m.a.r.a. newsletter—winter 2018 vol 27 issue 1 the open...

M.A.R.A. Newsletter—Winter 2018 Vol 27 Issue 1

It’s been freezing cold in this new year...but I don’t have to tell you that! Good Wx for antenna work,,,,right! )Kidding of course.) An exciting New Year awaits us all as new rigs appeared under some trees as well as some an-tennas made it up before the big freeze. In my case (K9BOJ), I was reminded what happens when one gets crazy with labeling antenna coax feedlines. Shockingly, I worked Italy and some other DX on what I had labeled as the UHF/VHF quad Beam! I came to a quick realization that I was on the “lost” feedline to the Hex beam. My resolution this year to slow down and be more thorough when testing and identifying antenna feedlines.

In upcoming events, please note the Annual “after Christ-mas” dinner will again be at the 5th Street Hall Saturday, January 26, starting at 6PM. Catering again by “That Polish Girl”. Reservations need to be in to Treasurer Jerry Wittkoski by Jan 10 Meeting. Reservations are $13.95 per person. There will again will be a “White Ele-phant” gift giving. Bring a Men’s Gift and Ladies gift. Any-thing will do!

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April 21, 2017

MARA Repeater

145.230 Mz PL 94.8

WiresX

W8USA

Node 30382

Room 40382

Echolink Node

296185

The Open Feedline

MARA

Annual Dinner

Saturday, January 26th @ 6pm

701 5th Street NW, GR


MARA Meetings & Breakfasts

MARA meets every 2nd

Wednesday of the Month

Meeting are currently at Plain-

field Township Fire Department

Training Center

Meetings start promptly at 7:30

PM

Currently MARA members

meet Saturday Mornings for

Breakfast at New Beginnings

Restaurant on Intersection of

Beltline and Plainfield. (8:00

AM) All are welcome.

Minor changes for 2018 Board and Current Officers.

President Corey Grahn KD8SZZ

Vice President Dan Markowski N8NIJ

Secretary Mike Eilers K8OOK

Treasurer Jerry Wittkoski W8MSK

Field Day Chairperson Gale Scholten N8GS

Net Director Mike Hood KD8JB

Awards Manager Under Committee (Mike, KD8JB and Paul, K9BOJ)

Club Trustee Gale Scholten N8GS

Membership Director Mike Eilers K8OOK

Education Director Larry Dells KC8KVR

Bereavement Director Jerry Wittkoski W8MSK

Webmaster Erin Ammonds KD8NSU Retiring—New Pending

Newsletter Editor Paul Hummel K9BOJ [email protected]

Current Net Director is Mike Hood, KD8JB. You can usually find Mike on the MA-RA Repeater: 145.230 Mhz, -600 PL 94.8 and/or he has been known to frequent 6 meters on 50.4 Mhz AM.

MARA Repeater News W8USA

MARA Meeting—Wednesday, Jan 10, 2018 Plainfield Township Fire Department Training Center—5 Mile and Plainfield Avenue

Since January 7th 2016, the MARA net’s time

was shifted 30 minutes to a starting time of

7:30 pm every Thursday evening on the MARA

repeater.

MARA has tried many ways to keep the Net

interesting, and fun to participate in, but

they’ve found that the best way is to have

different folks be Net Control. To help make it

easier for you to be Net control, we’ve includ-

ed just about everything you’ll need on the

club website at:

http://w8usa.org/interact/2-meter-net/

In the website you will find the latest MARA 2

meter Net operation script, which is a PDF

file. We also have a simple Net Log to help

you keep track of who checked in. (Print 2 of

them-if you run out, you’ll have one handy).

“Don’t know what topic to use?” We have a

suggestion page to help you create your very

own. If you have questions, you can contact

our Net Director Mike Hood, KD8JB , and he’ll

help you out further. You’ll have fun with your

Ham friends, and also learn how to operate a

Net.

Please contact Mike to schedule yourself as

Net Control.

Immediately following the net is an Informal 6

Meter AM net on 50.4 Mhz. Please check

your mode to be sure you are on AM before

checking in. The 6 Meter net also meets on

Sunday Mornings at 8 am, and many Holidays

at 8 am as well.

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http://w8usa.org/interact/2-meter-net/


W8USA Web Page Moving

The Web server currently hosting

the W8USA web page is in the

process of discontinuing hosting

gratis Web sites as of January 2018.

A New website host is currently

being considered and the Webpage

will move to a new chosen site once

the board approves of the subscrip-

tion contract. Our Domain name

registration of W8USA.ORG contin-

ues with a renewal scheduled for

July 2019. Along with the change of

the web host, arrangements will be

made to inform the Domain regis-

tration authority of the new Trustee

for the Domain name.

The decision on a Website host will

likely be made during the next

meeting on January 10. If any mem-

ber has any suggestions for a Web-

site host, please bring your infor-

mation to the Jan 10 Meeting.

Per Erin, KD8NSU, the current site

runs Wordpress, so it needs a host

with both PHP and MySQL capabili-

ties. It would be a bonus if the new

host uses cPanel/WHM as its

hosting platform. The W8USA.ORG

site is currently using 500 MB.

About 83MB is consumed by up-

loaded files (eg, meeting minutes

and other PDFs), and 270MB are

pictures in the gallery. The rest is

the Wordpress website application

itself + database (which itself is

about 9MB). Prudent planning is to

get a host that will allow expansion

up to 1000MB (1 Gig) total space.

The site hasn't grown all that much

in the last few years however it

would be best to have that room to

grow. E-mail capability is not re-

quired as the site uses re-direction

for key emails.

MARA Past Events—2017 MI QSO Party

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W8USA.ORG IMPORTANT!

Jerry W8MSK, operating CW in a Club effort on the 2017 Michigan QSO Party

Larry, KC8KVR operating in the 2017 Michigan QSO Party


Ham Radio Swaps.

Lots coming up in 2018 with the

Dayton Hamvention announcing

major improvements to its new

venue in Xenia, Ohio. K9BOJ had a

talk with the Hamvention representa-

tives this fall and they are planning to

make the flea market more accessi-

ble and making provisions to reduce

or eliminate the mud! They also

recently announced a new building is

underway to eliminate some vendors

having to be in tents.

And the new Major Hamfest in Michi-

gan at the Michigan International

Speedway in Brooklyn, MI is also

announcing its second year with

logistical and other improvements in

the plan. One of the key improve-

ments planned (according to former

SCM Larry Camp, WB8R) is more

participating Vendors. Last word was

that Yeasu was an early requester for

space in 2018. More information on

this venue as time moves on!

Hamfest Happenings! Results and improvements.

Hamvention will be held held May 18, 19 and 20, 2018 at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center Xenia, OH. News Release December 20, 2017 We are pleased to announce The Greene County Commissioners and the Greene County Fair Board have approved the construction of a new building at the Fairground/Expo Center. Greene County officials have decided to move forward with construction of a new building as it will continue to expand their presence in the region as a world class Exposition Center! Hamvention certainly benefits from the decision to expand the Expo Center footprint. Construction is planned to be complete ahead of Hamvention 2018 and will be used for the event. Additionally, another building on the property previously known as Fairgrounds Furniture, is being vacated and will be available for use by Hamvention 2018. More details regarding the building sizes will be forthcoming but Hamvention is told the floor space added will cover an area larger than the tents Hamvention used in 2017.

The newest ma-jor Hamfest in our region de-buted October 7/8, 2017 at Michigan Inter-national Speed-way.

The Hamcom attracted a large group of Hams for Sat-urday and Sun-day, The forums were well at-tended, but the dealer turnout was disappointing. On the plus side, many of the flea market vendors sold out! I talked with one of the officials and they noted they are working on ma-jor exhibitors now to get them

on the schedule for next year...logistics and MI tax laws were cited to prevent Major vendors at the 2017 premier event, The campsites were ex-cellent!

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Sunday morning at Hamcon Fleamarket

Hamvention 2018—May 18, 19 and 20, 2018


Support Your Local Hamfests - Don’t Forget the “Get out of the Cabin” Dinner Feb 3, 2018 2 PM at the Pizza Ranch on 289th—See Flyer on Last Page

45th Annual Swap & Shop

Traverse City

02/10/2018 Start Date: 02/10/2018 End Date: 02/10/2018 Location: Immaculate Conception Elementary School 218 Vine Street Traverse City, MI 49684 Website: http://cherrylandarc.com Sponsor: Cherryland Amateur Radio Club Type: ARRL Hamfest Talk-In: 146.86 (PL 114.8) Public Contact: Joe Novak , W8TVT 201 South Spruce Street Traverse City, MI 49684 Phone: 616-947-8555 Email: [email protected]

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2018 Michigan Crossroads Hamfest

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

03/17/2018

Start Date: 03/17/2018

End Date: 03/17/2018

Location: Wings Event Center

3600 Vanrick Drive

Kalamazoo, MI 49001

Website: http://www.w8df.com/hamfest

Sponsor: Southern Michigan Amateur Radio Society

Type: ARRL Hamfest

Talk-In: 147.000 (PL 94.8)

Public Contact: Jay Jarrett , N8ARR

5103 South 36th Street Climax, MI 49034

Phone: 269-589-8649

Email: [email protected]

http://cherrylandarc.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.w8df.com/hamfest

mailto:[email protected]


MARA

Michigan amateur radio alliance

MARA

P.O.Box 670

Comstock Park MI 49321-0670

Webmaster Pending

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor PAUL HUMMEL

K9BOJ [email protected]

Write us by contacting our

Webmaster or log into W8USA.Org

and send your message from the

home page to the Webmaster.

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Annual dues to MARA are $20. Family memberships are an

additional $5. Persons aged 70 and over - $20.00.

Membership is free to students under 21. Memberships

expire on December 31st, and club dues are due on January

1st. MARA membership is open to all interested persons.

Please send change of address information and membership

applications to the club secretary.

Membership Information


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m.a.r.a. newsletter—winter 2018 vol 27 issue 1 the open...

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