Forestview Middle School Balloon Launch SUCCESS!

On May 16th, 2018 Jim Reed and Cory Olson, Forestview Middle School teachers, finally were able to get a flight path prediction for their long awaited balloon launch. They selected a small ball field in Cushing, MN as launch site and as it turned out, it was the perfect site to use. The balloon was a 3000 gram balloon, which means it was bigger than the other balloons they launched, usually 1200 grams.

The balloon launched at 4:50 PM and headed southeast as expected. The balloon burst at 6:19 PM at an altitude of 111,003 ft. We started tracking as soon as it was launched, but did not hurry as everyone was tracking it either by APRS or an APRS app on their smart phones. Jim and Cory positioned us near where it looked like it would land and they were not far off.

Ron, KØGOP was on the 147.225 repeater assisting with tracking information on aprs.fi. As it turned out, it landed in an open farmers field near Lastrup, MN. The home owner, an elderly lady, was sure surprised when she saw 8 or 10 cars coming up her driveway. One of her sons was still there so he helped recover the balloon with his ATV.

The other coincidence was that one of her daughters is also the Managing Editor of the Morrison Co Record. She arrived in a little while and Jim, Cory and the HAB club will get some well deserved publicity from the Record.

All in all it turned out be be a very good flight. This makes 100% recovery for the club.

73′ Al Doree WØRC

Attached is an APRS map showing the balloon flight in RED and the tracking crew path in GREEN.

Mid Minnesota 150 Dog Sled Race 2018

The BAARC supported the Mid-MN Sled Dog Race on Saturday, February 10th, 2018, with fifteen radio operators. Net Control was located at the Village Inn in Outing, MN. We had nineteen Mushers and Sled Dog Teams; nine – six dog teams left Outing, MN at 11 AM, followed by ten – eight dog teams at 12 noon. We had radio operators at ten different checkpoints keeping track of the Mushers and their dog teams. Thank you to Bob K6RCO, Mitch ADØHJ, Alan AAØAS, Carlos NØOHX, Doug KØDWB, Ron KØGOP, John WØWY, Terry KIØFW, Leon KEØAFY, Becky KDØHBH, Jeff KDØHBI, Roger WRØG, Judi KØJLL, Shirley KØDCW and Al WØRC. Also, thank you to Steve NØCRM and Ron KØGOP for doing the maps and the spreadsheets. We had cool but nice weather and didn’t have any major mishaps or lost mushers.

Thank You also to the Crow Wing Co. Sheriff’s office for letting BAARC use their communications trailer.

73,s
Al WØRC & Shirley KØDCW

2018 Mid-MN 150 Dog Sled Race map

New Digital Mode FT-8

New Digital Mode FT-8

Written by Lyle KØLFV

I am very thankful that a couple of my Ham Radio friends encouraged me to try out the new FT-8 Digital Mode and if you are looking for a new mode to operate I would suggest that you would give it a try.

All you need to operate this mode is a computer, your HF Transceiver and a Radio Control Interface.  One of the more popular Control Interfaces would be the SignalLink manufactured by Tigertronics.  The operating program software is WSJT-X and is a free download from    https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html.  You will also need to download NTP Meinberg, a program to keep your computer clock accurate.

A brief write up from the ARRL:  FT8 Mode is Latest Bright Shiny Object in Amateur Radio Digital World.  FT8 — the latest digital bauble to capture the imagination of the Amateur Radio community — has been luring away many of those already using the popular JT65 “weak-signal” mode. FT8 is included in the release of WSJT-X, version 1.8.0.   Among its biggest advantages is a shorter transmit-receive cycle, meaning quicker contacts. The notes for the “candidate” release say that FT8 offers “sensitivity down to –20 dB on the AWGN channel.” Contacts are four times faster than with JT65 or JT9, and an entire FT8 contact can take place in about 1 minute.  FT8 is an excellent mode for HF DXing and for situations like multi-hop Es on 6 meters, where deep QSB may make fast and reliable completion of QSOs desirable.

On a recent Sunday afternoon I operated FT-8 for a few hours and made many contacts into Europe on 20M.  Countries worked included Germany, Croatia, Spain, England, France, Netherlands, Italy, Scotland, Wales, Belgium, N.Ireland, Canada, Ukraine and a number of US contacts.  Operating Ham Radio for years I have never contacted so my Countries in such a short time.  It was the most fun I have had operating for a long time.  However, I also love working Field Day and some of the DX contests that are available to work.

During our 2017 Fox Hunt and Picnic Mitch ADØHJ and myself set up a rotatable dipole and a FT8 station at Lum Park and in a couple of hours had logged 50 contacts for WØUJ.

Mitch ADØHJ and Lyle KØLFV Operating FT-8 at Lum Park during our Annual 2017 Fox Hunt and Picnic

Operating KØLFV/5

On a recent trip to visit my son Matt KCØNAF and family in Houston I set up my son’s station to operate FT-8 and had a good time making many US, Cuban and South American contacts.   I download the software, installed a Signal Link interface and started to operate.  After working out some bugs with the software and transceiver settings and getting my son’s dipole antenna up higher in the air, I was able to make many contacts when I had time to operate.  Very busy family and household.

Pictured is KØLFV/5 operating the station of Matt KCØNAF.  Matt lives in the Woodlands which is a approximately 20 miles north of Downtown Houston.

Screenshot of PSK Reporter

You will not want to miss our upcoming November Membership Meeting.  The program will be on the setting up and use of the new digital mode FT-8.  Additional features of operating FT-8 is how you link to a website called PSK Reporter that will show you additional information on how your signal is doing and who has heard you.  Our plan is to have an operating station set up to demo all the great features of FT-8.  Program will be presented by Mitch ADØHJ and Lyle KØLFV.

Meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 30th and will be held at the Brainerd Fire Station starting at 7 PM.

BAARC CQ WW DX Contest 2017

During the weekend of October 27- 29, the BAARC participated in the CQ WW DX SSB Contest. The club exercised the small club trailer with a 3 element beam and a multi-band dipole.

Many thanks go out to the preparation work that went on ahead of this event by Lyle KØLFV, Mitch ADØHJ, Al WØRC, Steve NØCRM, Ron KØGOP, John WØWY, and Nick WØNY. Many items needed to be pulled together to make the event happen, we needed antennas collected, radios and computers collected as well as configured. We needed some trailer modifications and antenna tower support modifications.

On Friday afternoon Mitch pulled the small trailer out to the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds and started initial trailer setup and some preliminary antenna preparation. Steve and Al arrived later in the afternoon and helped assemble, raise, guy, and secure the tower. On that Friday afternoon the temperature was around 32 degrees with snowflakes in the air and wind gusts in the 17-24 MPH range.

After getting the tower and beam up, and the rotor connected we tested the SWR on the beam antenna and connected it to a club radio. The trailer came alive with the sound CQ’s coming fast and furious.

After initial testing, it was now on to assembling push-up mast rigs (3) for the multi-band dipole antenna. The setup of the wire antenna was completed in the dark with snow and cold windy conditions. Nick NØNY arrived early evening with a Heathkit SB-200 Linear Amplifier.
















W0UJ's Contest Summary Report for CQ-WW
Created by N3FJP's CQ WW DX Contest Log
Version 5.5  www.n3fjp.com

Total Contacts = 230
Total Points = 80,115

Operating Period: 2017/10/28 01:06 - 2017/10/29 22:30

Total op time (breaks > 30 min deducted): 21:05:49
Total op time (breaks > 60 min deducted): 25:23:28

Avg Qs/Hr (breaks > 30 min deducted): 10.9

Total Contacts by Band and Mode:

Band       CW   Phone     Dig   Total       %
----       --   -----     ---   -----     ---
  80        0      14       0      14       6
  40        0      35       0      35      15
  20        0     122       0     122      53
  15        0      59       0      59      26
           --   -----     ---   -----     ---
Total       0     230       0     230     100

Total Contacts by Country:

Country                      Total     %
-------                      -----   ---
USA                             33    14
Canada                          23    10
Brazil                          11     5
Hawaii                          10     4
Federal Republic of Germany      8     3
Canary Is.                       6     3
Morocco                          6     3
Bonaire                          5     2
Dominican Republic               5     2
Italy                            5     2
Chile                            4     2
European Russia                  4     2
Lithuania                        4     2
Madeira Is.                      4     2
Netherlands                      4     2
Serbia                           4     2
Alaska                           3     1
Argentina                        3     1
Belize                           3     1
Curacao                          3     1
England                          3     1
Finland                          3     1
France                           3     1
French Guiana                    3     1
Jamaica                          3     1
Portugal                         3     1
Slovenia                         3     1
Ukraine                          3     1
Uruguay                          3     1
Venezuela                        3     1
Aruba                            2     1
Australia                        2     1
Barbados                         2     1
Belarus                          2     1
Belgium                          2     1
Cape Verde                       2     1
Cayman Is.                       2     1
Croatia                          2     1
Cuba                             2     1
Czech Republic                   2     1
Denmark                          2     1
Hungary                          2     1
Latvia                           2     1
Spain                            2     1
Suriname                         2     1
Trinidad & Tobago                2     1
Austria                          1     0
Azores                           1     0
Bulgaria                         1     0
Colombia                         1     0
Costa Rica                       1     0
Ecuador                          1     0
Estonia                          1     0
Ireland                          1     0
Liberia                          1     0
Luxembourg                       1     0
Mexico                           1     0
Norway                           1     0
Poland                           1     0
Romania                          1     0
Scotland                         1     0
Sicily                           1     0
Slovak Republic                  1     0
Sweden                           1     0
Tonga                            1     0
US Virgin Is.                    1     0

Total = 66

Total DX Miles (QSOs in USA not counted) = 742,639
Average miles per DX QSO = 3,770