SEKARC Meeting Sept 9, 2023

It's time for another meeting!! On September 9th at 9am at Fire Station #1 in Pittsburg, let's get a good turnout as we have lots to discuss like repeater maintenance updates, maybe a Fall Special Event, Winter Field Day. As always we will have club provided breakfast casserole, coffee etc etc. Oh and most likely donuts! After the meeting we will all go out to the fire department grounds and get a complete tour on the incredible communications trailer that Justin KEØWSY, Tyler KBØPQP and Matt KGØW have put together. If you have not seen it, this is your chance! This thing can almost do it all and talk with almost anybody.

We are looking for a presenter or program of some sort so if you have ideas or suggestions please let us know! It's been a while and there are a lot of faces that we haven't seen in a while so mark your calendar, set a reminder on your phone, put it on the bulletin board! 

 

 

Radio - From The Moon

Keynote is Robert Suggs talks about radio communications during the moon missions.

“How we talked from the Moon: the Apollo communication system”

Fifty years ago astronauts were exploring the surface of the moon. The communication system was one of many technology developments needed for the Apollo program. Basics of the architecture of the Apollo system and a preview of our current lunar exploration plans will be described.

 

A Petition FCC for High Power Allocation on Shortwave Spectrum

Here is a recent post regarding an FCC regarding an FCC petition that from what it seems, could affect the amateur radio band allocation regarding band edge interference? I see people online saying "EMERGENCY ACT NOW!!" and I see others saying "whoooaaa there boy crying wolf!" So which is it?

Can someone with more expertise weigh in on this? I did find this line in the FCC Petition (LINK BELOW) ..... "Specifically, we consider five frequencies within this range: 4.9,
10.2, 14.9, 19.9, and 24.8 MHz." So would this even affect us? Much smarter folks that I may be able to provide better info for us? 

A Petition FCC for High Power Allocation on Shortwave Spectrum

Silent Key Gear Looking For A Good Home

We were recently contacted by Cheryl in Galena about some radio gear left my her SK dad WB0BLM. If any of you are interested in this gear please email her at her email address Cherylann432 @ gmail.com and she will make arrangements. I have included photos below so if you would like any of this gear, let her know! Thanks Cheryl !! Below is her contact message that we received.

"I am KA0OEB (expired) and located in Galena Ks. My dad, a long-time ham radio operator (WB0BLM-Gary Kennedy) recently passed away and my mom and I are looking for someone to give his radio equipment to. I can take pictures of what we have. We both would love to see them go to someone who will put them back into use."

A VIEW OF FIELD DAY 2023

Here are some photos and video clip from Field Day this year... take a look and we hope to see you at the next one!

FIELD DAY 2023 SUMMARY

Well the SEKARC Field Day 2023 was a success! The location of the Crawford County Historical Museum worked out very well. So well that we told them that we are planning on this site for our 2024 Field Day as well. We gave a donation to their cause for the use of the facility and they appreciated having us. One of the things I learned is that we need to provide the museum lobby with an informational display about what we are doing in hopes to inform their visitors.

A morning thunderstorm delayed our setup but we were pretty much ready to go by start time. But it sure did add to the humidity level Saturday! WOW it was hot! Our trademark extension ladder antenna went up well and gets easier each time. Tyler mentioned on the net that we might want to make a mono band antenna built specifically for 20 as that seems to be the busiest band all day AND night on Field Day. We also raised a multi band dipole that seemed to have some issues with the signal getting out but seemed to receive well. Lot's of learning for us this time around.

Late Saturday we were not planning on staying over night to operate but about 10:30pm the air conditioning went out in the trailer which solidified the decision to not operate all night. We shut things down, moved the generator back to it's secure location for the night and came back the next morning. Back on the air about 6am and making lots of contacts. Weather was a lot better Sunday. Warm but a nice breeze and the humidity was much lower. We stopped at 1pm and the results are below.

Thanks to all that we able to contribute with their time and skills... special thanks to Tyler and Justin for what may be the best privately owned emergency communications trailer in the Midwest. Excellent work and we are planning on having a club meeting soon centered on the trailer. We are also as a club considering making a donation to the trailer equipment by purchasing a mini pc running about $350 so both stations in the trailer can have it's own pc to process with. If you as a club member want us to hold off and reconsider that donation then let us/me know. 

Here are the details from the Field Day Log Reporting! THANKS to all that helped.. let's make next year even BETTER. I am working on a slide show of photos from the event so stay tuned for that in the next day or so.

 

 

Field Day 2023 RSVP !!!

Please complete form below completely !!

Please submit your information so we can get some counts for operators, food and setup/takedown help at the Field Day 2023 site. It is at the Crawford County Historical Museum near 20th and the Bypass in Pittsburg. This should be a really great site for Field Day and we hope to have one our best ever. If you have any questions please email the group and we will get the answers! 

Click the text below for map if you are not familiar with where it is!

CLICK HERE for GOOGLE MAP