NEW YEAR... NEW LOOK !!

HAPPY NEW YEARS 2016

SEKARC.net has updated it's look for 2016. Please offer suggestions and feedback and let us make 2016 the best year yet for the Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio Club! Let's think about new plans, new goals and new radio adventures!

Merry Christmas !!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

FROM SEKARC

Wiring and Grounding Info Link

Hello SEKARC and Friends...

While pondering my mobile power problems, I came across a webpage that has the most incredible "Do's and Don'ts I have ever read..  There are so many safety factors involved in the use of high current radios of today both fixed and mobile installations.  This guy covers the gambit of all mobile and fixed station wiring situations with recommendations.  He identifies products and wiring suggestions to maximize our safety in using high current radios.   Some of his points are so staggering and completely contrary to what I have always believed about mobile and fixed station power requirements.

Digital Mode Reference

Thanks to Steve, N5SD for this link, and he requested that it be shared with the group! Here is a great link to help you learn more about most of the digital modes and you can also HEAR the modes which is VERY helpful!

From the website.....

10th Anniversary for Amateur Logic TV

Great new release from the Amateur Logic Team !! 10th Anniversary and I bet they have some good outtakes !! 

Enjoy....

Special Thanks to Max McCoy !!

Max McCoy KCØMAX

SEKARC would like to thank our special guest presenter Max McCoy. At our October meeting Max gave a wonderful presentation on his trip down the Arkansas River in Colorado.

It was a fascinating look at the adventure and was complete with building the kayak trailer to building the QRP rig he used on the river banks. Beautiful photos and interesting stories, from involuntary swimming to the lopsided ratio of effort per QSO!

 We had a great turnout and another special visitor that stopped by was Joplin Hamfest Guru and JARC VIP Jim Scott. It was great to see Jim and we talked about the possibility of doing some joint meetings with the Joplin club in the future! Most of the breakfast casserole and all of the donuts were consumed, we all learned a lot and had lots of fun and if you missed it, make it to the next one!!

Max McCoy Presentation - October Meeting

The October and November 2013 issues of the ARRL magazine QST, featured local author and amateur radio operator Max McCoy KCØMAX. With a kayak and portable ham radio he journeyed down the Arkansas River in Colorado and shared his story with QST readers. On Saturday 10/31/15 Max will join us to tell us more about that adventure. The Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio Club will be meeting at Fire Station #1 on West Fourth in Pittsburg will begin at 9am.

We will have coffee, juice, breakfast egg casserole and donuts for everyone and all are welcome and please bring a guest. This should be one of the most interesting and entertaining meeting in the history of SEKARC! Max is local celebrity but most do not know of his ham radio activity.

Weather permitting we will also head to the park for some portable radio work so plan on bringing your gear or at least stop by and get on the air! We usually have 3-5 operators that have some really nice portable gear on display and in use.

Below is a brief bio from Max's website MaxMccoy.com.

Max McCoy is an award-winning winning author and journalist.

He won the Spur Award in 2011 from the Western Writers of America for Damnation Road, the third book in the Hellfire western noir trilogy. Set in Oklahoma Territory at the turn of the last century, the book concludes the story of irascible outlaw Jacob Gamble, who is now nearing fifty and confronted by a new west of telephones, smokeless powder, and moving pictures.....

......... McCoy has published nineteen novels, including four original Indiana Jones adventures published by Bantam and licensed by Lucasfilm; the novelization of Steven Spielberg’s epic miniseries Into the West; and the critically-acclaimed cave diving thriller, The Moon Pool, published in 2004 by Dorchester. USA Today described his writing as “powerful.” Publishers Weeklycalled The Moon Pool, an “intelligent thriller… tightly drawn characters, a vile villain and a satisfying, thought-provoking conclusion make this a compelling read.”

Mark this on your calendar and get there on time!!

Antenna Sparks = HOT SIGNAL

Hopefully the guys that worked on the 94 didn't even try this..........

JARC Tailgate Swap

Here are the details on the JARC Tailgate Swap this Saturday! Click on the image for the full site!

September Meeting Sat 9/26

The September SEKARC meeting will be held Saturday September 26th at 9 am. We will meet at the Pittsburg Fire Station #1 at 911 W 4th. There will be breakfast and coffee available so please stop by and say hello! It's been a busy summer so let's review and make some plans for the fall and winter.

There will short videos discussion about talk about one of the hottest new modes, Digital Voice for HF. New software and new mode that is catching on and gaining in popularity so let's all learn together. We will also discuss the latest new with the new Yaesu Fusion repeater installed by the PRO group on the 94 location.

We will also announce the speaker for the October meeting and that will be one meeting that you don't want to miss! Weather permitting we will also go to the park and set up some radios after the meeting so bring your gear!

New 94 Yaesu Fusion Repeater for PRO

As you may have heard, the Pittsburg Repeater Organization or "PRO" group replaced the 94 repeater with a new Yaesu System Fusion repeater. They still have some testing and possible adjustments to be made on the receive side as Tyler believes that the RX is not as good as it should be based on initial testing and monitoring It seems to be working well at this time.

One change from before is that they activated the PL Tone of 91.5 so you may have to change some of your memories to add the tone. If you are like me, about half of my radios already had it set up and some did not. Tyler mentioned that if the tone is an issue with folks then let us know and they will review the tone activation.

Tyler also sent over some photos from the install day out at the site and gave permission to post them here. It is very interesting finally get to see the site and see the equipment that we all talk on often. Thanks again to the PRO group for getting this back on the air and for the upgraded technology! I have a FT1D with the digital modes so when you hear KAØEGE I will most likely be transmitting on 1w in digital mode on my Yaesu FT1D. Tyler reported the difference in my TX quality was night and day with only 1w. Barely audible on regular FM from inside my house with rubber duck antenna but when I switched it over to Digital VW mode, clear as a bell!

The repeater is setup for auto on receive ( it will receive Yaesu digital and analog FM automatically ) but it is set for FM on TX so all listeners will hear it! Let us know if you have or hear of any issues and we can pass this on to Tyler and the PRO group!

Jeff KAØEGE

Great Turnout For the FM Net

Great turnout for the weekly FM net on 146.94. We had a few check back in that have been unable to with the 94 down but it was good to hear you all on the air tonight! We had two from Big Brutus who are setting up for the FourState QRP group's Brutus Bash! Joe WØMQY and Terry WAØITP checked in with a great signal from the Big Brutus site!

Also checking in again after the 94 has been down was Frank NØIGZ and Steve KEØAKN. Good to hear from you again! Also some regulars Bill WBØLXZ, Leon N3LRH, and Steve WDØDTS. And to top that off I believe that we had brand new first time check in from Chanute, Mike KBØBSG!

Thanks to everyone checking in so if you didn't get checked in set a reminder for next week Wednesday at 8pm! We discussed our meeting in September with a special presentation and a possible exciting presentation that you should all be there for on October 31st. On both days we will be heading to the park after the meeting at the fire station so come on out with us!

The 94 Repeater is BACK !!

It's BACK !!! Yes the KØPRO 94 repeater is back on the air! Full quieting signal reports from Joplin, Riverton and Galena were received so it's working great! Special thanks go out to PRO members Tyler KBØPQP, Steve N5SD, Ron KBØNRG and Phil KØPR for working on it and getting it back on the air!!

We will move the Wednesday night FM Net back over to the 94 so tune in and check in! If you are on the fringes of the coverage area please call in to the repeater for a signal report as there is usually someone monitoring!

It's great to hear the 94 back on the air !!

SEKARC In The Park

The August meeting of the Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio Club was held today in Lincoln Park. It was a beautiful day and we had 4 stations set up and on the air! The park was busy and the weather was cloudy and about 72 degrees. There was BBQ smoke in the air and we almost got some free Chicken Mary's chicken!

Thanks for coming out !!

SEKARC at the JARC Hamfest 2015

This past weekend was the annual Joplin Amateur Radio Club Hamfest. Once again JARC put on a fantastic show that provided thousands of shoppers, vendors everyone a great couple of days of ham radio swapping and shopping! The SEKARC sold pretty much all of it's donated gear for a very nice total proceed that will be donated to the club treasury!

Leon N3LRH had some gear from a ham in Fort Scott and did very well as he moved most of that equipment on to new owners. Joe WØMQY, Jack WDØCFH, Steve WDØDTS, Bill WBØLXZ and a few others and myself, Jeff KAØEGE were there and/or helped with the booth. I was about 30 seconds too late on my hunt to buy a good HF rig for a back up when it was sold right before I was about to offer.

Portable Go Bag - Nice Setup

Randy K7AGE always does great work, check out this setup for the Yaesu 817, or similar sized radio. I know several of our members have one so this might be interesting for you!

Simple Tape Measure DIY Antenna

I ran scross this on Romel's KEØAKO facebook page and I thought many of us would have been looking for something like this! I think we should explore building some of these at a meeting. We probably should not do any soldering but I bet we can come up with a method of doing some pre soldering before the meeting.

The club could use some of it's resources to obtain the materials. We would need to find out how many are interested in making one so we know what quantities we would need. The antenna would be great for foxhuning which is on our list of todo's for 2015. It might also be a fun participation activity at Field Day out at Big Brutus! This site lays it out pretty well. There are a lot of ideas and projects for building tape measure antennas so if you know of another good one then send it our way!

Check out the article at the link below....

The Tape Measure Antenna

Field Day 2015 - Big Brutus

Field Day 2015 is here! This Saturday and Sunday SEKARC will be on site and on the air from historic Big Brutus! This will be the 3rd annual SEKARC Field Day at the site and we hope to see all of you stop by and even stay for the weekend!

All are welcome, you can bring your own portable station out to setup or we will have stations setup for you to operate if you prefer! Last year we had to fight some thunder, lightning and heavy rain but the forecast for this weekend is spectacular!

New Activity for Amateur Radio - WSPR

The Weak Signal Propagation Reporter Network is a group of amateur radio operators using K1JT's MEPT_JT digital mode to probe radio frequency propagation conditions using very low power (QRP/QRPp) transmissions. The software is open source, and the data collected are available to the public through this site.

This looks like a fun new activity for hams. Even non licensed folks can listen? You will need a radio and USB type of soundcard like the Signalink USB. I set mine up with the FT-857 and with this software it has CAT ablility so it's pretty much hands free and let it run! The first day was a Satirday afternoon and I had good results. Several DX stations heard me and I heard them! I attached below a screenshot from day 1. After this screen grab I also reached 2 in Italy.

Technicians & 10 Meters - Build an Antenna

This is an excellent video, especially for new hams and Technician Class license holders because it shows you how to build and test an HF antenna for 10 meters and particularly the 10m portion where Techs can operate using CW, digital like PSK and phone (voice). The 2nd video shows you how to tune the intenna and a nifty formula for calculating how much to take off of length!

Interesting story, my first HF contact was on 10 meters, voice and I had a QSO with a ham near Chicopee Kansas. WØKEU Keith Retzer so my first HF QSO was about 3 miles in distance!! This is a great video for making and testing various componenets and can be used for other bands just by changing the length of the wire!

Meeting - Lincoln Park - May 30th

The May SEKARC meeting will be held in Lincoln Park shelter one. This shelter seats 25 - 30 and is located near the bocce pits in the southwest corner of the park. We have the shelter reserved from 9am until 5pm so it should be a fun radio day.

We will have some campstove coffee, breakfast casserole, donuts and around noon time we will cook some hot dogs on the charcoal and have a picnic lunch. Bring your gear and setup or just come on down for a friendly visit. Our hope is to get some bugs worked out before field day and just to get outdoors in the fresh air!

Join SEKARC Today !!

FM, CW and PSK Net Info

FYI -- The 146.94 repeater still seems to be down so this week and until further notice we will hold the net on the 444.8 with PL 91.5. And keep in mind that we also made some changes to the HF nets. The PSK is the 1st and 3rd Wed and the CW Roundtable is the 2nd and 4th. If you are not sure, check the club calendar link on the left.

CW Roundtable and PSK Net Changes

The weekly Sunday CW roundtable has been working out great for those sending code! We decided to make a couple of changes to it and to the PSK31 net.

Beginning with the 2nd Wednesday in May the CW Roundtable will be twice a month and will begin at 8:30 on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday! The frequency may be adjusted a little after we see how the noise levels are at 8:30 and if needed, we will notify the group of the frequency changes. Also, the PSK31 net will now be held twice a month and will begin at 8:30 after the 1st and 3rd Wednesday FM net. 

K7AGE - Antenna Analyzer Tips

Randy K7AGE shows us how to use an Antenna Analyzer and how to calc the changes needed for an antenna check! This video is very helpful...

Meeting - Sat April 25th

It's that time again! This Saturday the 25th is the April meeting for the Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio Club. We will meet at 9am at the Pittsburg Fire Station #1 on West 4th street in Pittsburg. We will have breakfast and coffee and radio fellowship! We have a special guest, Steve Lester who was here in January with the SATERN team and was part of the presentation given to the SEKARC. He will be giving his presentation that will cover various severe weather topics and some basic first aid for certain symptoms related to severe weather.

Job or Adventure?

By
David Keath

As always, I am going to taste, swish around in my mouth, and savor each and every experience in Radio that I am lucky enough to get. Like cheese tasting or biting into one of those awesome gourmet burgers you get at some place like Applebees or Fridays; those frightening experiences in life are ones to be relished for their power to shake your nerves and heart both.

I have been practicing CW, or rather Morse Code, for a long while now and yet I am still shakin in my boots when I attempt to make contacts. The funny part is that I work almost daily with my Elmer WØIIT like a seasoned pro, and recently I have been able to check into a local and regional CW net. Outside of that, you might say I've got a mean set of the jitters. Key fright.. Ouch! But hey, maybe there are one or two others out there who will say to themselves, “Wow, I am not the only one...”

Field Strength Meter Build from QST

From K7AGE - Published on Feb 25, 2015

Randy follows Richard's, KB3VZL, February 2015 QST (page 71) article about building a field strength meter into a DVM. He built the circuit to fit inside a Harbor Freight digital volt meter. You can get these free at Harbor Freight if you have the right coupons. In fact I just picked up one of those meters from Harbor Frieght last week!

Great YouTube channel to subscribe to !!! ----------->   YouTube Channel for K7AGE

Spellbound Bookstore Coffee QSO

From the time the club started pretty much, we have held our 9am coffee QSO's on Wednesday at Starbucks in Pittsburg. In the mindset of keeping it local, we have decided to try a new spot for the Wednesday coffee. We will try it for a while and see how we like and see if the Spellbound Bookstore and Cafe will allow us!

Joe and a couple of us have "cased the joint" and feel like it would be a good fit! Fresh coffee, seating with tables, wifi access and LOT'S of books.... but we may have to ask for a "Ham Radio Section". We will start this trial on Wednesday the 8th. The owners seemed happy to hear from us so we will see if they feel the same after a couple of Coffee QSO's.

Anyone is welcome, and if you have not been to one of the coffee's this might be a good time to start !!! There is a link to the Facebook page for Spellbound. Plus we can give them some exposure and a little media on our website and Facebook page as well. Thier current menu is posted below... click on photo for a larger version!

Spellbound Bookstore & Cafe

1012 South Broadway

Pittsburg, KS 66762

Open today

7:00 am – 7:00 pm

See you Wednesday, and 73 !!

Jeff KAØEGE

S.E.K.A.R.C to the Park

Tom N2UHC

Our first outing of the year turned out to be a cool one.  Operators present were, Jim Paddock, ADØOD of Baxter Springs, John Humble, ADØKA of Joplin, MO, Tom Sevart, N2UHC and harmonic Skyler, St. Paul , Bill Bradrick, WBØLXZ of Pittsburg, Leon Heer, N3LRH of Pittsburg.  Cecil Weinstein, NØEHP, of Lamar later joined us for breakfast.  Tom and John had contacts on cw and ssb.  Yours truly made several attempts on 30 meters but to no avail.  The bands were is reasonably good shape considering all the solar activity of late.

The temperature was hovering around 42 degrees with a slight breeze making it a bit uncomfortable for old duffers like me.  Testing of packs and antenna's was the order of the day.  John and Tom seem to have mastered the "One Bag Station"  I have mine down to a backpack for the bicycle but still needs some refinement.  It doesn't take long in the field to decide you are carrying things you don't need.  Weight seems to be the major factor and it is surprising how much two 7 amp gel cell batteries weigh at the end of a 10 mile bike ride.  All in all, it was a great morning, great fellowship, followed by a warm breakfast and hot coffee..  If you didn't make it this time, join us for the next one.
 
72/73  Joe   WØMQY

Great Copper J-Pole Calculator

I found this great little site for calculating the materials and measurements for making a great copper j-pole antenna! If you were looking at making one of these classics, this will help you out !

LINK HERE
J-Pole Antenna Calculator

The Frequency you entered: 146.94 MHz

Measurements(95% Velocity Factor for Copper Pipe):
A: 1.454 meters or 4 Feet 9.24 inches
B: 0.485 meters or 1 Feet 7.092 inches
C: 0.049 meters or 0 Feet 1.932 inches*
D: 0.046 meters or 0 Feet 1.812 inches §

* Adjust up or down to get the best SWR.
§ Measurement not critical.

March Meeting Announcement

The March 28, 2015 meeting of the Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio club will be held at Lincoln Park in Pittsburg at 9am. We will set up some radio gear, help you with your setup and will have our first field activity of 2015.

It will be BYOC (bring your own coffee) and bring snacks and we will begin setup by 9am and will stay as long as the operators and the weather cooperate! Please stop by and visit or stop by and set up your gear. It's always good to test your portable setup ahead of time.

If the weather is bad and not condusive to being outside, the alternate location will be to meet at Hardee's around 9am for breakfast and radio talk. We will try to notify of any changes of location via the email group so if you have not signed up yet then please do! You can clink the link here MESSAGE BOARD or go to the link in the left column.

If you are new to the club or interested in Ham Radio, this would be a great chence to see what it's all about and meet some operators that would love to help you get on the air!

Great New Portable SDR

This is a great idea. We have posted a lot about inexpensive SDR receivers but not TRANScievers! I think you will all enjoy this one! Check out both the webpage and video. You can also invest in it's development! Maybe a project for the builders group?

PORTABLE SDR

Great New Ham Podcast !!

Great new podcast for Amateur Radio !!

Fo Time is a new podcast, aimed at the ‘younger’ Ham Operator and those interested in learning more about the hobby. Cale/K4CDN  is the podcasts host.

I posted episode 21 below, and you can hear more on iTunes or the website Fo Time. Check it out and give it a listen!

Great new podcast for Hams !!

A note from the host.... "After leaving a near decade stint in Non-Commercial FM I wanted to fill the void of missing being behind the microphone.  Podcasting seemed to be the logical answer.  As a life long “radio nerd”  I did some homework and launched Fo Time.  I hope you enjoy the program and welcome your feedback!"

Contasct and feedback email cale at amateurradio15.com

Ham Nation With Yaesu Rep Chris Wilson NØCSW

Recently Chris Wilson NØCSW from Yaesu stopped by for a visit at the SEKARC Coffee QSO at Starbucks. We had a great informative meeting with him and he explained some of the new items that Yaesu is working on and spoke about Ham Radio in general. He asked us to keep him in the loop on our club activity.

Last month he made a special appearence on the Ham Nation monthly show. He discussed some newer Yaesu products and was featured on the show. Please watch the episode below and you can subscribe to them on YouTube so you can be notified of new posts!

Good job Chris and anytime you are in the SE Kansas area you are always welcome!

Antenna Basics from 16mm Film

This is a nice old nugget on antenna basics. It examines the characteristics and dynamics of radio waves emanating from a dipole antenna and is part of the collection: Educational Films

Producer: National Film Board of Canada.; McGraw-Hill Films.
Sponsor: Internet Archive
Keywords: 16mm Film; Educational Film

Electronic Building Techniques Meeting Summary

For those that missed the Feb 28,2015 meeting, here is the presentation by Joe WØMQY on building techniques! We had a great meeting and thanks to those in attendance !! For those that were there we were given a great presentation on building tips and soldering adventures!

Thanks Joe, and GOOD JOB !! Here are some photos from the talk and the slide presentation is available to view below! One of the methods talked about was Manhattan style and thanks to Romel KEØAKO we have more information on that !!

Ugly Construction has its variations and the Manhattan Style Construction technique has become very popular. Manhattan or "paddy board" style uses small square or round pads cut or stamped from PC board which are glued copper side up on a large copper clad board which is also placed copper side up. The small pads or "islands"  are used for anchoring non-grounded components. Components soldered to the pads such as transistors or ICs are not positioned upside down like in standard Ugly Construction. Many Manhattan style builders use IC sockets as well. There is a tendency to make these projects look very nice and this is a wonderful ground-plane bread boarding technique for builders who have the time and ability to do this."

Romel also provided a great article here as well --->   Manhattan Building Techniques from K7QO