Category: Blog

July 2018 BAARC Secretary Report

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BAARC July Board Meeting – July 26, 2018

Present: Doug Bergsnev W0DWB, John Luce W0WY, Mitch Ahrenstorff AD0HJ, Mark Cross KE0LFQ, Al Doree W0RC, Shirley Doree K0DCW, Charles Lane W5CCL, Dave Schuldheisz K0ISZ

Absent: Ron Finger K0GOP, Steve Mott N0CRM, Lyle Amundson K0LFV

Secretary Report: Secretary absent; report not given. Membership is believed to be at 71.

Finance Report: Presented by Doug Bergsnev. Motion to approve as read by Mark Cross and Second by Dave, motion approved.

Upcoming Events:

  • August 18, 2018 – August Picnic and Fox Hunt

BAARC Breakfast, followed by the Fox Hunt at 10 AM (Mitch will hide the Fox). The Potluck luncheon will be after the Fox Hunt.

  • August 25, 2018 – Tailgate at the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds

The event will go from 9 AM to 1 PM. There will be VE Testing available.

  • August 26, 2018 – Triathlon

Mark will be the coordinator, he will need 9 volunteers for the event. The event will start at 6:30 AM.

  • September 27, 2018 – The next BAARC Board and Member Meeting will be at the Fire Hall.

Meeting Notes:

The Board presented a plague in appreciation of the use of their conference room for or meetings.

Repaired the small trailer tire. There were 2 nails in it. The circuit breaker was replaced and ran all new wiring and grounding. The trailer will be kept at Al’s house until the fenced in area is cleaned up.

The High Rise is allowing ATT to upgrade their equipment to 5th Generation.

There is no new info on the EOC.

Remer is out for a while, possible new tower being built.

Mitch was instructed to look up the cost for Heliax and was given a $500.00 limit on the purchase.

We have received 2 new DR-2X.

The website is running slow, Mitch rebooted it but had no effect. He will see if Nick can check it out.

Charles made a motion to adjourn. The motion was 2nd by Doug and approved.

 

Submitted by Doug W0DWB

All Things HF: September 2018

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I cannot say that the month of September was without its incidents. I awoke at 4:00AM one morning on the floor where I had fallen. My next recollection was an ambulance ride to St. Josephs Hospital in Park Rapids then to the emergency room when I blacked out again. The following morning I awoke to find tubes, wires and bags of colored liquid hanging from a stand next to my bed. A Doctor was taking my blood pressure while explaining that I had Pneumonia.

Hot diggity dog and all that good stuff as I asked when I could go home…there was a chuckle then he was gone. Okay, 3 days later I was on my way home to recuperate while playing HF radio.

So, here I am doing just that. There has been spotty DX into Europe along with plenty of operators in the US looking for a good signal to talk to. Since returning from my hospital experience there’s been plenty of rag chew opportunities mostly on 20-meters. Most of my QSO’s were generated by stations answering my CQ as I stood bye for a call. If you’re like me you keep an eye open to one of the many DX spotting sites on the internet so you might jump on a call in Europe to work SSB or perhaps a signal working CW. I might add that there have been some good openings to Central America on both phone along with some on CW.

I’ve made some changes (additions) to my operating table by adding a pull out flat desk top making it easier to write on. My CW paddle is now easier to access plus its no longer crowded with paper and writing materials. Tomorrow is the first day of fall as I prepare to stay busy on HF all the way from fall to the end of winter so I am looking forward to some good HF experiences. A bit of advice::::getting old is not for sissies so hang in there and don’t forget to sit down at your station and call CQ because someone somewhere is listening for your call.

Best 73 es gud DX from Bob/WØZPE

All Things HF: August 2018

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All Things HF

August 2018

Change is good. If it weren’t for change we would be wearing loin cloth whilst sleeping in a cave. I don’t always adapt to change quickly, sometimes only when I’m forced to. Changes in our great hobby of Amateur Radio are occurring at warp speed all the while I’m advancing at a snails pace.

The digital modes…they’re here to stay so adapting to SDR radio along with ‘waterfalls’ is not just going to happen someday. Someday is now!! The art of QSLing has changed. The ARRL’s LOTW has redefined the QSL card by going digital. Not me, not me. I want my QSL card for the proof I worked Mongolia or other rather exotic places.

Club Log along with the OQRS system is changing the way Bill Plum is modeling his foreign stamp business which for 35 years has been the resource for those of us that are DXCC operating Hams that have used for foreign stamps to obtain our QSL cards. As his foreign stamp inventory is depleted, it will not be replaced according to Bill Plum. This is all part of change. Just imagine sitting in your luxury condo in a high-rise building operating your remote system with a huge antenna, big amplifier, fancy radio a thousand miles away from CC&R’s that you’re operating from a laptop computer. Its all part of change. (its mind boggling too).

How about those FLEX SDR’s ? Is there no end to change in our hobby or are you like me going along at a snails pace using a mic to talk into along with knobs to turn, buttons to push with a CW paddle at the ready and…perhaps a boat anchor. Like it or not, change is coming, are you ready for change or are you like me chugging along at a snails pace enjoying a good rag chew or perhaps working an ATNO at some exotic place in this wild world of ours. I

n the meantime, sit down at your station to start calling CQ because someone somewhere is listening for your call…don’t disappoint them. So long for now from my station in Huntersville to your station wherever it my be.

Best 73 es gud DX from Bob/WØZPE

All Things HF: July 2018

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The best laid plans etc.etc. and then there’s Murphy’s Law so that’s how it is sometimes in this hobby that we’re consumed with or…the hobby that’s consumed us. The first conundrum was the DXpedition to Bouvet that was suddenly aborted within sight of the Island, next was the much anticipated DXpedition to Baker/Howland that went QRV at the appointed hour with some of the poorest propagation of sun cycle 11. This operator spent literally hours listening for even the faintness signal of CW or SSB to no avail. There were no sunspots at the start of the DXpedition and no sunspots during nor at the end of the DXpedition. There was some sort of propagation for some regions of the globe but…nothing to my station. The operators on Baker Island did a terrific job of making 64,000 contacts with 17,000 unique call signs. I have an acquaintance in Hamilton, Ohio NØFW who filled 21 band slots out of 30 available indicating a propagation path for Pete who is an avid DXer. In all, KH1 on Baker Island made 11,000 CW contacts on 20-meters and 8,000 SSB contacts on 20-meters to North America. There’s no doubt that disappointment runs deep because of the poor band conditions. I suspect the low numbers to North America were a disappointment to those on the Island pounding brass and those on phone along with digital modes that expected the overall numbers to be closer to 100,000. I applaud those folks for their efforts to bring this rare ATNO to the worldwide DX community…they’re deeply appreciated. I’m disappointed that 2 good ones got away from me. Sunspot cycle for the most part was not as good as it could have been plus it has a couple of years to go. Hopefully we will see better band conditions soon. In the meantime, I still work HF almost daily connecting mostly with stations in the U.S. and occasionally a DX so the hobby is alive and well here at my station. Be sure to keep HF radio alive by calling CQ because someone somewhere is listening for your call, don’t disappointment them. So long from my station in Huntersville to your station wherever it may be.

Best 73 es gud DX de Bob/WØZPE