Holiday Meeting - Winners !!

What a great bunch of Hams we have in the SEKARC club. We had our holiday meeting today and our last meeting for 2013, but it was a great day and it has been a great year. We had the usual members there, and a couple of new friends. Lee / KDØOCY, the son of member Loren KDØRTX who came down from Peculiar, MO and we also had Steve N5SD and his wife pop in and say hello!

Most of us...

Everyone left with a door prize ( donated by our friend at Associated Radio ) and we had a couple of Grand Prizes that were drawn as well.  Steve / WDØDTS won a set of magnifying viewers and the big prize went to Jack WDØCFH who won the AAØZZ EZKeyer kit which was donated by the 4States QRP group. Their website is a great source for QRP kits of all kinds. And when you buy one, bring it to the regular builders group meetings! ( See the Builders Group tab above ).

Thanks to Four States QRP

 

We even had an interesting model brought in by Jack. He has made a full scale model of the QubeSat radio satellite which was recently launched into orbit and is being programmed now. Say tuned for a write up on that after I do some research. It was fascinating to see it and to know that it was full scale ( about 5" cube with antenna radials coming out of 4 sides ). Thanks for making that Jack and as contacts are made, we will try to keep everyone updated on how they working.



FUNcube Model

Thanks for all that were able to attend and a special thanks go to another special guest ( Tom's son ) for helping pull the lucky winners out of the hat! Stay tuned to the website here for new updates and information. Our next meeting will be January 25, 2014. Thanks again to all of the club members for a great 2013 and I hope we all look for an even better 2014!

Excellent Young Ticket Picker !

 

Thanks to Associated Radio         !

 





Thanksgiving Proclamation - 1789

This is the text of George Washington's October 3, 1789 national Thanksgiving Proclamation; as printed in The Providence Gazette and Country Journal, on October 17, 1789.

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interposition of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

George Washington

Meeting Saturday and Happy Thanksgiving !!

Reminder ! Saturday is our Holiday meeting with door prizes for all !! We will start at 9 am in Hardee's of Pittsburg and it should be a fun and great time for all. I hope all of you have nice Thanksgiving Day plans and I know that living in America we are never out of things to be thankful for.

Here is a nice Ham radio Thanksgiving story... and reminds us all that we should have our radios with us everyday and everywhere we go!

Happy Thanksgiving and See You Saturday!!

Last HAM Standing !!

Tonight's episode of Last Man Standing has another strong ham radio segment. 

Thanksgiving Show

Friday 8|7c

Here is a clip prepared by Ham Nation last year when the last time that Ham radio was included in the show. It goes into the background and shows mentions some of the active real life hams that are part of the crew! I really enjoy this show, even without ham radio mentioned so this is just a bonus !!

They recently had a VE testing session on the set and 8 new hams and 1 upgrade to general were granted among the crew. You can even send off for one of "Mike's" QSL cards by sending a SASE to the info on this QRZ page for KAØXTT.

CW Is Cool !!

CW Is Cool

Written By
David Keath N0WKZ

So tonight, I sat down at my rig and tuned up 40 meters to do my usual time tediously listening to CW that I mostly do not understand quite yet. Indeed, very often it has been months of torture. An act of seeming sheer futility. Oh, of course I can pick out numbers, letters and the occasional word 'is,' but up until recently it has been like hiking up a ladder with a bundle of 50 year shingles. Then there is the almighty 'CQ' that seems to ring endlessly up and down the band and is quite recognizable from one gazillion miles away. All those single character triumphs are great but there is no cigar when you cant understand the conversation. But tonight was different. Tuning up the band I finally heard an operator who was keying the characters at about my speed, 15 WPM, but with wide spacing. Here we go I thought. I might as well listen in and at least muscle through a few minutes of copy practice. After all, what could I lose.

As I sat listening, I started to hear more than I normally hear and then it happened. I heard the word 'GETTING!' I was amazed! Astounded! I had heard the characters but I also heard the word. I had been told this would happen but as of late I was kind of losing faith that it would for me. I was so excited that I tore off my headphones and ran through the house into our kitchen where my wife was making jello and exclaimed my victory in a sort of touch down/crazy dance. Wow!

Youth returns for that one fleeting moment, my hair catches the fire of exuberance, and CW is too Cool....

Amen

GB and 73's

Certainly the sobering fact is that I still have a ways to go learning CW.  But, one thing is for sure.  Personal effort is only a spark in the fire of achievement.  Learning CW without the help of friends would be exponentially more difficult.  I would be remiss if I did not extend a word of gratitude to the local Amateurs for the time they spend helping myself and others.  Also for me, the continued help from my Friends Joe - W0MQY, and Bill - WB0LXZ...

David Keath N0WKZ

Emporia State University Presentation and Kit Building Session

Group Build at Emporia State University Radio Club

By Joe Porter, W0MQY

At the invitation of Max McCoy, KC0MAX, I gave a presentation to the Emporia State University Amateur Radio Club. Items covered were selected for first time or relatively new hams embarking on their first kit building project.  The topic was "Kit Building Tips and Techniques" and was directed toward first time kit builders.

The one hour presentaton was followed by a "hands on" kit build of the AA0ZZ EZkeyer produced by the Four State QRP Group.  

This kit provided a nice range of first time skills to be learned.  The photo shows five of the nine participants hard at work assembling the EZkeyer kit.

My EZKeyer was used for show and tell.  It helps first time builders to be able to see the finished project and use it a a guide.

My version of the EZKeyer

That's Max, KC0MAX, moving too fast for the camera.

Providing assistance to a participant is Johnny Matlock

who made a special trip down to Emporia to deliver the

kits and sit in on my presentation.

Johnny is one of the many 4sqrp kitters and was

on hand for the kitting session for these first time

builders.

The photos below are depicting various stages of the build with different participants.  As you can see the concentration and interest in this project was pretty intense.

Many smiles appeared across the room as each keyer came to life and spoke its first words.  There is nothing like the feelings of euphoria when that first project springs to life.  It is even sweeter when you know you built it with your own two hands.

As can be seen in the above photo, they were busy little bees.  There is nothing like the learning experience that takes place with that "hands on" building session.  The session was two and one half hours long and most all of the participants finished the keyer and had it operating.  Altoid tins were furnished along with pill bottles to store those tiny parts.  It was a highly successful evening thanks to Max's leadership and coordination.

Johnny brought along the latest and greatest version of the EZKeyer.  It is housed in a very nice enclosure included with the kit and has several improved features.  It was a great evening and I want to thank the ESU faculty, students, Max, and Johnny for their support in this project.  Max deemed the evening a success and was evident by listening to all the beeping keyers around the room.  I had a great time, met a lot of nice people, and would like to say "thank you" for inviting me.  

72 es see ya all in April

Joe W0MQY

Holiday Meeting - November 30th

Be sure to attend the Holiday meeting of the Southeast Kansas Radio Club. The meeting will be at 9am, November 30th at Hardee's of Pittsburg. This will be our last meeting in 2013 as I am sure that between Christmas and New Years all of us will have family and friends to see!

I am gathering an assortment of door prizes from local and not so local merchants so we might be able to all walk away a winner of something! Stay tuned for future announcements on the prizes! In 2014 I will try to make this a regular feature of the monthly meeting. If any of you have any thoughts or ideas on that let me know!

At the meeting maybe we can put some goals for the club and put some possible activities on the calendar for 2014.  In spring we should do a park on the air event, maybe a build meeting so we can get ready for a foxhunt. Field Day 2014 is something we should put on the calendar also. Do we want to do the Big Brutus location again? Or maybe look into something closer to town.

We have lined up some great door prizes for this meeting thanks to Associate Radio and others. Nothing like a new radio, but hey they were free !!!! Our kind of prizes right ? Mark your calendar, update your iPhone, download your Droid, add to your PDA.... November 30th Saturday 9am. at Hardee's.

See you there and GOOD LUCK TO ALL !!

73's until then... a hint ?

Satellite AO-27 Might Be Back Soon

I found this link in a Larry's List email and I thought this information and link might be good to pass along to our members. This website provides updates on all activity under way to get the bird back to operational status!

Bookmark this link and check it often for updates ------->   AO-27 Website

Here is a sampling of the updates....

Nov 11th, 2013
Turned on High Power for the pass to try a software upload.
Uploaded code using the secondary bootloader. Went slow but made it. The interference is still a problem on the uplink.
STATUS: on Secondary bootloader, Software upload test complete.
- James, N3UCC

Nov 10th, 2013
Another good pair of passes gave a clean upload of the secondary bootloader.
Commanded back to the Primary. Modem came up with up without IDLE tones. Had to clear the modem lockup again.
Uploaded secondary. Changed to the secondary cleanly.
We still have heavy interference on the uplink.
- James, N3UCC 

Oct 29th, 2013
Recovery operations are underway again for AO-27. We will try to keep the website up to date with any infomation.
- Michael, N3UC 

The History of W9BSP

 

I found this nice story about a piece of Midwest radio history... I will have to make a point to stop by and see this. Thanks to RadioMagOnline for this!

The History of W9BSP ( <-- click here for full source article )

In 1922, Marshall H. Ensor, a 22-year-old industrial arts instructor at Olathe High School in Olathe, KS, just outside Kansas City, earned his amateur radio operator license. His interest in radio began in 1916 when he built a spark-gap radio that he operated until the end of WWI in 1918.

This story sounds very much like other early radio operators around the United States early in the 20th Century. But for Marshall Ensor, his hobby continued to grow. In 1929, Ensor began working with the American Radio Relay League to broadcast radio lessons to the listening. He did so under the call sign W9BSP. With the help of his younger sister Loretta, who earned the call sign W9UA, the two taught "Radio by Radio" nightly during December and January for more than 10 years. Their radio transmitter was located in a small room off the kitchen of their parents' dairy farm home. ( More )

Photo from http://radiomagonline.com