Max McCoy Presentation - October Meeting

The October and November 2013 issues of the ARRL magazine QST, featured local author and amateur radio operator Max McCoy KCØMAX. With a kayak and portable ham radio he journeyed down the Arkansas River in Colorado and shared his story with QST readers. On Saturday 10/31/15 Max will join us to tell us more about that adventure. The Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio Club will be meeting at Fire Station #1 on West Fourth in Pittsburg will begin at 9am.

We will have coffee, juice, breakfast egg casserole and donuts for everyone and all are welcome and please bring a guest. This should be one of the most interesting and entertaining meeting in the history of SEKARC! Max is local celebrity but most do not know of his ham radio activity.

Weather permitting we will also head to the park for some portable radio work so plan on bringing your gear or at least stop by and get on the air! We usually have 3-5 operators that have some really nice portable gear on display and in use.

Below is a brief bio from Max's website MaxMccoy.com.

Max McCoy is an award-winning winning author and journalist.

He won the Spur Award in 2011 from the Western Writers of America for Damnation Road, the third book in the Hellfire western noir trilogy. Set in Oklahoma Territory at the turn of the last century, the book concludes the story of irascible outlaw Jacob Gamble, who is now nearing fifty and confronted by a new west of telephones, smokeless powder, and moving pictures.....

......... McCoy has published nineteen novels, including four original Indiana Jones adventures published by Bantam and licensed by Lucasfilm; the novelization of Steven Spielberg’s epic miniseries Into the West; and the critically-acclaimed cave diving thriller, The Moon Pool, published in 2004 by Dorchester. USA Today described his writing as “powerful.” Publishers Weeklycalled The Moon Pool, an “intelligent thriller… tightly drawn characters, a vile villain and a satisfying, thought-provoking conclusion make this a compelling read.”

Mark this on your calendar and get there on time!!

Antenna Sparks = HOT SIGNAL

Hopefully the guys that worked on the 94 didn't even try this..........

JARC Tailgate Swap

Here are the details on the JARC Tailgate Swap this Saturday! Click on the image for the full site!

September Meeting Sat 9/26

The September SEKARC meeting will be held Saturday September 26th at 9 am. We will meet at the Pittsburg Fire Station #1 at 911 W 4th. There will be breakfast and coffee available so please stop by and say hello! It's been a busy summer so let's review and make some plans for the fall and winter.

There will short videos discussion about talk about one of the hottest new modes, Digital Voice for HF. New software and new mode that is catching on and gaining in popularity so let's all learn together. We will also discuss the latest new with the new Yaesu Fusion repeater installed by the PRO group on the 94 location.

We will also announce the speaker for the October meeting and that will be one meeting that you don't want to miss! Weather permitting we will also go to the park and set up some radios after the meeting so bring your gear!

New 94 Yaesu Fusion Repeater for PRO

As you may have heard, the Pittsburg Repeater Organization or "PRO" group replaced the 94 repeater with a new Yaesu System Fusion repeater. They still have some testing and possible adjustments to be made on the receive side as Tyler believes that the RX is not as good as it should be based on initial testing and monitoring It seems to be working well at this time.

One change from before is that they activated the PL Tone of 91.5 so you may have to change some of your memories to add the tone. If you are like me, about half of my radios already had it set up and some did not. Tyler mentioned that if the tone is an issue with folks then let us know and they will review the tone activation.

Tyler also sent over some photos from the install day out at the site and gave permission to post them here. It is very interesting finally get to see the site and see the equipment that we all talk on often. Thanks again to the PRO group for getting this back on the air and for the upgraded technology! I have a FT1D with the digital modes so when you hear KAØEGE I will most likely be transmitting on 1w in digital mode on my Yaesu FT1D. Tyler reported the difference in my TX quality was night and day with only 1w. Barely audible on regular FM from inside my house with rubber duck antenna but when I switched it over to Digital VW mode, clear as a bell!

The repeater is setup for auto on receive ( it will receive Yaesu digital and analog FM automatically ) but it is set for FM on TX so all listeners will hear it! Let us know if you have or hear of any issues and we can pass this on to Tyler and the PRO group!

Jeff KAØEGE

Great Turnout For the FM Net

Great turnout for the weekly FM net on 146.94. We had a few check back in that have been unable to with the 94 down but it was good to hear you all on the air tonight! We had two from Big Brutus who are setting up for the FourState QRP group's Brutus Bash! Joe WØMQY and Terry WAØITP checked in with a great signal from the Big Brutus site!

Also checking in again after the 94 has been down was Frank NØIGZ and Steve KEØAKN. Good to hear from you again! Also some regulars Bill WBØLXZ, Leon N3LRH, and Steve WDØDTS. And to top that off I believe that we had brand new first time check in from Chanute, Mike KBØBSG!

Thanks to everyone checking in so if you didn't get checked in set a reminder for next week Wednesday at 8pm! We discussed our meeting in September with a special presentation and a possible exciting presentation that you should all be there for on October 31st. On both days we will be heading to the park after the meeting at the fire station so come on out with us!

The 94 Repeater is BACK !!

It's BACK !!! Yes the KØPRO 94 repeater is back on the air! Full quieting signal reports from Joplin, Riverton and Galena were received so it's working great! Special thanks go out to PRO members Tyler KBØPQP, Steve N5SD, Ron KBØNRG and Phil KØPR for working on it and getting it back on the air!!

We will move the Wednesday night FM Net back over to the 94 so tune in and check in! If you are on the fringes of the coverage area please call in to the repeater for a signal report as there is usually someone monitoring!

It's great to hear the 94 back on the air !!