Favorite HF Band... A SURVEY !!

We have some new hams and new members and many of us are looking to improve our antenna farms so I have been curious which bands are the most favorite! So many radios, so many antennas and SO MANY BANDS to choose from. We all have our favorites so let us know which ones are your TWO favorite HF bands. We did not include 6m because well it's not HF so don't be disappointed that you don't see it. 6 meters is kind of it's own category and an AWESOME band!

We are distributing this survey to MANY venues so feel free to send to anyone that might be interested including other ham clubs and operators that may not be on our list! We will post a summary in a few weeks after we get a good amount or responses! Thanks and 73 !!

SEKARC VE TESTING !!!

SEKARC will hold it's FIRST VE Testing session on September 5th at 4:30 in the Training Room at Fire Station #1 in Pittsburg. This is a another HUGE accomplishment for the club as we grow and improve our community offerings.

We have one test scheduled so if you would like to inquire about taking your test to upgrade or your first tech license, please send us an email at sekarc.net@gmail.com.

Our plan is to offer testing after each of our meetings in September, October and November so stay tuned and if you are interested in participating please see this site ARRL VE TESTER INFORMATION. It is easy to get signed up wit ha simple review and questionnaire that is sent in.

Thanks to those that have been approved for VE Testers and let's keep it growing !!

Joplin Hamfest - Coming Up Quick

The Joplin Amateur Radio Club Hamfest is just about here! It is Friday August 23rd and Saturday the 24th. We can get in to setup our tables on Thursday between 10am-5pm and Friday at 8am. While we don't have a lot to setup and probably can do it on on Friday morning it might still be fun to get in on Thursday if anyone wants to.

We have 3 tables resereved 2 with the club and one that Cecil NØEHP purchased for shared use and after trading with KA6DOY we will have all 3 tables together. We will all be able to use the space for selling items personally and/or if you would like to you can sell extra, not being used items and the proceeds will be considered a donation to the SEKARC. If you are selling something for yourself then please list the price AND your callsign on the price tag or label. If there is no callsign we will assume it is a club donation.

With the temporary location keep in mind that parking is limited but they are offering a shuttle from a remote parking site setup at the former location the Joplin Convention Center. Even with the smaller site this is still a  GREAT hamfest and the Joplin club does a fantastic job with this event.

New hams and "experienced" hams will have a great time. Let Matt KØVLL or myself Jeff KAØEGE know if you need us to haul anything over there. I will probably be there Thurday, Friday and Saturday so let us know. They are offering some GREAT door prizes like they always do and usually there are more on site that are donated by the vendors. It is always fun and now with the WiresX in operation we know a lot more hams in the region that we will get to eyeball QSO.

CLICK link below for information !!

 

Jean Shepherd WOR Radio

Here are two GREAT videos about ham radio operations from decades ago. This ham/broadcaster is a master story teller and has two great stories about his days operating ham radio as a young man. Very entertaining so give them both a listen.

If his voice sounds familiar..... he did the narration for "A Christmas Story". There are many many more on YouTube so check them out. Here is a link to his Wikipidia page : Jean Shapherd

For this one below you may have to click on the "WATCH ON YOUTUBE" LINK

Breakfast Meeting - Hardee's

When: Saturday July 27th
When: 9:00 AM
Where: Hardee's South Broadway Pittsburg
Why: Because We Can

Almost forgot, but summer is a busy time so if you have a few minutes on your Saturday please stop by. We have some hams that may not be able to make it to the Wednesday coffee so this is a perfect chance to meet us AND you so see you there !!

We can talk new antenna installs, hamfest coming up soon, deed restrictions on antennas and other fun stuff. Always a fun group to visit with... bring your latest build !!

2 Meter Band Exploration and Controversy

2 Meter Band..... some info about the 2 meter band and he also addresses the current 2 meter controversy. Great information so watch and enjoy! Dave makes some great videos, please check out his YouTube Channel.

Short Stormy Field Day 2019

Stats and photos below below so check them out !!

Well the SEKARC Field Day 2019 was abbreviated but as always we learned things to improve and truly put emergency power generation to the test. We had a tri-band vertical on top of the tower for 2m, 70cm and 6m. Attached to the tower were 3 dipoles for 20m, 40m and 80m.

We used the Crawford County Emergency Management tower with generator. We were rolling good for a few hours. Sitting on 40m running pileup after pileup. Then everything went quiet and power was off. Generator failed, clogged fuel filter we suspect was the culprit. We made a trip to O'reilly for a replacement and a call was placed to Jason the Emergency Manager. And once again Jason saved the day and within 30 minutes he another BIGGER generator on site. And we were back on the air and fans were blowing again.

Jason later brought us the correct replacement filter he found at Tractor Supply. The one we bought was close but not the perfect fit. So it was a good test for Jason and he determined the tower trailer generator needed a tuneup and service check.

Another life saver was Bruce KØEMG who brought a grill, and chips and cooked us burgers for lunch and chicken for dinner. THANKS again Bruce. We just totally had not thought that far. Oh and by the way... the lights on top of large stand alone generator were awesome and DAYLIGHT BRIGHT. We lit up that park like never before. (Well we had to test them right?)

We were rolling good until the overnight storms rolled in. We had a goal of 1,000 contacts and if we had kept the original pace we would have easily exceeded that goal. We did learn a few things. One of those being that if there are storms in the forecast next Field Day we will not even mess with the tower. We are bound to have some good weather one of these years... right ?

We even got some public service time and got to help out the Crawford County Emergency Management bu touching up some paint on the trailer. We repainted  the 4 wheels and cleaned and painted the two motors that operated the tower. Great job SEKARC !!

Thanks to all that showed up, help setup, operate, log, cook and visit. It was still a good weekend. By 6am Sunday we were back home packed away and tower and generators back at the county site. Now time to think about making Field Day 2020 even better !!

Avg Qs/Hr (breaks > 30 min deducted): 66.0
 Total Contacts by Band and Mode:
 Band      CW  Ph      Dig     Total       %
 ----       --   -----     ---   -----     ---
   80             0       1       0         1           0
   40             0     426       0      426      93
   20             0      21       0       21          5
   15              0       8       0        8            2
    2                0       1       0        1           0
            --   -----     ---   -----     ---
 Total            0     457       0     457     100