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!

Some of you have asked for information about Jim Scott. Jim has left the Lakeland Hospital and is now in rehab at the Astoria Health Care facility located at 701 Overlook Drive, Winter Haven Florida. The phone number there is 863-318-5000. Jim’s cell phone is 863-521-3242. I think he would welcome a call or even a visit from friends, especially those who frequent the net.

There were 14 visitors to the net this Thursday. This was a good number considering the weather we have been having. Many thanks to Andrew for running the net. He did a professional job as always.

LARC’s New Meeting Location

 We are off to a great start at our new meeting location. Many thanks to Bill Paul and TOP Smith for working behind the scenes to make all this all possible.

Guests and members totaled over fifty-seven for our first meeting at the club’s new meeting location.

Without exception, everyone was pleased with the new location.

Bob filled in the details surrounding the move, and laid the ground rules for the new location.

 Smiling Faces

And of course, we have a couple of happy test takers. Third in from the left is Aimee Holzer, KM4STT a new Extra!!! Congratulations Aimee. To her left, in the yellow shirt, is Steve Hall. Steve reinstated his General License, and is back in business as an enthusiastic ham. Welcome back Steve.

Normally we present our successful test takers in an unusual location. Some backgrounds make people blend in, while others make them stand out. Outstanding is good!

Your Thoughts And Prayers

Jim Scott continues to show improvement. Jim took a bad fall last Wednesday, and is slowly recovering. The plan is that he will leave the Lakeland Hospital in a day or so, and enter rehab. If all goes well we should have him back on the Thursday night net asking about the Solar Flux conditions.

The Attendance Roll for May, 2018

Those outlined in red are either guests or have not had their membership records catch up in our database.

Thanks to several short timers, attendance 5/10/18 was way up on the net. Remember, you can call in as a short timer anytime. Those who like to listen and talk will not be disappointed either. Our net tries to offer something for everyone.

One member, notably missing was Jim Scott. Jim is still at the Lakeland Hospital, recovering from a fall. He is doing better, and is expected to enter rehab in a couple of days. He asked me to send his best to all those on the net. I guess this is his way of checking in, because they won’t allow a radio in the hospital. Perhaps the rehab center will be a bit more accommodating. 🙂