SCHH ARC “This & That” — February 11, 2025
de KD8IH
Change sometimes sneaks up on us and that happened recently to our President, Daryl
Borgman WB1DXN. Daryl will move north soon to be with family. I cannot overstate how much
that I and the rest of the club members thank him for stepping up to be our club President and
serve the membership.
Given Daryl’s impending departure, I have stepped into his role as President. Bob Kennedy
N0DQD will replace me as Vice-President. Our task is to maintain the momentum of the past
few years under the leadership of members such as Charlie Bess and Harve Hnatiuk. Special
thanks to Ron Frick for his guidance as a previous President.
What does this mean? It means that SCHH ARC will continue to be a reflection of our members
and their interests. My “task” is to listen to what we want our club to be and help make that
happen. We are fortunate to have active members who bring a wealth of knowledge to our club
and are willing to share it. Our club has provided more fun for me than I have had with ham
radio in a long time. I hope you feel the same.
I hope to see you all at meetings, at activities, and around the community.
73,
Bob McCormick, KD8IH
SCTV Tour a Rousing Success
Tour Preceded Membership Meeting That Includes a Change of Command
Sixteen SCHH ARC members and guests had a behind the scenes view of how Sun City TV (SCTV) organizes, manages, creates, and broadcasts home-made programming to SCHH and area residents. Our group was hosted by SCTV board member and on-air personality Georgia Lash, who gave all in attendance an introduction to the TV operations prior to the commencement of the tours.
Four groups of four members each then were invited to see the production, direction, editing, broadcasting, and studio areas of SCTV. SCTV tour guides BJ Batt and Bill Nissin capably explained how the station worked and how news and interviews are done in the studio.
SCTV generously provided our group with bottled water and chips, which were appreciated by all!
Following the tours, the club conducted its February Membership Meeting. We welcomed new members Gene Biz and Bob Schneider (KF8DCV) and guest Mike Wonderly. Chip Miller (KQ4JKI) reported that club membership is approaching 70!
Ken Finke, KN8F, advised that Jon Watkins had passed his technician exam (see Certificates below) and that the aforementioned KF8DCV (Bob Schneider) will be taking his general license exam this week! Ken emphasized the need for more Volunteer Examiners who are qualified to conduct ExamTools tests. Please contact him if you can help (kefinke@hotmail.com).
Bob Officer (WA6WAY) announced preliminary plans for a Hidden Transmitter Hunt in the coming months A lunch will follow the hunt.
During the meeting, Daryl Borgman (WB1DXN) announced his resignation as club president. Daryl is moving from SCHH to NH later this month for personal reasons. Bob McCormick (KD8IH) agreed to move up from vice president to president of the ARC. Bob Kennedy (N0DQD) stepped up to be vice president. Both Bob’s were unanimously endorsed for election by the club members present.
Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW) updated the membership on the club’s Emergency Preparedness Task Force. The Task Force has met twice and has come up with a preliminary operational plan (shown below). Work needs to be done finalize the plan and to identify/confirm SCHH ARC Communications Coordinators and home station and hand-held operators. The Task Force plans to meet again in the next 3-4 weeks.
Members and guests at the February 6th tour and meeting included Daryl Borgman (WB1DXN), Bob Schneider (KF8DCV), Bob McCormick (KD8IH), Bob Kennedy (N0DQD), new member Gene Biz, Guest Mike Wonderly, Lon Seward (WB4KSG), Ken Finke (KN8F), Ron Frick (AI4HH), Chip Miller (KQ4JKI), Jack Frisch (K2ITZ), Bob Officer (WA6WAY), Dan Kreshak (KO4AQI), Bob Kehoe (WB3H), Chuck Nehonski (W8NCA), and Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW),
Report on HamCation from Frank, K2OS
Thank you to Frank Pollino, K2OS, for this article about his trip to HamCation!
Frank writes:
“I attended the Orlando Hamcation on February 7-9. The weather was great throughout
with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s. The outdoor and indoor flea markets
had a large number of sellers. One could find just about any component needed for a
project along with a wide variety of used equipment. There was a variety of modern
equipment along with many vintage boat anchors. It was a trip down memory lane,
There was a large building for dealers, manufacturers and organizations. Manufacturers
had large displays including Icom, Yaesu, Flex Radio and Elecraft.
There was a noticeable lack of attendance from antenna manufacturers this year. SteppIR and M2
were absent this year. Ham Radio Outlet had the largest dealer display. It seems that
many hams are building wire antennas. There was a line waiting to make purchases
from The Wireman who had all types of antenna wire, coaxial cable and ladder line.
There were also several vendors selling kits for EFHW antennas.
The best part of attending was seeing ham friends from around the country. We had a
group of twelve hams from the Rochester NY area for dinner on Saturday night.”
More Certificates!
A few more certificates to show this week!
Humor
What’s Coming Up?
Thursday, March 6, 2025 — Elmer Presentation, Program, and General Membership Meeting, Pinckney Hall. Details will be in upcoming issues of This & That.
SCHH ARC Nets
Please keep our nets alive and well by checking in when you can.
Can you help our nets by being a Net Control Station?
We have two regular net control stations…a third and fourth net control station would really help lighten the load. Please consider giving it a shot!!!
Weekly SCHH ARC Nets
Sunday’s Net (8 PM) operates on 147.550 MHz simplex on the last 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 all other 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.
Next 10m SSB Net: Currently set for Tuesday, March 4th at 8 PM on 28.450 Upper Sideband. Net Control will be K2OS, Frank Pollino.
Net Control Stations and EchoLink Coordinator
Thanks to our regular 2m Net Controls: Frank Pollino, K2OS; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.
Thanks to Bob, WA6WAY, for being an alternate Net Control Station and 10m Net Coordinator.
Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for working diligently to keep EchoLink up and running for our nets.
Net Control Schedule:
— Wednesday, February 12, 2025 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KK4ONF Jasper County Repeater)
— Sunday, February 16, 2025 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (SIMPLEX).
SCHH ARC Net Reports:
Thanks to ALL who checked in to our SCHH ARC nets last week. We had 9 check-ins on our 10m SSB net and whopping 13 stations on board for the Wednesday 2m repeater net!
Last week’s check-ins and traffic:
— Tuesday, February 4 10m SSB Net: KE4HAM/K2OS, K2ITZ, WA6WAY, AA4KK, W1ZZ, N0DQD, AI4HH, KQ4JKI, KB3FW. QNI=9, QTC=0.
— Wednesday, February 5 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, KQ4KOO, K2ITZ, KQ4JKI, WB1DXN, AA4KK, WB4KSG, N0DQD, WA6WAY, W1ZZ, K2OS . QNI=13, QTC=0.
— Sunday, February 9: Net was not formally held due to it being Super Bowl Sunday.
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.