24. August 2010 by admin.

Well we have been working on the hamfest from January and now it is here and gone. What a turn out from the club. I was amazed and greatly pleased. Everybody stepped in and made it a great time. IT was a lot of work and the whole club rose to the occasion and more. It was a good time by all. The turn out could of been better but we did make a small profit for the first year. The fire hall was perfect and there help was right on. I am already looking forward to next year . The weather was just perfect for the event and the food was great.

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21. July 2010 by admin.

I repaired my antenna the other day. I hope this time I got it right. I got a new  u bracket from Bruce and used lock washers and nuts this time on the beam. I also welded a pipe on the top so I could keep the 2 meter beam and the vertical a little farther apart. It seems to work a little better. I wanted to work the rtty contest put it just did not work out the way it should have. Hopefully the next time I will be able to work it.

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16. July 2010 by admin.

On the weekend of June 25 we had our club field day event. Bruce and Wayne were in charge and did a great job. We had a lot of small problems but everything went we. First the county took the rope down from the tree out front and then the club antenna broke and is beyond repair. We got the rope back up in the the tree again in time. On Friday they stacked lots of battery’s in front of your cabinets and had to wait for them to be removed. Just before the start a power supply in one of the computers crashed. The first 2 hours or filters were not working right but we got that straighten out. After that everything went very well. Your could not ask for better weather it was just right and the food was fantastic. Bruce did a great job of cooking and Brenda made the best cobbler  and cookies  around. The Gota station worked very well. I know we all had a good time and we were all very tired by Sunday evening.

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20. May 2010 by admin.

Last night was a NAQCC (North America QRP CW Club) sprint. It was to last 2 hours. All CW. I wasn’t going to try but about 9:oo I thought way not try so I tuned in on 40 meters I turned the wattage down to 5 watts and tried to make some contacts. I could hear the others but they weren’t coming back to me. So I keep turning the dial with no results then I stopped on 7.037.50 and heard nothing I QRL and nothing so I said what the heck and did a cq cq na de kc3jku and that was it . someone came back. Now I had to find something to write with and paper to write on and still hear there call. I did it and it was great. Again and again till 10:30 when the sprint ended and I counted my contacts. 15 contacts all at 5 watts. How cool is that. Unfortunately no one in my family is a lest bit enter so I had to wait till today to tell somebody that can relate it my excitement of the moment,but that is ok. It was a great time and I really enjoyed it and it made me feel like I am finely getting a little better at code.  I hope I will be able to be in many more.

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16. May 2010 by admin.

Well I just got back from what has become a yearly trip to the Dayton hamfest. This year I had 6 people in my car and 2 more cars behind me and Bruce went down the night before. We left on Thursday. The trip down was nice and it was really good to see Glen again. The hamfest was a good time again this year and seem just all busy as the other years I have been there. The weather was perfect and the company great. I didn’t buy much but Steve and Tom bought radios and Andy bought a High Tower. I think everybody had a good time and all will wnat to go back next year.

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5. May 2010 by admin.

Not much going on  scene the last time. Made a few cw contacts on the radio and on the computer, Had a hamfest meeting that went very well. Made most of the contacts outside on the picnic table because the weather has been so nice.

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21. April 2010 by admin.

Well thanks to Bill WB2SXY we now have a Yahoo news group for the club. I will be the administrator for it and it seens very good. I hope that people will use it and leave message and question or talk about what they can do in ham radio. I will have a lot to learn but I am sure I will catch on . Like I said just one more thing for us ham operators to injoy in this amazing hobby.

One anther note I made several cw contacts on 40 and 20 meters . I wish I could find more and make more on 30. I am still working on my speed but it takes a long time for this slow brain to get there. All I can say is I sure am having lots of fun getting there.

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18. April 2010 by admin.

I found a new computer program called cwcom.com. It is pretty cool. Yes it is only broadband but it still is interesting.You send code back and forth to each other. You can send it by the arrow key,mouse, or make up a serial port cable to use your keyer. I feel pretty good because I got my solder iron out and made a cable to use my bencher with. It amazed me how many hams were using this program. I was not on a minute and I heard someone calling me by CW. You can set the send speed and you can set it up so you can see what is being sent or view it afterwords. So far I have made new ham friends from India , Argentina, England, and several hams in the usa. I also have been helping a new ham in picking up his speed and hope to get him on HF soon. There is always something new and interesting in Ham radio.

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15. April 2010 by admin.

I ran my power and coax outside form my radio room to the table outside. Now I can sit outside and make contacts. I have made a couple so far on these great days. I also got my new 40 ham stick and tuned it up and it works fine on the van.

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4. April 2010 by admin.

I went up to Pine Hill this afternoon and set up the Buddypole to see how everything was going to work. Set it up for 40 meter and heard K2GTC from New York City. Had a nice long qso for about 1/2 hour. He was using 1 Watt for his apartment on a looped wire Antenna. I got most of his convercation till several 4 wheelers went by and made lots of noise but we did keep going. I was good to get out there and set up again.   I also had a call from Glen KA2EMU from Florida and he finely got his extra and bought a now radio a Yaesu FT 897. So We made a contact on 20 meters and I got Dick WA2HNA to join in. So all in all for ashort time on theradio and had a good day

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