Contributed Article

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 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

With our new club year beginning in March, we are excited to have coming on February 21@7PM, Tom General KE5ICX past president of DARC.  Tom brings with him a wealth of knowledge of events and activities for amateur radio clubs.  We are pleased that he will be giving a motivation presentation of what works and doesn’t work at the club level.  He has been very helpful providing contact information for speakers at DARC and giving us leads for speakers as well.  His many topics including “How do you get all type ‘A’ personalities to work together”, “Using Social Media Effectively”, “Engaging Kids and Community” and “Making a Name for Your Club in Amateur Radio”.  As you all know DARC is most active in ham radio and Tom will be able to provide a jump start and challenge to our club as we begin an exciting new year with a new slate of officers and directors.  Invite someone that could be a potential new member and come with an renewed interest in our great club and ham radio.

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.