made of the platinum and iridium. Scratches on the bar indicated the meter. The ability to replicate the meter from one physical object to another were difficult. Advancing to the 20th century, the meter was redefined using the wavelength of orange light emitted from a krypton discharge tube. A meter became 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of light from a krypton-86 atom in the 1960s. It was redefined once more in the 1980s to the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458th of a second.

Equipment for Sale
Some older pieces of equipment are available from Phil Heim (507-202-3694)

• E.F. Johnson Viking Invader Transmitter
  last on the air in the early 1970s'.
• Hammarlund Mfg Co Receiver- Model HQ-170A
  last on the air in the early 1970s'.
• Heathkit CW Transceiver- Model HW-16
  Missing several tubes but beleive I have them in my workshop
• EICO 777 Dual Conversion CB Transceiver 1970s'
  Does not work presently.