THURSDAY JULY 15, 2010.

THE CHICAGO SUBURBAN RADIO ASSOCIATION

Illinois’ Oldest Amateur Radio Club - N9BAT

CSRA BOARD AND COMMITTEE

CLUB PRESIDENT 2009-2010
July 2010
708.562.2827 | eddiewa9gqk@att.net
Thanks to everyone VICE PRESIDENT 2010-2011
who attended the
773.556.6459 | f2@crescenzi.net
club’s Field Day
SECRETARY
activities this year.
Due to the short 773.281.0489 | tomnsherry@ameritech.net

month, TXT will TREASURER

cover our annual 708.383.5349 | aa9f@arrl.net

outing next month. SARGEANT-AT-ARMS/WELCOME & RAFFLES

708.485.2687 | urbieman@yahoo.com

MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN

708.788.8316 | njmalina@yahoo.com

TXT EDITOR/PUBLICITY

708.287.1336 | w9chi@arrl.net

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CHAIRMAN

630.655.6312 | mpauschke@worldnet.att.net

COFFEE & MEETING REFRESHMENTS CHAIRMAN

708.484.7384 | tomn9tm@prodigy.net

N9BAT CLUB CALLSIGN TRUSTEE:

CLUB WEBSITE: http://

“Mr. Nelson...I’m afraid you will have CLUB EMAIL ADDRESS:

to leave the air during this procedure.”

24/7 CSRA HAM HOTLINE:

TXT copyright ©2010

TXT | JULY 2010 | TWO

 FRONT PAGE
Chicago Suburban Radio Association
NEXT MEETING General Meeting Minutes de W9TTY
Thursday, June 17, 2010

at Grace Lutheran Church President Ed Schumacher, WA9GQK, called the CSRA

in the Fellowship Room on the lower level.
Doors open at 6:30pm Meeting begins at 7:30pm
Grace Lutheran Church is located at
1101 Manchester Avenue
in Westchester, Illinois.
One block north of Roosevelt Road,
just west of 25th Avenue.
Directions and maps on our website at
http://www.CSRAham.com
monthly meeting to order, at 7:35 PM.
New Business
After the approval of the June, 2010 minutes as found in
the July TXT, Treasurer Ray Good, AA9F, reported $2700.00
cash-on-hand. Secretary, Tom W9TTY, noted that Field Day
2010 invitations to local officials were mailed. A special
invitation emphasizing the emergency preparedness
features of ham radio was mailed to Village of Brookfield.

ARRL ALSO ON FACEBOOK
With more than 400 million active users, Facebook http://
www.facebook.com/ is the most popular social network
site on the Internet. And since radio amateurs are gener-
ally a social bunch, many hams are active on Facebook.
Thanks to Herman May, KE5HYW, the ARRL has its own
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/
?ref=logo#%21/pages/ARRL-the-National-Association-for-
Amateur-Radio/20069212407?ref=ts. Check out the page
to see a lot of features you won't find anywhere else, such
as pictures from ARRL events and interactive status up-
dates. We invite hams to "like" the ARRL Facebook page
and leave productive comments. Joining Facebook is
free, and you just might be surprised at who you'll find on
the site.
Net Reports: Ron, W9RWU, called for volunteers to take one
Monday a month as net control for the two-meter net.
John, KA9MJE, reported average checkins on the 15-
meter net. Sergeant-At-Arms, W9RWU, announced the
evening’s attendance of 16.
New Business
Locations for the July social scheduled for July 1 were
discussed. Jeff, KB9IGG, suggested Irish Times.
President Ed Schumacher called for volunteers to bring
equipment to demonstrate amateur radio to the Boy Scout

CLUB NETS
Troop meeting at Morris, Illinois. The two-hour commitment
is on July 2 and 16 from 3-5 pm

Do not forget about our club nets every week! Be Hamfest announcements. RadioFest 2010 at the Willow-
sure to check in to get the latest info on the club brook Holiday Inn in Willowbrook, Illinois August 5-7. They
as well as a chance to chat with other members will be using the special event call W3O.
and hams too! KARS tickets were available for the KARSFEST in Peotone, Il
on July 18.
CSRA Info Net Frank, K9KTU, is working on a ham radio proclamation from
Mondays at 8:00pm the City Council of Chicago. A thank you will be sent to
146.76 Repeater Joe Sinopoli for the article, “These Waves Are in the Field,”
in Suburban Life, June 9, 2010.

CSRA CATS Net Field Day. Volunteers were asked to bring food and drink,
condiments, plates and silver, and other FD essentials The
Wednesdays at 7:00pm sign up sheet for phone and CW stations was available
21.331 USB +/- along with laptops to practice Field Day logging.

CSRA CW Net Meeting Adjourned at 8:15 PM

Sundays at 8:00pm
TXT | JULY 2010 | THREE

FIELD DAY LOGGING
Frank Crescenzi K9KTU logs contacts at the 20 meter phone station on Field
Day. More pictures on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/
N9BAT
Vince NT9N will be operating on 10 meter side-
band during the lunchtime hour from 28.4 MHz
USB. He is looking for any and all contacts, so if
you are around, try to dial in and contact Vince!
KC9OMR
Matt has been active with ham radio
and scouting! Welcome to CSRA!
CSRA IS NOW ON FACEBOOK!
Pictures, meeting notes, information and social
networking. Become a fan of CSRA on Facebook
by logging on from our website.
QRM
COULD RADIO SHACK
BE ON IT’S WAY OUT?
Wall Street analysts have now predicted
what the amateur radio community has
seen for more than a decade, the demise
of "Radio Shack".
24/7 Wall St. has included "Radio Shack"
in it's list of companies that are certain to
be non-existent by the end of 2011.
The just released list includes: Readers
Digest, Kia Motors, Dollar Thrifty, Zale,
Blockbuster,T-Mobile, RadioShack, Merrill
Lynch and Moody's.
Here is what they have to say about the
end of Radio Shack:
RadioShack is one of the oldest retailers in
the U.S. It was founded in 1921 and in the
early 1960s was purchased by Tandy
Corp. The Tandy name was used for some
of Radio Shack's retail stores. RadioShack
is currently a takeover target. There have
been rumors that the company may be
taken private via a leveraged buyout or
purchased by Best Buy (NYSE: BBY - News),
probably for its locations. Best Buy would
certainly not keep the RadioShack brand
because it is considered downscale and
does not have the reputation for quality
products and service that Best Buy enjoys.
RadioShack has already begun to
rebrand itself as "The Shack," an indica-
tion that it knows the older brand is a
burden." (-QRZ)
Editors Note: Scott W9CHI was a Radio
Shack employee through his college
years at the Ogden Avenue Berwyn
location (store #01-6297). CSRA and
amateur radio was actively promoted
from this store. It’s sad to see the
company be reduced to just as cellular
phone and mp3 retailer, as it has in
recent years.
TXT | JULY 2010 | FOUR

The Comet GP9 dual band, three-
section, fiberglass vertical base an-
tenna is for 2 meters (5/8 wave x3)
and 440 MHz (5/8wave x8).
Gain: 8.5/11.9 dB
Power: 200 watts
VSWR: 1.5:1 or less
Connector: UHF (SO-239)
Height: 17.75 feet
Weight: 6 Lbs.
Sells for over $200 new, will
sell for $120.
Scott W9CHI
708/287-1336 or W9CHI@arrl.net
Tired of having the ugliest installation in the neighbor-
hood? Tired of that walked-on feeling when you don’t get
through the DX Pile-up? Unable to rag-chew through the
Tuner-Uppers? Take Heart! Throw away those ugly and
weak dipoles and verticals.
Alset Engineering Sunspot Special Price....$250.00
Hy Gain 103CA 10 Meter monoband 3 element Yagi.
Stainless Steel Hardware, Manual & Spare hardware. Hy
Gain BN-86 Balun with stainless steel hardware and
manual. Alliance T-45 Rotor with 5 conductor cable
With this antenna you can command the 10 Meter band
during the upcoming sunspot peak and beautify your
property.
Free consultation and installation advice from a
competent Registered Professional Engineer included.
Other Items For Sale:
Aztec Balun & Manual............................................$35.00
Heathkit Phone Patch with Manual........................$75.00
Grandmaster Memory Keyer with Manual.............$100.00
Tube Socket - Johnson #275 (for 3-500Z)..............$25.00
Power Supply 12VDC @ 5.0 amps........................$50.00
Classic HP-205AG Audio Generator & Manual.....$100.00
Contact: Alset Engineering at PO Box 512, Western Springs,
IL 60558 or call Al Whetter - W9WJ at 708/246-2692.
CLASSIFIED
AUTEK RESEARCH WM-1 computing SWR meter
w/ manual.
$100 OBO Contact Ed, WA9GQK at roster
A reminder that the stock of repair parts from the
estate of Frank Bacci, W9IJN, is available to
members in need of specific items. This stock
includes various tube sockets, connectors, resistors
in now hard to find sizes of carbon composition,
capacitors of all types, many other small
components too numerous to list individually.
Almost all are unused and very clean vintage
manufacture. Perfect for repair or restoration of
gear from the fifties through sixties. No modern
Asian junk manufacture. Please limit requests to
items actually needed for a repair as some
quantities are limited and we would like to help the
most members possible, i.e. please do not request
items merely for personal inventory. So before
going to eBay or the replica catalog suppliers,
check with me for availability. This is a free member
service. - Ed, WA9GQK.
DX HOTSPOTS
In DX, word that F5IRO is headed to Djibouti and will be
active as J28RO beginning July 6th and is expected to
stay for 2 years. Activity will be on the HF bands using CW,
SSB and the Digital modes mainly on the weekends and
during the afternoons and evenings starting between
1200 to 1300 UTC. His QSL Manager is F8DFP.
The KL7RRC 2010 Alaska tour will take to the air from
Kodiak Island from July 19th to the 21st . This will b e
followed by an operation from uninhabited Chirikof Island
beginning July 22nd and running through August 1st or
2nd with a final swing back to Kodiak Island on August 3rd
and 4th. QSL via UA9OBA or N7RO.
JF1OKX, will be active as 9J2KK from Lusaka, Zambia
beginning through the end of September 2011. Opera-
tion will be on 80 through 6 meters concentrating on the
Digital modes such as PSK, WSJT and RTTY, but there may
be time for some SSB and CW as well. QSL via JK1NSR.
YL2PN operating portable ES0 will be on from Ruhnu
Island, Estonia, during the RSGB Islands on the Air Contest
on July 24th and 25th. He will be a Single-Operator/Low-
Power/All-Band/Mixed entry. If you work him QSL via his
home callsign.
Lastly, JI1LET, will be on the air stroke JD1 from Chichijima
Island between July 24th through the 30th. His activity will
be on 40 through 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL to
JI1LET direct or via the JARL Bureau. (-AR Newsline)
TXT | JULY 2010 | FIVE
 BACK PAGE

FD
2010
TXT | JULY 2010 | SIX