September foxhunt chronicles

      No Comments on September foxhunt chronicles

foxhunt cartoonSunday, September 8, 2013. The sun came up, the birds sang, and the weather was pleasant as an early fall day should be. And in the parking lot of the Off-Track Betting Parlor at Lima and Washington Center roads, there gathered a group of eleven foxhunters, intent for the activities that would occur that afternoon. The hunters consisted of the team of Jim and Annie Pliett, K9OMA and KA9YYI plus Carole and Al Burke, WB9RUS and WB9SSE, the team of Linda and Steve Nardin, W9LAN and W9SAN plus their grandson Alex, the team of Charles Ward, KC9MUT plus Fred Gengnagel, KC9EZP, and the team of Dave Spence, K9NDU plus Bob Dean, KC9UHU.

It should be noted that as competitive as foxhunters tend to be, a new piece of (old) technology was introduced into this hunt by KC9MUT. Charles mounted a two element vertically polarized switched dipole antenna on the front of his truck (out front of his grill), part of a so-called “Pickle Fork” DF system, and used it to get “right-left” signal direction steering cues. He told me that it gave him helpful information as he drove down the road when the fox was up.

(Jim Pliett and I are researching the fine print in the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) to determine if that switched dipole DF system that Charles added to his foxhunting suite is legal. We’re hoping it isn’t, but if it turns out that it is, then it looks like we may have another building project. Seems like our work is never done. We are considering the use of UAV’s).

Continue reading →

2013 SKYWARN Recognition Day set

      No Comments on 2013 SKYWARN Recognition Day set

For your planning purposes, the date for the 2013 SKYWARN Recognition Day has been finalized.

This years event well be held on December 7, 2013.

More information on the event will be coming as the date approaches.

Details about the 2012 SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) can be found online at: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/hamradio/

Now is the time to begin promoting and planning for SRD 2013 –

Let’s be heard and be seen in 2013!

August Club Meeting

      No Comments on August Club Meeting
From the Presidents Desk.
 
QST: CALLING ALL RADIO AMATEURS:
 
Make plans to attend our August Tail Gate Hamfest this Friday night, August 16th, 6:30 pm EDT at the parking lot for the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church at 4700 Vance Avenue in Fort Wayne.
 
This totally FREE hamfest is what we do in place of our usual club meeting in August: when nobody is really interested in having a club meeting anyway!  So if you have stuff to sell, bring it along and see if any
of your fellow hams cannot live without it. And see if there is anything that you are in need of to add to your shack.  I will have some Stereo gear from the 90’s that still works fine, for example, and it is going to go
for pennies on the dollar!  That’s the kind of stuff that you will see. Come on out and join the fun.
 
 
Of course, it is a great time to socialize and meet your fellow hams face to face as well.  The YL’s usually gather around and tell stories and talk about just about anything, sometimes even ham radio!
 
 
NEW THIS YEAR:   for the first time we are adding something a little different:  a “Car Show” with an amateur radio twist!  We know that many people in the club and ham radio in general have some pretty nice rides!
So this is a time to bring them out and show them off. The vehicle doesn’t have to be Vintage, modern cars, trucks, and motorcycles are welcome as well. We will have some certificates to hand out for the best of the bunch.  The categories are:
 
BEST MODERN CAR
BEST VINTAGE CAR
BEST TRUCK
BEST MOTORCYCLE
BIGGEST MOBILE ANTENNA
MOST MOBILE ANTENNAS ON ONE VEHICLE
MOST UNUSUAL
BEST MOBILE INSTALLATION
 
So let your imagination be your guide. Or just bring your favorite mobile and show it off, regardless of condition, and have some fun with it.
 
FWRC will have some donated test equipment for sale as well, plus a bunch of electronic parts.
 
This is usually a well attended event for the club, and always a lot of fun, so plan on attending, bring your vehicle to show off if you want to, or just come and look at everyone else’s. See you there!
 
 
73, Steve, W9SAN

RACES plans statewide drill July 27

      No Comments on RACES plans statewide drill July 27

Joseph Lawrence, K9RFZ, RACES Radio Officer for Allen County, sent the following information via email July 23. We’ve reprinted it here for any interested operators who might not have seen the email.

To all Allen County RACES & ARES members

This Saturday morning, the IDHS semi-annual RACES drill will occur. For the first time, we will be conducting communications at the state, district, and county level for this drill. Please plan to participate.

District 3 county EOC’s will be conducting a net on the 146.88 repeater from about 9am to noon. The state EOC will be activated to receive county mission tasks via WebEOC (internet based). Allen county will start a net at 8:30am on the 146.94 repeater. If you are an Allen County RACES/ARES member, then you are expected to check-in and be counted. You may decline to accept a deployment assignment if you can’t particpate further. That’s understandable. In an actual incident, many operators may be unavailable to deploy.

If you can participate for the full local drill, then you may be assigned to deploy to one of the five trauma hospitals in the county. I will be seeking at least 10 volunteers who can drive to a designated hospital, make contact with the hospital security dept, be escorted to their EOC radio connection, connect to the SO-239 external antenna connection, and handle voice messages for the drill duration. You will need to provide your own radio and a cable to connect your radio to an SO-239 wall-mounted connector. I have recently checked each of the antenna systems with an HT and they work fine.

The hospital Security staff will give you an envelope with instrucitons for the drill. Follow the instructions at the appointed times.

Important: All messages transmitted during the drill need to be prefaced with “this is a drill message”. I know it’s easy to forget. I’ve messed up before, so let’s all try to make certain at least one of the stations in each contact clearly makes that statement. Let’s help each other remember and don’t take offense if someone backs you up.

The Allen County EOC will be monitoring both the 88 and 94 repeaters. Local net will be on 94, district net will be on 88.

We have been practicing these RACES drills for the past 5 years with progressively more realistic and complex requirements. Allen County has always done well in accomplishing the scenario tasks. I’m asking each of you to step it up and let’s show the IDHS and our district 3 partners that Allen County has a top-notch competent team that can be relied upon to succeed in a disaster.

I will be on the ARES net tonight to answer questions or you may reply to this group posting.

73,
Joseph Lawrence, K9RFZ
Allen County RACES RO