Dear Fellow Hams,

      The amazing summer weather continues! Everybody has far more vegetables from their gardens than they anticipated. The veggies have matured early and kept producing at unprecedented rates. Flower gardens are blooming profusely. Gardeners will be spoiled forever by this remarkable summer!

     Word has it that the bears are having a hard time finding food in the woods. The prediction is that they will den up early. Beware of hungry bears!

      A trip to Steuben and Waldoboro in mid August enabled me  to talk with radio friends from the days when the potato-head link was operating.
It is always nice to be where almost anytime you announce your call, someone will talk to you. 

     August has been repeater work month. N1ZHR  drove up to Rocky Mountain on Aug. 17 with me. Jeff used his chainsaw and I used clippers to remove the most offending brush along the base camp road. The new game warden, Jeff Spencer, saw our tracks and drove in behind us. He  found the jeep deserted part way in. When I returned to move the vehicle, I met him. He wondered what we were doing. I explained our clearing activities and he left, assured we were not illegally hunting or fishing. Nice to know the wardens are alert.

     N1CHF and N8VJM made a trip to Rocky Mountain soon after and climbed the tower. They found that someone had visited the tower in the winter (carved initials and date), and probably left the hatch open. Birds entered the tower and you can imagine the mess. However, no equipment damage. Steve and Miles worked on the antennas and the Rocky Mountain Repeater is now running on high power. 

      N1CHF and N8VJM also visited the 146.64 site. They replaced the battery with one of the donated batteries from the hospital and did some cleaning up in the building. N1CHF also climbed the tower to inspect the antenna and secure the coax.

Address comments, questions, or suggestions to: 
Gale Flagg  R.F.D.#3  Box 250
Fort Kent  ME 04743 
Phone: 207-834-6670
E-mail: sgflagg@sjv.net
 

Called to Order: 18:42 by N1UYA
In Attendance: N1UYA, N1CHF,  N1PMS, N8VJM, N1CGV, N7GLR, KA7VNR, N1ZHR.
Secretary's Minutes: motion to accept by N1PMS, seconded by N7GLR. Motion passed.
Treasurer's Report (N1CHF): previous balance: $383.19; +$0.86 (interest); current balance: $384.02.

Old Business: A report on field day contact was tabled due to the absence of KW1C.
     By consensus, the harvest supper will be held SAT 16 OCT 99 at Rosette's Restaurant in Frenchville.  N1UYA will make the appropriate arrangements.
     Following-up on previous discussions, N7GLR told of his visit to shortwave station WBCQ in Monticello, ME.  He was given a tour by station engineer Tom Barno who invited us all to visit. N7GLR further stated that he believes that the station has a website http://wbcq.net/ .
New Business:  It was decided that we should have a press release about field day and that it should be handled as follows: Field Day Coordinator KW1C will dictate the information to Field Day Public Relations Coordinator KC1SE for distribution to the media.
     A Rocky Mountain work day is tentatively scheduled for TUE 17 AUG 99 or WED 18 AUG 99 for the purpose of cutting brush.

     A test of disaster preparedness for a communications emergency which involves ham operators being stationed at hospitals  is reported to be scheduled  SAT 11 SEP 99.  N1UYA will investigate further and report her findings. 

     N1UYA  reported a mysterious child's voice being heard on more than one occasion over the 146.640 repeater.  The voice said: "W1BTP, W1BTP".   N1UYA will contact W1BTP hoping to get further information. 

Next meeting: MON 13 SEP 99 1830 EST at UMFK, Grindle Conference Room. 
Adjourned @ 19:28 EDT by N1UYA with no objection from the floor.

Program: "Gardening to Conserve Maine's Landscape" and "Humor on Simplex" by N1UYA.
Submitted by: N8VJM, VP/Secretary

26 SEP Good EME Conditions 

30 SEPAlpha  Aurigids Meteor Shower Peak

More meteor information:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/meteor_streams.html

Date: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 2:15 AM
From: mailto:flyfishing@cablenet-va.com
      Remember how we used to have to go to separate URL's to look up visible passes of MIR, shuttle etc.?? This one does all of them and many more!Be sure to bookmark it! It is the GSOC (German Satellite Observation Center).
http://www2.gsoc.dlr.de/scripts/satvis/satvis.asp
    Notice the first thing they ask is to set up your location.  If you live in town, go to their database, find your city, and you've got all the data furnished for your Lat. & Long. If you live in the country, choose "edit manually" and put in your own coordinates (remember Longs. are negative in our hemisphere!)
      If you select "daily predictions" (or anything else), be sure to click on the underlined times, and you get the pass imposed on a very exact star  chart! This is one thing the other URL's don't have and really makes finding them easy!
     Be sure to look at SL-16 - it was just launched on July 17 in a high (sunlit!) orbit and is very impressive as it flashes 2-3 times per second!

     Best 73 always, Dick, K1HEL

     The school season has begun.  Perhaps you will enjoy these actual test answers from history tests.

1. Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies and they all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.

2. Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines.

3. The Greeks were a highly sculpted people, and without them we wouldn't have history. The Greeks also had myths. A myth is a female moth.

4. Nero was a cruel tyranny who tortured his subjects by playing the fiddle to them.

5. Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients. Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.
 

Heavy duty 40' galvanized steel tower, 16" x 16" x 16". Includes mounting hardware. Best Offer.

Pair of stacked 7-element beams for 10 meters. Best Offer.

Heil BM-10 microphone boom set   $35.

MFJ 451X  keyer  $35

Contact Charles Zafonte N1FRX  834-6273
 

     Sixteen-year-old Patrick Pepe, KB2WVG,  of Wading River, New York says," Everyone is equal out there, on the air, because you can't see each other. Everyone is the same."  He considers this one of the major benefits of amateur radio operation. Patrick urges other young people to "definitely get into the hobby. It's a great hobby, it's a lot of fun. You get to meet a lot of people from all over." If you are a 6-meter fan, listen for KB2WVG in FN30.