Traffic on the net has picked up of late. That’s a good thing. Remember, if you are short on time, just say short timer, any time, give your call sign and you are done. All check-ins are welcome.

The dinner celebrating field day will be held next Monday, July 2nd at the 98 North Golden Corral. Dinner will start around 6:00 PM. Just arrive and pay for your meal. We have reserved the private room.

This is the event you have been waiting for all year! 

This Saturday is Field Day! Last minute plans are already underway. If you are part of a team, make sure you show up at the agreed time to do your part.

• Bill KI4ZMV will be handling set up and take down. This will start Friday, 3:00 PM. Take down will be Sunday morning.
• Patrick KI4CDY is finalizing the dinner plans for Saturday which include pulled pork, barbecued chicken, and coleslaw. Members are asked to bring a dish to pass and something to drink. The club will supply water. Deserts are always a favorite. 
• Jim W4XDS will be heading up operations. The sign up sheet follows. If you are not on the list, just show up, or contact Jim, 863-521-1511.

Missing Man Formation Andrew Stevens

Missing Man Formation Andrew Stevens

More from the media coverage:
Bay 9 news
The Ledger
Channel 13

Bill left and Rich right congratulate John KN4MFK on passing the Tech Class License. The road ahead is wide open for Amateur Radio!

Not pictured is John McCullough, KN4FBD who passed his General. John had to leave early, but we do have a picture of him on file. Click here 

Our Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker for this evening was Buddy Morgan, WB4OMG. His topic NVIS or Near Vertical Incidence Skywave, antennas and propagation.

NVIS, is a radio-wave propagation path that provides usable signals in the range between  30–400 miles. The radio waves travel near-vertically upwards into the ionosphere, where they are refracted back down and can be received within a circular region up to 400 miles from the transmitter. Frequency is critical. If too high refraction fails to occur, and if it is too low, absorption in the ionospheric may reduce the signal strength.

 The most reliable frequencies for NVIS communications are between 1.8 MHz and 8 MHz. Above 8 MHz, the probability of success begins to decrease, dropping to near zero at 30 MHz.

Two antenna configurations  for NVIS were suggested. The first was a yagi pointing straight up. The second configuration was a horizontally polarized antenna approximately 1/20 of a wavelength above the ground. For example, a 40 meter dipole about 7 feet above the ground.

Standing in for Matthew who was away on business, Bob Doherty made the announcement that the club now has 107 members! Great presentations are one of the benefits of LARC membership. We appreciate all the hard work that goes into presentations like the one given by Buddy.

Another first for the club was that this evening’s presentation was live streamed over the Internet as an experiment. The plan is to make this a regular procedure so that those who find it difficult to make it to the meeting will still be able to participate from home.

There were 44 sign-ins with close to 50 in attendance.

Attendance

A big thank you to Kevin, N4KWR, for stepping up to the plate and taking the net for this Thursday. Great Job!