Dear Fellow Hams,
The last letter I wrote was after a long wet spell. This one is after a long, hot dry spell. It was so hot for our August meeting, we had ice-cream root beer floats for refreshments. Hope you have gotten a lot of outside activities in during the sunshine. I expect everyone's garden is doing well. 

N1FCV has used the good weather to get his repeater 147.33+ back on the air. It is set up at the Frenchville airport, where it was several years ago. Gil, we wish you better luck than in the last couple of years.

I enjoyed a lot of radio contact while visiting Waldoboro at the end of July. N1ARR assured me that someone is still trying to find a place to put a link to the North again. I listened to a very interesting net, in which "Elmers" discussed various items that will come on radio tests.  They held a discussion on the crystal radio and then asked questions from the question pool. They have enough active hams down there to make this kind of thing work. I talked to A1XX as he was splitting firewood. He was glad to take a break on a hot day, and wished he had split the wood when it was cooler!
 
 

We are still looking for a crew to spend a few hours at Rocky Mountain clearing the road and trail. The more who help, the more fun it is, and the quicker the job will be done. This needs to be done so that new equipment can be taken up to the tower.

                                                   N1UYA, Gale
 

Address comments, questions, or suggestions to: 
Gale Flagg, 108 Franklin School Rd.
Fort Kent,  ME 04743 
Phone: 207-834-6670
E-mail: galeflagg@sjv.net
 

Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 4, 6:30 PM, UMFK Grindle Conference Room

Called to Order:18:33

In Attendance:  N1UYA, N1PMS, N1JHD, N1QMC, N7GLR, KA7VNR, N1UYA, KW1C, AA1BP, ERRIN

Secretary's Minutes: N1PMS made a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes. Seconded by N1QMC. Passed.

Treasurer's Report: June Balance: $214.31 + $24 Dues + .37 Interest. July Balance: $238.68 + .36 Interest -$70 Porta-Potty Field Day. August Balance: $169.04

Have you paid your dues yet?

Old Business:
Rocky Mountain: The repeater is functioning without a tone necessary, but  if you don't get any results, press any single tone to activate it.

We still need a crew to clear the road and the trail. Please help! Contact N1JHD or N1UYA.

Field Day: We made 405 contacts (49 were CW), talked to six countries (Puerto Rico, Poland, Russia, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy ) on 15, 20 , and 40 meters, and earned 906 points for the event. Thanks again to all who took part.

New Business:
Mohawk Amateur Radio Club: MARC sent our club an announcement of their Sept. 9 Hamfest  in Athol, Mass. They sent some raffle tickets (6 for $5.00)  to support their emergency communications van made out of an out of service ambulance.
Three radios or cash are the prizes. If you want any tickets, let me know soon.

Radio Test in Wrong Mode: N1UYA mentioned the difficulty of a doing a radio test on FM when radio is set for SSB!

Program: ARRL Video: Radio Direction Finding as a vigorous sport in China. The antennas were quite varied. Men's and Women's teams competed. Whoever could find 5 foxes in the shortest time won.

Next meeting: TUESDAY. September 4, 6:30, UMFK Grindle Conference Room 

Submitted by: N1UYA

If you are too hot, think of this: On August 8, 1882, six inches of snow and slush fell on a ship on Lake Michigan.
 

 Happy Birthday

Please wish the following a Happy Birthday

Louis Albert  9-6        Phil Dummond  9-27

       Events that May be of Interest

Ham Radio Outlet Manufacturer's Day August 25th:

HRO is holding a Manufacturer's Day On August 25th with displays of the latest gear in all 12 of their stores.  There will be special pricing for the one day only. If you need some new gear you might want to check this out. 

September 1st Launching of new APRS Satellite
From the ARRL Newletter Vol. 20 No. 32:

A new Amateur Radio tracking and communications satellite called PCSat is scheduled to launch September 1 (0100 UTC) from Alaska. PCSat will augment the existing Amateur Radio Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) by providing links to the 90 percent of Earth's surface not covered by the terrestrial network.

Designed and assembled by midshipmen at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, PCSat's first mission was to provide practical hands-on experience in support of the students' aerospace curriculum. The midshipmen worked under the guidance of Academy Senior Project Engineer Bob Bruninga, WB4APR--the acknowledged "father of APRS."
 

We hope that PCSat will be a new direction for amateur satellites by
serving the communications needs of travelers with only mobile and hand-held radios anywhere on Earth," Bruninga said. PCSat will be the first satellite to report its exact position directly to users via its onboard GPS. This means that whenever the bird's in view, users won't need tracking software to determine its position.

According to Bruninga, the satellite will demonstrate vehicle tracking and communication for GPS-equipped remote travelers, including Naval Academy vessels at sea, cross-country travelers, expeditions or anyone far from the existing APRS terrestrial tracking infrastructure
http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/digis.html 
 

Jamboree On The Air 2001

JOTA will be held October 20-21, 2001. Jota was started in 1957 and gives Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts exposure to the joys of amateur radio. They have a chance to talk to other scouts all over the world. Save the weekend and get involved. It is a good way to get young people interested in our hobby.

Heavy duty 40' galvanized steel tower, 16" x 16" x 16". Includes mounting hardware. Best Offer. N1JHD--go check it out! 
Heil BM-10 microphone boom set   $35.
MFJ 451X  keyer  $35 Contact Charles Zafonte N1FRX  834-6273

Archie Bunkerisms  collected by Richard Lederer:
* Whoever sent 'em obviously wanted to remain unanimous.
* Forget it. It's irrelevant. It ain't German to this conversation.
* If you was half as sick as me, you'd be lying on the floor waiting for Rigor Morris to set in. * It's a proven fact that capital punishment is a known detergent for crime.