Thank you Ringo for pointing this out.

Field day this year 
will be held at the Kathleen Historical Society Lodge

Directions: Click Here

Setup will begin Friday around 3:30 PM. If you are new to Ham radio, you should make every effort to get involved with setup. You will learn a lot about setting up antennas, radios, and operations. Your presence is a win win for everyone.

Saturday morning there will be final checks on radio and antenna installations. Then promptly at 2:00 PM Field Day begins. Even if you have not signed up to operate, take a few minutes to watch and learn, and then ask to give it a try. Everyone has to learn sometime. Look at this as a learning opportunity.

Dinner this year will be catered by Jimbo’s and will take place at 6:00 PM. All club members and familys are encouraged to attend. (Note, there will be a light lunch for operators earlier on Saturday.)

Take down will be Sunday. Please volunteer, if you have not already done so, to help with this. Many hands make the work light.

Congratulations James Finnegan KN4UWK!

James Finnegan, center, surrounded by a plethora of VE’s congratulating him on his new Tech license.

Happy Birthday Glenn!

Peggy and wife Lois congratulate Glenn on his birthday. Unfortunately, church fire regulations prevented the number of candles it would take to accurately mark the event. 🙂

Our Main Speaker Kraig KA2LHO On The WWFF

Our speaker this evening was Kraig Pritts, KA2LHO.  Kraig introduced our club to The World Wide Flora and Fauna In Amateur Radio Program. This program is similar to Florida Parks on the air, but much broader in scope.

The World Wide Flora and Fauna (WWFF) program wants to draw attention to the importance of protecting nature, flora and fauna. In this spirit amateur radio operators set up and operate their radio stations from designated nature parks and protected nature areas-generating attention for these areas whilst givng the ham radio community an interesting activity to contact. WWFF is an international and non-commercial program run by the National coordinators of a large number of national Flora and Fauna programs including the United States (KFF) program.

It is all about teamwork!

In order to insure continuity as well as support for major club activities, the board decided that we will have committees to oversee major club functions. Each committee will be chaired by a board member, but will also include at least one member from the general membership. 

One such team will oversee Service events like the March for Babies, Warrior Walk, and the Citrus Bike Tour. For these events the board contact will be Glenn. Glenn will work very closely with Bob Doherty coordinating these events. Bob has had years of experience arranging club participation in these events and will continue to do so.

Other coordinators and team members will be introduced in the future. So far, the board has identified David Zdanowicz as coordinator of hospitality. David will work with volunteers like Sam Shaver and others to make sure club functions have snacks and coffee. 

Several other positions are open. We need a coordinator for picnics and special events, as well as a coordinator for Field Day. 

The driving force behind the committee concept is to encourage and give others the opportunity to take responsibility for club functions. The goal is to tap into the club’s talent pool to make us even better.


Attendance for May

Robert Young AG4E Net Control for this evening.

1. Stealth antennas. Two mentioned this topic. (I like to think of stealth as inconspicuous. A 30 foot tower topped with a 20 meter Yagi is out of the question, but many antennas are very difficult to see from the roadway, or can easily be disguised. My brother, who is not a ham, told me about his ham friend who installed a humming bird habitat in his back yard that doubles as a support for his wire antenna.)
2. Antennas in general – dipoles, quads, yagis, end feds, verticals
3. Satellite operation on a budget. I personally watched my son make several satellite contacts from his back porch with antennas made from coat hangers.
4. ARES its function and activities

From time to time we are asked to help out when a spouse and former ham becomes a silent key. We may be approached at an event, or by someone who knows us, or somehow knows we are in amateur radio. This usually results in a team effort to dispose of ham equipment. Some hams are sought out for their knowledge of the value of used equipment. Others for their ability to be the go-betweens to make things happen. It is a service we happy to perform. The following note from Sandra was given to me by Sam. He told me that several others were involved in the pricing and other help. The good news is that the equipment is sold, and everyone is happy. (click on the body of the note for a more readable image.)

Some of us are a bit shy about getting on the air. Good news! The club offers two low risk opportunities, especially for new hams, to practice radio. First there is the Wednesday afternoon Rag Chew. This is held every Wednesday at 11:00 AM. Then there is the LARC Net, held every Thursday at 7:30 PM. These are only a two of the many opportunities to get on the air. Anytime you have a moment, and your radio handy, you can always push the button and say your call sign slowly and phonetically followed by “listening.” If that doesn’t work, try your call sign followed by “radio check.” Finally, if you happen to be on the air and hear a couple hams chatting, and would like to join in, listen for a while to get the gist of who and what, then toss out your call sign. Hopefully the other parties will pause between transmissions to let you pop in. If nothing else it is always nice to get a signal report.

This is the log for Thursday May 30th provided  by Robert. 

N6MRS Mike

K1OPQ Dave also has a Kenwood TS570D for sale 275.00 and needs help changing channels on a Kenwood TH 22AT

Robert Young AG4E