SCHH ARC “This & That” — February 25, 2025

AI Presentation and an Elmer at the March 6th Meeting!

The SCHH ARC’s March Membership Meeting will include two presentations, an Elmer and a main program.

Frank Pollino, K2OS, will kick things off at 6:45 PM with an Elmer about a 2m antenna that he devised for mounting on his home’s gutters. A little extra height for an antenna never hurts…so, be sure to get to the meeting in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse by 6:45 PM that evening.

Following Frank’s presentation Maureen Kilcoyne from the Sun City Hilton Head Computer Club will provide our main program at 7 PM: A presentation on AI including Large Language Models (LLM) and various AI Chatbots. ChatGPT and Co-Pilot will be included in the discussions. Maureen is the co-chair of the Computer Club’s Windows Special Interests Group (SIG).

Our monthly membership meeting will follow Maureen’s presentation.

K2ITZ and SCHH ARC Introduce Ham Radio at Boy Scouts Meeting

Jack Frisch, K2ITZ, met with Scout Troop 241 at St. Andrew’s Hall (part of St. Gregory’s RC Parish) last week to describe how ham radio plays an important role when there is an emergency. He stressed that “when all fails, ham radio is there”. Jack also covered how repeaters work.

The highlight of the meeting came at 7 PM when Jack connected with three other members of our ARC on 40m SSB. Frank Pollino (K2OS), Bob Officer (WA6WAY), and Ed Stratton (W1ZZ) communicated on 7.237 MHz. “Ham-speak” was explained to the Scouts and questions about ham radio were answered.

They also discussed the Scouts’ “Jamboree On the Air”, an international Scout activity, which will be held between October 17-19, 2025.

Thanks to Jack, K2ITZ, for providing this report.

SCHH ARC Rolls in South Carolina QSO Party

Two club members — Frank Pollino (K2OS) and Harve Hnatiuk (KB3FW) — were all over the CW bands last Saturday during the South Carolina QSO Party.

Frank amassed 369 QSOs and is currently listed in 3rd place in the High Power CW category with nearly 188,000 points.

Harve is currently listed in 3rd place in the Low Power CW category after garnering 296 QSOs and tallying nearly 129,000 points.

Both Frank and Harve operated about 7 hours of the 11-hour contest. Both operators commented on the thrill of having pile-ups of stations trying to contact them during the contest. The first hour of the contest, which began at 10 AM Eastern, was particularly crazy.

Any other members who participated in the QSO Party are encouraged to post their results on 3830scores.com and to send them to Harve (hnat463@gmail.com) for inclusion in next week’s This & That.

ARC Plans to Use QST Back-Issues to Encourage Potential New Members

The SCHH ARC plans to gather back-issues of QST from members who are willing to donate them for distribution to other members of our community who have an interest in ham radio or current hams residing in SCHH who are not yet members.

Please bring your old issues of QST to the next membership meeting. The club can provide labels that can be applied over the mailing address and membership info on the magazine’s cover.

When we hear from residents who express interest in our hobby, we can drop an issue off at their home or give one to them when they come to an event or meeting.

A stack of these magazines will also be great to have at our Chartered Club Fair table in October.

QSL Card of the Week

Not only did Ed Stratton, W1ZZ, get a QSL card sent to him directly from Japan, he also received a SASE to return his famous South Carolina QSL card to his friend across the Pacific! That is indeed a big WOW!

Here’s Proof: Morse Code Can Be Puzzling

Even if you know “The Code”, this puzzle can be a skull-scratcher. The solution (answers) will be in next week’s This & That. If you solve the puzzle, please send your answers to Harve, KB3FW (hnat463@gmail.com). Good luck!

What’s Coming Up?

Tuesday, March 4, 2025 — SCHH ARC 10m SSB Net. 28.450 MHz.

Thursday, March 6, 2025 — Elmer Presentation, Program, and General Membership Meeting, Pinckney Hall. More details are provided above.

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 26, 2025 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KK4ONF Jasper County Repeater)

— Sunday, March 2, 2025 @ 8 PM: Frank Pollino, K2OS (KE4HAM SCHH Repeater).

SCHH ARC Net Reports:

Thanks to ALL who checked in to our SCHH ARC nets last week.

Last week’s check-ins and traffic:

— Wednesday, February 19 2m Repeater Net: KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, KJ4BSM, K2ITZ, KQ4JKI, WB1DXN, AA4KK, WB4KSG, W1ZZ, K2OS, KQ4TAY (Jarrod from Port Royal). QNI=11, QTC=0.

— Sunday, February 23: KE4HAM/K2OS, AI4HH, WA6WAY, WB1DXN, KB3FW, KO4AQI, KJ4BSM, AA4KK, WA2LWO. 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.