Who doesn’t like a picnic? For LARC members it is not just the food but also the comaradary, and of course, radio.

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LARC has supported the Kathleen Historical Society event several years running. It is a wonderful family event featuring arts and crafts of all sorts. Amateur radio fits in nicely.

After arriving at dawn to set up, Rich relaxes before the the crowds come through the exhibit.

 One of the many interesting demonstrations was flint lock technology.

A master gunsmith demonstrates how flintlocks work to the Holzer family.

Another was the wildlife exhibit.

The only thing missing is you (and the food). See you there!

LARC will be having a picnic!
     March 24th from sunrise to around 2:00PM
             Lake Parker Park, last pavilion when you enter the boat dock entrance.
                   Bring a dish to pass and something to drink, the club will provide the rest.

Consider dropping by the Kathleen Area Historical Society Heritage Day, Saturday March 17, 2018.
Every year the club supports this event by setting up a radio station and answering any questions attendees have about ham radio. This is a fun afternoon if you like talking to people about radio. All club members are encouraged to drop by. No admission, and plenty to see and eat.

Congratulations Joe, KN4KIB On Passing The Tech License

New Technician Joseph Hansel Kn4KIB holding his Certificate.

Ever since EME the sky is no longer the limit for radio communication. Someday MEM will be the thing to try, but not until Hams populate the moon. 🙂

A New Approach To Field Day

Fred reviewed the plans for this year’s field day.

Things will be a little different this year at field day. A committee, headed by Fred,  has been formed to manage the various aspects of this three day event. This includes help with scheduling operators, food preparation, antenna and radio selection, as well as the all important, though much less exciting set up, cleanup, and tear down. In addition to Fred, other team members include Bob Doherty and Jim Stewart on scheduling, Patrick on food, Bill Johnson on setup, cleanup, and tear down. Each team member will be looking for volunteers to assist them.

We are especially encouraging new members to get involved. And, leading the way by example…

Members of the Holzer family, Leon, Aiden with the vacuum, and Liam. Mom helped too, but the photographer was on the other end of the table she was helping to move. Our club needs more of this kind of involvement.

Sun and Fun Special Event Station

Tom Ruhlmann, W9IPR discusses plans for this year’s Special Event at Sun and Fun.

Tom reviewed the details for this year’s Sun and Fun Special Event Station. If you like radio and airplanes, this is your chance for a big win win Participants get a free pass to the show, along with some special parking. For details, please contact Patrick. He is a veteran of this event, and can fill you in. Sun and fun will start April 10th this year. Be sure to check with Patrick well in advance

The Citrus Tour May 5th and 6th 2018
The main speaker for this evening was Mike Breese, W2YS. Mike made a request for help with this event. Several positions need to be filled. Radio operators are required at each rest station. Operators with vehicles capable of transporting bike and biker are also needed. Finally, operators are needed at command center. Dinner will be held for participants. More information is available at http://www.citrustour.org. 

Our club contacts for this event are Bob Doherty, or for the skinny from the man who has done this the last ten years running, Larry Walker, KI4DNO. You an contact Larry at  KI4DNO@aol.com.

Darrell Davis KT4WX recently appointed Mike Bresse W2YS as an Assistant Section Manager for the Special Project of the Bike MS Citrus Tour.  Bresse is the new amateur radio coordinator for the Bike MS Citrus Tour starting this year and had previously been the SAG vehicle coordinator for a number of years.

For those who missed Techcon, once again, Darrell did an outstanding job of lining up speakers to meet just about everyone’s interest.

Attendees

This is something you don’t want to miss.

4th Annual TECHCON

Formerly known as the
West Central Florida Section Technical Conference

TECHCON FRIDAY EVENING SOCIAL

DATE:  Friday February 23, 2018
TIME:   6:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.

PLACE:  Sonny’s BBQ Restaurant  – 4600 Recker Hwy, Winter Haven, FL 33880-1249.

TECHCON MAIN SESSION

WHERE AND WHEN

DATE:  Saturday February 24, 2018

TIME:  Welcome and Check In (Coffee and Doughnuts) – 8:00 A.M.,
Conference Opening – 8:45 A.M., and Presentations begin – 9:00 A.M.
PLACE: Polk County Emergency Operations Center.
The facility is being provided courtesy of Polk County Emergency Management
Coffee, doughnuts, and iced tea are being provided courtesy of the Polk County Emergency Management.

Date and times February 21st, at 2030 hours.

We are going to give it another try, this time a little more structured.  In the past we have talked about the size of Polk county, and that we have it divided up into 4 regions – north west, north east, south east and south west, and have assigned simplex frequencies to all 4 along with a common county wide frequency.  These are:

       •        County Wide:
               o        2m – 145.510
               o        70cm – 446.150

       •        North West:  North of SR 542/US92 and West of US 27
               o        2m – 147.465
               o        70cm – 446.050

       •        North East:  North of SR 540 and East of US 27
               o        2m – 147.405
               o        70cm – 446.025

       •        South East:  South of 540 and East of US 27
               o        2m – 147.585
               o        70cm – 446.075

       •        South West:   South of 542/US92 and West of US 27
               o        2m – 147.420
               o        70cm – 446.125

All the above are Simplex, no tone.

Steps for this Simplex test:
   1.   Meet on the WC4PEM repeaters

   2.   When the primary Net Controller gives the instruction to do so, go to the VHF Simplex frequency assigned to your region of the
        county.  For this test we are just using the VHF frequencies.

   3.   Check the frequency for use.
        a.      If not in use, give your callsign.  Once another station has come back to you, decide which of you will be the region
                Net Control.
        b.      If the frequency is in use and not by ARES, request from those using it if they can standby and allow the Simplex test
                – if they will not, do not push the issue and return to the WC4PEM repeaters and await instructions.
        c.      If another station that is participating in the test has assumed region Net Control, then proceed as a check-in and
                give them your call sign.

   4.   The region Net Controller will then ask for check-ins and request any relays of those that are attempting to check in but that
        the Controller can not receive.  As a guideline, use:
        a.      This is (your call sign), ARES Net Control for Region (your region) Polk County.  Please check in to the net, one at a
                time.  If you hear a station that is attempting to check in that I have not acknowledged, please relay that station’s
                call sign.
        b.      Give the region net check in process approximately 10 minutes.

   5.   At the end of the region net check in, the region Net Controller should go to the county wide VHF Simplex frequency and attempt
        to contact the County Net Controller.
        a.      If contact established, give the county Net Controller a count of the stations that you were able to contact along with the number that were relayed in, then go to the WC4PEM repeater
                and wait for the Net Control to return from the Simplex..
        b.      If unable to contact the County Simplex Net Control, go to the WC4PEM repeaters to await further instructions.

That is it.  Pretty simple and should not take us more than around 30 minutes.  Might want to print these out to make it a little easier.

Hope we can get a good turnout for this.

Thanks.

Jim
W4XDS
Polk ARES AEC of Operations

I just received this email from Don informing me that Norma past away Saturday February 10, 2018.

A New Ham

Congratulations to Robert Baltos, KC3KST after successfully passing his Technician’s Grade License Exam.

3D Printing Presentation

Our main speaker for the evening was Bob Doherty who did a fine job explaining and even demonstrating 3D printing to the group. One of LARC’s pillars is Education. We are fortunate to have many members with diverse backgrounds and willing to share their knowledge. 

Prep before the meeting which included a live demonstration of 3D printing.

This key is one of the many ways 3D printing can be put to use.The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

An example of what is possible with 3D printing. The above is a working straight key.

Bob presenting 3D Printing Technology

Once again Bob did an outstanding job with his treatment of 3D printing. Maybe not radio per se, but then again creativity is bringing together technologies from many fields to solve a problem in an innovative way. It is said that after trying a hundred different filiment materials for his electric light, the solution was finally found in his wife’s sewing basket. Thread, which when carbonized, did the trick. Focus is good, but sometimes defocusing is even better. Let your mind wander.Stay open to new ideas, and new tools.

Captivated audience.

Bob with 3D printer operating in the foreground.

Over fifty people attended.

By my count there were 38 members signed in, 10 ham guests, and at least 3 wives and children bringing the total attendance to well over fifty.

We have a new Extra!

 

Darrell Davis on the Raspberry Pi

Darrell always does a fine job presenting topics of interest to ham radio operators. The Pi is no exception. It is a historical fact that most of the first to experimenters with home computers before Apple and Microsoft were ham radio operators.

 We had an quite a showing for Darrell’s presentation. 

 Other speakers

Matthew, making the opening remarks to the meeting.

Bob gave an update to his presentation the month before on the Outernet.

Fred showed off a new, inexpensive HT that he picked up.

Kevin made a pitch for the Club Logo Stickers. See Kevin if you wish to purchase one.