SCHH ARC “This & That” – August 6 , 2024
Big Storm…Stay Safe!
Looks like our area will experience a lot of rain and some moderately high winds for a while. It appears that flooding/storm surge may be our main villains in our area. Keep an eye out for rising waters in lagoons, along roads, etc.
Let’s all do our best to weather the storm and help friends and neighbors in need if possible! If you need help, start calling friends and family sooner rather than later.. You can also reach out to SCHH ARC members who you think might be able to assist.
Hunting Island Adventure Includes A Bit of Everything
Thirteen Club Members Make the Trip and Operate KE4HAM Using Four Stations
The airwaves around Hunting Island State Park were full of signals bearing the call sign KE4HAM last Saturday. The Pavilion at the State Park had four radio stations set up. The grounds around the Pavilion had two towers erected on them.
The trees had a 20m dipole strung between them. And there was a pipsqueak portable vertical antenna rising out of the sand on the ocean side of the building.
The club’s new banner was proudly displayed and everyone who walked by the Pavilion knew it was the SCHH ARC under the roof doing ham radio!
The goals for the day were to activate Hunting Island State Park for Parks on the Air (POTA) and to activate the Hunting Island Lighthouse during National Lighthouses and Lightships Weekend. Both goals were achieved!
Credit the SCHH ARC team for getting things rolling on time. Ken Finke, KN8F, made the group’s first QSO a little after 10:30 AM with another Lighthouse station on Cape Cod in Massachusetts on 20m SSB. Rick Garan, WA8NLX, provided capable assistance and back-up.
Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW, made the final contact of the day on 20m CW (W4NF in Manassas, VA at 2:06 PM) as the site was being dismantled and turned over to the 12th Reunion of Beaufort High School’s Class of 2012.
Jack Frisch, K2ITZ, who set up the event, faithfully plowed the 40m SSB band, which takes lots of perseverance during midday. He had a contact with club member Bob Kennedy, N0DQD!
The 10m Team operated on SSB with some success using a dipole put together by Bob Officer, WA6WAY. Along with Bob, Gwen Fox (KN4VWQ) and Lon Seward (WB4KSG) were operating on 28 MHz SSB.
Both the 10m and 40m antennas were strung from two portable towers that the SCHH ARC crew erected around 10 AM.
The 20m dipole was shot up into the trees by Rick Garan, WA8NLX, and Ken Finke, KN8F. Frank Pollino, K2OS, used his great antenna tuning instrument to confirm that our antennas were working well.
There was as usual plenty to eat and drink during the ARC’s stay on Hunting Island. Many thanks to Dan Kreshak, KO4AQI, for grilling some great hot dogs (Ballpark All Beef with Martin’s Potato Rolls…mmm mmm good). The club also had some Hostess cupcakes and the like out there along with chips. Members brought more chips, drinks, brownies, and snacks. If anyone went home hungry or thirsty, it was not due to lack of the availability of food or drink!
Tear-down began after lunch when a sheriff came by and asked the ARC to take down its towers. Oops…we didn’t have approval to set them up (lesson learned). As Bob McCormick, KD8IH, aptly said: “We fought the law and the law won.”
HF band conditions were not great…spotty, really. KE4HAM managed to make 24 total QSOs not including 10m operation for which the log was not sent to KB3FW as of publication time for the newsletter and for getting our log posted on POTA for the benefit of hungry Parks-hunters. 24 contacts was however good enough to give our club’s station another POTA activation. Mother Nature provided some breezes for part of the day but when the breezes died, it was a bit hot out there! Low Country of SC in early August and hot/humid…who would ever think that could happen.
The cross-band interference continued to be an issue as it was been in our ARC’s multi-station operations and will need to be worked out if/when we go back to the close confines of The Pavilion at the park.
All told though, the ARC’s Hunting Island adventure was a nice experience and a great summertime activity.
Participation in this event was AWESOME! Many thanks to all who made the trip down Highway 21 to be a part of it: Chip Miller, KQ4JKI; Bill Albro, K3WPA; Gwen Fox, KN4VWQ; Bob Officer, WA6WAY; Rick Garan, WA8NLX; Ken Finke, KN8F; Frank Pollino, K2OS; Dan Kreshak, KO4AQI; Bob McCormick, KD8IH; Lon Seward, WB4KSG; Judy Seward; Jack Frisch, K2ITZ; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW
Quite a crew, for sure!!! Thanks to all! Special thanks to Bob Officer, WA6WAY, for helping to haul lots of things to the event and later toting them back to SCHH and our Storage Area.
A follow-up report and more photos will appear in next week’s “This & That”!
Equipment For Sale
An email was sent to all members about equipment that Rich Black, N0FXQ has for sale. If you missed the email and need it to be re-sent to you, please let Harve know (hnat463@gmail.com).
ARRL Roanoke Division and South Carolina
We here in SCHH are part of the ARRL’s Roanoke Division. For news and updates about ongoing events, activities, etc., please bookmark ARRL Roanoke Division on your computer.
ARRL South Carolina also has a web site you can visit here.
Upcoming Club Events and Meetings
Thursday, September 5th – Membership Meeting: Program begins at 7 PM and will be presented by Phil Blecker of the Sun City Hilton Head Computer Club and is entitled “PC Performance and Speedup”. Regular membership meeting to follow the program.
SCHH ARC Nets – EchoLink Passes Tests!
Ron Frick, AI4HH, worked tirelessly over the past weeks to bring EchoLink back to our weekly nets. This past week’s nets had several check-ins on EchoLink. It was great to hear a lot of familiar voices!
We will have EchoLink on-line for this week’s and future week’s nets!
Many thanks, Ron!
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 – EchoLink Is Back
Have you checked in to one of the SCHH ARC nets lately?
These are the times of year when net participation drops off typically. Can you help to offset that trend?
Please check in this coming week and let everyone know what you’ve been doing.
As reported earlier in this edition of “This & That”, EchoLink is back on-line!
These are our nets. Enjoy them. They are very special and give us the opportunity to connect with each other on a regular basis while testing our equipment’s connectivity capabilities.
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 on the last two Sundays of every month. Otherwise, the Sunday net will be on the KE4HAM repeater (147.135 + with a tone of 91.5 on both the input and the output). Check-in can be done 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.
Net Control Stations and EchoLink Coordinator
Thanks to our regular Net Controls: Bob Officer, WA6WAY; Frank Pollino, K2OS; and Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW.
Thanks to Ron Frick, AI4HH, for continually working to restore EchoLink for our nets..
Net Control Schedule:
— Wednesday, August 7 @ 8 PM ET: Frank Pollino, K2OS (JASPER COUNTY REPEATER)
— Sunday, August 11 @ 8 PM ET: Bob Officer, WA6WAY (KE4HAM REPEATER)
— Wednesday, August 14 @ 8 PM ET: Harve Hnatiuk, KB3FW (JASPER COUNTY REPEATER)
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, July 31 : KE4HAM/KB3FW, AI4HH, K2ITZ, KJ4BSM, WA6WAY, K2OS, KQ4JKI, AD5EN. QNI=8. QTC+0.
— Sunday, August 4: KE4HAM/WA6WAY. AI4HH, AA4KK, KJ4BSM, K3WPA, WA2LWO, K2ITZ, KB3FW, K2OS, KQ4JKI. 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.