October 17, 2023 Weekly This & That Newsletter
Nice Turnout at October 12 Membership Meeting!
Participants See Two Great Presentations Before Business Meeting
It was GREAT to see so many members at our re-scheduled meeting this past Thursday night at the Lakehouse! There weren’t any empty seats to be found!
October 12th’s monthly membership gathering kicked off with a timely presentation on Power Strips by Lon Seward, WB4KSG. Lon discussed the different types of power strips on the market and how many strips are protected by surge suppressors that use Metal Oxide Varistors (MOVs) to shunt surges to ground before the voltage transients can cause damage to equipment.
Over this past weekend, Eric Kullberg (KN4MIY) sent a link with a quick tutorial about MOVs. Thanks to Lon for the presentation and to Eric for the follow-up.
Rick Garan, WA8NLX, provided the main program for the meeting. Rick explained how we as able to get onto 160m here in SCHH using a “home brew” antenna, an inverted L with a folded counterpoise. The folded counterpoise used 3 ten-foot poles with 33 feet of separation as can be seen in sketch below.
Rick put everything together for about $500 and has made contacts on CW and FT8 on 160m in over 40 countries and close to 50 states. Rick said that the design concept could be used on 80m to make as well. Thanks to Rick for sharing his experience with the club. More details about this type of antenna can be found on K2AV’s web site.
And, speaking of “home brew”, we were fortunate once again to have presentations done in-person by members of our amateur radio club. Most, if not all, members agree that in-house presentations work best. Thanks again to Lon and Rick. If you have an idea for a presentation that you might want to provide at a future meeting, please contact Ed Stratton, W1ZZ (w1zzham@gmail.com). The Program Committee — Ed, Ken Finke (KN8F), Dennis Hopkins (AC4DH), and Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW) — can assist you if and as needed to put your presentation together.
Chartered Club Fair Follow-up
The club is still celebrating a very good Club Fair that included our having four new members join our ARC!
Last week’s report on the Fair did not mention that Gary Jones, W4GBJ, renewed his membership during the Fair along with several others. The latest tally has our 2024 membership at 34. We need to have at least 50 members to retain our “status” as a chartered club. If you haven’t renewed your membership, please do so as soon as you can. Contact Ron Frick, AI4HH (ronfradio73@gmail.com) if you need help in your renewal.
The Club Fair was a LOT of fun and didn’t take a huge amount of work for any of us because we had a great group of volunteers that made it happen!
Here are a few more photos from the Fair!
We had a lot of fun and much success at the Club Fair! Thanks to all who stopped by and special thanks to all who pitched in to the effort to make it happen!
Band Conditions Continue to Fluctuate – What to Make of the Solar Activity Reports?
There is a LOT of data out there about EVERYTHING these days.
Sorting through information and gleaning what is important to us is not always easy.
Lately, 10, 12, 15, and 17 meters have been really “hot” with lots of activity and some exotic DX.
Propagation Forecasts can help to steer us to the best frequencies on any given day.
Here is some information on how to interpret the data on propagation.
Humor
Keeping with the spirit of our main program at last Thursday’s Membership Meeting….
Upcoming Events
November Membership Meeting
The club will meet on Thursday, November 2nd, at the Lakehouse. Our program for the evening will be provided by Ken Finke, KN8F, and will address Computer Logging Software. A demonstration of logging with a computer that is connected to a transceiver will be included in the presentation. The program will begin at 7 PM and the membership meeting will follow.
ARRL EME Contest
From the Earth to the Moon and Back! Frank Pollino, K2OS, is leading this effort for the Club. More details the ARRL contest can be found here. Current plans are to operate from Lake Somerset on the afternoon of Saturday, November 25th.
Frank is working on a 500-Watt amplifier to provide plenty of kick to the KE4HAM signal.
More details will be in future issues of This and That.
Holiday Dinner
Club members and guests are invited to a “Dutch Treat” holiday dinner at Jameson’s (Hidden Cypress) on Thursday, December 7th. We will be seated at 6:30 PM. Everyone will order their own meals and drinks and will receive individual or couples’ checks for their orders.
There will be door prizes and a “gift exchange” is planned. More details to follow.
Space is limited so please reserve early by contacting Harve Hnatiuk (hnat463@gmail.com).
Club Website
Click here to get to the Club’s website: https://www.ke4ham.org. If you notice any errors or have site-related questions, email: webmaster@ke4ham.org.
SCHH ARC Nets:
Sunday NET (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex and EchoLink node: KE4HAM – L
Wednesday Nets (8 PM) operates from KK4ONF/Jasper repeater, 147.060+ and EchoLink node: KE4HAM-R
Thanks to our regular Net Controls: Bob Officer, WA6WAY; Russ Treadwell, N1ZK; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.
Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for keeping the nets on EchoLink.
Net Control Schedule:
— Wednesday, October 18th, 8 PM EDT: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW
— Sunday, October 22nd, 8 PM EDT: Bob Officer, WA6WAY
If you are interested in being a Net Control, please let Ron or Harve know. No regular skeds are available but we do need substitutes from time to time when a regular Net Control Station is unavailable.
SCHH ARC Net Reports:
Last week’s check-ins and traffic:
— Wednesday, October 11th: KE4HAM/N1ZK (Net Control), AI4HH, K2ITZ, KJ4BSM, WA6WAY, W1ZZ, KQ4JKI, KB3FW. QNI=8, QTC=0.
— Sunday, October 15: KE4HAM/WA6WAY (Net Control), AI4HH, AA4KK, K2ITZ, W1ZZ, KB3FW, AD5EN . QNI=7, QTC=0.
Note – QNI = Number of Check-ins to the net, including Net Control; QTC = Traffic handled (Radiograms).
Please check into our nets when you can. The nets are informative and interesting and foster club camaraderie.
Other Operating:
Daily — DX spotting and open chat 24/7 on 147.550 MHz simplex and the Jasper Repeater, 147.060+ (no Echolink).
KB3FW – SCHH ARC President