HCARC Happenings
May 2014
|
News for Amateur Radio Operators In and Around Hillsdale County This
is the first edition of HCARC Happenings to be published as a web
page instead of an email. The
newsletter link will be sent out in an email.
Previous versions of HCARC Happenings have also been converted to web
pages and can be accessed on the Club
Info page of our website. The
next club meeting will be
Thursday, May 8 at 7pm at the First United
Methodist Church, 45 N Manning in Hillsdale (map).
Park in city lot F and use the east entrance off the alley and follow
the signs. The program will
feature an update from ARRL Michigan Section Manager Larry Camp WB8R.
Note that the May meeting has been moved up a week to avoid conflict
with the Dayton Hamvention. This
month the Ham Breakfast will be held
on Saturday, May 10 at 8am at the Tastes
of Life, 3380 Beck Rd in Hillsdale (map).
Please come
join us. We
could still use a couple more volunteers for the Hillsdale
County CROP Walk on Sunday, May 4.
The CROP Walk is a community-wide event to raise funds to end hunger.
Last year almost $6000 was raised for area pantries.
The walk starts at 2pm at the Hillsdale
Salvation Army Corps Community Center, 160 E Bacon in Hillsdale (map),
walking the Baw Beese Trail to Sandy Beach and returning.
Amateur Radio volunteers are needed starting about 1:15pm until about
3:30pm to work the parking area, staff a water station at the beach, and
monitor points along the trail. To
volunteer, sign up here. Volunteers
are still needed for the Community
Action Agency (CAA) Head Start Picnic on Thursday, May 15. Amateur
Radio volunteers with HTs are needed from 10:30am to 1:00pm to work the
parking lot detail. We’ve
worked this event for the last four years and had lots of fun.
Free lunch is available to volunteers.
CAA is located at 55 Barnard in Hillsdale (map).
This is a weekday and many people are working, so if you are off and
available we really need your help. To
volunteer, sign up here. Field Day
is coming up June 28 & 29. Anyone
interested in serving as chairperson or helping with planning should contact
club
leadership. Congratulations to new ham Jim Spencer KD8YDD of
Hudson who was granted his General license on April 10.
Jim passed both his element 2 and 3 tests.
He has a chiropractic practice in Camden. Club membership stands at 14 as of April 30.
There was one renewal and one new member since March 31.
Membership application is available here
(print 2-sided). The 16th annual Michigan
Section Family Outing will be held July 10-13 at
the Woodlands
Conference Center & Campgrounds in Hale (map).
This event is an opportunity to get together in a very relaxed
atmosphere for a day or two or three or four, depending on your interests
and time available. If you are
a camper or an RV’er or just like to get out into the woods, the Section
Outing is for you! For those that like the comfort of a hotel room,
those are available in West Branch just a short drive from the campground.
There will plenty of fun events along with learning experiences for
the whole family. Check the calendar
often as more activities and details are added as we get closer to the event
date. Updated
weather summary for Hillsdale city created with data from Accuweather.com
and local measurements. April
was more seasonable, with 14 of the daily highs above normal and 16 below.
Total unofficial snowfall for the winter season was 90.9 inches,
compared to 28.6 inches the previous winter and 39.6 inches in 2011-2012.
The
ARRL has posted a Centennial QSO Party leader board that participants
can use to determine how many points they have accumulated in the Centennial
QSO Party and in the W1AW WAS (Worked All States) operations.
Log in using your Logbook
of The World (LoTW) user name and password, and your position will
appear at the top of the leader boards.
Results are updated daily, based on contacts entered into LoTW. The Southwest
Michigan Amateur Radio Team in Kalamazoo is sponsoring a bus trip to
the Dayton Hamvention
on Saturday, May 17. The cost
is $100 and includes the bus ride, continental breakfast on bus, Hamvention
tickets and dinner on the return trip.
If there is interest the bus can stop in Coldwater at US-12 &
I-69. For more information
click here
or contact Mike Greis KD8GTX (KD8GTX@ARRL.Net
269-998-2358) or Chip Locke WB8ALW (WB8ALW@ARRL.Net 269-998-8122). Authorities in California say
Amateur Radio was responsible for the rescue of five adult hikers,
who became lost in San Emigdio Canyon.
The group had left Pine
Mountain Club on the morning of March 22 when they went astray.
“They had hand-held radios with them and called an Amateur Radio
operator in Pine Mountain Club to report [they were] lost,” a Kern County
Sheriff’s Department summary said. “Air-1
quickly located the lost hikers in a dry creek bed…and a ground unit
transported them to their vehicle.” The sheriff’s office said the
hikers, who had plenty of food and water, “were extremely exhausted, but
did not require medical aid.” (ARRL
story) Icom
Incorporated is celebrating 50 years in the wireless communications industry.
The company is a respected manufacturer and industry leader of
two-way radio. Icom’s current
product line serves amateur, avionics, marine and land mobile markets.
The company spearheads digital technology such as D-STAR
and the Icom
Advanced Digital System. (Icom
article) Amateur Radio propagation and solar phenomena authority Carl
Luetzelschwab K9LA said in an April 27 webinar that most solar scientists
believe several low solar cycles lie ahead, ushering in periods of
diminished HF propagation, especially on the higher bands.
Luetzelschwab, who maintains K9LA’s
Amateur Radio Propagation Web Site and pens a
regular “Propagation” column for National
Contest Journal, stopped short of concluding that we’ll experience a Maunder
minimum, an extended period of very few or no sunspots.
As the Marshall Space
Flight Center’s “Solar Physics” web page explains, early sunspot
records indicate that the Sun went through an inactive period from about
1645 to 1715, called the Maunder minimum after the scientist who discovered
it, when very few sunspots were observed.
(ARRL
story) The 2014 Armed
Forces Day Cross-Band Communication Test will take place on
Saturday, May 10. The US Army,
Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard co-sponsor the annual Amateur
Radio/US military communication test. The
64th Armed Forces Day officially takes place on May 17, but the Armed Forces
Day event takes place a week earlier, on May 10, to avoid conflicting with Dayton
Hamvention. The
on-the-air celebration features traditional military-to-Amateur Radio
cross-band communication on both SSB and CW.
Most activity gets underway at 1200 UTC. QSL cards will be provided to those stations making contact
with the military stations. (ARRL
story) PRB-1
Update On
April 8, three members of the PRB-1 team (WA8QJE, KD8NKJ and WB8R) met in
Senator Jones’ office in Lansing with representatives of the Michigan
Municipal League and the Michigan Township Association to discuss our common
goals. According to ARRL
Michigan Section Manager Larry Camp WB8R “Thus far the results have been
determined to be positive”. Click
here
to follow the progress of the Senate Bill 0493. FCC
License Database Activity in Hillsdale County 04/08/14
Moore, Craig A KD8TKR address updated FCC
Enforcement News A
Texas radio amateur has agreed to turn in his Amateur Extra class
license and make a $1000 voluntary contribution as part of an agreement with
the FCC to settle an enforcement action against him. The FCC earlier this year issued a Notice of Apparent
Liability for Forfeiture (reported in March
newsletter) after determining that he “apparently willfully
violated” FCC rules by interfering with Amateur Radio communications.
The Commission had proposed a $7000 fine.
The action was in response other radio amateurs’ complaints of
intentional interference on 7.195 MHz.
(ARRL
story) The
FCC has cited a Washington state resident for operating an “incidental
radiator”, apparently some sort of lighting device, that has been
causing harmful interference on Amateur Radio frequencies.
The Commission has ordered the man to “take steps to eliminate all
harmful interference” or risk substantial fines and seizure of equipment.
The Enforcement Bureau action came in the wake of repeated complaints
last year of interference to Amateur Radio operations.
The FCC warned him that he faces “severe penalties, including fines
of up to $16,000 per day,” if he fails to take action to resolve the
interference issue. (ARRL
story) QSM The ARRL has announced a Centennial Station Giveaway as part of its National Centennial Convention to be held in Hartford, Connecticut, July 17-19, 2014. Sponsored by the ARRL and R&L Electronics, the first-prize winner will receive a Grand Prize voucher worth up to $5000 of equipment, redeemable for products sold by R&L Electronics. (ARRL story) Hillsdale
County Emergency Management is always looking for volunteers, either to join the group or just to
monitor the monthly tornado siren test, so if you are interested contact
Cindy at the HCEM office. Tests
are held on the first Monday of the month (except September which is the
second Monday), March through October at 6pm (except March & September
which are held at 10am). Volunteers
are always needed to run the Monday Night Ragchew Net.
Check the Net
Control Schedule on the club website
for the schedule and results. And
don’t forget to check in every Monday at 7pm on the 147.06 MHz repeater. Longtime
club member Charlie Hinkle W8CFO is downsizing his station and has some equipment
for sale. Click here
for a list. (List updated
04/09/14) The ARRL
Centennial QSO Party kicked off January 1 for a year-long operating
event in which participants can accumulate points and win awards in
conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ARRL.
During 2014 W1AW will be on
the air from every state (at least twice) and most US territories, and it
will be easy to work all states solely by contacting W1AW portable
operations. The event is open
to all, although only ARRL members and appointees, elected officials, HQ
staff and W1AW are worth points. (ARRL
story) Lots of addition
information about the centennial QSO party is available here. ARRL
membership certificates
commemorating the League’s 100th anniversary in 2014 now are available.
Members logged onto the League’s website can generate their own
certificates or cards online for printing.
(ARRL
story) Upcoming Events May 4 – CROP Walk (sign up here) May 7 – Board Meeting May 8
– Club meeting May 10
– Ham Breakfast at Tastes
of Life, 3380 Beck Rd in Hillsdale (map) May 15 – CAA Head Start Picnic (sign up here) May
16-18 – Dayton
Hamvention June
1 – Chelsea
Hamfest June
7 – Fulton
County Hamfest June
7 – Independent
Repeater Association Hamfest (Hudsonville) June
14 – Ham Breakfast June
15 – Monroe
Hamfest June
21 – West
Michigan Youth Club Hamfest (Lowell) |
Send us your comments and suggestions to K8HRC@arrl.net