SCHH ARC “This & That” – September 3, 2024

Meeting This Thursday, September 5th, at 7 PM!

Club Will Meet at Pinckney Hall in ihe Kiawah River Room

Hope to see a good turnout at Pinckney Hall for our first of the final three meetings of the 2024 club year. The venue was changed due to renovations being done at the Lakehouse. We should be back in our usual location in October.

This month’s meeting will feature a presentation by Phil Blecker, who has been a member of the SCHH Computer Club. Phil’s presentation should be of interest to most of us as it will address ways in which to optimize your PCs’ performance. His presentation will begin at 7 PM.

A general membership meeting will follow the presentation. An agenda for the meeting will be mailed to all members of the club prior to Thursday’s meeting.

Shelby Hamfest Report de K2OS

Frank Pollino, K2OS, went up to Shelby, NC last weekend for the annual hamfest there. Thank you, Frank, for telling us about your experience below and providing the great photos.

Shelby is a four hour drive from Sun City to Shelby and it is definitely worth the time. Weather for Friday and Saturday was hot and sunny with temps over 90 degrees. That did not deter the outdoor flea market sellers and buyers. There were over 200 sellers in the outdoor flea market.

There was a large selection of used equipment, both modern era and vintage. Also, the usual plethora of used laptops and monitors could be found.

For the homebrewers, there were ample amounts of components available. The two indoor flea market buildings were a pleasant respite from the outdoor heat. The only commercial vendor was The Wireman who had the large display of coax, wire and antenna components.

   The ARRL  was represented with Roanoke Division Director Jim Boehner N2ZZ and Vice Director Bill Morine N2COP manning the booth. They stated that the cyber attack on the ARRL was indeed a major disruption. Over 200 PCs had to have their hard drives replaced. Numerous onsite and leased servers were also affected. Fortunately, backup data on all devices was available. Emphasis was placed on reactivating the ARRL Logbook of the World (LOTW) which has over 180,000 users and accounts for over 1.9 billion QSOs.

Both Jim (on the right in this photo) and Bill (on the left) stated that they are impressed with the activities of the SCHH ARC over the years.

   Of course, Frank came home with some ladder line and antenna wire purchased from The Wireman. Probably a G5RV dipole antenna is in the future.

Nominating Committee Formation – Chair Appointed…More Help Needed

It is that time of year again…time to begin the process for nominating members for the positions of club president, club vice president, club treasurer, and club secretary.

Our club’s by laws do not permit a president to serve more than two years. As such, I cannot serve as club president in 2025. Other officers can serve two or more consecutive terms.

The current schedule for this process begins with the formation of a Nominating Committee. Help is needed.

Thanks to Bob Officer, WA6WAY, for volunteering to chair the Nominating Committee. At least two more members of the committee are needed.

If you are interested in serving on the Nominating Committee, please let Harve (hnat463@gmail.com) know by September 4th.

Lewis & Clark Special Events Station Certificate

Nice certificate from a recent Special Events operation commemorating the exploits of Lewis & Clark

DXpedition and Special Events News

Everyone has been chasing CY9C lately, which is actually a fairly easy piece of DX for those of us in the US. CY9C is operating from St. Paul Island just off the east coast of Canada. A contact with CY9C can net you a new country, a new island (IOTA), a new park (POTA), and a new lighthouse!

DXpedition news can be found here.

The big Special Event operation coming up is the Route 66 event. It starts September 7tn and will run through Sept 15. Check the website here – 
2024 Route 66 On The Air – W6JBT.ORG

Lucy and Radio Communications

Many of us loved Lucy and grew up watching “I Love Lucy” and then followed her into her “Lucy” shows as we got a little older.

Here is a great YouTube piece, sent to us by Charlie Bess (AD5EN), that is very interesting and funny. Enjoy!

Upcoming Club Events and Meetings

Thursday, September 5th – Membership MeetingPINCKNEY HALL, KIAWAH RIVER ROOM. Program begins at 7 PM and will be presented by Phil Blecker of the Sun City Hilton Head Computer Club. Phil’s presentation is entitled “PC Performance and Speedup”. The club’s regular membership meeting will follow the evening’s program.

Thursday, October 3rd – Membership Meeting: AMSAT Program and Demonstration by Phil Moore, KD4O. Stay tuned for details as the AMSAT demo may start early! General membership meeting will follow the AMSAT program.

SCHH ARC Nets – You Can Help To Make Them Better

Our SCHH ARC nets are only as good as we make them…and our nets are pretty good! Some nights they are VERY GOOD…for example: Sunday, August 25th, when we had 13 check-ins! That was awesome!!! This past Sunday, we had 12 check-ins…another good net night!!!

If you have been checking in regularly, thank you for that. If you have not been checking in or never have checked in, please check in to our nets this coming week and weekend.

These are our nets. Enjoy them. They are very special and give us the opportunity to connect with each other on a regular basis while testing our equipment’s connectivity capabilities.

Please keep our nets alive and well by checking in when you can.

Weekly SCHH ARC Nets

Sunday’s Net (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex  except for the first two Sundays of the calendar month. The Sunday net will be on the KE4HAM repeater (147.135 + with a tone of 91.5 on both the input and the output) on the first two Sundays of the calendar month. Check-in can be done even if you don’t have a radio up and running via EchoLink by using the link KE4HAM-L when the net is on SIMPLEX and KE4HAM-R when the net is on the SCHH Okatie Repeater.

Wednesday‘s Net (8 PM) operates through the KK4ONF/Jasper repeater, 147.060+. The net can be accessed via EchoLink using the link KE4HAM-R.

Net Control Stations and EchoLink Coordinator

Thanks to our regular Net Controls: Bob Officer, WA6WAY; Frank Pollino, K2OS; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.

Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for working diligently to keep EchoLink up and running for our nets..

Net Control Schedule:

— Wednesday, September 4 @ 8 PM ET:  Frank Pollino, K2OS (JASPER COUNTY REPEATER)

— Sunday, September 8 @ 8 PM ET Bob Officer, WA6WAY (KE4HAM Okatie Repeater)

If you are interested in being a Net Control, please let Harve know.

SCHH ARC Net Reports:

Thanks to ALL who checked in to our SCHH ARC nets last week.
If you have the time, please check into our club’s nets on a regular basis.

Last week’s check-ins and traffic:

— Wednesday, August 28 : KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, WA6WAY, K2ITZ, KQ4JKI, WB4KSG, K2OS, WB1DXN. QNI=8 QTC=0.

— Sunday, September 1: KE4HAM/WA6WAY, AI4HH, AA4KK, K2ITZ, KB3FW, K2OS, WB1DXN, KO4AQI, KJ4BSM, K3WPA, W1ZZ. QNI=12, QTC=0.

Note: QNI = Number of Check-ins to the net, including Net Control; QTC = Traffic handled (Radiograms).

Other Operating:

Daily —  Monitor the new KE4HAM Repeater: 147.135 MHz + with a tone of 91.5. You may get some good DX spots from time to time and other members may be there if you want to connect/chat.EditEdit