The weather has been very nice the last several days, which was a welcome change, since the cold weather. I am sure we will get more cold weather again. I am glad it got cold enough this winter to at least kill some of the bugs and other stuff that drives people like me crazy with allergies. Just be sure, when the roads are bad, that you exercise caution with your driving.
   I did manage to get a 8' x 16' storage building finished in my back yard. and have moved the bulk of my military collection from the ham shack to storage building. I now actually have a workbench and room to get to the operating desk. I can work on a radio or build a model airplane. Boy, now I have two rooms full of stuff, but at least the ham shack looks like one now.
   Take care and I hope to see you at the next club meeting on January 22nd,  so 73 for now and will see you later.
   73 -  President Pete, WB7AMP

Escapees from column 2

day to the Huntsville Command Center, 936-437-6735, and to their local law enforcement agency. Police advise that anyone spotting these suspects not try to approach them but contact local authorities immediately.
   More information on the escapees is at http://people.txucom.net/tdcj-iad/.
    --Jerry Karlovich, KD5OM

   Well, hello again. Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and a Happy New Year. We had a very nice holiday at our house. We got to see all of our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids, and everyone opened gifts together with a very nice holiday meal. I have some new power tools such as a cordless drill and compound miter saw. These tools surely will come in handy on some of the expansion projects here at the house. I am already getting bored by not working, so I will make a good effort this year to get some sort of job. I think I will try to do some consulting work in the oilfield in the production side of the business.
   There will be a Hamfest Meeting this Saturday, January 13th, at the clubhouse. So if you can,  please come and put in your input or to help out. I will be on a plane to Washington D.C. on Friday and will be coming back on the 20th. Beverly, KC5BNT, and Steve, K5RS, will be on hand to take care of the details that need to be done for the Hamfest.
   At our last club meeting, we had 38 people. This was the most we have had since August of 1997. Also, there was an announcement of a foxhunt to be conducted Saturday, January 13^th  at 3 p.m. This sounds like a "perk up" activity and it surely will be nice to get our hams motivated to participate and have some fun.
   I have gotten my packet station back on the air this evening, Wednesday the 10th and was surprised that it still works. Now I need to get familiar with the commands again to use it. I don't remember all of the commands for the mailbox and other things so need to get a copy of the Kam Manual.

ARISS packet system to be activated

Published by permission from The ARRL Letter, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 12, 2001
   

The ISS Expedition 1 crew was expected to turn on the packet system sometime this week. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station packet system will identify as RZ3DZR-1. It will uplink on 145.99 MHz and downlink on 145.80 MHz. When the system is activated and the ISS is within view, Earth stations can expect to hear a periodic beacon every two minutes. Earth stations may send unformatted informational (UI) packets to the ISS (ie, it should be operational for APRS beacons). Earth stations are asked to refrain from using the Packet Mailbox System at this time, however, since the crew does not have the computer hooked up to read messages. Do not transmit on the packet uplink until you have heard the packet beacon. If you copy the packet system, let ARISS know and save your information for a future QSL card. For more information on ARISS, visit the ARISS Web site, http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov/ .

--Frank Bauer, KA3HDO

Escapees may have stolen radios; hams asked to monitor

Published by permission of The ARRL Letter, Vol. 20, No. 01, January 5, 2001

According to news reports, the seven Texas prison escapees still at large and now wanted in connection with the murder of Irving, Texas, police officer Aubrey Hawkins, KC5USI, also may have stolen radios from a Houston Radio Shack store. The radios are said to include Amateur Radio 2-meter H-Ts as well as Business Radio Service (programmed for 156.400 MHz) and Family Radio Service (462.5625-467.7125 MHz) radios.
   Hams have been asked to monitor these bands and report any suspicious activity any hour of the

See Escapees next column