you won t want to miss the club meeting on tuesday ......we have completed two test sessions since...
TRANSCRIPT
BRANCH COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
The official monthly newsletter of the Branch County Amateur Radio Club VISIT US ONLINE AT www.branchcountyarc.org
Volume 20, Number 2
Founded in 1960
An ARRL Affiliated
Club Since 1961
PRESIDENT Roy McCloud, AB8RM
SECRETARY/TREASURER Ted Hadfield, KU8F [email protected]
BOARD
MEMBERS
Arnie Hayward, NS8T
Jim Voss, WV0SS [email protected]
Justin Lopshire, W8TVB
Branch County Emergency
Net Meeting
Every Tuesday night at 7 pm
except third Tuesday of each
month.
Branch County AR Club
Meeting
Third Tuesday of each month at
7 pm at the Burnside Senior
Center
Branch County AR Club Board Meeting
Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 6:00 pm
Pizza Hut in Coldwater
In This Issue:
Thoughts from the President p.1
Details for next Club Meeting p.2
Message from Secretary/Treasurer ,
Are you a New Ham? p.3
Contests/QSO Parties, Hamfests
p.4
Solar Weather p.5
News p. 6
More Photos p.7
Thoughts from the President. . .
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Well here we are in February and thanks to that wonderful chubby Ground Hog for predicting an early spring. Checking the average days of sunshine in January for Michigan cities we’ve had between 8 & 10 for the month. Personally I need a little more vitamin D! Seriously I can’t wait to drag the grill out and make anything that has that smokey fla-vor and grill marks and maybe some potato salad! On January 18, 2020 the VE Team gathered to help 4 participants gain there tickets. Ben Wilson successfully passed his Technician exam. Ben is the son of Bruce Wilson WB8ZSK and is now a member of the Club. Also successful were 3 Trine University students, 2 passing there Gen-eral and 1 Extra. Congratulations to all and Thank You to Jim, Arnie, Larry, Deb, Ted, Pat and Patrick for volunteering your time to help make it possible to do the testing. We will be testing again in late March so get your study on. If you get a chance, listen to the Angola repeater for the Trine Net on 148.18 Friday evening at 7 pm. The next club meeting will be on Feburary 18, 2020 at the Burnside Senior Center at 7 pm. Our speaker will be Terry Tassos (N8LN) from Battle Creek. The program sounds very interesting as Terry has plans to show us how to use a raspberry pi to make radio contacts. Come join us and expand your radio knowledge. There are a few Hamfest coming up that are close. The first is March 14 in Toledo, one of our favorites and then Crossroads in Kalamazoo on April 11. These are a good way to get out, make some new friends or chat with old friends. Perhaps we could form a convoy! That’s all for now, hope to see you at the next meeting. 73 Roy AB8RM
You won’t want
to miss the
Club meeting
on Tuesday
February 18th!
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You won’t want to miss this. . .
Someone told me that with an HT and a cute little box, I could talk
to hams all over the world in crystal clear clarity! Well it’s true and
we are going to show you exactly how to do it at the BCARC Club
meeting. C’mon down and see wat we can do with a little raspber-
ry pi and a small radio board. It fun, it’s exciting and best of all,
it’s free!
(The BCARC February meeting will be held on the 18th at the
Burnside Senior Center in Coldwater at 1900. The program will be
presented by long time friend of the BCARC Terry Tassos, N8LN.
This will be a good program and you will not want to miss it.)
Information provided by
WA7BNM
DO YOU HAVE EQUIPMENT TO SELL OR TRADE?
If you have amateur radio equipment to sell, swap or trade, please
send an email to [email protected]
and the information you send will be placed in the next newsletter!
+ ARRL Inter. DX Contest, CW
0000Z, Feb 15 to 2400Z, Feb 16
+ Russian PSK WW Contest
1200Z, Feb 15 to 1159Z, Feb 16
+ Feld Hell Sprint 1900Z-2059Z, Feb 15
+ AWA Amplitude Modulation QSO Party
2300Z, Feb 15 to 2300Z, Feb 16
+ Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
0200Z-0400Z, Feb 17
+ QRP Fox Hunt 0200Z-0330Z, Feb 19
+ Phone Fray 0230Z-0300Z, Feb 19
+ CWops Mini-CWT Test
1300Z-1400Z, Feb 19 and
1900Z-2000Z, Feb 19 and
0300Z-0400Z, Feb 20
+ AGCW Semi-Automatic Key Evening
1900Z-2030Z, Feb 19
+ NCCC RTTY Sprint 0145Z-0215Z, Feb 21
+ QRP Fox Hunt 0200Z-0330Z, Feb 21
+ NCCC Sprint 0230Z-0300Z, Feb 21
+ CQ 160-Meter Con-test, SSB
2200Z, Feb 21 to 2200Z, Feb 23
+ REF Contest, SSB 0600Z, Feb 22 to 1800Z, Feb 23
+ UK/EI DX Contest, CW
1200Z, Feb 22 to 1200Z, Feb 23
+ SARL Digital Contest 1400Z-1700Z, Feb 23
+ High Speed Club CW Contest
1500Z-1800Z, Feb 23
+ QCX Challenge 1300Z-1400Z, Feb 24 and
1900Z-2000Z, Feb 24 and
0300Z-0400Z, Feb 25
+ SKCC Sprint 0000Z-0200Z, Feb 26
+ QRP Fox Hunt 0200Z-0330Z, Feb 26
+ Phone Fray 0230Z-0300Z, Feb 26
+ CWops Mini-CWT Test
1300Z-1400Z, Feb 26 and
1900Z-2000Z, Feb 26 and
0300Z-0400Z, Feb 27
+ UKEICC 80m Con-test
2000Z-2100Z, Feb 26
+ RSGB 80m Club Championship, CW
2000Z-2130Z, Feb 27
+ NCCC RTTY Sprint 0145Z-0215Z, Feb 28
+ QRP Fox Hunt 0200Z-0330Z, Feb 28
+ NCCC Sprint 0230Z-0300Z, Feb 28
+ Feld Hell Sprint 0000Z-2359Z, Feb 29
+ FTn DX Contest 1200Z, Feb 29 to 1200Z, Mar 1
+ UBA DX Contest, CW
1300Z, Feb 29 to 1300Z, Mar 1
+ South Carolina QSO Party
1500Z, Feb 29 to 0159Z, Mar 1
+ NA Collegiate Cham-pionship, RTTY
1800Z, Feb 29 to 0559Z, Mar 1
+ North American QSO Party, RTTY
1800Z, Feb 29 to 0559Z, Mar 1
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Branch County Amateur Radio Club
Message from Treasurer/Secretary
Club President opened the January meeting at 7:32 pm on 1/21/202, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. REPORTS: Minutes were reported in the January Newsletter, and a motion was made by Larry Camp, seconded by Arnie Hayward, to accept the minutes as posted. Motion was carried unanimously. KU8F Treasurer Ted Hadfield, presented the November Treasurers report to the Club. A motion was made and seconded and carried unanimously to accept the report as given. Also, the December Treasurers report was made, followed by a mo-tion and seconded, To accept the December Report as give, motion carried unanimously. Larry mentioned that our repeaters are working well, and our nets are also being ran and attended on Tuesdays as scheduled. Pat Smith reminded about the Newsletter, that any articles or items to be listed on our monthly newsletter are welcomed and appreciat-ed. Please submit them to her. Larry Camp mentioned that he was taking photos and cataloging items from Gene Hesse, N7VEY ‘s estate, to be listed on our website for members on-ly, to allow us to hopefully purchase, as soon as the posting is complete we will be advised. We have completed two test sessions since our last meeting in No-vember, on 11/23, and again on 1/18/2020. 10 individuals in No-vember and four individuals took the test in January. Deb McCloud KE8BPS was awarded a certificate at our meeting, (Fine Business Award) for Passing her Extra Class exam in back in November. Our test sessions have been very successful and productive, including students from Triune University in Indiana. Our next session will be scheduled sometime in April, or as needed. Bill KX8R indicated he has a 2m yagi beam mounted on his previous residence (he has moved into apartments in Coldwater) if anyone is interested let him know, it needs to be taken down, and there is no cost other than the self labor to remove it. Roy mentioned how well pleased he is with his 5band Vertical antenna recently installed, working a lot of DX and US amateurs around the country. Pat advised about some feedline issues with her GR5V, being caught on the wood post of the 3 band Vertical antenna. And would like advise or help. Jim Voss moved to Adjourn, Bob Dany Seconded, motion carried, and meeting adjourned at 7:26 pm. Submitted by Treasurer, James T (KU8F) Hadfield.
CLUB MEETING
NOTICE
The January Club meeting of
the Branch County Amateur
Radio Club will be held on
Tuesday, February 18th
beginning promptly at 7:00
p.m. at the Burnside Sen-
ior Center in Coldwater,
Michigan. The presenter will
be long time friend of the
BCARC Terry Tassos, N8LN .
BOARD MEETING
INVITATION
Got an idea? Got a gripe?
Got nothing to do the last
Thursday night of the
month? Club members are
always welcome to attend
the monthly board meeting
at 7:00 pm at Pizza Hut
in Coldwater.
ARE YOU A NEW
HAM?
Want to understand High fre-
quency bands?
Here’s a link to a great video
describing the US Amateur
Radio Bands!
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=T8_MCfDVn6g
Febuary 16, 2020 Mansfield Mid-Winter Hamfest Location: Mansfield , OH Website: http://WWW.IARC.CLUB February 22,2020 La Porte County Amateur Radio Hamfest Location: La Porte, IN Website: http://lpcarc.org March 1, 2020 WinterHamFest Location: Elyria, OH Website: http://noars.net March 14, 2020 ARRL Great Lakes Division Con-vention and the Toledo Ham-fest, Location: Perrysburg, OH Website: http://www.tmrahamradio.org March 15, 2020 WVARA 2020 Hamfest Location: BRAZIL, IN Website: http://w9uuu.org April 11, 2020 Crossroads Hamfest Location: Kalamazoo, MI Website: https://www.w8df.com
Information provided by ARRL.org
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February Contests!
PJ2/DK5ON Curacao Island Updated 2020-02-16 11:56:06
DK5ON will be again active as PJ2/DK5ON from Curacao Island, IOTA SA - 099, 15 - 31 March 2020. He will be active on 80 - 6 m CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8. Recent DX Spots PJ2/DK5ON QSL via home call, LOTW, ClubLog OQRS.
PJ2/DK5ON Curacao Island
• Updated2020-02-16 11:56:06
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5
DK5ON will be again active as PJ2/DK5ON from Curacao Island, IOTA SA - 099, 15 - 31 March 2020. He will be active on 80 - 6 m CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8. Recent DX Spots PJ2/DK5ON QSL via home call, LOTW, ClubLog OQRS.
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Information provided by
http://www.arrl.org/news/the-k7ra-solar-update-610
The K7RA Solar Update
02/14/2020 There were no sunspots over this reporting week, February 6-12. Average daily solar flux declined over one point to 71.1. Average planetary A index increased from 6.7 to 8.3.
Predicted solar flux for the next 45 days is 70 on February 14-21, 73 on February 22, 74 on February 23-29, 72 on March 1-3, 71 on March 4-11, 72 on March 12-18, 73 on March 19-20, 74 on March 21-27, and 72 on March 28-29.
Predicted planetary A index is 5 on February 14-17, 8 on February 18-20, 5 on February 21-24, 10 on February 25-26, 5 on February 27-29, 8 on March 1-3, 5 on March 4-22, 10 on March 23-24, 5 on March 25-27, and 8 on March 28-29. Geomagnetic activity forecast for the period February 14 until March 18, 2020 from F.K. Janda, OK1HH.
Geomagnetic field will be Quiet on: February 15-16, 20-23, March Quiet to unsettled on: February 14, 19, 24, 28, March 1-4, 7-11 Quiet to active on: February (17-18, 27, 29), March 6 Unsettled to active on: (February 25-26, March 5) active to disturbed: none predicted!
Solar wind will intensify on February (14-15, 18-20, 27,) 28 (-29,) March (3,) 4-5, (6-10,) 11
Parenthesis means lower probability of activity enhancement.
Ken, N4SO, writes from Alabama's Gulf Coast, "On 17 meters and the digital mode FT8, the band is open all day to Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Spain, Poland, and European Russia. (This is only a sampling of countries from the first hour, Saturday morning on or about 1200 UTC.) This propagation continues all day to South America and all parts of Europe. These openings are every day with openings also to Japan and to Philippines.
“Seventeen meters is one of the best bands for Europe with continu-ous signals during the daytime. It is also one of the best bands for Japan starting at about 2300 UTC. This propagation is also reliable every day.” If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at [email protected].
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Cary Rubenfeld, VE4EA, is RAC Amateur of the Year for 2019
02/13/2020 The Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) Board of Directors has named Cary Rubenfeld, VE4EA, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, as the recipient of the 2019 RAC Amateur of the Year Award. The award recognizes “his tireless efforts to pro-mote amateur radio in his home province of Manitoba, throughout Canada and internationally,” RAC said. Rubenfeld is a founding member of Radiosport Manitoba (RSM). He was also a driving force behind “Discover the HF Experience” in 2016, which invited non-hams, new hams, and even old timers to discover firsthand HF radio in the 21st century, by getting on the air and operating remote stations. He is a longtime member of the Winnipeg Amateur Radio Club and has organized and led the club’s annual Field Day for the past several years, using the opportunity to en-courage HF operation for those with little or no experience.
“Cary has become the face of VE4 on the international sce-ne,” RAC said in announcing the award. “A regular attendee at Dayton [Hamvention] and a guest at the last World Radi-osport Team Championship (WRTC) event in Germany, he mingles and establishes a personal relationship with ama-teurs from around the world.” — Thanks to RAC President Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA
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