The March For Babies Is Just Around The Corner

March of Dimes – March for Babies 2020 – Lakeland

LARC has, once again this year, been chosen to provide communication support for the Lakeland Portion of this national event. Volunteer Radio Operators are needed from 7:30 AM until 10:30 AM. Please bring your HT. We will be using the LARC repeater at 146.685 PL 127.3. The event will once again be held at the First Presbyterian Church. We need a total of 10 volunteers to fulfill the needs of this event.

Please email Bob Doherty (KM4BAO) at  KM4BAO@yahoo.com too sign up. A detailed email will then be sent to all volunteers.

Thank you in advance for volunteering!

Bob KM4BAO

Click on the image to enlarge for easier viewing.

Once again, LARC will have a presence at the Kathleen Historic Society’s Heritage Day. The lead members this year will be Bill KI4ZMV, and Fred K1DU. Weather permitting, attendance at this event and our exhibit is normally high. Those who drop by might not be all that interested in Ham radio, but you will not find a better bunch of folks to chat with. Conversations often reveal an uncle or grandfather who was a ham at one time. This event is an excellent opportunity to show that Amateur Radio is still relevant, and emphasize how it serves the public in so many ways.

All club members are invited to drop by and participate. This is truly a Festival with a lot to see, do, and enjoy.

To educate the public about the importance of the Amateur Radio Service the board opted to join many other organizations who participate in Lakeland’s First Friday celebrations. March 6th was the first of four consecutive events the club will attend this year. During the evening over twenty club members dropped by to support this effort. Another thirty plus participated by checking into a very informal net.

Here Sam N7CUC describes the role of Ham Rado in saving lives to an interested Polk County worker.

Congratulations Russel and William!

Left to right Bill K4JZ VE, Russell K1CTR new Extra, John K0ZD  VP and VE, William KO4CHJ new Tech, and VE KK4ITX John

Attendance was good. Over sixty members and guests attended the presentation.

Rich has always been one of those rare people who is capable of supporting the Lakelalnd Amateur Radio Club in both the foreground as well as the background. He is one of those members who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the club what it is today.

Rich N4ESS reviewed the results of testing.

Below, Mike KB4FHP delivered a second presentation, this time, on the ins and outs of DMR radio.

Mike KB4FHP

First Friday

Every month, Downtown Lakeland shuts down the streets for First Friday events. Thousands of visitors every month enjoy a Classy Car Show, a Makers Market with crafters and artisans, and over 60 First Friday Exhibitors with goodies, giveaways, and special deals.

The LARC station will be in front of Palace Pizza, and directly across the street from Molly’s . The event starts at 6:00 PM and goes until 9:00 PM. 

LARC will participate for four months, starting March 6th. All club members are encouraged to join in. We will have several working stations on site. Bill Paul will head up a Special Events Net for the occasion. ARES and CERT members will be there to showcase some of the club’s activities that benefit the community. So bring your HT and join in the fun. If nothing else, call in just to keep Bill Paul busy.

Happy Valentine’s Day Boys!

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Feb. 7, 2020)— U.S. Marines with Information Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MIG) participated in a HAM Amateur Radio General Licensing Course as part of the group’s High Frequency Auxiliary Initiative on base, Jan. 27-31, 2020.

The course, taught by members of the Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club, out of Greenville, N.C., helps Marines learn the principles of high frequency radio operations as a contingency against a peer-to-peer adversary in real-world operations.

Throughout the duration of the course, Marines learned HAM radio frequency and propagation theory, frequency band allocation, conventional and field-expedient antenna theory in addition to HAM radio operations and control.

U.S. Marine Corps Col. Jordan Walzer, commanding officer of II MIG, created the High Frequency Auxiliary Initiative after recognizing the need for utilizing more options in a combat environment. He wanted the Marines to familiarize themselves with older technology to ensure their lethality in any situation.

“Embracing technology is great but overreliance leaves us vulnerable,” Walzer said. “In a peer-to-peer conflict, our space-based capabilities will be attacked. The next war will look less like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and a lot more like ‘Ghost Fleet’.”

Contrary to Saving Private Ryan, which was fought utilizing traditional land-based maneuver warfare, Ghost Fleet is a book set in the near future and includes the addition of space and cyber warfare.

So wars of the past were fought in the air, on land and at sea, whereas future wars will likely include the addition of space warfare, explained Walzer. U.S. forces need to create a cohesion of modern technology and analog throwbacks to mitigate hackers and drones.

HAM radios make effective alternate communication because they do not rely on satellites or internet, but instead, radio waves. They can travel directly or indirectly, along the ground or by bouncing the radio waves off of the ionosphere or troposphere layers of the atmosphere to communicate.

“Right now, our adversaries are aggressively pursuing counter-space weapons to target our satellites and ground stations,” Walzer said. “If our satellites get knocked out, what do we do then? [High Frequency] radio has been around for well over a century and is still used today. Why? Because it’s a reliable, low-cost alternative to satellite communications. With the right training and education, a Marine with a radio and some slash wire can communicate over-the-horizon for long distances, even between continents.”

HAM radios, also known as amateur radios, are communication devices created in the late 1800s. Depending how much an individual is willing to spend on equipment, someone can talk to others across town or across the world, all without the need for an internet connection. Although most people use HAM radios as a hobby, II MIG views them as potential lifelines in a highly contested environment.

There are three courses taught on HAM radios by the Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club. The entry level class is called the technicians course, which gives people frequency privileges in very high frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands and some privileges in the high frequency range. A frequency privilege is just another meaning for permission to use a specific frequency. The HAM Amateur Radio General Licensing Course is the intermediate level course, which allows spectrum privileges on almost all spectrums that the government gives amateur radio operators. The expert class license, also called Extra Class, gives users full privilege on any frequencies allocated to HAM radios.

“I think the course was very informative,” said Sgt. Matthew Griffith, an intelligence surveillance reconnaissance systems engineer with 2nd Radio Battalion, II MIG. “It’s good to learn the things that make our equipment work. In my area of this field we use the equipment but don’t [always] know how the equipment works on the inside, which sometimes makes it harder to troubleshoot if a problem arises. Leaving the course with this knowledge will be invaluable for my Marines and me in the future.”

Dave Wood, the president of the Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club and instructor of the course, plans to conduct the first expert level course in the future after enough Marines have graduated from the intermediate course. The club plans to host the next entry level course during the summer of 2020 and train more Marines.

“The volunteers who make up our High Frequency Auxiliary are absolutely vital to us building a world-class capability,” Walzer said. “We’re drastically improving our skill by pairing experts with Marines who have a passion for HAM radio. They may not wear the uniform, but they’re American patriots serving our country in a different way.”

Whether the next conflict is fought in air, on land, at sea, or in space, one thing is clear; Marines will adapt to face those threats whether it is with the technology of today or equipment of the past.

Eight Tested, And Eight Passed!

Congratulations Stacey KO4BOC and Jaimie KO4BMY

Left to right Stacey KO4BOA new Tech  VE Al, Jaimie KO4BNY new Tech, Vlad KX4TH, Florida Polytechnic’s Radio Club President, and friend Peter.

Donald, KC3OUZ

Standing outside his new Ham Shack with John, Donald proudly displays his certificate for passing the Technician Test.

Congratulations David KO4BNZ, AndonKO4BOC, Bob W3ERP and Chris KO4AWN

Two things are clear from this billboard. First, Ham radio is popular with all ages. Second, what’s not to like about a team like this? From left to right, VE Al, David KO4BNZ new Tech, Andon KO4BOC new Tech, Bob W3ERP new Extra, Chris KO4AWN new General, and VE/VP John

Congratulations Gary KG4CYY new General

Left to right, VE Al, Gary KG4CYY new General, and Eleanor, LARC board member .

Young Republicans for Trump?

Mike Bresse And The MS Bike Tour

VP John Stanton discusses plans for this year’s MS bike race with Mike Bresse.

Attendance Was High

Opening remarks by our President Mike

The Hams By Location feature has been updated. Click on the menu item above to go to the interactive map page, then click on the link for the interactive map. Clicking on any one pin will identify a club member.