SCHH ARC “This & That” – May 7 , 2024
SCHH ARC Members Enjoy May Membership Meeting!
Fourteen SCHH ARC members enjoyed another “two-fer” at last Thursdays (May 2nd) membership meeting in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse. Our monthly membership meeting was preceded by two presentations.
The first presentation was an “Elmer” provided by Lon Seward, WB4KSG, about Fox Hunting. Lon did a great job describing fox hunting techniques, equipment, and strategies. It is no wonder that he and XYL Judy found both hidden transmitters in our recent fox hunt! Lon demonstrated the use of his hardware to members after the meeting.
The main program for the evening came to us via Zoom. Rob Sherwood, NC0B, discussed how to choose a transceiver and included his evaluation of the popular transceivers from Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, Flex, and others. Rob’s knowledgeable assessments confirmed what some of us have experienced and gave us food for thought regarding other equipment on the market.
If you’d like a PDF of Rob/s presentation, please contact Harve Hnatiuk (hnat463@gmail.com) or Ed Stratton (w1zzham@gmail.com). The presentation is chockful of information!
Great to see the following member’s at last week’s meeting: K2ITZ, WB4KSG, W1ZZ, WA8NLX, AI4HH, KB3FW, KN8F, N0DQD, KQ4JKI, KQ4KOO, K3WPA, AB2LT, and K2OS.
A special welcome to Bill Albro, K3WPA, who recently joined our ARC and participated in the meeting on May 2nd. Bill recently moved to SCHH from Maryland.
Highlights from the membership meeting that followed the two presentations included an update on the new club banner, which should be sent to us in plenty of time for us to display it for the first time during ARRL Field Day on June 22nd at Lake Somerset. The ARC will be drafting Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) to set up and maintain a higher levels of connection with the Bluffton Township Fire District, the Hilton Head Civil Air Patrol Squadron, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the Red Cross. No MOUs will be sent to these entities without approval of the ARC’s board. Bob Officer, WA6WAY, has volunteered to be our club’s liaison to the local Civil Air Patrol group.
Our next meeting will be held at our usual location on June 6th beginning with an Elmer presentation at 6:45 PM. We will hold our membership meeting after the Elmer presentation. A Field Day Planning Session will be held after the membership meeting.
QSL Card of the Week
Straight Key Month is celebrated every January. The Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) organizes the operation of K3Y stations in each call area of the US and on all the world’s continents. Some operators work all call areas and other most dedicated and persevering ops get all call areas AND all continents. Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW, operated as K3Y/4 as a volunteer and also managed to get a clean sweep of the ten call areas. The 2024 K3Y QSL provided the confirmation.
Each year, the SKCC has a contest for that year’s QSL card design. This year’s card was selected by a poll of the SKCC membership, which now totals over 28,000 hams worldwide.
All K3Y stations do not use electronic keyers. Most operators choose to operate using a straight key. As such, the speeds are usually less than 20 words per minute (wpm) and many times closer to the old General threshold of 13 wpm.
Many stations in the SKCC operate below 13 wpm. Joining the SKCC is a great way to get back in to operating on CW at your own speed.
Going Along for the Ride
Photo taken just off the golf cart path along Sun City Boulevard near Kings Creek Drive.
Upcoming Club Events and Meetings
June 6th — Monthly Membership Meeting: 7 PM in the Bayside Room at the Lakehouse. Field Day Planning Meeting preceded by Elmer on POTA by Jack Frisch, K2ITZ. More details in an upcoming “This &That”.
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: Double-Digit Check-ins!
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.
The nets have had some EchoLink issues lately but it is hoped that these will be ironed out for this week’s activity and beyond. Please be patient if issues arise and know that they are being tackled as quickly and as well as can be done.
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 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.
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; Frank Pollino, K2OS; Russ Treadwell, N1ZK; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.
Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for keeping the nets on EchoLink.
Net Control Schedule:
— Wednesday, May 8 @ 8 PM ET: Frank Pollino, K2OS (JASPER COUNTY REPEATER)
— Sunday, May 12th @ 8 PM ET: Bob Officer, WA6WAY (Simplex)
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, May 1 : KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, K2ITZ, KQ4JKI, KQ4KOO/M, W4HLJ, WA6WAY, W1ZZ, K2OS, WB4KSG. QNI=10, QTC=0.
— Sunday, May 5: KE4HAM/WA6WAY, AI4HH, K3WPA, KN4VWQ, WB1DXN, K2ITZ, KB3FW, W1ZZ, K2OS, KQ4KOO. QNI=10, 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, KB3FWEdit