July Monthly Meeting

Monday night was our monthly meeting and we had another decent turnout with 21 in attendance.

Our 2014 W4NJA Field Day scores were passed around for everyone to view. Final FD score was 5,810, and we made 1,375 QSO’s. We also
achieved WAS this year, working the elusive Rhode Island! Congratulations and thanks to all who attended Field Day!  If you haven’t seen this years scores you can check them out here.

Bruce Huyck VE, noted that those with expired Amateur licenses can take the Element 2 exam, or Technician  Class, to regain their former Amateur Radio license, according to the new FCC rules. Also, the new question pool is out July 1st. Bruce added that the ARRL website has free practice exams you can take, that now refer you to the test manuals for more background theory on the questions.

Our website is now Ad-Free!  On occasion our site would put an ad in the posts which was not control by the club.  As of Wednesday, July 16th those ads should no longer appear.

Net control operators have been set for the next 4 weeks.  To view the NCO’s click here.

Daniel, KG4JXH mentioned the 443.000 KD4DVI repeater is available and has great area coverage.  All hams are encouraged to use the repeater.  Also, starting this coming Thursday at 9PM on the W4NJA 147.060 repeater Daniel will be starting regular Thursday night nets.  These will be general ragchew nets and any radio friendly topics are welcome.

Paul Smith also noted the second week of the ARRL Centennial and W1AW/4 Kentucky is coming up July 30, and those interested in operating in it should contact Tim Totten, N4GN via email.

Logan, KG4VKB gave an excellent presentation on Echolink.  For those not familiar with Echolink it is a computer-based Amateur Radio system distributed free of charge that allows radio amateurs to communicate with other amateur radio operators using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology on the Internet for at least part of the path between them.  For more information on Echolink visit their website at this location.  Thanks again Logan, great job.

Get on the radio!

73’s Rob KC9VFV

 

 

 

June Monthly Meeting

The June monthly meeting was another success with 19 in attendance with 2 guests.

Field Day is the 28th and 29th of this month.  For those not familiar with Field Day it is an annual amateur radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators.  In the United States, it is typically the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in the country, with over 30,000 operators participating each year. Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, beginning at 1800 UTC Saturday and running through 2059 UTC Sunday.  A great resource for Field Day can be found at the ARRL website.  For more information about W4NJA’s Field Day click on this month’s meeting minutes.

Starting this month all VE testing will be done on the EVEN numbered months directly after the monthly club meeting.  So the next testing session will be after the meeting in August.  If you are interesting in testing or upgrading please contact Bruce KS4V here.

Net control operators were set for the next 4 weeks.  To view the NCO’s please click here.

WA9WJL  asked about log submission of check ins on Sunday’s Weather Net. New info: Check in logs should
be submitted to Garry Wheatley, EC, then to Jim Brooks, KY4Z, but only when there is an actual emergency or
weather event.  On a side note, W5CPT asked about the Echolink connection to the 147.060mHz W4NJA repeater, and KG4VKB
mentioned the EM protocol says “No Echolink per RF connection”, which means connection by computer only.
PC, MAC, Android and IOS is supported.  For more information on Echolink check out there website.

We really hope to see many of you at Field Day this year.  Operators are always needed and it’s a great time to forget everything else and play radio all day.  Hope to see you all there!

73’s

Rob – KC9VFV