February 13, 2024 Weekly This & That Newsletter

SCHH ARC Invited to Present on Amateur Radio at Civil Air Patrol Meeting

On behalf of the club, Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW) agreed to lead a presentation on amateur radio at an upcoming meeting of the local squadron of the Civil Air Patrol on March 21st.

The squadron meets at 7:15 PM at the Hilton Head Christian Academy on Bluffton Parkway. Our presentation is to span about 30 minutes and will be followed by a Q&A session. ARC members can come to the meeting!

The foundation of the presentation will be the excellent PowerPoint presentation that Ken Finke (KN8F) delivered to the SCHH Computer Club at its Computer Club Hour last month.

The squadron has 22 cadets and 20 senior members. We’ve been told that it would be great to demonstrate ham radio to the group as part of our presentation. Perhaps we can hit our new local KE4HAM repeater and arrange to get a QSO or two on there. Any other ideas are appreciated.

If you’d like to be part of the presentation team, please let Harve know (hnat463@gmail.com).

The presentation represents an excellent outreach opportunity that we will be able to use at meetings of other Bluffton groups that express an interest in our hobby.

Please join the team!

Upcoming Membership Meetings

Please mark your calendars and join other club members and participate in our upcoming membership meetings. Program Committee chair Ed Stratton (W!ZZ) has programs lined up until June and will be finalizing our Fall 2024 programs soon as well.

Here is what is coming up.

Note that Membership Meetings normally begin with a program at 7 PM on the first Thursday of the month in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse. Our monthly Membership Meeting begins after the program concludes.

QSL Card of the Week

This one from Sherwin Tames is a rare one in at least two respects.

Sherwin worked some Guy in Africa who also goes by the name Henry but cannot be mistaken for Christian Dumont! Note that it is a rare country in terms of DX. More importantly, note the Sherwin did this on CW!

To quote from Sherwin’s email: “one of the FIVE cw contacts in my 63 year old log.”

Antenna Restrictions Bill

This is from our Section Manager, John Gendron. NJ4Z:

Amateur Radio Rally to Support HR 4549 is now on February 28th, 2024.   

The Bill in case you are unaware is crafted to remove private land restrictions on some antennas for amateur radio use.  Link to the bill: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess125_2023-2024/bills/4549.htm We would like to show the legislators in SC our support for this bill. We are asking for amateur radio operators to rally for this bill and attend the reading at the State House in Columbia.  We need as many operators as possible to be at the state house.  We want to fill the upper gallery with amateur radio operators to show our numbers in the state. Please, if you can join us make plans to be at the session.  The session begins at 10am, please arrive by 9am to make sure you get a seat. The State House Address is: 1100 Gervais St, Columbia, SC 29201.  There are parking lots and a parking deck on Assembly Street, within a block or two of the SC State House.

This & That Needs YOUR Help

Thanks for Sherwin Tames for sending in a great QSL card. Thanks to several members who have consistently provided some content for this newsletter.

Can you help? Perhaps some humor. Perhaps a QSL card. Perhaps a link to something of interest to hams in Sun City.

Please don’t be shy…send what you think might interest your fellow members to Harve at hnat463@gmail.com.

What Is All the Noise About?

An interesting blog item from a member of CW Ops on Power Line Noise.

Humor

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.

These Nets are Your Nets – Please Participate When You Can

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, February 14 @ 8 PM ET: Russ Treadwell, N1ZK.

— Sunday, February 18, 8 PM ET: Bob Officer, WA6WAY.

If you are interested in being a Net Control, please let Ron or 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, February 7 : KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, K2ITZ, N0DQD, AA4KK, WB4KSG KQ4JKI. QNI=8, QTC=0.

— Sunday, February 11 No report provided by publication deadline.

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

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