July fox hides under log

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The Foxhunt Chronicles

foxhunt cartoonThe sixth foxhunt of the 2013 FWRC’s foxhunt season occurred on Sunday, the 14th of July as planned. The July hunters consisted of the team of Steve & Linda Nardin, W9’s SAN and LAN plus their grandson Alex, the team of Jim & Kim Machamer, KB9’s DOS and DOT, the team of Charles Ward, KC9MUT and Fred Gengnagel, KC9EZP, and the team of Annie & Jim Pliett, KA9YYI and K9OMA plus Carole & Al Burke, WB9’s RUS and SSE.

Dave Spence, K9NDU and Bob Dean, KC9UHU served as the wily fox. The actual (micro-power) fox was hidden under a log in a nature preserve just off Chapman Rd. near Coldwater Rd. They used a mobile rig feeding a yagi as the high power fox and both the high power fox and the micro-power fox operated on the input to the 146.76 MHz machine so that the local ham community could follow the goings-on of the hunt. Joseph Lawrence, KB9RFZ was also at the Off-Track Betting Parlor starting point trying out some experimental DF equipment, but he did not join in on the hunt proper.

When the high power fox came up at 13:30 the signal was a little weak, but eventually everyone heard it coming from the north, and the race was on.

Our team headed up Lima Rd. until the bearings indicated that the signal was starting to have an easterly bearing, so we turned right on Gump Rd. and headed to the east. The Nardin and Machamer teams continued heading up Lima Rd., and we didn’t see where the Ward/Gengnagel team got off too.

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FWRC Board meeting this week

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FWRC MEMBERS:

Just a reminder that this month’s BOD (Board Of Directors) meeting is this Tuesday night, at 7:00 pm EDT, in room 138 of the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, at 4700 Vance Avenue in Fort Wayne.

All are invited! We will be discussing the Field Day wrap up and plans for next month’s Tail Gate Ham Fest.

Hope to see you there!

FWRC Field Day 2013 wrap-up

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FIELD DAY WRAPUP:

The 2013 addition of the ARRL Field Day activity is in the record books! Once again, the Fort Wayne Radio Club has made me the proudest club president in the state. We all came together, got the stations up without any incidents, operated for the full 24 hours, and took down the towers again without any safety concerns. Here are some of the highlights:

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SKYWARN frequency change might be necessary

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Skywarn Logo Attention all operators:

During the past two activations of IMO SKYWARN quadrant two, the ACARTS 146.88 MHz repeater experienced intermittent transmitter failure. The most recent occurrence was at about 9 p.m. last night, June 24.

Please be aware that if the 146.88 MHz repeater exhibits the same issues during the severe weather expected today and tomorrow, the active net control station (whoever it is at the time) will move SKYWARN operations to the FWRC 146.76 MHz repeater.

This decision will be made on an as-needed basis. Ideally, however, if the issue arises early in the operation, SKYWARN will change frequencies sooner, rather than later, to avoid dealing with the issue during potential periods of heavy spotter reporting.

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How to find Field Day

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The Fort Wayne Radio Club’s Field Day 2013 station will be located at Dolnick Learning Center on the north campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (northeast of the intersection of Stellhorn and St. Joe Roads). Use your GPS to get to that intersection and then refer to the campus map below. The best entrance is Dean Dr. from St. Joe Road (first traffic light north of Stellhorn Rd.), except that visitors coming from the east on Stellhorn Rd. might pefer to enter on Sirlin Dr. from Stellhorn Rd.

FWRC Field Day map

Field Day 2013 Plans

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(Webmaster’s note: The text below is a verbatim excerpt of the most recent email message FWRC President Steve Nardin, W9SAN sent regarding plans for Field Day. Sorry about all the capital letters. That’s how Steve typed the email and I didn’t have time to reformat.)

 
*********************************************************
 
         OTA PLANNING MEETING 13 JUNE 2013
 
 *********************************************************
 
Current helpers:
 
 
 Food: W9LAN + KB9DOS + KB9DEB  (others needed)
 
 GOTA Station:  W9BJG
 
 PR Material:  W9BJG
 
 cOMPUTERS:  need helpers (logging programs and networking; screen reader SW)
 
 CONFIRMATION RECEIVED: DOLNICK IS OURS FROM JUNE 21 @ 7 PM TO JUNE 23 @ 4 PM
 THANKS TO DAVE JONES, KC9TIK, & LARRY TEMENOFF, KB9OS!!
 
 
 FIELD DAY & QRP NIGHT & FWRC MEETING:  JUNE 21, 22, 23 DOLNICK LEARNING CENTER
                                        VEC LICENSE TESTING ON SATURDAY
                                        AFTERNOON SATURDAY, HOG ROAST
                                        SUNDAY MORNING, FIELD DAY BREAKFAST
                                        (WITH BLUEBERRY PANCAKES!!)
 
                                         ALSO LOOKING AT BOY &  GIRL SCOUT VISITS
 
 
 
 ARRL FIELD DAY LOCATOR SYSTEM:  W9SAN LOADED TODAY; WORKING OK! WWW.ARRL.ORG
 
 NEED TO PLAN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR SATURDAY AFTER VEC TESTING.
 PR INFO PACKAGE READY TO GO OUT: W9BGJ
 
 RELATED: I HAVE 11 x 17 FIELD DAY POSTERS. DOES ANYONE HAVE A PLACE THEY COULD POST 
 
 ONE OF THESE? PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME!
 
 (A BLACK AND WHITE PDF FILE OF THIS WILL BE SENT OUT FOR ALL TO PRINT AS NEEDED)
 
 STATIONS PLANNING:
         KC9MUT: 20 M SSB W/YAGI
         W9BJG: GOTA
         K9FMX: 40 CW
         KB9W: DIGITAL STATION
         W9SAN: VHF STATION; 6&2
         KU8T: SET UP STATION
         NEED OTHER STATIONS FOR 80 / 160 / 15 / 10 METERS
 
 BATTLE CRY:    BEAT INDY!!!!  WIN INDIANA!!!!
 
 FRIDAY NIGHT:  Arrive approx 5 pm with equipment
                Start club meeting at 7 pm
                If possible, start setting up stations; QRP radios to the air
                If tents setup, owners should stay all night
 
 SATURDAY:      Arrive to start setup at 8:30 am
                VEC testing from (9) to (11)...someone please get me this information
                Field Day starts at 2:00 pm
                Hog Roast at 5:30 pm
                Run and log contacts all night!
               
 SUNDAY: 
                Field Day Breakfast, 10:00 am (?) probably
                Shut down operations at 2:00 pm
                Take down stations and be gone by 4:00 pm
 
 
 Other items: please e-mail W9SAN@ARRL.NET
 Planning on attending either activity?  Please let me know! Thanks.