News for Amateur Radio Operators In and Around Hillsdale County

 

The Club Potluck Picnic will be held on Thursday, August 16 at 6:30pm at Owens Memorial Park on Baw Beese Lake (map).  All area Hams and their guests are invited.  The club will provide burgers and dogs.  Attendees are asked to to bring a passing dish, drinks and table service.  More details and an online signup will be published soon.

 

The next ham breakfast will be Saturday, August 11 at 8am at Reading Inn, 137 S Main in Reading (map).  Please come join us.

 

The next club meeting will be September 20th. 

 

Got Olympic Fever yet?  Two special event call signs are active to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: 2O12L from London, England and 2O12W from Barry, Wales. Both stations will be on the air for the duration of the Games -- July 25-August 12 -- and continuing through September 9.  (story)

 

The state primary election will be held on Tuesday, August 7th.  This is an important election, especially at the county level.  Many county offices only have candidates from one party running so the winner of the primary will run unopposed in the November general election.  There are also three county-wide proposals on the ballot, with additional proposals in some precincts.  Registered voters can go to www.michigan.gov/vote to view and print a sample ballot that is tailored to the voters precinct as well as find out where to vote.  Take a few minutes to review your ballot ahead of time and be an informed voter.

 

Heathkit Education Systems has officially filed for bankruptcy and liquidated it's remaining assets. .  An online auction was held on July 24 to liquidate the remaining assets of the company.  (ARRL story,  Herald-Palladium story, auction results)

 

In the last installment of HCARC Happenings I erroneously reported the wrong frequency for the new Osseo repeater.  The correct frequency is Freq: 444.750+ with a PL of 103.5.  The repeater is broadcasting at 11 watts, soon to be 50.

 

The cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will increase 80 cents, from $14.20 to $15 starting September 4.  The vanity call sign fee is payable when applying for a new vanity call sign and when renewing a vanity call sign for a new 10 year term.  (story)

 

Three Hams have joined the International Space Station crew after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft on July 15.  (story from before launch)

 

An unmanned Japanese cargo vessel headed for the International Space Station is carrying some tiny, cube-shaped satellites that, when deployed, will write Morse code messages visible in the night sky.  One of the mini satellites will use LEDs to first twinkle like an artificial star and eventually blink in Morse Code.  (story)

 

Amateur Radio licensee Ivica Dačić, YU1YU, was elected as Serbia's newest Prime Minister on July 27.  He is a member of the Amateur Radio Union of Serbia (SRS), Serbia’s IARU Member-Society and is said to be a member of his local club, YU1AAV.  (story)

 

Michigan House Bill 5027, aka PRB-1, is still in committee.  The bill would put state law in sync with FCC regulations with respect to encumbrances to antenna structures.  A similar bill was signed into law in Illinois on June 30 (story).  Click here to follow the progress of House Bill 5027.

 

Thanks to everyone that responded to our Field Day survey on SurveyMonkey.com.  We got some valuable feedback.  I hope to use this and other online tools (think SignUpGenius.com) for future events.

 

Don't forget to check in to the Monday night net, held weekly at 7pm on the 147.06 repeater.  Participation has been a little light the last few weeks.

 

The next board meeting will be Thursday, September 6 at 7pm at McDonald's in Hillsdale (map).  Board meetings are open to all club members.

 

Upcoming Events

August 4 - Angola Hamfest (ARRL info) (map, note that the map on ARRL info page is wrong!!!)

August 11 - Ham Breakfast at Reading Inn (map)

August 16 - Potluck Picnic

September 6 - Board Meeting

September 8 - Ham Breakfast

September 9 - Findlay Hamfest (info & map)

September 16 - Adrian Hamfest (info & map)

September 20 - Club Meeting