 December 21, 2021 Editor: Michael Walters, W8ZY | |
Welcome The Club News is expanding as we go into the December edition and preparing for a new year. I hope that you will tell all of your friends about the newsletter and encourage them to sign into their personal account on the ARRL website. In their profile they will find "Email Subscriptions" and they can select the Club News. That way each month they will get the newsletter in their email. Our publication timetable is the third Tuesday of the month. More interesting programs are coming for clubs and I hope that you will stay tuned. Clubs are encouraged to send in their write-ups of events and activities. Send it to the clubs@arrl.org email address and we will look at all of them. Merry Christmas from myself and everyone here ar Club News. I hope that the holiday season brings you joy and prosperity for the new year. Stuart Airshow Special Event Station N4A Huge Success After two years of event cancellations this November 12, 13, and 14th the Stuart Airshow in Stewart Florida, turned out to be a huge success for Special Event station N4A sponsored by the Martin County Amateur Radio Association (MCARA) and Martin County ARES (MC ARES). With beautiful bright sunny days and temperatures in the 70's to 80's over a thousand spectators attended the show each day. Many visited the club station on display which was actively manned by members as they made hundreds of contacts during the three-day event.
One of the highlights on Friday was a visit by various schools who brought STEAM students to the MCARA / MC ARES station for a brief presentation. The tri-band beam atop the portable tower connected to a Kenwood TS-590 SG provided contacts from all over the US and was a treat for these young adults. A manned 2M station created excitement for youth of all ages. W1OP Visits W1AW for 100th Celebration The Providence Radio Association, W1OP, visited ARRL Headquarters and W1AW on Thursday December 9th, 2021, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their club's affiliation with ARRL. Accompanied by Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, the Rhode Island Section Manage, the club visited headquarters and met with David Minster, NA2AA, ARRL CEO. They displayed their original affiliation certificate signed by the "Old Man" himself Hiram Percy Maxim. Minster presented them with a new certificate commemorating their 100 years. They then visited W1AW and after lunch operated the memorial station. It was noted that even though there are several clubs around the country at the 100 year mark they are still rare and ARRL wants to recognize them for their continued hard work. Portage County Amateur Radio Makes Largest-Ever Donation to Local Food Program Ravenna, Ohio - For the past 16 years, Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS) has raised funds for local food program, the Center of Hope, a program of Family & Community Services (FCS). This year, however, PCARS made their largest donation yet - $10,471.76 - all of which will go to help the Center of Hope with their holiday distribution that provides toys and food for Ravenna families in need. PCARS Vice President Mike Szabo and Treasurer Paul Hyland, presented the check to Mark Frisone, Executive Director of Family & Community Services, as well as Lajoyce Harris, Program Manager of the Center of Hope. The donations are collected from club members as well as the community and have made a significant impact on Portage County over the past years. In their December newsletter, PCARS President Nick Wagner said, "I'm proud to say that over the past 16 years that PCARS has existed, our total contribution to support our community in this way is over $67,000. Well Done PCARS! Let this part of our legacy be something that defines us in the future as an intentional part of our mission." Each year, the Center of Hope impacts hundreds of families in Portage County by providing hot meals five days a week through its congregate dining center, as well as emergency groceries through its choice pantry. Services are free of charge and dependent on an individual's income. "FCS is grateful for this generous donation and for the support of PCARS, year after year" said Frisone upon accepting the club's contribution. "It's donations like this that help us continue the important work we do and ensuring that families have access to one of life's most basic needs."
For more information about the Center of Hope, visitwww.fcsserves.org/program/center-of-hope, or Portage County Amateur Radio Services, visit www.portcars.org. Radio Club Enjoys Rebirth Thanks in Part to POTA Getting its start in the early 1970s, the Triple "A" Amateur Radio Association of Beaver County, Pennsylvania laid claim to the first licensed repeater in the third call area. WR3AAA was the repeater's call, and in those days, obtaining a repeater license was no small task. Still, the founding members pushed forward to realize their vision. Like so many other amateur radio organizations, Triple "A" has found itself navigating the changing landscape of the hobby in recent years. Emerging technologies and lack of engagement made for some thin years where the membership roster was concerned. It was true then, and it still is. Triple "A" is not an organization that shirks away from a good challenge. This year, thanks in part to new leadership, we have a new mission: Reacquaint with previous members and welcome new ones. Encourage them to become active and involved, sharpen their operating skills, and enjoy the comradery this great hobby has to offer. Thanks to a chance conversation regarding POTA (parks on the air), the club has taken a new and exciting turn! We enjoyed three successful POTA events this past summer. Held at Beaver County's own Raccoon Creek State Park, multiple stations plus multiple bands plus multiple modes equaled lots of fun. So much fun that several of the members now enjoy POTA activating and hunting on their own. In addition to operating in the field, the members expressed a desire to take on project builds. Twenty or so hams built an end-fed antenna. Low cost and lightweight, the antenna is handy for both POTA activations, as well as being an excellent addition to their "go bags". Triple "A" has also put much effort into enhancing the existing ARES / ACS emergency communications program. Operator enrollments are up and the Skywarn program has also been revived. It looks like 2022 is going to be an exciting year. Membership has doubled and there are already activities on the horizon. POTA activations, picnics, more antenna builds, and a fox hunt exercise. Just to name a few. We are so proud of the membership. They stepped up, got involved, and made radio club membership fun and exciting again. We are equally proud to be leaders of this new and reborn ham radio club!
Fox Hunting at the University of Michigan Amateur Radio Club, W8UM  By Michael Fluegemann, KE8AQW, ARRL Life Member The goal of any university club is to organize activities in which their members want to participate. On the top of our list at the University of Michigan Amateur Radio Club, W8UM: Fox Hunting. Fox Hunting is a high pace activity where hide and seek, radio, and competitive spirits collide. The idea is there is a 2-meter transmitter (fox) hidden on campus that is emitting a Morse code message at specific intervals: one minute on, one minute off. Participants use directional antennas built out of tape measures, PVC pipe, and home-made 4 MHz crystal attenuators to find the fox before the other competitors. For clubs that may want to host your own fox hunt, it is easy to put together. For the fox you can use an inexpensive 2-meter handheld radio. Our club used an Arduino microcontroller to emit the Morse code message and created a cable so we could send the beacon audio into the radio's microphone jack and turn on the VOX. We then used a piece of coax as the antenna. By placing all of this and a battery in a plastic container, you can then hide it on campus, or wherever your club is conducting the hunt. Be sure to write your club's info and phone number on it in case anyone else finds it.
For the antennas and the attenuators, you can find designs online that are easy to follow. The key thing for us was making sure the radios we used had S-meters so we could tell which direction the signal was the strongest and making sure we had all the correct adapters for the antennas and the radios. One radio that is relatively inexpensive and seemed to do the job was the Baofeng UV-B5.
Overall, we had a great event. Five students participated including two who were not yet club members. It can be a great recruiting activity when members bring their friends. Everyone who participated found both hidden foxes and are eagerly looking forward to the next one. I highly suggest other clubs hold fox hunts as part of their yearly activities. Go Blue!
Submitting Info for this Newsletter ARRL Club News is for radio clubs to show how they are working in the community and the hobby to advance amateur radio. If your club does a project, supports an event, does an EmComm activation or activates a park, we want to hear about it. You can submit your newsletter article to us at clubs@arrl.org. We like to get them as text or Word files instead of "PDFs". If you have pictures, please submit them with any caption information, as well as the name and call sign of the photographer. We want to highlight the good work being done by the clubs and show others in the community of clubs. Think of this as a chance to show off your club and your programs. How to Plan and Apply for an ARRL Hamfest or Convention If your amateur radio club is planning to host a convention, hamfest, tailgate, or swapfest, please consider applying for ARRL sanctioned status for your event. To learn what it means to be an ARRL sanctioned event, and to get some ideas on how to prepare for and conduct a hamfest or convention, visit www.arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events. To apply for ARRL sanctioned status for your event, log on to www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application. The ARRL Hamfests and Conventions Calendar can be found online at www.arrl.org/hamfests. In addition, the Convention and Hamfest Calendar that runs in QST each month also presents information about upcoming events. Important Links ARRL Home: www.arrl.org Find an ARRL Affiliated Club: www.arrl.org/clubs Find Your ARRL Section: www.arrl.org/sections Find a License Class in your area: www.arrl.org/class Find a License Exam in your area: www.arrl.org/exam Find a Hamfest or Convention: www.arrl.org/hamfests Email ARRL Clubs: clubs@arrl.org | |
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The Stuart Airshow is unique in that it not only features modern and vintage aircraft, as well as aerobatic flying, but a variety of military reenactments. Those who made radio contact often heard the roar of jets and the sound of Huey's in the background. Operators frequently moderated their observations creating much excitement on the frequency.
