KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

Clubs

ARRL takes my advice, ups club commission

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I love it when the ARRL takes my advice. Almost ten years ago, I pointed out that the club commission for new memberships ($15) and renewing memberships ($2) was just too low. They recently upped that to $15 for new memberships and $5 for renewals.

On Thursday, the ARRL Learning Center hosted a talk by AB1QB about how to use the commission to help both your club and the ARRL.

In the video, Anita, AB1QB, explains the program, and how to apply for the commission. Currently, it’s a paper-based system. New and renewing members have to fill out membership forms, and on top of that, the club officer responsible for the program has to fill out a separate “reconciliation” form to actually get the commission.

There was a question during the video about whether or not members could renew online and designate a commission be paid to the member’s club. Someone (who didn’t identify themselves) quickly responded that it was something that the ARRL was working toward, but at the current time was not an option.

AB1QB suggests that clubs have quarterly “membership drives” to encourage people to join the ARRL. During these drives, clubs are supposed to extol the virtues of the ARRL, recruit new members, and collect the dues for those whose memberships expire during the subsequent three months.

While I applaud the increased commissions, I’m not sure that this program hits the spot. I think that the commission is still too low for the amount of work involved. If you’re a club officer, I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say about this.

Amateur radio in the news: ARISS reaches students in the Middle East, amateur radio part of Taiwan’s civil defense, club reaches out to community

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Final ham radio session with UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi ends

Sparking imagination and firing up the spirit of exploration among UAE’s younger generation, the seventh and final ham radio session under ‘A Call from Space’ series was successfully held by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre at the Emirates Amateur Radio Society in Sharjah. The initiative was held in partnership with the Emirates Amateur Radio Society (EARS) and concluded with a 10-minute live interaction with astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Drawing in over 30 attendees at the concluding session, the ham radio series has engaged more than 500 students from various age groups, grades and schools across the UAE along with space enthusiasts throughout its previous sessions. The outreach programme was held at locations such as the MBRSC, Mushairif School, Cycle 1-Ajyal in Ajman, GEMS Wellington International School in Dubai, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library, and the Emirates Amateur Radio Society in Sharjah.

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Forging Taiwan’s civil defense with airguns, ham radios, first aid training

Taipei, July 30 (CNA) Amid the threat of conflict from an increasingly assertive China or even the growing risk of a major natural disaster due to the climate crisis, civil defense in Taiwan is taking on greater importance than ever before.

Taiwan has a professional military supported by young conscripts who perform mandatory military service and national reservists to defend its territory against a possible attack by China’s People’s Liberation Army.

If war were to break out, however, Taiwanese civilians would also likely have to contribute to the war effort, and several groups have formed to prepare people for a possible conflict either as potential combatants or emergency first responders.

That preparation can take many forms, whether learning to shoot a weapon, communicate by radio, or develop first aid skills.

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This is a nice profile of the Dayton Hamvention’s 2023 Club of the Year…..Dan

Ham radio club reaches out to the community with monthly events

The Delaware Valley Radio Association hopes to be heard loud and clear during events scheduled during the month of August. Established in 1930, the all-volunteer amateur station based in Ewing is one of the oldest in the nation and has approximately 150 members.

The Delaware Valley Radio Association is the Hamvention 2023 Amateur Radio Club of the Year. Pictured above are Michael Kalter W8CI, Hamvention Awards Chair with Greg Mauro K3EA and Dom DiClementi N3DD, both past presidents of the DVRA, and Rich Freedman N2EHL, DVRA Treasurer.

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100, 50, and 25 years ago in QST: Electric filters, SWR meter project, clubs

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I love this feature in QST. Not only can you feel the history of amateur radio by reading these articles, many of them still impart useful technical information. Read on and you’ll see what I mean.

July 1923

The article that I chose from this issue is “Electric Filters” by F.S. Dellenbaugh, Jr. He writes, “Most thing in amateur radio have gotten beyond guesswork; reliable information is available. A glaring exception is the electric wave filter…” He then goes on to give a relatively rigorous explanation of LC filters in many different forms. This is all good stuff and still relevant today.

Also notable in this issue are the articles:

July 1973

You might thing that the article, A Simple Computing SWR Meter, describes one of the first amateur radio applications of a microprocessor, but  you’d be wrong. Instead, the article gives plans for an SWR/power meter that uses op amps to perform analog computations. The beauty of this approach, according to the authors, is that the SWR reading are independent of the forward power.

July 1998

Two articles in this issue are aimed at helping clubs:

  • Where Radio is Fun. This article brings home the point that to be a successful club, members have to have fun. If your  club is failing, perhaps it’s because you’re not having enough fun.
  • Anatomy of a Special Event Station. I like special event stations, so I’m highlighting this article. The deck reads, “Is your club stuck in a rut? Looking for a project to pep things up? Putting a special event station on the air will definitely pick up the pace….” This article gives a bunch of good advice about running a special event station that’s as relevant today as it was 25 years ago. One such bit of advice is, “Design QSL cards and certificates early in the process—and determine how and when they’ll be printed.”

 

When everyone pitches in, Field Day is a lot more fun

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Everyone was welcome at ARROW Field Day 2023.

I had a blast at Field Day again this year. And, it was a heck of a lot more fun because it was a club event, and we had lots of people pitch in and help. This includes:

  • Dave, N8SBE, who was the chief cat herder,
  • everyone who helped set up the antennas on Friday evening,
  • the folks who brought out tents and trailers.
  • the folks who brought out their radios,
  • Maryanne, W8VWY, who arranged for all the food,
  • Dinesh, AB3DC, and Ryan, W8RSM, who wrangled the computers,
  • everyone who operated the radios,
  • everyone who worked on getting the bonus points, and
  • the crew that did the tear down on Sunday.

Once again, we (ARROW, that is) were class 4A, with two CW stations, one phone station, one combination phone/digital station, and a GOTA station. We’re blessed with several good CW operators, so we were actually able to keep the CW stations busy for most of the 24 hours. We’re also blessed with other hams who were anxious to operate the other stations, and we managed to keep them busy, too. As you can see from the chart below, we had 24 operators total, and that’s not counting the people who operated the GOTA station.

Here’s a look at our stats:

Personally, I made the most contacts ever on Field Day—501 contacts all on CW. As you can see most of my contacts were on 40-meter CW. Part of the reason for this is that I was called on to start operating right at the start. I had expected someone else to do the honors, while I got the GOTA station going. When 2:00 pm rolled around, however, I was the only one available to work the station. Fortunately, one of my “assistant” GOTA coaches—Mike, KE8PWV—was available to take over, while I ran the CW station.

Yours truly, cranking ’em out on 40m CW.

Also, fortunately, the stars—or I should say the ionosphere—were in perfect alignment for me. The band was in really good shape, and there were lots of stations to contact. I found a frequency to set up on, and ran pretty much continuously for the next several hours. I don’t know how many contacts I managed to make, but it was a boatload.

Getting with GOTA

Another highlight for me was coaching the GOTA station. I really enjoy helping new hams get some experience with HF. This year, we had a rush of GOTA operators Saturday afternoon, but that petered out kind of fast. Picking up the slack, though, was the Hoffman family: Matthew KE8UEE, his mother Suzanne KE8TYK, and Matthew’s younger sister, Anna.

Matthew was our “GOTA star” last year, racking up quite a few contacts for us. This year, Matthew, now armed with an Extra Class license, was a coach himself, helping both his mother and sister make contacts.

From GOTA star to GOTA coach: Last year’s top GOTA operator, Matthew, KE8UEE, coached his younger sister, Anna, at the GOTA station this year.

As I usually do, I left the site around 9:00 pm, went home, showered, and hit the sack for a bit. I got up at 3:30 am and got back around 4:00 am. That was perfect timing, as Arun, W8ARU, who had been working the midnight shift on the 80-meter CW station, was just about ready to quit. Arun complained that there were no new stations to be worked, but I managed to scratch out 74 contacts over the next two hours. Not great, but not bad, either.

As the sky turned from gray to orange, I switched back to the 40-meter CW station. I didn’t keep track of exactly how many contacts I made, but I think my rate was a bit higher than what I was doing on 80 meters. I think that was partly due to the number of 1D stations that got on the air Sunday morning. I did manage to find some Class A stations, though.

As the contacts became fewer and farther between, I started to tire of listening to the computer pound out “CQ W8RP FD,” so did some search-and-pounce. I had some success with that, and I would switch back and forth between searching and pouncing and running a frequency.

Going for 500

At some point, I decided to quit. I got up and wandered over to the information tent, where a bunch of people had congregated. The information tent featured a big display that was displaying some real-time date, including the number of contacts made by each operator. When I saw that I had 487 contacts, I said, “Nuts. I guess I have to get back on the air and hit 500.”

I actually had to make more than just 13 to hit 500, as that 487 figure included a number of dupes. I decided early on that instead of telling the other station that the contact was a dupe, that I’d just work them, and let the software sort it out. N1MM, the logging software that we were using, does give you a figure that already takes into account those dupes, so I used that number instead. I think that I needed another 20 or so. I was able to make those in another hour or so, and at that point, quit.

For the rest of the time, I just hung out. Our county clerk came by—giving us the elected official bonus—and since I knew him, I gave him a tour of our setup. I even got him to sit down and make a contact at the GOTA station!

Demographics problem?

Finally, I’m happy to say that we had a real good mix of people—not just a bunch of old guys—at this year’s Field Day. In addition to Matthew and his sister, we had at least one teenager show up and make a contact at the GOTA station. In addition, we had a number of 20-somethings show up. So, while the average age of the attendees was probably greater than that of the general population, all is not lost, at least not as far as ARROW is concerned.

The ARRL PR Committee wants to help you publicized your Field Day

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Field Day is just two weeks away. So, if you haven’t already done so, get your PR machine in gear. To help you do that, here’s a message from the ARRL’s PR Committee….Dan

Hello,

The ARRL Public Relations Committee is excited to share a video with helpful tips for maximizing Field Day PR and Publicity. With a few weeks left before Field Day, there’s a great opportunity to garner attention, press, and social exposure for your club’s event.

The video is available via this link as an unlisted upload on our ARRLHQ YouTube channel. In it, you’ll learn some best practices that have worked well in other ham clubs. The ARRL Field Day
web page has a lot of resources you might find helpful, as well.

ARRL is planning a livestream from W1AW, The Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, on Field Day to help generate excitement and social traction during the event. Look for more information on that soon.

As always, we are grateful for your support in the effort to advance amateur radio! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if any of us at HQ may be of service.

Keep up the great work!

73,
Sierra Harrop

Sierra Harrop, W5DX
she/her/hers
Public Relations and Outreach Manager

Amateur radio in the news: Club aids fundraiser, Moon mission crew includes 2 hams, club celebrates 50th anniversary

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Mohawk Amateur Radio Club to transmit worldwide for worthy fundraising cause

GARDNER (MA) ― A group of local amateur radio enthusiasts will be transmitting this year’s annual Relay for Life of Greater Gardner fundraiser at Mount Wachusett Community College to listeners across the globe.

Members of the Mohawk Amateur Radio Club, which was founded in the 1980s, will bring their communications trailer to the site and set up a “Special Event Station” to transmit information about the Relay and chat with other radio users around the world.

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In this story, Kevin Erickson, N1ERS, is quoted as saying, “By regulation, the club’s amateur members were not permitted to use the airwaves to solicit for money for the annual American Cancer Society event.” I’m not so sure that this is true. Part 97.113 does say that “Communications for hire or for material compensation, direct or indirect, paid or promised, except as otherwise provided in these rules” and “Communications in which the station licensee or control operator has a pecuniary interest” are prohibited, but I don’t think that this operation falls into either of these categories. I am going to contact the ARRL about this and see what they say.

Moon Mission: Artemis 2 Astronauts May Connect With Youngsters On Earth Via Radio

In late 2024, the Artemis 2 mission will send a crew of astronauts around the moon, and most of them happen to be certified amateur radio (ham radio) operators. This fact has excited the amateur radio community, as they anticipate the possibility of the astronauts making a call back to Earth from deep space. Phil A. McBride, the president of Radio Amateurs of Canada, stated in a recent interview with Space.com that it is important for young people to have the opportunity to speak with astronauts and be inspired. After 40 years of communication with low Earth orbit, the hope now is that Ham radio will extend its reach to the moon.

Will we soon be able to contact hams orbiting the moon?

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If your club is celebrating a significant anniversary, publicize it! Send out a press release to all the significant media in  your area. I like the special logo, too. If you need help writing your press release, contact me, and I’ll give you a hand……Dan

Red River Valley Amateur Amateur Radio Club celebrates 50th Anniversary

On May 20, 2023, the Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club (RRVARC) WB5RDD will mark its 50th Anniversary. The celebration will be held at High Cotton Kitchen located at 1260 Clarksville St. in Paris at 10 a.m. Confirmed guest speakers are Lamar County Judge Brandon Bell, Paris PD Assistant Chief Randy Tuttle and ham operators that are descendants of original Club members.

The RRVARC was established in 1973 by committed ham radio operators in the local community. Since then, the Club has established a dedicated location at the Paris Police Department headquarters, operating from their Emergency Operations Center (EOC), while providing community communications services. These services include tornado/storm spotting, ice storm communications support and planned functions such as Tour de Paris where the Club serves as the communications coordinator.

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Amateur radio in the news: Ukraine uses SDR, Winter FD in NC, SkyWarn in TX

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Ukraine Uses Off-The-Shelf Electronics To Target Russian Communications

A nonprofit organization based in the U.S. is supplying Ukrainian forces with advanced electronic warfare gear assembled from simple off-the-shelf components. The secret is a new technology known as Software Defined Radio (SDR) which can locate Russian radio emitters, from command centers to drone operators. Previously this sort of capability required expensive, high-grade military equipment.

Serge Sklyarenko says his organization, American Ukrainian Aid Foundation, based in New York, is supplying Ukrainian intelligence with a number of the versatile SDR radio kits.

“The beauty of them is they are software defined, meaning they can be reprogrammed in the field to suit a multitude of use cases,” Sklyarenko told me.

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Eastern Carolina amateur radio club puts emergency response skills to the test

WITN, Greenville, NC, reports on Winter Field Day.

‘Eyes on the ground’

CEDAR CREEK LAKE (TX)–When bad weather is on the horizon, Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) members such as Charles Wells and Charles Ligon stand ready as amateur radio operators (or “ham”) to help protect the region.

The club has a group called ARES, which stands for Amateur Radio Emergency Services. “In the event there is an emergency, we will gather together on the air,” Ligon says. “We do a lot of storm spotting for the National Weather Service (NWS).” The weather service’s Fort Worth office has a link to club members and gets confirmation on the radio, Ligon adds. “We’re their eyes on the ground.”

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ICQ Podcast #399 – Hamzilla 2023

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In this episode, I joined Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Edmund Spicer M0MNG and discussed the following topics:

The episode’s feature is about Hamzilla 2023, a hamfest in the U.K.

Hams actually listen to us?

I’m always pleasantly surprised when I run across hams who say that they listen to the podcast. Mostly, it just seems like we’re babbling when we record the podcast, but when people say that they enjoy listening to it, it makes doing it all worthwhile.

Last week, at the HamSCI Workshop, I introduced myself to a fellow who said, “I know who you are. I recognized your voice from the podcast.” We proceeded to have a really nice conversation about the workshop.

Last night, I worked someone on 30 meters, and my being on the podcast made it possible. He emailed me after contact saying, “I’m a new CW operator and I heard your call tonight and recognized it from podcast fame, so I answered. I appreciated that you slowed down right away, but I immediately regretted my decision when you sent more than RST and state.” That is to say that he probably wouldn’t have answered my CQ if he hadn’t recognized my call sign.

I replied, “I could tell that were a bit unaccustomed to ragchewing, but kudos to you for trying!” I went on to say that I hoped that he should feel free to call me anytime. The only way to get better, after all, is to make contacts. I hope that I get to work him many times in the months ahead.

I’ll extend that invitation to all of you. If you ever hear me on the air, or see me at an amateur radio event, please feel free to say hi.

ICQ Podcast Episode 397: Spy station, solar cycle 25, 100-year-old club, GMRS

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For ICQ Podcast Episode 397, I joined Martin Butler M1MRB, Edmund Spicer M0MNG, Ed Durrant DD5LP and Chris Howard M0TCH to discuss the following topics:

Amateur radio in the news: Club celebrates 40th anniversary, QSL? Roger Roger

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“What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”: Watertown Amateur Radio Club celebrates 40th anniversary

WATERTOWN, WI – The Watertown Amateur Radio Club is putting out the call for new members.

Founded in 1982 with members from Watertown and the surrounding communities, the group of radio enthusiasts enjoy communication using shortwave radios for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, contesting and emergency communications. The club has more than 30 members from all around the Dane, Dodge, Jefferson and Waukesha county areas.

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CBCIslanders’ interest in amateur radio surges because of COVID-19 and Fiona 

NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA – Stratford resident Brent Taylor has been a ham radio operator for 38 years, in New Brunswick and P.E.I. He goes by the call sign VY2HF.

“It’s been absolutely fantastic. We have been so thrilled with the number of people that have come forward, and now that we’re getting them on the air,” Taylor said.

“Probably because of COVID, and maybe because of Fiona, there’s been a more of an interest, I think, in people wanting to be able to maintain their connections with each other, even from their own homes.”

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QSL? Roger roger.

Brain, WS7G, logging a DX contact in his shack in Moses Lake.

MOSES LAKE, WA — “Whiskey 7 Bravo Juliet November, is that a roger?”

The man’s voice, using the NATO phonetic alphabet to spell out a call sign, had a clear Caribbean lilt discernable even through the static and the distortion.

“Roger, the name here is Brian.” Brian Nielson acknowledged his call sign and spoke clearly into the microphone hanging over his desk. “Go ahead.”

“You’re coming in five by nine here on the beach in Barbados, over,” the voice replied, using the international amateur radio code to describe a clear and strong broadcast.

The Barbadian then described the sun, the sand, and the surf right in front of him, and the fact that he was taking the day off from work.

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