SCHH ARC “This & That” – April 9, 2024 Edition
Solar Power Golf Carts and Arduino Presentations Big Hits at April 4th Meeting
Club members who attended the April 4th membership meeting received a “twofer”…two high-quality, “home brew” presentations at a single meeting. Twenty members were in attendance in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse.
Ken Finke, KN8F, kicked the evening off with an Elmer Presentation on an antenna switch that he built using the Arduino platform. Using Arduino’s I/O capability, Ken was able to design and program his unit have a transceiver connect to any of four antennas.
The main program for the evening was provided by Bob Officer, WA6WAY. Bob’s presentation, on which Ed Stratton (W1ZZ) assisted, showed the way he developed his solar power golf cart power system. The golf cart is able to provide 2000 watts of 120 VAC power using its 48 VDC battery system and an inverter. The batteries are charged by solar panels that are strapped to the top of the golf cart’s roof.
The club has used the power system at Field Day outings in 2023 and 2024 and will look to use it again during ARRL Field Day in late June.
Both the Elmer presentation and the main program elicited several good questions from the members in attendance. Thanks to Ken and Bob for their efforts and a shout-out to Ed Stratton for his help.
Following the presentations, the club held its monthly membership meeting. The club welcomed Dan Kreshak, KO4AQI, as its newest member. Updates on the delivery of the club’s new badges, which have logged a lot of miles en route to us, the club’s new banner design (see below), as well as upcoming events that are listed below were provided. A survey of “Friends of the Club” that receive our weekly newsletter “This &That” was announced with club president Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW, asking for a couple of volunteers to develop the survey, which will be done using Google Forms.
Thanks to all club members who participated in the meeting: WB3CB0O, KN8F, AB2LT, AI4HH, K2ITZ, KD8VL, KB3FW, W8TPW, W4GBJ, WB3H, N0DQD, KO4AQI, KD8IH, KQ4JKI, WA6WAY, K2OS, WB4KSG, KQ4KOO, W1ZZ, W4QNW.
Equipment was generously donated to the ARC by Jim Short, KQ4KOO, and Sherwin Tames, W4QNW during the meeting.
Next month’s membership meeting will be held on Thursday, May 2nd. Jack Frisch has agreed to provide a quick update on POTA as an Elmer Presentation prior to our main program, which will be coming to us via Zoom from Rob Sherwood (NC0B) who will present on his ratings of new transceivers. Look for additional information in upcoming editions of “This & That”.
Sherwin, W4QNW, Tames 40m During CQWW WPX SSB Contest
Sherwin Tames, W4QNW, got on the air for the CQWW WPX SSB contest to see if he could pick up a few new prefixes. As often happens in contests when band conditions make their statements (good or bad), the game plan changed. When conditions are good, we stay on the air for a long time. When they’re bad, the reverse can easily be the case and we go to play golf or tennis or find a book to read.
40m conditions were so good during the contest that Sherwin notched 513 contacts and 291 multipliers (unique prefixes) for 284,889 points, all of them on 40m! Truly impressive performance using an Icom IC765 (his back-up rig) and a ZS6 dipole at 35 feet. Some big fish that were reeled in: A “KH2” in Guam and an “A41” in Oman!
Results as of April 5th posted on 3830scores.com show Sherwin winning his category!
Congratulations to W4QNW!
SCHH ARC Banner
Here is the final design that was put together by Chip Miller, KQ4JKI, based on comments from club members at the March membership meeting.
Proposed color scheme will mimic our club badges in an effort to have consistent branding for our club.
Humor
Probably a “repeat” but it is a good one! Looks like this family has bonded.
Upcoming Club Events and Meetings
April 20th – Hidden Transmitter Hunt: Meet up at 8:45 AM in the Courtyard rear of Pinckney Hall. Hunt begins at 9 AM. Russ Treadwell, N1ZK, notes that there are three YouTube videos on typical fox hunting practices on the homepage of the Club website, KE4HAM.org. This will provide some ideas about how you might prepare for the hunt. And, the videos demonstrate some techniques for finding the fox. Knowledge is power, right?
April 20th – Lunch at Jameson’s: 12 Noon at Jameson’s at Hidden Cypress. All are invited to come to the lunch…not just participants in the Transmitter Hunt that morning! Spouses and guests are welcome too!
April 27th – CARS Swap Meet/Hamfest – Near SAV airport. Check CARS website or last week’s “This & That” for details.
May 2nd — Monthly Membership Meeting: 6:45 PM in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse.
June 6th — Monthly Membership Meeting: 7 PM in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse. Field Day Planning Meeting.
June 22nd — ARRL Field Day: Lake Somerset. KE4HAM on the air at 2 PM Eastern. Set up begins around Noon. More details at the June 6th Meeting.
August 3rd — Hunting Island POTA Activation and Lighthouses on the Air: More info to follow.
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, please email the webmaster; email: webmaster@ke4ham.org.
SCHH ARC Nets Going Strong!
Thanks to all who participate.
These are our nets. Enjoy them. They are very special and give us the opportunity to connect with each other while testing our equipment’s connectivity capabilities.
Please keep our nets alive and well by checking in when we can.
Weekly SCHH ARC Nets
Sunday’s Net (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex and EchoLink node: KE4HAM – L except on the Sunday after our club’s membership meeting. On the Sunday after our club membership meeting, the Sunday Net will be on the KE4HAM repeater (147.135 + with a tone of 91.5 on both the input and the output). The KE4HAM Repeater Net can also be accessed via EchoLink at KE4HAM-R. NOTE: April 7th’s net will be on the KE4HAM repeater!
Wednesday‘ ‘s Net (8 PM) operates from KK4ONF/Jasper repeater, 147.060+ and EchoLink node: KE4HAM-R
Net Control Stations and EchoLink Coordinator
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, April 10 @ 8 PM ET: (JASPER COUNTY REPEATER)
— Sunday, April 14 @ 8 PM ET: Bob Officer, WA6WAY (SIMPLEX)
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. We have topped 10 check-ins for many of our recent nets, which is awesome!
If you have the time, please check into our club’s nets on a regular basis.
Last week’s check-ins and traffic:
— Wednesday, April 3 : KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, K2ITZ, K2OS, N4YV, KQ4JKI, WA6WAY, KQ4KOO, W1ZZ. QNI=9, QTC=0.
— Sunday, April 7: KE4HAM/WA6WAY, AI4HH, K2ITZ, KB3FW, KJ4BSM, KD8VL, W1ZZ, K2OS, KQ4KOO. QNI=9, 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.
Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW Edit