From Your Publisher - HARC Home · ing a SASE. According to MD WA4DXP, 2400 contacts were made be-tween Friday 2200 UTC & shutdown on ... CAVEC,VEC [email protected]

July—2014

VOX

VOX Monthly Newsletter of the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club

A busy month for members of the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club. By Chairman Tim K4AEE’s estimation, about 75 HARC members turned out for a very successful Field Day. Now that the deadline for score submissions has passed, you’ll find our K4BFT score published elsewhere in the issue. Barely 3 weeks later about 30 club members turned out for a reprise field effort in the week-end activation of W4A – a special event call commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. We were fortu-nate to host Homer Hickam, a former NASA engineer and author of October Skies at the mi-crophone on Saturday afternoon. Tom K4AKC has a write-up a few pages back. As I put these words to print, my thoughts turn to how both of these events turned out so well. It’s because of you – the volunteers who come out and contributed their time to make these events so successful. Whether it’s pitching in to assemble towers, & antennas, taking pho-tos, installing a PA system so visitors can hear what we’re doing, bringing food, hauling a trailer, operating a radio, or something as simple as driving a ground rod (or more difficult—getting it out), all those who attend help in ways large and small to make it a pleasure to be part of. Speaking of photos there’s no way to pub-lish all of them so for more coverage visit the www.harc.net web-site. In a few short weeks club members will be called on again to lend our time to the Huntsville Hamfest. If you’ve not done so already be sure to visit http://www.hamfest.org/VolunteerForm.php and sign up for some time slots. There is always room for new people and with Huntsville hosting one of the six regional Centennial events, don’t worry we’ll find something for you to do. 73, Mark N4BCD

Table of Contents

Field Day Photos & Score 2-4

Club Calendar 5

Letters 4

Club Calendar 5

License & Exam Info 8

ARES / RACES Meeting Minutes 9

For Sale 10

Rocket Park Becomes Antenna Park 6-7

From Your Publisher

The Huntsville Amateur Radio Club

Page 2 VOX

Field Day Photos & Score Breakdown

Field Day Saturday, 4PM. Picnic in progress. Photo from 35’ up the 40/15m tower.

Club Officers & Info

Paul Paelian WB4UEE President [email protected]

Tim Williams K4AEE Vice President [email protected]

Art Gribensk KG4EYG Secretary [email protected]

Heath Thorson KC4HRX Treasurer [email protected]

Johnny Winter KR4F Officer at-large [email protected]

Jack Hemby W5WQQ Officer at-large [email protected]

Bill Bathgate KD8IGK Officer at-large [email protected]

Meeting location: Red Cross Building, 1101 Washington St. Huntsville, AL 35801

Meeting time: Every Friday, 7:30 PM (except on major holidays)

Mailing address: HARC, PO Box 423, Huntsville, AL 35801

Visitors welcome at all meetings.

Club callsign: K4BFT (http://www.qrz.com/db/K4BFT)

Website: www.harc.net

Mail reflector signup: follow the link below the HARC logo on the home page

Page 3 VOX

Field Day Photos & Score Breakdown—continued

Above: Tim N8DEU made several satellite QSO’s over the weekend.

His first QSO however was to the International Space Station.

Right: Tom N4KG and Warren KJ4RAQ doing ???

Below: Todd N7KDT coached visitors at the GOTA station while

Gigaparts owner Robby Sperr records the event

Page 4 VOX

Score Summary for K4BFT: CW Digital Phone Total Total QSOs 2416 56 2456 Total Points 4832 112 2456 7400 Multiplier for 150w power: x2 Total Claimed QSO Score = 14,800 Bonus Points: 100% Emergency power 400 Media Publicity 100 Set-up in Public Place 100 Information Booth 100 NTS message to ARRL SM/SEC 100 W1AW Field Day Message 100 Satellite QSO completed 100 Site Visit by invited elected official 100

Field Day Photos & Score Breakdown—continued

Site Visit by invited served agency official 100 Youth participation 100 Youth operators= 9 Youth participants= 10 GOTA Bonus 120 Submitted via the Web 50 Educational activity 100 Total Bonus Points 1,570 QSO Points 14800 Bonus 1570 ------ Total 16370 For comparison, below are the top 20 scores from 2013. ARRL Results will be out in October.

Page 5 VOX

Club Calendar

29-Jun 30-Jun 1-Jul 2-Jul 3-Jul 4-Jul 5-Jul

Field Day Independence Day

6-Jul 7-Jul 8-Jul 9-Jul 10-Jul 11-Jul 12-Jul

DX Club Meet-

ing

ARES / RACES

Meeting

License Exam @

Red Cross


W4A Special Event W4A Special Event


W4A Special

Event

27-Jul 28-Jul 29-Jul 30-Jul 31-Jul 1-Aug 2-Aug

License Exam @

Red Cross

3-Aug 4-Aug 5-Aug 6-Aug 7-Aug 8-Aug 9-Aug

Family Services

Bike Ride


DX Club Meet-

ing

ARES / RACES

Meeting

Hamfest setup. No

meeting

Huntsville

Hamfest


Huntsville

Hamfest


Auction

31-Aug 1-Sep 2-Sep 3-Sep 4-Sep 5-Sep 6-Sep

Labor Day License Exam @

Red Cross

Page 6 VOX

“Rocket Park becomes Antenna Park—Tom Hatter K4AKC

When Apollo mission No. 11 landed on the moon 45 years ago on July 20, man first walked on the moon. To commemorate this event, radio operators from the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club (HARC) set up ama-teur radio stations at the US Space and Rocket Center. Rocket Park was transformed into “Antenna Park” and three high frequency (HF) stations operated outside among the rockets. Using special call sign W4A, long distance con-tacts were established with amateur radio stations all over the United States, as well as with many foreign countries. In addition, a rover station using special call sign W4R, made many contacts while operating mobile. A crank-up tower and Yagi antenna stood in the midst of the large rockets on display, and drew a lot of attention. Many visitors stopped to ask questions about amateur ra-dio, and saw amateur radio operators in ac-tion. In addition to explaining amateur radio to the public, HARC members enjoyed talk-ing to other hams the world over. Many contacts were made locally, as well as with many other states. For example, when one station reported his location as “Birmingham”, he meant Birmingham, England. Many HARC members helped make this a successful event, by preparing the radio stations, or making con-tacts on the air. Besides learning about setting up amateur stations “in the field”, some newer hams got a chance to make their first HF contacts. Venezuela, Russia, Oman, Iceland, and most western European coun-

tries were among the many for-eign contacts. A colorful“QSL” confirmation card was produced to com-memorate this event, and will be sent to those hams who re-quest it. Further information can be found at http://www.harc.net/apollo-event-7-18-14.pdf , the HARC web site.

QSL Cards were mailed to anyone send-ing a SASE. According to MD WA4DXP, 2400 contacts were made be-tween Friday 2200 UTC & shutdown on Sunday 2300 UTC.

Page 7 VOX

More W4A Photos

W4A (and occasionally W4R) operated out of two air-conditioned Trailers and a canopy with antennas fairly close together. With careful coordination interference was mostly under control. Below: Kelley W4VPZ is works phone in the comfort of a trailer.

Above: Tom K4AKC used his station for both CW & Phone contacts.

Page 8 VOX

Madison County Emergency Coordinator Tim Holland, KK5H

Field Day Chairman Tim Williams, K4AEE

Public Information Officer David Stephenson, KJ4OKJ

Fundraising Coordinator Tim Williams, K4AEE

K4BFT Club Station Trustee Tom Duncan, KG4CUY

Picnic/Food Coordinator Peggy Bell, K4EGB

Training/Education Coordinator Jack Hemby, W5WQQ

VOX Publisher Mark Brown, N4BCD

Website Designer Art Gribensk KG4EYG &

M.D. Smith WA4DXP

CAVEC License & Exam Info

If you’re interested in becoming a li-

censed amateur radio operator, study

guides are available online or in book-

stores. You’re welcome to come to

any Friday club meeting to ask ques-

tions. You don’t need to know Morse

Code to attain a license!

License exams are at 9AM the

first Saturday of every month at

the Red Cross Building, 1101

Washington St, Huntsville, AL

35802. The fee is $15 (cash)

and you must bring some form

of picture ID.

Until further notice, there will be no

testing sessions held in Athens due to

lack of both VECs and low numbers of

testers.

73, Joe Henderson N4CB CAVEC,VEC [email protected] http://www.n4dtc.org/cavec

Here are the stats for the July test session: The high number of test takers continued with the July test ses-sion. Fifteen came to test and thirteen left with a Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE). Upgrades to Amateur Extra: 3 Upgrade to General: 1 New General: 1 New Technicians: 8 Congratulations to these folks. The next Huntsville CAVEC test session will Saturday, August 2nd. We will also be providing testing opportunities at the Huntsville Hamfest, August 16th & 17th. Test sessions will begin at 10:00 AM each day. Reminder: When taking a amateur radio license exam, remember to bring the original and a copy of your current license. The exam team will keep the copy and attach it your Form 605, Fail-ure to bring both may result in your NOT being permitted to sit for the test. Regards, -Bruce Chandler WE4AU CAVEC Huntsville Chief VE http://www.n4dtc.org/cavec/

Club

Program &

Project

Managers

The meeting was conducted in the Huntsville-Madison County EMA’s EOC. The sign-in log indicates 25 in attendance. Business meeting started at 18:00 central time. Tim – KK5H opened the meeting by welcoming everybody. Reports: VOAD – Coe – K4COE

CERT – Another class has started at A&M. The Community Watch ‘Night Out’ is August 5th.

EMA – Chris – N4MMF Announced they are continuing to work the echo issue on the 147.220 repeater.

Announcements: Josh – WX4JRR – Radio Room update: Baron Services provided a new Win 7 computer for

weather radar and APRS. Tim – KK5H –

Hamfest is August 16-17. We will have an ARES table again this year and is looking for a volunteer to head up the coordination of table workers. Contact Art, KG4EYG, to sign up.

This year’s SET will follow the State’s scenario on Oct 11. (Nov 1 is backup) Next month’s meeting will focus on last minute preparation for the Hamfest.

Mike – KF4BOG has found a new website for weather radar information (http://www.simuawips.com/)

Woody – K4GNM – The Family Service Bike Ride is August 7. They are in need of radio vol-unteers. See Woody for details.

Program: Wayne – K4TTZ presented an informative program on radio programming using the CHIRP

software. The Madison County ARES CHIRP file is located on the ARES/RACES web-site.

Meeting Adjourned at 19:10

Page 9 VOX

ARES / RACES Meeting Minutes

July 10, 2014 —Steve KM4CJ

Page 10 VOX

For Sale

440MHz DSTAR Handheld Radio for Sale (ICOM ID-31A) I am selling a brand new, still in box 440MHz DSTAR radio, ICOM ID-31A for $250 OBO. I won at Hunts-ville Hamfest in 2012, took it out of the box once to turn it on and program my call, put it back in the box where it has stayed until now. I topped off the battery and took a few pictures in order to list it. Why am I selling? While I am impressed with the radio--it is fantastic in fact--there is no 70cm DSTAR activ-ity in Nashville. We have several very good analog repeaters on 440MHz, and I have a perfectly serviceable albeit aging dual band HT. I seriously considered putting up an internet gateway but frankly my HF contesting interests consume what little time I can devote to radio projects. My professional schedule is so busy now I can hardly play radio at all; I have decided to part with the ICOM ID-31A. I would very much like to sell to someone within our circles. Would you forward this email along to the greater Chattanooga/Atlanta/Huntsville clubs for their interest. http://www.aesham.com/70cm-440-mhz/icom-id-31a/ http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/handheld/ID31A/default.aspx http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/handheld/ID31A/ID31A_QSTReview.pdf Fine Print: Shipping will be extra depending upon the method chosen. Payment via all reasonable methods, and speed of transactions through the bank will ultimately the timing of shipping. Items are not warrantied or guaranteed in any way; items will be as represented as described above and in subsequent private communica-tions. Reasonable requests for additional info will be accommodated but such transactions will not reserve the unit if multiple parties are interested. My references are awesome so there is little risk to the prospective buyer. I reserve the right to cancel any deal for any reason. When transactions are completed, the sale is final. 73, Brad Brooks WF7T Nashville, TN brad.wf7t (at) gmail.com ——————————————————————————————————————— I have 2 radios for sale that would be good for your go kit: FT8100r Dual-Band mobile 2m/400 200 memories sensitive receive( last night I picked up repeaters in Bham full quieting). Fully functional and good cosmetically with no scratches. $160.00 DStar special: ICOM 2200H 2 meter High Power 65watt mobile with Dstar. Mobile mounting bracket, RT systems programming software and cable included. Will let it go for $200.00 . If you purchase the Dstar board new it would cost $140. You get both the Dstar capability and the radio for $200. I can meet anyone to show them the radios and can send pictures. J Chris Reed KF4MMF creed (at) hiwaay.net

Page 11 VOX

Homer Hickam, a former NASA engineer and author of October Skies spent about 45 minutes chatting with contacts initiated & logged by Todd N7KDT during the W4A weekend activation.

Lastly….

Documents

From Your Publisher - HARC Home · ing a SASE. According to MD WA4DXP, 2400 contacts were made be-tween Friday 2200 UTC & shutdown on ... CAVEC,VEC [email protected]