|
ARRL South Carolina Section (SC)Section Manager
James F. Boehner, N2ZZ 525 Barnwell Ave Nw Aiken, SC 29801-3939 803-649-7535 n2zz@arrl.org |
Section Links
|
|
 |
|
News last updated: Sat, July 19, 2008 at 12:30 AM ET
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the July 2008 South Carolina Section Manager's Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at: www.arrl-sc.org/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
Field Day was fantastic this year! Charlie AE4UX, SEC and I had our annual trip around South Carolina visiting Field Day sites, something we look forward to each year! We took a new route this year, covering 690 miles and 11 Field day sites! As I mention and remind myself each year, South Carolina is a large state. We focused on visiting a number of sites in the upstate, but found that the non-interstate roads took quite a while to navigate. Additionally, timing was a big factor. Twenty Four hours is not much time for travel. For those who responded to my initial request for a visit and did not see us, please respond again next year! The sites we did visit were: Greenwood, Anderson, Pickens, Greer, Blue Ridge, Columbia, Coastal, Beaufort, MUSC, Charleston and Trident ARC. All sites had an interesting story. Greenwood was fortunate to have a yard sale going on within sight of the operating positions, so there were a number of onlookers and some visitors who otherwise would have not had the opportunity to experience Amateur Radio. Our next site, Anderson, was one that was a bit difficult for us to find, but a call to Brian KR4SP, ACC directed us to their location. A surprise to me was to see Rev. Les K4NK, our immediate past Vice Director. I noticed a fresh scar visible through his buttoned shirt. Les was three weeks out from a triple coronary bypass operation! He is doing well, and just came to visit. He is undergoing cardiac rehabilitation now, but was ready to preach his sermons the following day! Our best to Les! I was also pleased to see Miss Emmie, KA4LRM, and really appreciate her taking all Field Day messages for me on the SC SSB net that night. I was able to listen to the net that evening, and conditions were certainly not optimal. Our next site was Pickens, and I was very impressed with the wealth of digital modes that were being used. I had the opportunity to meet their State Representative on our visit as well! Greer had a wonderful location on Lake Robinson, with a great antenna system. Blue Ridge had a great location, with perhaps the farthest spacing between the CW station and the Phone station we had seen on our travels! We appreciated the dinner, and allowing us to be the first in line! Columbia had their first year in their new site, the VERY public Sandhills shopping center! That parking lot was filled, and cars were buzzing by on the main road. From a human interest side, I noticed an area that was roped off and found that the Columbia group found a bird nest on the ground! Other than Mama bird not liking the activity going on, the nest and eggs were safe throughout the weekend! Charlie and I then made the long drive to Point South, where we spent the evening. The following morning, we visited Costal at the Point South KOA. How they ever got that crank up tower through those trees, I'll never know! Our next stop was Beaufort, with a great setup adjacent to the fire station in Port Royal. The ham with the most Q's was to win their Field Day mascot. I forgot its name, but when you hit the right button, it does the chicken dance! Congrats to the ham that won that trophy! MUSC was the next on the list. They were set up in a Mass Casualty Tent. Yes, complete with an air conditioning unit! Also notable was the biggest power generator I have ever seen, that was larger than I am tall! The Charleston ARS was surprised to see us, since we usually visit on Saturday evening. It was good to be on the USS Yorktown again, although I don't think I will ever be able to navigate through that ship on my own to get to their radio room. After a quick lunch, we hit the road to visit our last site. We were nearing 2pm. When we visited the Trident ARC in North Charleston, a thunderstorm was on the way, and they were just packing up. We were unable to visit the Grand Strand or Pee Dee, but Greg Davis N3ZL posted the following TV coverage of their activities on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30QtbCOnKS8 . Thanks to Lloyd KO4L for that information!
Thanks to everyone for their hospitality during our visit, and we will plan on a different route next year to hopefully catch those sites we missed this year. Thanks again to Miss Emmie for taking the Field Day traffic for me, and assisting all the Field Day sites with their NTS message bonus points!
Tom WA4VYS reports that the SC SSB net made the August QST issue (p.61) for their 50 years of service. Again, congratulations to the SC SSB net!
Dennis KG4RUL, PIC reports that the Second Annual TARC tailgate party will be held on August 16th, 2008 in Moncks Corner. Further information is available on their website: http://tarc.ai4mt.com/Tailgate_Party.htm
That's it for July! See you next Month!
June 2008 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina by Mac Heaton N4MEH, STM:
Net Reports
Net/Check Ins/Traffic/Sessions/Reported By
Anderson Radio Club 2M Net/818/34/30/N4MEH
Beaufort VHF ARES Net/36/4/4/W4KLB
Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Net /2187/45/30/K4SUG
Carolina's Net/242/116/57/W2EAG
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net/245/0/9/KE4TLC
Grand Strand ARC 2M Net/167/14/13/KI4HEE
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net/778/39/30/K4DTT
Greenwood ARC 2 Meter Net/118/4/4/W4DEW
Greenwood Friendly Net/578/46/30/W4JAK
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net/100/13/12/N4WMB
Oconee 2M Net/347/19/13/N9GSX
SC SSB Net/1660/68/30/W4DDK
SC Hearts ARES Net/219/5/6/KE4RVF
York Co. ARS 2 Meter FM Net/840/5/47/KI4NBA
Station Activity Reports
Station/Sent/Received/Delivered/Originated/Total
KA4LRM/0/17/16/0/33
KA4UIV/9/9/7/0/25
K4GLT/55/44/1/0/100
N4MEH/9/52/4/3/68
W4DDK/5/33/2/5/45
W4KLB/14/8/5/6/33
Public Service Honor Roll
Station/Cat1/Cat2/Cat3/Cat4/Cat5/Cat6/Total
KA4LRM/40/40/20/0/0/0/100
N4MEH/40/40/20/0/0/0/100
Have a Great Month!!
'73 de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
Responsibility for content of all posted material above rests
exclusively with the item author. ARRL staff assumes no responsibility
for errors, omissions, and accuracy of items appearing on this page. All
questions and comments should be directed to the item author.