Tailgate hamfest at PFW Aug. 19

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Partial map of Purdue Fort Wayne campus highlighting parking structure number three

The Fort Wayne Radio Club tailgate hamfest is scheduled for Friday, August 19 in parking structure number three on the Purdue University Fort Wayne campus.

The Hamfest is free to buyers and sellers! Come on out, starting at 6:30 p.m. See what’s for sale, bring your treasures to sell, or just hang out and talk to everyone. Everyone is welcome, regardless of club membership or licensure.

The tailgate Hamfest will be on the second level of the parking structure to protect participants from rain, sun, mosquitoes, etc. It’s a nice location!  Limited 120-volt power is available to check out purchases.

If you have a major item to sell (such as a rig or antenna system) you can improve your chances of selling it by sending a photo and description to Steve Nardin, W9SAN, w9san@yahoo.com. He will forward that information to all FWRC members. Steve is also the best contact for answers to any questions about the tailgate hamfest.

The best way to get to the parking structure is to use the “St. Joe Entrance” to enter campus on Dean Drive from St. Joe Road, just north of Stellhorn Road (see map, above). Follow Dean Drive to the parking structure.

D-Star repeater off network

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D-Star logo

The Fort Wayne Radio Club D-Star repeater on 442.99375 MHz lost its internet connection Friday, Aug. 5.

The club member who provided the connection from his home via a 900 MHz data link is relocating.

The club repeater committee is looking for a way to provide affordable internet service to the repeater site on Parrott Rd., according to committee member Al Burke, WB9SSE. The committee doesn’t know how long finding a solution will take.

In the interim, the FWRC D-Star repeater remains on the air for local use but will not connect to any reflectors.

Aug. 7 Fox (hidden transmitter) hunt to feature new device

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The Fort Wayne Radio Club will conduct a fox (hidden transmitter) hunt Aug. 7, 2022. The hunt begins at 1:30 p.m. EDT at the Corbin Park trailhead site near Bargain Lane (formerly K-Mart), 742 N. Coliseum Blvd. Fort Wayne.

Steve Nardin, W9SAN, LInda Nardin, W9LAN and their grandson, Alex, will hide and operate as the fox. They will transmit on high power on 146.430 MHz FM simplex for one minute every five minutes. Hunters will use the 146.76 Mhz repeater as an intercom.

The hunt will use a new “micro fox” that will transmit a weak signal to nearby hunters.

Video recording of WOWO broadcasters

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YouTube video of the July 15, 2022 FWRC meeting at which former WOWO broadcasters presented.

WOWO veterans Ron Gregory, W9RGM; Chris Roberts, WB9WXL, Art Salzburg and Rick Hughes shared stories from the glory days of WOWO radio during the July 15, 2022 meeting of the Fort Wayne Radio Club. Tom Rupp, KU8T recorded the meeting and uploaded his video to YouTube.

Volunteers urgently needed to move donated tower

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Antenna tower lying on the ground.
“The moose,” a tower donated to FWRC that requires moving.

The Fort Wayne Radio Club needs a group of volunteers as soon as Saturday, July 23 to help move a heavy tower that a ham has donated to the Club. The tower lies on land that will soon have a new owner, so we must move the tower as soon as possible and before the property sale closes.

It’s a 72-foot, steel, nested crank-up tower, U.S. Towers, Inc. model TX-472. It consists of four triangular sections, nested within each other. The tower also includes hardware that allows it to be cranked over to a horizontal position if desired. We think it weighs approximately 1,000 pounds.

A ham who lived in Fort Wayne but who has become ill and now lives in Florida donated the tower, which we’ve nick named “the moose.” It’s on property in southern Fort Wayne, along Bluffton Road, near Bobick’s Golf.

We must move the moose from its current location to our repeater site on North Clinton St. near Diebold Rd. for storage until we can sell it. Proceeds from the sale of this tower will help fund the replacement of the failing collinear antenna used by our 146.91 MHz repeater.

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Former WOWO broadcasters to share experiences

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Former WOWO broadcaster Ron Gregory, seen in the station's studio in 1973.
Ron Gregory in the WOWO studio, 1973. Photo from historyofwowo.com.

Friday, July 15 the Fort Wayne Radio Club will feature a unique event in Fort Wayne commercial radio history. Several past WOWO radio station celebrities will reunite to talk about their time at the famous station. The celebrities will include the following:

  • Ron Gregory, W9RGM
  • Art Saltzberg
  • Chris Roberts, WB9WXL
  • Don Chevillet

You won’t want to miss this meeting!

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) at door #2 of the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 4700 Vance Ave in Fort Wayne. The church is just south of Sidner High School. Remember that club leaders must monitor the door and let people into the building, so please try to be on time. If you arrive late, please use an HT to call for access on 146.430 MHz FM simplex.

New location for Field Day 2022

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The Fort Wayne Radio Club (FWRC) will conduct its 2022 ARRL Field Day operations at Jefferson Township Park, 1702 Webster Road, just east of New Haven, Indiana. Road construction near Historic Fort Wayne led the FWRC board of directors to choose a new location for this year.

On-air operations begin at 1800 UTC (2 p.m. ET) Saturday, June 25 and run through the night until 2059 UTC (4:59 p.m. ET) Sunday, June 26.

Members of the general public are always welcome to visit the club’s Field Day operation.

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FWRC wins QSO Party club competition

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The Hoosier DX and Context Club announced that the Fort Wayne Radio Club (FWRC) was the top-scoring Indiana club in the 2022 Indiana QSO Party. The FWRC scored a total of 1,187,825 points, thanks to logs contributed by AC9EZ, KU8T, WB9DLC, W9GT, AC9XS, KB9OZI, N9ZI, K9BLI, KC9UR, K9FW, W9SA, KR9U, W9HT, WA9BBN, N8KR and W9SAN.

The NorthWest Indiana DX Club scored the second-highest total of 433,049 points and the Lafayette DX Association placed third with 182,142 points.

To be eligible for the club competition award one of the following conditions must be satisfied:

  • At least three club members submit individual logs meeting the event’s requirements for single-operator logs.
  • The club submits a single log for a multi-operator station (single or multi-transmitter) with at least three club members shown as operators.
  • The club submits a combination of single and multi-operator station logs to meet the minimum participation requirement.