Fox (hidden transmitter) hunt Aug. 2

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fox cartoon

The Fort Wayne Radio Club will hold its August fox (hidden transmitter) hunt Sunday, August 2 at 1:30 p.m. EDT. Hunter meet at in the parking lot of 24/30 Surplus (formerly K-Mart), 820 N Coliseum Blvd., Fort Wayne.

The fox will transmit on 146.430 FM simplex with one minute out of every five minutes. At the fox site, a micro-fox of approx 50 milliwatts will transmit every 2.5 minutes. Intercom for the event is on the 146.76 repeater in Fort Wayne.

All are welcome! You can even help out from home if you have a directional antenna.

Some ride along space might be available. Those who participate in a hunt can receive a free three- element tape measure yagi antenna.

We always have a great time, so please plan on joining the FWRC Fox Hunt Team!

Field Day 2020 shaping up to be one for the record books

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From the ARRL website:

ARRL Contest Program Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE, reported that ARRL has received more than 8,700 online Field Day entries by mid-week, and paper-only entries have started arriving too.

“As many participants chose to operate from home this year — and given the 2020 rules waivers, we have seen a tremendous increase in entries over last year’s event,” Bourque said. “Most of the entries received have been through the online web app, and Headquarters staffers have begun processing the paper entries this week. The 2020 waivers allowed individual club members to attribute their scores to their clubs.

Participants who submitted entries online are encouraged to check the Field Day entries received page to verify that their entries are marked as complete, and that the club name entered is correct. Entries with a status of “pending” are incomplete entries that are missing one or more items, and these need to be completed for an official entry. Share your stories and photos using the ARRL soapbox or via social media, such as on the ARRL Field Day Facebook group. 

July fox hides along orphaned roadway

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foxhunt cartoon

The weather was rather threatening looking in the early afternoon of July 12th as we drove to the southwest side of Allen County Indiana to set up our Fox station. Black clouds darkened the sky as we pulled into a short remnant of Lafayette Center Road. This short chunk of roadway was orphaned when Interstate 469 was connected to Interstate 69. The Roanoke Baptist Church was located just south of this little road. The Fox team of Steve, W9SAN, Linda, W9LAN, and their grandson Alex set up shop for a transmitting signal at the end of this short piece of road.

At 1:30 pm EDT, the Foxes started transmitting for 1 minute on the air with 4 minutes of silence. Our first transmission was at a 5 watt level, and was difficult for some of the teams to copy, so we increased power to 25 watts for the next several transmissions, before reducing to 10 watts and then down to 5 watts. There were three teams participating in the hunt: the Burke/Pliett team of Al and Jim, WB9SSE & K9OMA, (followed closely by their wives Carole, WB9RUS, and Anne, KA9YYI); the team of Don, K9LI, and his wife, and finally the team of Charles, KC9MUT, and Bill, K9WEH. Joining Bill and Charles was newbie Brent Hrabski, who is interested in Amateur Radio and found out about the event from our website. He showed up at the starting location and was quickly inducted into Charles’ Ram pickup to ride along!

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FWRC to offer estate gear at Auburn Hamfest July 11

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The Auburn Hamfest is Saturday, July 11, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, 1600 S Wayne Street, Auburn. Admission to the hamfest and museum are free.

During the hamfest, the Fort Wayne Radio Club will offer for sale some items from the estate of Adoplh Wozniak, WA9WTJ. One item is a super clean I-COM IC-718 HF transceiver with MFJ switching power supply, microphone, and power cable.

Yaesu FT-736R

Another is a Yaesu FT-736R VHF/UHF all-mode transceiver for the 144, 432 and 1296 MHz bands. It is fully duplex, so you can transmit on one band while receiving on another, making it perfect for satellite operation, balloon launches, etc. Included with the rig are a microphone and AC and DC power cords. The rig has an internal AC power supply. It also has a tone generator for repeater operation. This rig’s appearance is fantastic. It has a just-out-of-the-factory look. There is no box or manual, however.

Swan 250C

FWRC will also offer a Swan 250C six-meter SSB transceiver that is super clean. Includes a matching power supply and speaker. The unit has an issue with blowing fuses, but leaky rectifiers are the probable cause, which can be easily fixed.

The estate included many more items that the FWRC will offer for sale in the future, including scopes, RF generators, and microwave instrumentation and antennas.

Balloon to lift cross-band repeater July 11

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Jeff Dailey, KC9QCD, will launch a balloon carrying at cross-band repeater from Upland, Indiana on July 11. He encourages all amateurs to access the repeater, which will have an uplink on 144.36 MHz FM and downlink on 446.025 MHz FM. The balloon will also carry a GPS beacon on 52.525 Mhz.

Jeff plans to launch the balloon at 10 a.m. ET. The flight is part of the annual Great Plains Super Launch.

Jeff plans to send QSL cards to people who contact him via the balloon’s repeater.