During the March, 2021 FWRC meeting, Carlos Felix Ortiz, KB9OLN presented about his experiences operating two-meter FM from under a parachute. Carlos uploaded a video recording of the meeting on YouTube. The audio is low at the beginning of the video and Carlos’ presentation starts at 32:06.
The Fort Wayne Radio Club will kick off its 2021 fox (hidden transmitter) hunting season Sunday, March 7, at the Corbin Park trailhead, 742 N. Coliseum Blvd., near 24/30 Surplus. That’s just north of what long-time Fort Wayne residents know as the city’s original cloverleaf intersection. This is near the geographical center of Allen County.
Gather there at about 1 p.m. ET, and be ready when the hunt starts at 1:30 p.m. sharp. The fox will be W9LAN, W9SAN and Alex.
The fox frequency is 146.430 MHz simplex. It transmits on high power for one minute starting on five-minute boundaries. The microfox transmits every 2.5 minutes on the same frequency, but at a 25 milliwatt power level. Foxes are always somewhere in Allen County. Use the 146.76 MHz repeater in Fort Wayne as an intercom to contact other fox hunters or the fox, if necessary. It is also OK for home stations to help hunters with antenna bearings if you have a directional antenna at home!
If you are new to fox hunting, we often have ride-along or follow-along space, and plenty of advice! For those who participate, we will build you a tape measure yagi to use with your mobile rig or HT! Attenuators can be home brew or purchased kits from K9SFX, or pre-built from Arrow Antenna.
We have picked a challenging but not too difficult hiding spot for this first hunt, so come on out for a fun afternoon this sunny Sunday!
The Whitley County W5YI volunteer examiner team announced virtual, remote test sessions to be held March 8 and March 22. The team plans to hold such sessions every other Monday, wrote Roger McEntarfer, N9QCL in an email. More of information is available on the web and by contacting McEntarfer at n9qcl@arrl.net.
The National Weather Service (NWS) plans to conduct a statewide tornado drill in Indiana Tuesday, March 16, at 10:15 a.m. ET.
At that time, the Allen County Skywarn® net plans to activate in directed net mode, according to net manager Jay Farlow, W9LW. The net control station will encourage operators to make simulated severe weather reports, using time-event-location (TEL) format. As usual, the net will occur on 146.88 MHz. If for any reason that repeater is unavailable, the net will operate on 146.76 MHz.
During the drill, NWS will issue a “test” tornado warning, which will activate NOAA Weather Radio receivers, according to NWS warning coordination meteorologist Michael Lewis, KG4KJQ. The test warning will not, however, automatically trigger broadcast Emergency Alert System alerts, or Wireless Emergency Alert messages, Lewis wrote. Depending on policies and configurations of equipment and software, the test warning might activate automated outdoor warning sirens in some communities and trigger notifications by some text message services, according to Lewis.
The March 2021 issue of Allen County HamNews is available for download by following the link below or choosing “newsletters” from the menu above.
Please note! This month’s issue reports that in-person meetings of the Fort Wayne Radio Club will resume Wednesday, March 17 at 6 p.m. at the downtown headquarters of the Allen County Public Library. See the FWRC president’s column in this issue for details.
The northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service (NWS) has opened registration for online storm spotter classes for the spring, 2021 season. The office will teach no classes in person this spring. Click a class date below to register for that class. All four classes contain the same content, so you need attend only one.
- Saturday, March 13, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, March 17, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, April 7, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, April 14, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. ET
Purpose
Purpose of Contest: To increase weak-signal activity on the 2m band.
Date: April 24th, 2021
Time: 1300z to 2200z (UTC)
Band: 2 Meters only (centered on 144.200 Mhz. +/- 100 Khz depending on activity in your local area).
Modes: CW and SSB only
Exchange: Gridsquare and Consecutive Serial Number
The ARRL announced today that COVID-19 pandemic-modified ARRL Field Day rules from 2020 will continue this June with the addition of a power limit imposed on Class D (Home Stations) and Class E (Home Stations-Emergency Power) participants. Field Day 2021 will take place June 26 – 27.
Update: Don’s obituary is available on the website of Carnahan-Baidinger & Walter Funeral Home+.
FWRC member Don Glick, K9LI passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday February 4th of this year. Don was an active member in the club and a cw enthusiast. He enjoyed foxhunting, participating in Field Day, and was quite active with the SKCC group and in special event station activities.
Don and his wife Julie were to serve as the fox for the February foxhunt. In memory of Don the February foxhunt has been cancelled.
Follow this link to view Don’t obituary, including details of his funeral arrangements.
Carole Burke, WB9RUS
President, FWRC