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    Harvey  is recovering slowly from his recent Open Heart Surgery. He would like to return to WSN and take back his regular position of RN7 QNB Station on Wednesdays but he is just not ready to take on a full schedule until he gets to feeling better and stronger.

    Del W7JG has been taking his schedule and is doing a nice job of  filling in for him until he is able to come back.

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    Pati, W7ZIW is back on her Saturday NCS schedule but is not able to take the WSN/2 Session at 9:45 PM.  Guy N7YRT is the alternate NCS on Saturday and is filling in for Pati. Leroy N7EIE is filling in for Pati on Tuesday RN7/2 at 9:30 PM. Everything is working out just fine and I want to thank Guy and Leroy for helping out.  Also I want to commend Pati for all she has done for the Net and all of us in the past, Thank You very much Pati.

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    Harvey Marsh K7GXZ and his TenTec Radio are both doing very well and in good condition.  It’s nice to hear the good news Harvey and many thanks for all the good work you do for WSN and all of us on the Net.

    Harvey’s Wife Jennifer retired this year after many years with the Merk Company.  She is really enjoying the time off from the old grind on the job and also not having to cope with the Rush Hour Traffic.
She enjoys being able to do the things she likes when she feels like it and not have to depend on a schedule or someone breathing down her neck, She has the time now to help Harvey when he needs the help also.

    Harvey is looking forward to attending his High School Class Reunion this Fall in Colville, WA. He is very anxious to meet with all of his old school friends and having a good time telling stories.

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WSN Field Day Report
W7QM and N7EIE ensured WSN had a significant presence on the Field Day scene in 2007 again this year. My grandson Allan came up the day before and we started preparing the back yard. I had built two semi-portable 6' x 12' decks for the house here, and we put them end-to-end for Field Day this year. We also had to dig a pavilion out of the shed to shelter the operating position. It did rain several times during the weekend. Al W7QM and Bev Brought 1 dozen Glazed Doughnuts, 1 dozen Cup Cakes and a delicious Carrot Cake which helped us to keep our energy up until dinner.

At 1100 I started calling CQ on 20 meters using the new beam at 40 feet. It worked well all weekend, and so did the G5RV. The G5RV resonated on 40 meters CW from the back yard so we didn't have to break out the chicken wire counterpoise to work 40. 15 meters had a few CW stations, but the most activity was on 20 and 40 meters CW.   Al and Allan worked 20 and 40 meters SSB when we weren't handling traffic, garnering 13 contacts overall, great job!    DRN7 worked real well on 80 meters, and we had no problems clearing all our relay traffic.  Grilled steaks and slow-cooked baked beans capped off the day quite well, and I was later able to QNI WSN/1 with a little traffic.   After that I had a CQ run on 40 meters CW in which I worked 26 stations in 26 minutes.   Best rate I've ever had during Field Day.   But of course we know this was not a contest...  Worked 40 and 20 CW Sunday morning until 1100.  My 2.5 kW emergency generator went through about a gallon and a half of gas for the whole weekend.   Not bad.

We made 126 contacts this year, up from 72 last year. Last year our 1E entry was 668 points for 2nd of 7 1E stations in WWA.   This year I think we will be at 938 points because of the increased traffic and more contacts, both CW and SSB.   Good job, crew.   Next year, to the front yard for the public relations bonus points!

Leroy
N7EIE

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K7BFL teamed up with Gordon, WA7LNC to do FD this year in Class 2B - Battery.    Their location was at the Dragoon Creek DNR Campgroup, south of Deer Park.   Elvera went along as the Coach and Cook!

The rig was Gordon's Icom 706.   Power was supplied by a 80 amp-hour AGM battery, charged by two 3 amp solar panels.  

All of the antennas were "wire", supported by lots of rope.   There were many fine 80 ft pine trees in the campsite.    Antennas were Don's portable Inverted VEE ( with clips for 20, 40, 80); a 40 meter ground plane, and the BIG ONE....a 3 element cubical quad on 20 meters.  The quad was supported as a triangle, with a single rope between two trees.   It was pointed east.

The equipment all worked fine.   75 contacts were made in about 9 hours of operation; using 5 watts of power output, all on CW.

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On June 29 and 30 I traveled west to Cle Elum, at the invitation of the Spokane Chapter of the Morse Telegraph Club (MTC).    Together, we demonstrated Morse Code to folks visiting the Railway Museum and Cafe.    The building was a  former depot for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.   There is a good article all about the million dollar reconstruction project that's been going on for the past 7 years; it's complete with pictures:  . http://www.milwelectric.org/

 I left home at 8AM on the 29th & arrived at the Cle Elum RR depot at 9:30 (100 miles). The first thing I saw was a canopy being set up just where I wanted to be located - next to a chain link fence. I attached the MFJ mast to the fence & ran the 80M dipole up only to have the fiberglass mast fail. I "repaired" it with electrical tape and so far it's held. I think that PVC would be a better bet than that mast!  There's outside power available at the depot so among my stuff was 100 feet of power cord and I was able to operate with public power (I had packed my deep cycle battery). I set up the Ten Tec Scout, MFJ tuner, power supply and got her tuned up on 7038 - and on 3563. My first contact was with Don, K7BFL, on 40M.

The telegraphers sent out three types of messages; souvenir, mail, and outgoing (I'm the outgoing guy). There was a special postal cancellation so a lot of people are opting for the "mail" message. They sent the message via the "Mother Tongue" morse out to the morse operating position where it is copied on an "all-caps" Western Union typewriter. The people hustle out from the depot and are blown away with this mode of communication. My operating position was right next to the Wire Chief, "KY".

On this first day, I handled only three outgoing messages. I sent the first one to Don, K7BFL, on 3563 (signals were better there). The next one was sent to Moe, VE6BLY (I hadn't heard Moe in a long long time!). The last was sent to Bill, W7GHT. Those last two were sent while the wind was howling, the rain was pouring and it was COLD! Many thanks to Don and Bill for being there!  It was something else sitting under a canopy with the wind blowing, the rain pouring and me sending traffic to VE6BLY & W7GHT!

My total for Cle Elum was QTC 6.     Most of the time I was on 40 meters.

I also took the walking tour around the area. They've got a nice trail and several interesting kiosks that explain the history of the rail yard operation. The Iron Horse Trail goes right by the depot and continues on to Ellensburg (I think it starts in the North Bend area). Several bikers stopped by the depot for lunch (there's a café inside).   Eventually The Iron Horse Trail will link up with the High Desert Trail, John Wayne, C'da Trail, etc. A young ambitious type will be able to bike from Seattle to Missoula. Maybe on to Chicago!

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On Monday April 2 I had received several messages from K7BDU the Pacific Area Digital Coordinator in Chehalis, Washington. I had one for Longmont , Colorado that I planned on delivering by Land Line because I like to meet new Amateur Radio Friends.

The message was from N1IQI with a friendly reminder message of license expiration date for KC0BCS in Longmont, CO. I called the phone number about 6:55 PM PDT and a very weak female voice answered. I identified myself and stated that I had a Ham Radio message for Paul Ralston and may I speak to him. The voice re[plied that he was not at home. I asked the lady if she would like to receive the message and give it to Paul when he got home, she replied that she had fallen and was lying on the floor and couldn’t move. I asked her if she was alright and did she want me to call 911. She replied that she was OK and did not want to call 911 but that she would like to make contact with her daughter in Platteville, CO, about 15 miles away.

I asked if she had the phone number and she said she could not remember it so I asked her for her daughters name and I would try to find the number on the internet and call her and get back to her. She gave me her name and I went on the internet and brought up my favorite web-page for getting phone numbers “switchboard.com”.  I put the name in and bingo I got the number no problem.

I called the number and was disappointed as there was no answer. So I called Mrs Ralston back and told her I was not able to contact her daughter because no one was home but I would try again in 30 minutes and get back to her. She said ok and I asked her if she was alright and she said yes she was doing fine lying on the floor. I called her daughter again and still no answer so I call Mrs. Ralston back and gave her the sad news still no answer, she said she was still ok so I said I would try again in another 30 minutes.

 I called again at 8:00 PM and still no answer so I checked back with Mrs. Ralston again and she was still doing ok. So I said I will keep trying to call her daughter and hopefully she will be home soon. So I called her daughter again at about 8:15 PM and her daughter answered. I told her that her mother had fallen and hurt herself and could not move and was lying on the floor and needed some help. She asked if she had a phone and I said she has a phone and is ok.

 I gave her my phone number in case she needed to call me back. I asked her to call me back and let me know if everything was ok.

 I called again the next day and Paul Ralston answered the phone and thanked me for getting the necessary help for his wife, He told me that the doctor thought that she had bruised a Rib and it was very painful so she was not able to move. I was very glad that by being persistent I was able to get the necessary help in spite of the fact I’m 1300 miles away.

Allen Rivers W7QM
Olympia, Washington
     

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     WAS Award gets a new look: Radio operators applying for the ARRL Worked All States (WAS) award will now receive a handsome, newly-designed certificate, sure to be a nice attraction to the ham who enjoys chasing awards and displaying prizes in the shack. The WAS Award is available to all amateurs worldwide who submit proof with written confirmation of having contacted each of the 50 states of the United States of America. The WAS Awards program includes 10 different awards and endorsements.

Complete details, rules and applications for WAS can be found on the ARRL Web site. Those who already hold a WAS award can get the new style certificate issued for $10. Contact ARRL Awards Manager, Eileen Sapko at esapko@arrl.org or 860-594-0288

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A consumer electronic magazine, This Week in Consumer Electronics (TWICE), reports that Kenwood has agreed to merge in 2008 with Victor Company of Japan (JVC) under a holding company. JVC is owned by Matsushita Electric Industrial Company. Japan's Nikkei business newspaper reports that the final details should be worked out by the end of the month, and that under the plan, Kenwood will buy 20 billion yen ($161,469,466) in JVC shares as early as this summer, raising its stake to 13 percent. Matsushita will also sell part of its 52.7 percent of JVC to Kenwood's top shareholder, the Sparx Group.

When JVC and Kenwood integrate operations under the holding company in 2008, Matsushita will sell the rest of its JVC shares to the holding company to complete the transaction. The holding company's stock will be listed instead of Kenwood and JVC, according to Nikkei. Combined, Kenwood's and JVC's sales are $7.3 billion dollars annually for their fiscal year that ended March 31

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Suni Williams, KD5PLB, International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 15 Flight Engineer came back to Earth Saturday, June 23 on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-117), wrapping up a six month stay during which she became the new record holder for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. While on the ISS, Williams participated in 33 Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contacts. ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, holds the record for the most ARISS school contacts in a single mission at 37.
Williams launched with the crew of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-116) on December 9, 2006. She docked with the ISS on December 11, 2006. Clay Anderson, KD5PLA, part of STS-117, replaced

Williams as ISS Flight Engineer. STS-117 left Florida June 8 and docked with the ISS June 10. Its mission lasted almost 14 days.
"The space station's just a stepping-stone to get us to understand space, and how to live and work in space, and then potentially get back to the moon is the next stepping-stone. How to work in a low-gravity environment and how to work in an environment that is not habitable for us that will take us to the next place, maybe Mars and then beyond," Williams said.
While in space, Williams, a US Navy helicopter pilot who holds the rank of Commander (O5), worked with robotics operation on the ISS and participated in four spacewalks. She was also NASA ISS Science Officer for part of her time in space. The primary focus of US science on the ISS is research on how people can live and work safely in weightlessness.
"Now that we're going back to the moon and going to Mars, the main focus of the space station for US science is how people are going to live out in space for extended periods of time. Over a six month period, we're definitely going to lose bone and muscle mass. So a big part of the experiments that we're doing onboard is how to mitigate that. We're all doing exercise protocols while we're up there, trying to mitigate the bone and muscle mass [loss]. We do that using the treadmill, the bike and also there's a weight lifting machine that we use to work out and make sure our bones and muscles are exercised," Williams said. "We're also taking blood. That way we'll be able to really analyze how the food is being metabolized and interacting in the body. That's not going to be a real-time correction type of experiment, but with the shuttles rotating, they'll be able to take the blood samples down, and then we'll be able to get some feedback from the scientists on the ground to analyze how our diet is actually working."

Williams participated in the 2007 Boston Marathon from the ISS. She competed as an official entrant in the annual Patriots Day event from 210 miles above Earth. Williams ran on an ISS exercise treadmill, circling Earth at least twice in the process and going as fast as 8 MPH while flying more than 5 miles per second. "I [hope to] encourage kids to start making physical fitness part of their daily lives," she said. "I think a big goal like a marathon will help get this message out there."

Williams grew up in Needham, Massachusetts. "It's close enough to Boston, so I'm a big Red Sox fan, Patriots fan. When I was growing up Bobby Orr was playing hockey, so of course, I'm a Bruins fan, and Larry Bird was playing basketball, so I'm a Celtics fan. A great sports town to grow up in. I grew up as a swimmer. Speaking of sports; I spent a lot of time before school and after school swimming. I would contribute whatever discipline I have and direction I have to competitive swimming."

Married to Michael Williams, the couple has no children, but Labrador retrievers and a crazy Jack Russell terrier named Gorby add their share of excitement to their lives. Her recreational interests include running, swimming, biking, triathlons, windsurfing, snowboarding and bow hunting

ARISS is an international educational outreach, with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA

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