Skywarn net to QSY

      No Comments on Skywarn net to QSY

Important notice! The Allen County, Indiana ham radio Skywarn net will operate today, June 18, 2021, on the 146.94 MHz W9TE FM repeater in Fort Wayne, not the usual 146.88 MHz repeater, which is currently inoperative.

The 146.94 MHz repeater requires users to transmit a 141.3 Hz CTCSS tone. No tone is required to monitor, but tone decoding is recommended, because the repeater also transmits digital signals.

Severe weather is possible in Allen County today, with the greatest risk in approximately the southern 3/4 of the county (shaded red on the map below), where there is a 30% probability of damaging, straight-line winds of 58 mph or greater within 25 miles of any point, according to a 9 a.m. ET outlook from the NOAA NWS Storm Prediction Center. That’s approximately 10 times the normal probability of 3% for this time of year, based on climatology records.

VHF SSB/CW 2 Sprint Classic: The dust has settled!

      No Comments on VHF SSB/CW 2 Sprint Classic: The dust has settled!

Saturday, April 24 was a blustery, rainy day. But no amount of wet weather could dampen the intentions of many regional VHF enthusiasts, as they geared up for the first annual VHF SSB/CW 2M Sprint Classic contest.

The Sprint Classic is a contest that encourages VHF weak signal operations, using the traditional modes of SSB and CW. Stations were awarded points based upon the number of contacts made and the total number of grid squares worked (each grid square was a unique multiplier).

The action started at 1300Z (9 a.m. Eastern time) with the contest ending nine hours later at 2300Z. Band conditions were not favorable, due to a lack of wide-spread tropo. openings. However, band conditions aside, contest entrants reported working stations as far as Hamilton, Indiana; Lemont, Illinois; Cecil, Ohio, and all the way to Rudolph, Wisconsin! (Maybe Santa’s sleigh brought some good propagation to Wisconsin?)

Continue reading →

May meeting date correction

      No Comments on May meeting date correction

The Fort Wayne Radio Club May meeting will be next Wednesday, May the 19th. We had mistakenly listed the meeting as May 12 in the editorial of this month’s Hamsplatter. The correct date was listed further down in the newsletter, so there was obvious confusion there!

We apologize to anyone that made the trip downtown to find an empty meeting! We will do our best to make sure these kinds of errors do not happen in the future!

Please join us on Wednesday, May 19th, for our club meeting at 6:00pm and our speaker from the Fort Wayne Police Department. Stay tuned for more club activity including Field Day at the Fort and the Tail Gate Hamfest in August.

Award Sponsors for VHF SSB/CW 2M Sprint Classic

      2 Comments on Award Sponsors for VHF SSB/CW 2M Sprint Classic

It is with great pleasure that we announce the addition of MFJ Enterprises and DX Engineering as award sponsors for the VHF SSB/CW 2m Sprint Classic contest. These two ham radio-focused organizations have graciously donated several items that will be awarded to various category winners of the VHF SSB/CW 2m Sprint Classic contest. Thank you to MFJ Enterprises and DX Engineering for your generosity!

The following category winners will receive a special recognition award for their winning achievement from MFJ Enterprises.

Base Station:

High Power first place

Low Power first place

QRP first place

Basic Rover:

High Power first place

Low Power first place

Multi-Op Rover:

First Place

The top scoring “Rookie” station (a station licensed in the past 3 years) and “Legacy” station (a station licensed for 25+ years) will receive a special recognition award from DX Engineering.