JD Toony

http://tspota.org/index.htm

 Texas State Parks on the Air Event April 8^th and 9^th.

We will be camping at and activating Lake Whitney State Park, just a little west of Hillsboro.  A friend and I were on the repeater talking about our camping plans when another ham chimed in, and then another, and then another.  At last count it looks like we’ll have at least 4 RV’s, plus a tent or two, all hams.  It should be a great weekend!

 Everyone is welcome to come down and play radio.  Come for the day or come for the weekend.  This is a very informal event and a great opportunity for new hams to get a taste of HF.  We chose Lake Whitney because it’s just a short drive (around an hour) from the Midlothian/Mansfield area.  It’s an easy day trip.  Just bring a chair.

Debbie, KK5DW, and I plan to go down on Thursday and will stay through Sunday.  Our group will be in the Full Hookup Loop which includes campsites 1-51.  This is the first large camping area on your right as you enter the park.  Just look for the antennas.

Directions:

To reach the park from Interstate 35, take the Hillsboro exit. In Hillsboro, take State Highway 22 west to Whitney; then follow the signs to Lake Whitney State Park The park is located three miles west of Whitney on FM 1244 on the shore of Lake Whitney.

Hope to see you there!

Steve

K5SVV

ECARC Repeater

145.410   Shift –   Tone 110.9

Maurice Martin (KM5RF) will be our special speaker for January 17 at 7pm. He will be giving us a presentation on Ufer tower grounding, lightning suppression, proper ground rod installation, and station grounding.

He has quite a few hands on items that he will pass around and explain the purpose of each in multiple installations, as well as actual lighting damaged items that have been removed from his station.

His tower has taken 2 direct lighting strikes in the past with no damage with all 7 radios being connected.  This will be a most interesting presentation, so come with questions about all things towers and grounding.

Our speaker for November 15th will be Jonathan Brandenburg. He is currently a professor at UTD and active in the DFW area Raspberry Pi user group. He owns a drone education and consulting company, has his pilot license, is an FAA certified advance ground instructor, recently obtained an FAA certificate to fly commercial unmanned aircraft, and loves to scuba dive.

He will be giving a presentation providing information and updates on exciting AMSAT activities and opportunities. These include Amateur Radio on the ISS, as well as recent and upcoming launches of amateur satellites. There will be discussion of  progress on a geosynchronous amateur payload and even work on a lunar satellite. He hopes his presentation will pursuade our club to experience satellites through AMSAT and perhaps consider advancing the state of radio art.

… aaand that’s pretty much how I felt at my first field day! I was totally the new kid at school. Before, I only THOUGT I had a lot to learn. Now, after field day, I KNOW I have a lot to learn. From Jerry’s (KB6OJE) most patient tutelage at the GOTA station to Larry’s (KY5S) dizzying and encyclopedic knowledge of antennas, I was kept in a constant state of wide-eyed wonderment. I felt like the dog in the movie UP, seeing squirrels around every corner, or the crow in The Secret of Nimh constantly distracted by the next shiny object and dropping the one already in hand. I couldn’t decide which part of field day I wanted to play in the most, so I started splitting my time between them all. What can I say, I like to have AND eat my cake (never did understand that saying).

My main spot was at the GOTA (G.et O.n T.he A.ir) station. Jerry (KB6OJE) was the main man at that station, and after 5 minutes I knew why. The man seems to have an infinite level of patience, and he really knows how to teach the basics of ham radio without you feeling like you’ve been taught. From kids to adults, non-hams to long absent hams, he treated everyone with the same level of care and personal attention. When I sat at his station, I never felt rushed or pressured in any way. It was my first contesting experience and was so much fun, due largely to Jerry. What a joy!

However, I am about to throw him a little ways under the bus. When he and I were getting set up and testing the radio prior to the official start, we could hear some one doing their own contest out of Estonia on the 20 meter band. We could hear him just fine, but we just weren’t getting through to him. Jerry said it was due to us only being on 100 watts where everyone else was pushing 1500 or so, but we persisted and tried and tried again. After some time of this, I hazarded out that maybe he couldn’t hear us even if there was no body else interfering. Jerry just calmly repeated that it was due to stronger signals prevailing. Hey, I’m a newbie, so I nodded sagely and respectfully concurred with him. After a time we gave up trying to get this particular QSO and I went to see what the CW folks were doing. When I got back, Jerry paused, looked at me deadpan, and said that I was right, Estonia couldn’t hear us. Not a little bit surprised that I was correct about anything ham, I enquired how he knew this. He then pointed at the floor in the corner of the room and said “Because our 20 meter antenna is right there.” Sure enough, coiled smugly in the corner was our antenna.

I do so love hams who can laugh at themselves. Gives me hope for the enjoyment of my own inevitable mistakes.

I did eventually make a contact but didn’t want to hog the station so stepped off and then never managed to get back as I had to leave and couldn’t get back on Sunday. C’est la vie, life happens but I’m so very looking forward to next year’s Field Day. I’m determined to be proficient enough in Morse to man the CW station next year. Now THOSE guys take their fun seriously! Or maybe the serious faces were just due to the concentration needed to listen to the CW signals.

Either way, that part really intrigues me, so that’s where you’ll find me next go-round. Steve (KF5RYI), warned me that if I listened to the CW station long enough, I’d be hearing code for days afterward. Sure enough, that night when I was going to sleep, I could’ve sworn my air conditioner was trying to speak to me in Morse Code.

Honestly, so much went into Field Day that, a month later, I’m still processing everything I saw and heard. All the men and women of the club worked tirelessly throughout the whole weekend, and made the whole thing a very special event. Hats off to everyone who came and worked it. It really hit home that I’ve picked a great hobby to get involved with. I mean really, without the ham community, who would we have to speak to on the radio?

To all new hams like me, welcome home! To all old hams (I use the term loosely), thank you for events like this and for keeping this wonderful craft alive!