KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

Clubs

How do you run your club net?

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I was talking to a blog reader last night, and the topic of running a club net came up. For whatever reason, I seem to be the default net control station for our club’s 2m net (which meets every Monday evening at 8 pm on 146.96 MHz). Over the last year or two, it’s become fairly successful. We get a good group of checkins, and have a pretty good roundtable discussion.

I have a routine that I follow:

  1. Call the net to order, identifying both the net and myself.
  2. Explain that this is a fun net, and encourage anyone listening to check in.
  3. Call for mobile station checkins, and then give mobiles a transmission.
  4. Call for fixed stations and then run through the list of checkins, giving each a transmission.
  5. Call for more checkins and give them each a transmission.
  6. Ask if there are any further comments for the net.
  7. Close the net and return the net to normal amateur use.

The most important thing is to have fun. While there is room for procedure, I try to keep the net upbeat and fun. I joke around with the operators who check in, as well as joke around about my own foibles. I ask them about what projects they’re working on and what fun things they’re doing outside of amateur radio even.

There seems to be very little on the net about running a club net. There is one web page at https://www.mide.io/2015/10/19/running-a-ham-radio-net.html. There’s even a script that the net controls can use.

Do you run a club net? If you do, please tell me what you do to encourage people to check in and how you make it an entertaining and useful experience for those who do.

 

2017 Field Day public service announcements available

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This arrived via the ARRL PR mailing list this morning:

2017 ARRL Field Day PSAs (public service announcements) are now live at  www.arrl.org/field-day.

There are two audio and two video PSAs. All are 29 seconds long. There is a “generic” version, which points listeners/viewers to the ARRL Field Day web site, to use the Field Day Locator. There is also a version which allows local contact info. For the audio PSA, there’s 11 seconds at the end for you to promote your club’s effort. The video PSA features a text box at the bottom of the screen to type in your club contact info.

Best of luck with your Field Day outreach efforts this year!

Sean Kutzko, KX9X, Media and Public Relations Manager

Here’s one of the PSAs. It’s the version that allows you to add local information at the end of the spot.

We’ve never tried to get a PSA aired here, but I might give it a go this year. AM and FM stations all run PSAs when they run out of paid ads to run. I’m not sure exactly how you’d go about placing them in your town, but I don’t think it should be all that difficult, and who knows, It might just increase the turnout at your Field Day.

Please comment if you’ve placed a PSA with your local radio stations and tell us how it worked out for you.

Ham radio in the news: Club edition

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Ham radio club to celebrate 40th anniversary. Fast forward about 14 years to 1977. On April 17 that year 22 local “hams,” or ham radio operators, including Levo, met at the Hillsboro Farm Bureau Conference Room to form the Highland Amateur Radio Association (HARA) with Gary Harris as its first president. Today, there are nearly 100 HARA members and more than 150 ham radio operators in Highland County, according to Levo.

Powell River Amateur Radio Club provides community service. A dozen hams, or amateur radio enthusiasts, met at their usual headquarters, a clubhouse filled with aviation memorabilia, for Powell River Amateur Radio Club’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, March 8. “For a long time, Powell River didn’t have a place to train with ham radio,” said longtime member Russell Storry. According to Storry, the club originally acquired a space at a local fire hall, but access was difficult due to security concerns. Storry said relocating to a shared space in the Westview Flying Club (WFC) clubhouse was a big step up for the radio club. Since moving to its current headquarters, the club has installed radio antennas on the roof and acquired a communications trailer.

Hamming it up: Whether used for hobby or emergency, ham radio is a booming form of communication. They are considered the last line of communication. When everything else fails, they can bridge the communication gap and connect people. Doug Nelson and Dave Miller are just two of the 750,000 registered amatuer radio, better known as ham radio, users. “I wanted to be available to help people,” Miller said is why he got involved in ham radio. “That was my main interest.” He is now the Douglas County emergency coordinator.

‘Hotbed’ amateur radio waves getting bigger: Richmond club getting set to host its first ever swap meet. A “hotbed” of activity and “growth” membership are not the two words that roll off the tongue when you think of amateur radio. That is, however, exactly how the president of the Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC), Urey Chan, describes the surprising movement taking place within the confines of organizations across the Lower Mainland and Canada. According to Chan, 40 per cent of the national growth in amateur radio licenses is here in the Lower Mainland, where the interest in the activity is matching pace with the increase in population.

Would a membership survey help your club?

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I’ve written before about the things that Rotary clubs do, and how those things might help amateur radio clubs. Well, just a couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from my Rotary Club announcing this year’s annual membership survey. It asks questions like:

  • What makes you feel engaged in our Club? Check all that apply. Below this question is a list of club activities.

  • What would make meetings more interesting, useful and fun for you?

  • If you could change one thing about the Club that would make your Rotary experience more rewarding, worthwhile, fun, interesting, engaging, etc., what would it be?

  • Have you shared a concern about the club with a club leader and if so, were you satisfied with the response?

  • Are you interested in assuming a leadership role in the Club? How many times have you had to beg and plead someone to take on a leadership role in your club? A question like this might be a way to find them.

  • Please indicate how often you read the e-Harpoon (email newsletter) and Harpoon or visit the Club website (Ann Arbor Rotary.org) and the Club’s Facebook page. This question is geared towards finding out how to better communicate with members.

  • What do you tell other people is the best aspect about belonging to our club?

In addition to these questions, we ask them if they’d be interested in participating in current club activities and what activities they think the club should participate in in the future. The goal is to make the club as relevant as it can be.

Our club leadership takes a good, hard look at the results and plans accordingly. We must be doing something right. Our club has about 325 members, and is one of the largest Rotary clubs in the world.

For more information on how Rotary does surveys, take a look at the following:

ARROW goes to Dayton again

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For more than ten years, ARROW, my ham radio club here in Ann Arbor, has put on a bus trip to the Dayton Hamvention. We make a few bucks on it and it’s fun for the club and the amateur radio community. Over the years it’s grown, and we’ve been able to get donations from many ham radio vendors. I’m donating some of my books this year.

If your club is within a bus ride of Dayton (well, Xenia this year), you should consider doing one of your own. Here’s the announcement for this year:

Once again, it is that time of year when lots of hams around the world start thinking of the Dayton Hamvention. After all, with 25,000 attendees from all amateur radio interest areas, what’s not to like!

Don’t you wish you were going? You’re not looking forward to that long drive? Don’t drive! Take the Arrow bus! It’s inexpensive and easy. Even if you come from out of the Metro Detroit Area, you still relieve yourself of almost 8 hours of drive time!

As in years past, The Arrow Communication Association is sponsoring a bus trip from Ann Arbor, Michigan to the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio and back. The date is Saturday, May 20. We leave the park-and-ride at 4:00 am and get to the show at 8:00 am. We leave Xenia at 5:30 pm and arrive back to our large park-and-ride site by 9:30 pm. A continental breakfast is included on board. What more could you ask for?

Please Note: The departure time is 4:00 am this year because Xenia is one-half hour farther.

There is more. If you want to sell your stuff in the flea market, we have reserved a space there just for you! Every year, Arrow reserves a swap spot just for the bus trip crowd. You save $70.00. All we ask is that you keep your items to a reasonable limit and that you volunteer at least one hour of your time at the swap tables.

There is still more! As in the past several years, we are giving away DOOR PRIZES! In 2017, we have OVER $500 in donations from Ham Radio Dealers around the U.S.  including:

  • Heil Sound (As always, something wonderful! Usually a nice, expensive microphone!)
  • Elecraft (Sorry! Not quite a K3s, I’m afraid! A nice little QRP kit!)
  • MCM Electronics (TWO Raspberry Pi 3 Computers!)
  • DX Engineering (FOUR 24-Hour Analog Clocks: BEAUTIFUL! PLUS: Discount Stickers, again!)
  • Comet Antenna (Dual-Band HT Antenna)
  • Pacific Antenna / QRP Kits (Don’t know, yet! Surprise)
  • EAE Sales (Another great soldering station!)
  • Five Dash (Tony gives us TWO built SDR boards: 1 40/30/20 1-watt SDR transceiver board and an 80-30 meter SDR receiver board. You’ll find Tony Parks referred to in QST and QEX!)
  • NW Digital Radio (Choose ONE of two possible digital prizes: Bryan will give it to you at their Dayton Booth! More info later!)
  • RT Systems (Radio Programming Software: your model radio)
  • HamCall / Buckmaster (Ham Call DVD: More than just QTH info!)
  • HamTestOnline (Extra Class Study Course)
  • KB6NU (The “CW Geek” gives us an Extra Class Study Guide and a CW Training Book)
  • Borden Radio Company (WB5REX digs into the wireless history attic to give you a really nifty crystal radio kit. Its polished wooden base not only makes it look great, but its multi-tapped coil lets you tune from below the AM Broadcast Band up to almost 12 MHz. Did you say “Grand Child!?”)
  • Far Circuits (KF9GX sends one or more copies of his DVD with hundreds of articles about wonderful things you can build in ham radio: Of course, he wants you to buy a circuit board or two from him, but the DVD is a treasure trove of construction articles taken from QST, CQ, 73 and Ham Radio Magazines!)
  • Klingenfuss Publications (Joerg Klingenfuss again sends us his fine book of Shortwave Broadcast and Utility Stations! You can purchase his books and CDs from the ARRL, too!)

The cost is $55.00 for the round trip. (This increases to $65.00 on or after April 1.) Please mail all applications to ARROW Communication Association, 2545 S. Lima Center Rd., Chelsea, MI 48118. Please note that this does not include the Hamvention ticket. That one you’ll have to do yourself! Go to the ARROW website to purchase a seat using PayPal.

Amateur radio in the news: Rotary, hamfests, hams on the increase

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Ham operators talk with Rotarians. The Elizabethtown (NC) Rotary Club met on Wednesday and learned about amateur radio from operators J.T. Bryan and Mac MacCallum. Bryan told the group that, in the late 1800s, folks were building and learning how to use amateur radios. In 1912 Ham radio as we know it, began to develop. People had a need for a way to communicate and to bridge the distance with folks who were far away especially during times of natural disaster. Bryan said some folks got together began experimenting with amateur radios.

Being a Rotarian, I like this news story. I’ve spoken to several Rotary clubs myself about amateur radio. If you have a Rotary Club in your area, contact them and offer to talk about ham radio in your area. They are always looking for speakers, and Rotary has a lot in common with amateur radio. Both,  for example, are interested in public service.

Ham radio operators broadcast their enthusiasm for vintage electronics. Forget about the Internet, cell phones and solid-state anything at all. This group is sticking with old-fashioned vacuum tubes and antennas. Hundreds came to the Civic Auditorium in La Porte (IN) on Saturday to swap stories and hard-to-find electronic parts at the annual Cabin Fever Hamfest sponsored by the La Porte County Amateur Radio Club.

Use of ham radios growing in UP. It may seem unusual when there are so many forms of electronic communication available there are still people who use radios to communicate, but according to Stuart Kauppila the use of the technology is actually growing. Kauppila, who is the president of the Copper Country Radio Amateurs Association, said the group currently has 33 members, but has had as many as 75 members in the past.

UP is short for “upper penninsula” here in Michigan, and residents of the UP are sometimes fondly called “Yoopers.”

Amateur radio in the news: Spreading the word about ham radio, Morse Code man, cute cat

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More clubs should do things like this……Dan

Ham Radio for Dummies books available. With the explosive growth in amateur or ham radio, the Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club decided to spread the word about the over 100-year-old hobby. The Radio club, financed in part by a grant from LDG Electronics of St. Leonard, MD, set out to put a copy of Ham Radio for Dummies in most every school and public library in the tri-county area.

Morse Code man has a secret talent

Because who doesn’t like a cute cat?……Dan

Louie the cat can operate a ham radio, seriously

Amateur radio in the news: Philippine satellite, club recognizes members

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Diwata2’s payload includes amateur radio. The whole world is again set to witness come 2018 a third-world country launching into space another microsatellite — this time with an amateur or ham radio included in the payload. Diwata 2 — the Philippines’ second microsatellite that is currently being developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, Hokkaido University, and Tohoku University in Japan — has this technology, along with a telescope and cameras.

FDL Amateur Radio Club recognizes members. FOND DU LAC – On Jan. 9, the Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club recognized the achievement of members with the “Ham of the Year” award and the first-ever “Award of Excellence,” presented by Becky Schoenfeld W1BXY, the editor of QST Magazine, one of the largest ham radio publications in the world.

David McCumber received the “Ham of the Year” award at the meeting. Every year, the Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club gives the award to ham radio operator who has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty. McCumber was recognized due to his commitment to ham radio and the ways in which he helps the club as well as “other hams in the enrichment of their hobbies,” according to Schoenfeld.

The Club’s first “Award of Excellence” was given out to teenager Isaac Lundberg, sergeant at arms for the Club. Lundberg was given the award because of his passion for the club, as well as his involvement in meetings and events, including brat fries, Field Day and Walleye Weekend.

I think more clubs should do this. If your club gives out awards, please send me a short writeup, and I’ll publish it here on KB6NU.Com…Dan

iHOBBY: Amateur radio – Fun with a serious side. Amateur radio isn’t just a hobby, as James Curtis points out. During a normal week, sure, it can be fun making contacts with other radio operators from around the world. But in times of emergency or natural disaster, when other types of communication may be put out of commission, “ham” radio operators can play a vital role in emergency communications.

Ride the Bus to Dayton with ARROW

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Here in Ann Arbor, MI, we are lucky to live relatively close to Dayton. It’s about a four-hour drive to get there from here.

In 2002, our Activities Director, Sam, KC8QCZ, had the bright idea of organizing a bus trip to Dayton. The bus was scheduled to leave at 4 am, get to Dayton just as the flea market opened at 8 am, and then begin the return trip just as the flea market closed at 5 pm. Over the years, the bus trip has been a resounding success, selling out most years and opening up the world of amateur radio for more than 500 hams, both new and experienced.

A group of happy bus riders arrive at the Dayton Hamvention.

This year’s Dayton (actually Xenia, Hamvention’s moving!) bus trip will take place on Saturday, May 20, 2017. Tickets for the bus trip are $55 (if purchased before April 1) and $65 (after April 1). You can purchase tickets online from the ARROW website.

In addition to the trip there and back, there are a number of other benefits. Coffee, fruit, and bagels are provided on the way down, and if you have stuff to sell, you can do so at the ARROW flea market space. The space is also a good place to take a break and get a drink (cold water is FREE!)

Another nice benefit of taking the bus trip is that you’re eligible to win one of the many door prizes. In recent years, ARROW has been so successful in soliciting prizes from amateur radio vendors that everyone on the bus has gone home with a prize. This year, I’m donating a copy of my No Nonsense Extra Class License Study Guide and The CW Geek’s Guide to Having Fun with Morse Code.

I’ll include a list of this year’s donors here as the prizes come in.

Operating Notes: Computer virus, club net, gutter antenna

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A couple of days ago when I fired up the shack laptop, there was an open window that notified me that F-PROT, my anti-virus program, had found several files that had been infected with the JS/Injector.A virus. This is the first time that my shack computer had ever been infected, and it was kind of unsettling.

I set up F-PROT to do a complete disk scan, and got a little concerned when the program quit only partway through the scan, but the second time I started it up, it ran all the way through without finding anything, so I’m hopeful it got rid of the virus.

Guess I need to do complete scans more often. When was the last time to you did one?

Club Nets

For whatever reason, I seem to have become the de facto net control station for the ARROW Monday Night Net. To be honest, I don’t mind. I think it’s important to have a net. It helps keep the club together.

I try to keep it fun. I joke with the guys and ask them questions about what they’ve been doing in ham radio. If they enjoy it, the chances are they’re more likely to check in again. This Monday we had 12 check-ins and the net lasted just about a half hour. It’s just another way to have fun with ham radio.

Gutter Antenna

On Monday night, I also worked Tony, K3DY. When it came time to tell me about his rig, he proudly told me that he was using the gutter on his townhouse as a transmitting antenna! Here’s what his QRZ.Com page has to say:

Current TX antenna: 35 ft +/- downspout with 4:1 unun at feedpoint. Plenty of radials. It is working very well. With this antenna I finally achieved DXCC, WAS, WAC and WPX. Not bad for a no antenna zone.

My Secret… To use a seperate receiving antenna. Downspout is noisy otherwise so it is a necessity to have something else to hear that weak DX. I build a receive only 3ft diameter loop with coaxial cable and a preamp based on a differential design with a pair of 2N5109. Very simple device and it works really good! I am now having a blast on low bands 160, 80 and 40m (especially during the low SSN times that we are facing now, Oct. 2016).

How cool is that!